Jig Man

I am having to make some assumptions here. You didn't mention what type of line or type of reel. So I am assuming mono line. I fish open water and use 8/10/12 # on my reels. The reels that have braid have 8 and 30# on them. No matter whether it is a spinning reel or a baitcaster, I load the line off the top of the spool. Before I built a spooling station, I had my wife hold the spool with a pencil through the hole and keep light pressure on it. I do not have line twist problems from respooling. I also do not splice line except for fluro leader on braid.

Mine is a Flatfoot and I wouldn't take $500 for it.

For me it is easy. I have hundreds of jigs and 0 senkos.

Try swimming that jig. I have been catching a lot of bass swimming a 1 oz jig with a 5" trailer. Just throw it out and crank it back keeping it off the bottom.

Some will and some won't. MDC used to tag fish for studies on our lakes. They paid for fishermen to remove the tag and send it in. They found that some of the fish didn't move over a distance of hundreds of yards while others moved several miles.

I traded a 7' rod with a guy in San Frisco for a 6'6" rod. USPS charged me $12 and was going to charge him $30. On his second visit he told them what I was charged and they charged him the same.

My wife has offered to buy me a new trolling motor in lieu of a new boat. ;D I have a MG TE 82/45" shaft in good working condition. It has a bunch of hours on it but still works fine. Some guys are interested but I don't know how to price it.

I have both of those rams and have had 3 different Lows on them and the brackets from all have fit them just fine.

I carry Bounce dryer sheets in my boat. When the bugs come out so do the sheets and get in my shirt pocket.

I have an 02 Opti and have had 2 alarm issues. The first one was the constant alarm and the motor overheated while I was idling along eating lunch. A new powerhead gasket took care of that. The next one was the intermitten oil alarm. The motor wasn't overheating so I assumed it was getting oil. I took it to a shop and it turned out to be the float and sensor in the oil tank. A new tank and new sensor took care of that issue.

If it ain't broke don't fix it. I only pump my bulb when I replace my water seperating fuel filter which is once a year.

I didn't have the guts to put a Flatfoot tray in my Champion so I hired it done for $100. Even guys who do this often had a few problems and cut all the electrical wires running to my front panel. So I'd say go slow and be careful.

If you have Map Create questions, I'll do my best to help you out.

Cart map create 7 is way better than the other models. It has maps in it while the others only show blue (water) white (land). I use it to keep wpt, icon, and trail files for the 6 lakes I fish. I have about 1000 wpts and like to keep them in seperate files. I can mark as many as I want in a day and then look at the location on the computer with mc7 and see if I want to keep them or not. It really has helped me organize my stuff. I have the shot spots cards but am thinking about Nav since I looked at a buds and all the contours on Stockton.

You don't have to have spinning setups for smallmouth fishing. I catch a many on baitcasters as I do spinning. If you are going to go spinning then like stated a 2500 series reel in your price range with a 6 1/2' M rod will do you a good job.

It is bent but can be fixed by a good welding shop. If you try to straighten it without some heat it will probably break.

All the new stuff has screw in blue connectors. You'll have to change out the wiring and the xducers.

That 19' BC is a real good boat. On of my buds has a 1994 Pantera. I have ridden and driven it in all kinds of weather. It is a good ride. I agree that you need more than 67# of thrust on the tm.

In that age group, I'd stay away from John L's boat. His newer ones are supposed to be a lot better quality.

If you really want to go nuts, visit about 5 or so different dealerships in one afternoon and look at 6-10 different boats at each one, both new and used. Then go home and try to figure all this out. Be sure not to drink any beer before or after this trip or you will really get confused.

There could also be something jamming the impeller.

You are asking for a lot of info in one post. First off my ranking is Champion (ride and good fishing platform), Bass Cat (ride), Ranger (good fishing platform), then all the rest. Lots of guys will have different opinions. The Javelin was a pretty good boat in its day. Genmar cancelled it when they bought out Champion and moved it from AR to the Stratos/Javelin plant in TN. Stratos is an ok boat but not top of the line. Check NADA for the pricing of the Javeline. Towing isn't as bad as stopping. Be sure you have good trailer and tow vehicle brakes. My wife pulled my 21' boat all over MS, AR, MO, and TX with a Ford Winstar mini van. She is now pulling it with a Jeep Liberty CRD.

If you are going to be serious about jerks then get more than one brand, size and color. Last spring my LCs got me beat down to my knees. My Smithwicks also didn't produce that day. I got down 8/0 with my baits and I had to borrow and Xrap from my bud to get any action at all. Now I own some Xraps.

Find off shore structure and channel swings that don't get much pressure or make your own cover in deep water. Lots of lakes have 2 different populations of bass. The shallow dwellers see lots of baits while the guys who live deep don't see nearly as many.

They usually start hitting buzzbaits in May around here. I am still waiting. My best day so far has been 3 and most days none. I'm about to give up for this year.