Wayne P.

I use a better product, Sea Foam. It is a fuel preserver like Stabil plus it is a decarboner. I use it in all my outboards, lawn mower, chain saw, power washer, and weedeater.

LBH, a bass does not know whether or not an animal hibernates. If a plastic snake/rat/frog looks like food, it's going to try to eat it.

Here is the manual for that unit. Turn off the fish ID for a more realistic view of the sonar returns. It marks just about all returns as fish including limbs, leaves, and bubbles. http://www.humminbird.com/PDF/lcr400id.pdf

In looking at the Mercury website, it seems that they do not make any more small two stroke motors including the 9.9. So if you have a new manfactured (since Jan 2007) 15, it is a 4-stroke.

Try that lure at Hunting Run Lake and you may duplicate your Florida trip with just a short drive.

It's just another "NEW" or "IMPROVED" modification to sell more lures. It isn't new or improved as fishermen have been doing it themselves since those type baits were marketed. NO THANKS

The presentation is what decides whether a leader is needed/wanted. In some cases it may help, and in some cases it's a hindrance or unnecessary.

Another point, I was assuming that you were dealing with a bow unit since you did not state which type. If that is the case, then a rudder of some type will also solve the off center tracking. I use a rear mounted trolling motor or a gas motor for the rudder.

I have had aluminum boats with the bow mounted motor on either side, it doesn't make any difference which side. It pulls a little off center. The center is better, but it may in the way unless you have a pointed bow type boat. If it bothers you and you have a deck to mount the motor on, then you can attach the mount on an angle with the front in the middle and the rear off to one side. I purposely mount the ones on my jon boats to the side for easy entry/exit over the bow and leaving room for two sonar units.

10-4 at Briery Creek Lake, Va. 4/22/05 10-5 at Lake Fork, Tx 5/29/05 10-6 at Chris Green Lake, Va. 5/17/06 All were caught using a Zoom finesse worm rigged weedless wacky.

I use the original Spiderwire in 30# with no leader. The minimal amount of stretch in a short leader is of no benefit and you lose the benefit of the small diameter braid at the lure where the weed cutting is most needed. I make long casts when fishing Traps to cover a lot of water and fluorocarbon or regular mono has too much stretch for good hook penetration if a take occurs at the maximum distance.

Just put Sea Foam in your gas tank and treat every fillup and that will take care of your engine.

Thanks Bud, the bank account may have to be depleted some more. :'(

I use them all and each one for it's unique characteristics. Braid for it's limpness, low stretch, sensitivity, and high pound test/diameter. Mono for it's stretch and relative low visibility. Fluorocarbon for it's low visibility, stretch, sensitivity, and high density. Braid in 10#, 14#, 20#, 30#, 40#, 50#, 65#, 80# Mono in 4#, 6#, 8#, 10#, 12#, 16#, 17#, 20# Fluorocarbon in 6#, 8#, 10#, 14#, 17#, 20# All types and conbinations on both spinning and baitcasting gear depending on the presentation.

Bud, what kind of image do you get when you have your trolling motor turned in any direction other than straight ahead and the boat is moving? Do you make a special effort to not have that situation when trying to get a realistic side image view with the front unit? Can you GPS mark a displayed object and return to it if the transducer is not perpendicular to the line of travel?

Yes, I can. I tried to put several pictures on the same post and resized them to fit and it didn't work. They are on the way.

Add'n picture

This is how I have my 12' jon boat set up. My 10' was set up the same way. It is set up for electric only lakes now, but I remove the rear electric and add the 9.9 gas motor and 3 gal tank of HP restricted gas lakes. My front electric is 24V and the rear electric is 12V

You can mount the transducer on the trolling motor, BUT your side imaging display will be distorted if you rotate the motor even a little bit and you cannot move fast enough with the trolling motor to get a good display either. The verticle beams will not be affected.

Having fished in a 10" Sears painted jon boat for over 25 years, if you are not over 200# you will be plenty safe. I sold it recently since it was an extra after I bought a 12' . The 10' had a bow mounted foot controlled trolling motor, with rear mounted battery, swivel seats on both tank seats and I ran a 2.2HP Mercury gas engine on HP restricted lakes. I used to stand up lot of times while fishing and only fell out once when I bumped into an unseen stump. I used it may times at lakes with carry in only access with another angler and we never had any issues with instability. My 12' is a 1236 and I have the same setup although, with a 9.9HP Mercury. Standing while fishing is not an issue in it either.

For those with the HB SI units and those wanting one: go to Yahoo and select groups and then join the Humminbird Side Imaging group to get the most up-to-date information about that technology. Pay attention to the boat speed for the best pictures. The best application I have seen is to use two transducers: one being a regular down looking in-hull mounting for on-plane use and the second one that comes with the unit being mounted on the transom or jack plate above the bottom of the boat to avoid any potential damage.

I did well on Traps yesterday at Briery Creek. I only lost two of them to the tree gods. About 40 of the bass I caught were with a 1/4 oz Trap, the rest were with a wacky rigged finesse worm. Sometimes it's the best lure when they are schooled up.

Get some aluminum at a metal shop and have it cut to the shape of your hull at the level you will be mounting the platform. Also have some braces cut for the height. That will take care of any rotting plywood forever.

I caught 40+ bass yesterday using braid and a Rat-L-Trap so the line visibility is not a problem with cranks. I use the braid mainly because of the timber and grass in the lake and I can put more pressure on the fish with it. The small diameter of the braid cuts through the vegetation better than mono also along with it's lack of stretch which helps jerk the lure from the weed hang-ups and trigger a strike. I was fishing Briery Creek.

Use braid on your spinning gear for the Spook and you won't have the loose line problem like with mono.