jbmaine

Hi all, As our fishing year is over, I thought I would give a review of our new boat experience. As some of you know, disabilities caused me to retire a couple of years ahead of schedule, so my wife and I took a good hard look at our "fishing" future and decided our old boat ( a lund 14' WC Delux tiller steer ) was just no longer suitable for us to comfortably fish out of ( my wife is also disabled), and so we went looking to get a new boat. Boat-- We looked for a while at used boats, but could not find anything that suited us, so we went new. We ended up with a Lund 1625 Fury XL Sport. This is the one with a full windshield. This is not a bass boat but rather a multi species boat, however, this style was the most comfortable for us. Why Lund? Quality of build, layout, storage, but a lot of our decision was based on our local dealer. They took care of us on our first boat and have done well by us on this one. Setup- We ordered this boat with everything we thought would make us more comfortable, air ride seats, tilt steering wheel, but the best thing we got was the full sun top. We can't say enough good things about it. My wife is sensitive to the sun and can only fish for a few minutes at a time ( she has hand issues) so this was a blessing. She can sit in the shade and read or fish off the back of the boat as she chooses. No more wind burn, sun burn, getting wet in the rain, cooler in the summer, warmer in the cold weather, we love it. Motor-- We have a 50 HP Merc on this boat. With both of us and the boat fully loaded we can hit around 30MPH. As most of the lakes we fish are less than 1600 acres this is plenty fast enough for us. I really like the fact we can fish all day and only burn 1-2 gallons of gas. Trolling motor-- We went with the Ulterra. What can I say, we are spoiled. To head to a spot, deploy the TM and hit spot lock with out leaving your seat. Tell it to head in a direction while you fish, what's not to like. sonar-- We went with Garmin echo map chirp in the bow and console. Are they better than other brands, I have no idea, but they work well for us. Conclusion-- this boat is not for everyone, but in our situation it met or exceeded all our expectations. It is comfortable for all day on the water, rides well, easy to tow with our ford edge ( with a tow package) and has plenty of storage. The front casting deck is small but works very well for me. I can fish, reach tackle, tools, net, anything I need without standing up ( most of the time I have to fish sitting down). Did it make us better fishermen? No, but it allowed us to fish longer and more often, and using the I Pilot and spot lock we covered much more area. Our old boat didn't have a TM, and I could only pull up an anchor so many times, so we only fished the most " fishy" places. I Pilot and spot lock opened up the whole lake for us. Here's a few pics showing the boat. The last pic is the largest bass we caught this year. I caught it going thru an area ( using I Pilot) I never would have fished in our old boat. Thanks for looking Jim

I can only comment on what I catch most of my bass on ( both LM & SM ) so my list is. 1) senkos and swim Senkos , weighted and un weighted. 2) soft plastic paddle tails , I like swimming caffeine shad 3) ned rig ( Z-man TRD) 4) tubes , I like coffee tubes 5) spinnerbaits

Thanks, I appreciate it.

I know they are, but the paddle tail was doing so well we never tried them.

Up here in Maine those conditions, this summer, triggered a spinnerbait bite for us. Every time we had overcast, drizzly days, throwing a chartreuse spinnerbait over submerged weeds resulted in multiple LM.

Hi all, We finally called it for this year, the boat is headed for storage for the winter, so I thought it was time to give a big thank you to everyone for all the great info, advise, and input we got this year, and to share how we did. We have always fished waters that had LM & SM, but until this year we had only " dabbled" in catching SM, however this year we made the conscious decision to concentrate on smallies. Spring-- Pre spawn-- We found several areas where smallies were cruising around and did OK. Mostly caught them on paddle tails and swim Senkos. Spawn-- If we saw a big one on a bed we'd try for it, but honestly we spent most of our time fishing off the beds and just enjoy seeing the hundreds of bedding fish, knowing how healthy the lake is. Post spawn-- Pretty much the same as the pre spawn with the same baits. Summer-- We found several areas that consistently held deep water smallies ( 20 feet or deeper) and did pretty good with a ned rig. Fall-- technically fall is not over in this area, but the dropping temps. and other priorities made it necessary for us to " call it" for the year. However our last few trips out we managed to connect with a few smallies tanking up for the winter, so no complaints. Again, using a paddle tail " yo yoing" it up and down thru the water column did the trick. So thank you everyone, we usually didn't catch high numbers, nor did we catch any "trophy" size fish, but with all the advise, and help we got from members of the forum we very rarely got skunked, and are getting much better at predicting and understanding what SM fishing is all about. Here are three pictures. This is really cool because we got a new boat this year, and the first pic is the "first fish in the boat'. the middle pic is one out of deep water, and the last pic is the " last fish in the boat" this year.

Usually when dealing with insurance companies I get very frustrated and ticked off, however I got a laugh over this one. I got a call saying I had a prescription ready to be picked up but the cost was much more than normal. I asked why and was told it looked like my insurance had been deactivated, and they suggested I call my insurance company to find out what was going on. This is where I usually start getting ticked, but this time it was just down right funny. I called the insurance company ( they cover my health care and prescription plan) and explained what had happened. I was told I was still covered and they had to call the company they use to administer the prescription plan, and would I stay on the phone with them incase I needed to provide more info. I said sure. This is what I heard. hello , I'm calling about XXXXX. he was told his prescription plan was no longer active, but according to our records it should still be active. that's right What's right? it's no longer active Why? We never received the ##### update on his plan from you. let me check..... according to our records we sent that to you three times last month. Well according to OUR records we never received it! Well WE sent it! Well WE didn't get it! SEND IT AGAIN! WE ALREADY SENT IT THREE TIMES! YOU KNOW WHAT! I THINK YOU SHOULD TALK TO MY SUPERVISER! YA, WELL YOU SHOULD TALK TO MINE!!!!!!!!!! At this point one of them remembered I was still on the line. Sir, are you still there? My reply was " you do know the prescription I am calling about is my high blood pressure medication, and this isn't helping. Maybe you could use some?" They both apologized and said they would look into it. Later that day I got a call saying everything was straightened out. Usually I'm the one getting ticked off at insurance companies. It was real funny seeing them getting ticked off at each other. I wish I could say I made this up, but sadly it's all true.

That would do it. Your grandkids are going to have so much fun.

Just a thought, You would need to do something up in the bow to mount the trolling motor to, and go back and forth to lift the motor up and deploy it. As for FF, I like Garmin but you should look for yourself to see what suits you. As for your Honda, keep it maintained and they are pretty much bullet proof.

We had a Lund WC Delux for many years. Good stable boat. I assume you are putting some kind of casting deck on the front?

I don't know about other states, but it's not a requirement in Maine.

Hi all, I'm sure most of us have one, but for those that don't, A tow line is one of those things not often mentioned, but can really make a difference out on the water. This Spring a fellow boater asked me for a tow back to the launch, his motor had died. He had a tow line and it made all the difference. After that I modified my anchor line with a couple of snap hooks to use as a combo anchor/tow line and I actually put it to good use this week. We were coming off the water and a guy on shore asked for help. He was helping his buddy get his boat out for the season, and had been waiting at the launch with the trailer for quite a while, but there was no sign of his buddy. We headed back out and found him on the far side of the lake, ( it's a thousand acre lake). His motor had died and he was just drifting. We used our tow line ( he didn't have one) and got him to the launch. So just a reminder, having a tow line makes it so easy to help someone else, or yourself, should the need arise. Jim

Congratulations on what looks like a fun day for you and the Mrs.'s . I see she uses a spincaster. That's all my wife uses too. Nobody will ever convince me they aren't capable of handling big fish.

Sorry your season is over. We are rapidly heading that way ourselves. But congratulations on some nice fish and here's to next year, may it be a good one.

Took advantage of the warmer than normal temps. to head out for some smallies. Took a while to find them but did OK. Looks like they are starting to fatten up for the winter. Nothing too big, but boy what a fight.

I'm firmly in the "like many things in fishing , sometimes it matters and sometimes it doesn't" camp. That being said I usually don't turn my sonar off. I caught my biggest fish of the year five feet from the boat in five feet of water with both sonar's and the TM going. Also, because of Glenn's video, I will be spending more time on so called " barren" structure. Thanks Glenn

This year for us SPRING-- swim senko and strike king swimmn caffeine shad in KVD magic color got all our fish LM & SM. SUMMER-- ned rig in orange green got the smallies for us, but the LM were strange. Overcast days we could catch them all day long on chartreuse spinnerbaits, if the sun was out not so much. FALL-- We lost access to our SM lake for three weeks while the ramp was closed for repairs. We're still playing catch up finding the SM. LM are still hitting the spinnerbaits in low light. all and all not a bad year for us.

If it bent with out cracking then the metal is soft enough to bend back. Hold the flat section in a vise ( put cloth or thin cardboard around it, so it doesn't get scratched) and pull the bent end back. I'm guessing it's probably anodized aluminum ( if a magnet doesn't stick to it is aluminum) so should bend back pretty easy.

Thanks A-Jay, An excellent summary.

My heavy spinning rod is a Loomis E6X inshore rod. Rated for 1/4-1 oz. Fish don't know what rod their being caught on.

I envy you. not a single boat here except some 12-14ft. skiffs out side of the building around the corner.

We were going by the local Cabela's today and decided to stop in. It had been several months since we were last there, and as the title say's it seems even more depressing. At the door I asked the greeter if they still had the bargain cave. Was told no there wasn't, but there is a clearance isle in the middle of the store. We never did find it. Went to the brook trout pool by the stuffed animal display. It used to have a dozen real good size brookies in it. Today there was only a couple of small ones left. Maybe some one was hungry for trout? Then we went to the large fish tank. The water was very dirty and many of the fish were missing. Also ( this has always ticked me off) Who would ever think that salmon, trout, and LM bass could be in the same tank, and be comfortable in the same water temp. We then went to look at rods. I wanted to see what they had for St Croix. The racks are not marked as to brand so it took some poking around but we found a good selection of premier's. A young sales person was near by so I asked if they had any St Croix Avid's. They said they didn't know, but they would find someone who would. Soon another young sales person came by. I asked the same question and got the answer, we used too, I bought one here last year, nice rod, then he just stared at be. So, I asked, do you have any now?. the answer was, I don't think so, then he left. I remember when they put this store in. I was excited to have a store like this fairly close by. Now I don't think I'll ever stop back in there. It's Kinda depressing what it's come to.

Perfect Thanks Jim

Hi all, I love my Garmin echomap chirp, and have been using since this spring. However I have never gotten full fish arches. As the arches come into view they start at the bottom, climb to the peak, start back down but stop. From what I understand this is related to transducer angle. So, to correct this do I move the back of the transducer up or down? I know the easiest thing to do would be to keep tweaking it out on the water, but I'm not as nimble as I was in my younger years so I need to adjust it before I put the boat in. Thanks Jim