KSanford33

Unfortunately I'm still a few years away from that. As it turns out, 24DC on a battery does not mean 24 volts direct current. So my battery is 12v. Who knew?

Good to know. I would've hooked them up to the 24v battery and thought nothing of it. I've got the same exact battery for my fish finder, so no worries there. I'll definitely look for a decent charger as well. Thank you again for the help. If you don't mind, I might call on you again if I hit any snags.

Both TMs are 12v. I still have the battery I used for the fish finder on my kayak, so I can definitely keep that self-contained. I plan on running the TMs one at a time. The stern-mounted one is 40lbs thrust and the bow-mounted one is 38. What sort of battery(ies) would you recommend for this?

I appreciate it. I'm going to wire two trolling motors (one bow and one stern), a fish finder, and a livewell. I have one 24v deep cycle marine battery with 550 cold cranking amps and 140 reserve (not sure if you need that info). Can I just hook everything up to the battery, or do I need additional batteries, or a circuit breaker, or...? Thank you again for your help.

Cool, thank you so much! Since this is my first time trying something like this, I wanted to keep the costs as low as possible. I'm fine with the fabrication side of things, but if I get everything wired without shocking the snot out of myself it'll be a miracle.

Absolutely. I was able to get a bow-mounted trolling motor for $25 off of FB, and bought the boat from the NYC surplus auction for $150. This will be my winter project, so I'm still in the early stages of planning out what I want to do.

That's very impressive! If you don't mind me asking, how much do you think it weighs now, ballpark? I'm really just looking to add a casting deck and livewell, although I'm sure it's like car modifications: You say you're only going to do x and y, and by the time you're done it's literally unrecognizable. Yeah, I've watched a lot of TBN's stuff on YouTube. My only hangup with some of what they do is if you're going to spend that much, why not get an actual bass boat instead?

For those of you who have done a Jon boat to bass boat conversion, what pitfalls did you run into? Mine will be very basic since I'm still going to transport it in the back of my truck, so weight will be an issue; but I wanted to see what issues anyone ran into with theirs.

I can second Rensselaer Lake. Also, if you're near Schenectady, try Central Park pond. You have bank access around the entire thing and it's usually good for a couple bass in the high teens in length. Collins Lake in Scotia isn't bad either, but it's fished pretty heavily.

Growing up, my bucket list fishery was always Castaic Lake thanks to stories I read about Bob Crupi. It's a shame the state hasn't taken better care of their fisheries.

Thanks. I fished in a Slay Nation kayak tournament this year, but unfortunately they don't have a small vessel series in my state. I'll definitely check FB groups.

Whatever it is that I’m best at, fishing ain’t it!

I'm looking to compete in some tournaments next season in a jon boat. Obviously this rules out any tournaments requiring a co-angler, mainly because I can't imagine the disappointment when they're expecting to get into a real bass boat and here I turn up with a jon boat. That being said, what's the best way to find tournaments to enter with a jon boat?

This year was my first year of tournament angling, and I had a similar experience. I competed in three tournaments and didn't end up catching a bass until the third tournament. I caught a bunch of perch and rock bass in the first two tournaments, but that was it. I initially went out with the thought of catching a quick limit of 12-15" bass and then work on culling the rest of the day. That didn't work. Now I go out and just try to get 5 big bites.

How much difference do you think the lure makes? For example, would punching with a Strike King punch bug vs a Yamamoto Kreature make a noticeable difference? Assuming both baits made it through the canopy. I have a feeling you could really use almost any soft plastic since you’re dropping it right on them.

Do you fish these differently or use the same approach?

In all seriousness you’re lucky you’re not allergic to bee stings, otherwise this story might have a very different ending.

It does. If it's someone I have enough of a rapport with, I'll try to educate them on the 45* thing, but otherwise I usually don't say much. Like others have said, it invariably turns into an argument. As for the trash left behind, you could be a total stranger and I'll say something about that.

Punching heavy cover primarily.

What features do you guys look for in a pitching reel?

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet, but if you go to any Wal-Mart, they usually have a clearance bin full of Cotton Cordell Spots and a bunch of discontinued soft plastics. Like @Bankc said, when you get them out of the clearance bin, you don't mind throwing them anywhere. Whereas my $15 Jackhammer, that's a different story...

To be fair, they should do whatever they’d like to do. The majority of us will eat it up no matter what medium it is. So if Hank Parker wants to do podcasts, cool. If Rick Clunn wants to have a Q&A session, cool.

Same as you. I launch my kayak on the local river, pedal a few miles upriver, then drift back. It's fun to fish areas I usually wouldn't stop for and find there's fish there.

No, pickerel. Pike usually aren’t as slimy (or they’re big enough to grab by the gill). Up here, pickerel are commonly referred to as slime darts or snot rockets.

Rapala DT-6 in baby bass color.