gnappi

I dialed in my new bow yesterday shooting at the opposite bank of the freshwater canal at my GF's house. Snakehead and Tilapia beware ?

Thanks, I installed Linux on one of my disused machines and got a changed login notice from the site, that's much appreciated.

Snakehead are good eating, did you try it?

Where snakehead have been introduced I've seen bass (and peacock bass) populations go down radically where they once thrived... small neighborhood canals and lakes connected to them. One day I met a fellow at a fave bass fishing spot who said he went night bow fishing for snakehead there. Coincidentally I had noticed that the bass population was rebounding and I could again see small bass in the shallows... exactly where snakehead inhabit. Hmmm... So I started switching my methods, and more towards larger bass and snakeheads with frog lures. Not only did larger bass respond to the frogs I started catching snakeheads, and places I took snake heads from (and ate, they're quite good) showed small bass in the shallows within a few months of taking the snakeheads. Now with colder (relatively speaking) waters in south Florida snakehead fishing mostly turns off and they stick to the warmer shallow waters, perfect targets for a bow and line. I bought a bow setup for "fishing" in a pawn shop and I'm kitting myself up to take them as well as tilapia and clown knife fish, and I'm waiting for a comprehensive list of invasive species from FWC that may be legally taken by bow. Has anyone else tried bowfishing for invasive species?

Nowadays I target snakeheads and catch a few bass yearly by accident. I "KNOW" that snakeheads supposedly do not out compete bass for resources but everywhere bass were once plentiful few are found. NP snakeheads fight and taste better, there's no catch limit nor size notch anyway.

When I lived in the Catskills I had no problem catching the larger fish on a Rapala with the diving lip broken off. The lure drives them nutso skimming across the water.

I have a CZ SP-01 it's a well built, reliable and accurate firearm, but in my hands my Tanfoglio is a better fit.

Would you please have Rand McNally put all of the dangerous roads on the map? Oh, Google too? Or is that some racist sentiment? I lived in an area with multi million dollar homes, there were two murders and one attempted murder from 100-300 yards from my house. The only dangerous roads are where dangerous people are at that moment. I do not PLAN on meeting them but am prepared in the event I do run into them on a previously NOT dangerous road.

Nope, put one of their pics on a computer screen FULL SIZE and all you get is grain. I have 2 25Mp phones my GF has an apple and all of their pics FULL SIZE look like crap. Try it.

Cell phone cameras are a waste, enlarge them to full size and all you see is grain. They singularly lowered humanities expectations in visual quality. IMO... I have a multi thousand $$ Nikon digital camera rig (which never sees the boat) and the GoPro 3's (I have three on my boat, one on the forward fisherman, one on me, and one on my hat. Two are plugged into a dual 18650 battery bank and will run unattended all day. The one on my hat I keep a spare battery for. I paid something like $45 each (averaged out the prices) and they're absolutely the best investment in fishing I ever made.

When I go out I have 3 gopro hero 3's. Two on a custom made mount, one on my hat. I keep one dual 18650 battery bank attached to the camera mount and the GoPros are good for many hours of shooting if needed only limited by memory card space. To me that's the greatest strength of the Gopro, being able to power them externally and not rely on the internal battery. I monitor them and the one on my hat with the Gopro phone app.

Either your charger or battery is having a problem. A charge of 12.1 volts is barely over half charged. Is it a wet or AGM type? If wet did you check the SG in the individual cells? First maybe try charging your other battery and read the voltages before, during and after charging. After that if the battery comes up to near 12.7 volts (see chart) you know the charger is good. Then take the suspect battery to a local auto parts store and they'll check it for you.

In your initial post you wrote "battery" not batteries and did not specify 24 volts. That's a horse of a different color, and a more expensive one. The link you provided states 12v @ 10 amps. You CANNOT get 10 amps from a 50 watt panel (math doesn't lie), well not in my universe anyway. Even for a 12v system with two batteries what you're looking at is Waayyy too small, plus you're looking at needing a 24 volt system unless you want to charge the batteries individually with a 12 volt setup. Craig's list has many little 12v solar setups for sale from boaters and "off grid" dreamers who realized this too late and blamed the panels for dead (expensive) batteries, not their lack of planning and research. To answer your question... with a solar panel and "charge controller" you go straight to the battery. Going through a battery charger would be a waste of power, size, money and be overly complicated. So you know, a solar controller IS a battery charger. Your main concern I think will be theft of a solar charger, but only you can answer that. At any rate, my charger very portable and is 80 watts (panels bought from a cheap yachtsman upgrading after killing his batteries) for a little 35Ah U1 sized battery and it works fine for that. See the solar panel below. I think it would make a suitable bare bones start and it could be rigged to go portable like mine rather easily. Renogy (@ 12v I use another brand) has lots of larger panels you may want to reach out to them with your location, and battery Ah specs (both very important to know) to see what they can gen up for you. Panel specs and distributor (note optimum operating current): https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/VLcAAOSwPn1eL2XF/s-l500.jpg Panel price: www.ebay.com/itm/Renogy-270-Watt-24-Volt-Polycrystalline-Solar-Panel/124062981583

My cables go to the bed tie downs and the boat rear handles have motorcycle tie down straps with winching type tie down straps to secure it. Good for a flat nose Jon, not so good for a deep V. Just bear in mind that all states have overhang limits and if you go beyond them, supplemental lighting and flags are required. There are also max overhang limits where you cannot overhang at all and you need a trailer. My boat is just under four feet overhang and in Florida I do not need lighting or flags. I've considered making up a pair of lights that I can connect to my trailer light coupling just so some texting yahoo can't say they did not see the boat. Anyway: Under the Federal Size Regulations law, the DOT allows trucks to overhang a cargo by: 3 feet in front 4 feet in the rear 4 inches by the sides

If you build a solar charger you lose the cord. I posted this pic in another thread. I built this one and at 80 watts and with a decent amount of sunlight (no problem here in so.Flo) it will keep most batteries charged. If you go up with more modern panels to say 150-200 watt 12 volt panels (WITH a charge controller) unless they get a lot of bird dropping or snow on them, or spend a lot of time without sun you will be just about done. Oh, PS it's not cheap (mine was ~$80 with some used parts) but it will get you where you want to be.

My bed is short at 6' and my 10' Lowe is light and short enough to bring where only a yak could generally go... no ramp needed.

If you have a pre float plan checklist, follow it in reverse order when you stow the boat. Failing that if your storage area is outdoors and secure, a decent solar battery charger will for sure keep your battery topped off even if some small stuff is left on. I made mine out of two 40 watt panels with an inexpensive charge controller (do not use a solar panel connected directly to a battery) mounted to 1" aluminum material from home depot. I bought used panels on Craig's list from a guy upgrading his sailboat to 200 watt panels, I think I have less than $80 or so in making it. It's totally bullet proof, well unless it has several days of cloud cover, or gets covered with snow :-)

I wound up with three batteries and at first I had a two bank battery tender but it was not waterproof, it charged too slowly and I had to move the cables to keep the third battery charged. . Then I got a prosport, it was too big, got REALLY hot and did not have enough battery "state of charge" info so I sent it back. Now I have had the Noco 3 bank (4A per bank) for over a year and as long as you follow reasonable battery drain guidelines and you're not using a 200Ah battery it will charge. Noco has a 3 bank 30A model but I didn't need that charge rate or the expense.

If you're taking salt water, $500k is unlikely in south Florida. Around 1990 I bought (what I called a bomb shelter 50's summer home) a house on deep salt water with relatively easy (less than 30 minutes through a no wake zone) access to the ocean, a brackish river, and short drive to GR8 bass fishing, under $225k. The same house (actually they doze the house and build new nowadays) is close to a million. Freshwater is a different story. Under $500k is rather easily done.

I carry 100% of the time.

My GF bought me a semi custom rod (the builder makes this model in advance not to order) for Christmas and it's not at all what I can use. It's 6'10". But the problem I have is 6' is my max usable length as my fishing bike (overhanging tree clearance) truck cab, and topper length can handle 6' max. The handle is VERY long, my fave pole has an 11" handle (from the center of the reel seat) which doesn't clank against my fishing vest or the bench seat in my boat (nope no pedestal seats) The blank is excellent, and VERY stiff (I fish for snakeheads a lot) and I'd need its length and the handle cut down to be usable or leave it as a boat only rod. I'm wondering If I can have either the original or another builder take off 10 inches from the handle and tip reasonably easy or would bringing it back and having him make me what I want instead be better. Balance is not an issue, my current rod is a bit tip heavy and I have no problem with it. TIA for advice.

Minimum size depends on a lot of variables... How much gear you plan on carrying, how you want to transport it and how much runtime you want. Bigger / heavier boat / people / gear mean less run time on more / larger batteries. I started out with a 1032 Topper and it was Waayyy too tipsy for one fisherman to stand let alone two. My Lowe 1040 handles two fishermen standing, but a platform would be a waste of space and likely would be dangerous. I use my trailer only for storage off the ground and transport it in my truck bed so I can hand launch. That said, if I could hand launch a 14 or 16 foot Grizzly tracker from my truck bed my 10 foot Lowe would be gone in a heartbeat... I'd L-O-V-E a platform and pedestal seats, but not as much as being able to go where only yaks can launch. I also like the runtime I get out of my two 35Ah deep cycle batteries :-) Everything in a Jon is a compromise. IMO "V" boats waste internal space for length, ride better in chop, are better in the wind and likely are faster than plow shaped flat bottom bows... Flat bottom boats are noisy in chop, may have better stability for a given length compared to a "V", have more usable inside space, are not good in windy conditions in (most) all electric boats. I'm running all electric with a 50 lb. TM for 3 years or so and despite my boat being tiny it's a chore to keep running a course or stopped fishing in gusty conditions, something to seriously consider with larger heavier all electric boats, unless you can manage a Torqeedo or Elco motor, then the wind and speed are less of an issue.

I've hunted and fished South Florida since 1977 and I've seen one water moccasin basking in the dirt roadway I was walking on, zero rattlers, most other snakes I've seen were in gardens and none were venomous. I guess there are those who have seen them but from my experience it's rare. I've seen many gators, and the last two summers were the first any ever took one of my frogs.

If SH are there, and you: A. don't spook them by walking up to the water like a hippo. B. Use appropriate tackle. C. Keep your mind on the techniques/baits and comments Mhan and myself noted you won't lose them. "ALMOST" ANY CANAL off Sample road west of 441 has snakeheads. Many of the smallest only 8 or 10 feet wide are the best, and most often overlooked by fishermen. One exception... The N-S running canal next to the Sample road burger king is fished hard, the SH ignore me there.

I use 20 lb black braid, no leader. It works for me.