Wayne P.

A wacky rigged finesse worm or Trick worm. 381 bass in May for 11 days of fishing and 11 bass over 4#. That is one more than May 2007 and 27 more than May 2006.

My choice would be Lake Fork and there isn't any season, it's year round fishing.

HPBB, removing the jumpers between batteries is not necessary when charging indivually. When using a multi-bank on board charger the jumpers are not removed. Those chargers are just a group of single 12V chargers in a combined package with separate positive and negative connections for each battery. Current will only flow between the positive and negative connections of a charger.

It doesn't cause line twist; it results in the dreaded tangle during a cast. The bail slapping the line when it closes causes a piece of slack line in the form of a small loop on the spool that is exaggerated when the next cast is made. Line twist is caused by spinning lures, the change of direction that the line makes as it is wound on the spool perpendicular to the rod, or reeling against a slipping drag. Closing the bail by hand with the line under tension will prevent the tangle from happening.

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I have one. They were part of the OMC group before the bankrupcy deal along with Hydrosports and Stratos. The Hydrosports and Javelin bass boats were built in the same factory in Murfreesboro, Tenn. They were the package deal models which included the outboard motor, trolling motor and trailer. There are lots of them still around especially on North Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee. I have the 1993 17'9" model called 379T with a 150 Fastsrike engine. It is one of the better riding rough water hulls. The earlier hulls of that size were not as good riding-I had one of those too. The 18'9" size model 389 held the speed record in some catagory for a while, it is rated for 175 HP.

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Charge them individually with three separater chargers (that is what a three bank charger does) or switch to another battery after each individual one is charged. The second is not recommended for good battery life as the batteries need to be recharged as soon as possible after discharge.

I see thermoclines without any adjustments of the sonar unit. Automatic setting for me. The older LCR units I have don't have ping speed adjustments and chart speed is not a factor in thermocline detection. With my flashes units, I set the sensitivity to show a double bottom echo so I can tell if a bottom hardness change has occurred.

Don't use the rubber core at all, just the lead. For a larger readily available hook, the Gamakatsu G-Mag Oversize hook will work for most baits. I get both at Dick's Sporting Goods. Even if you use the pre-weighted hooks don't tie them on and insert them. Push the hook eye thru the bait head and then tie it on. In a recent post I showed a crochet needle that I use to pull the line thru the bait before tying on the hook which causes less damage from hook insertion.

Are batteries 2 and 3 connected together or is battery 2 with the electronics, livewell, lights and horn just a back-up for the trolling motor battery 3?

Here is a low cost, low pixel count, monochrome, old Humminbird unit (LCR 4000 ) that shows and explains thermocline. Scroll dowm to page 31----- http://www.humminbird.com/PDF/lcr4000.pdf

"Horse feathers" about the high end units and color needed for thermocline locating. My Eagle Fishmark 320, Lowrance X70A, Lowrance 1240A flasher, and Humminbird flasher all show thermoclines-none of those are "high end" or color.

You can do a Google search for "shoot thru transducer mounting" and get lots of information. This is one of them: http://bbs.trailersailor.com/forums/articles/index.cgi/noframes/read/106

For shoot thru applications, just use a slow cure epoxy and mix slowly to prevent bubbles. Mount it in the thinnest part of the hull. Clean the inside of the hull in the area where it is to be placed and sand lightly to insure adhesion. You can do a test installation to check for the best location by putting some water in the bilge, place the transducer in a suspect location and hold down the transducer with some weight to see if you get strong signal returns. Most fiberglass bass boats have a noticable thin spot at the pad for just those applications. Either style transducer can be used. The puck type (which is the same for trolling motor mounting) makes a better installation since the bottom is flat. Your sonar manual should have those steps explained.

Favorite conditions would be slight stain, water temp in the mid to upper 50's with air temps in the 70's , a light breeze and sunshine. Barometric pressure is of no consequence. Prespawn feeding spree !!!!!

A thru hull transducer is a special set up requiring drilling a hole in the bottom of the boat. The puck type or skimmer type can be mounted on the trolling motor or used as a shoot thru.

Use Seafoam all the time or a shock treatment of some de-carbonizer occasionally and your motor should be trouble free no matter what rpm range you use. Lots of saltwater fishermen troll with that size motor or larger with no difficulties.

With braid, you should do at least one of three things. 1st-use some mono backing. 2nd-put some tape on the reel spool arbor before tying your line on. 3rd-if your reel spool is the drilled type, put the line thru some of the holes and then tie it. You are experiencing what is called 'ghost drag" where the slick braid will slip on the spool when under tension. This should be done on all types of reels.

I don't put anything inside the hollow body. In doing so, it prevents complete compression by the fish and may result in misses. The frog with no legs has 1/8 oz worm weights where the legs were removed. That is to exert more weight on the grass mats so the fish can find it. It allows for longer casts too.

Simple answer for fuel ecomony: run your motor at or under 4000 rpms no matter what prop you run. The top 1000-1500 rpms is where you have the least ecomony.

I do this to the ones I use at Guntersville

Thanks for asking ado124. The fishing was tough for everyone. I didn't catch any double digit bass this time, but several in the 5#- 6# class. Very windy most days with air temps in the mid 90's. I finished 5th in the two day tournament.

Let Google be your friend: http://www.catcherman.com/features/rigging/texasrigging030602sportmn.htm

KvD, you don't have to use tape AND mono, just one OR the other depending on how much line you intend to install. You just need some friction on the spool shaft to prevent the braid from slipping.