Woody B

I'm sure that pretty much everyone in this thread needs 24 volts. I didn't mean to infer than 12 volts would be best for anyone else. I've got a small tin boat. The 55 pound 12 volt motor will go 3.2 mph on it.

I'm interested in the process for cutting down a shaft. I suppose google would be my friend. So, I wanted spot lock, anchor, or whatever. My boat is a tracker classic xl. It came with a 45 pound trolling motor that was adequate. I found a fairly new., used Minn Kota Powerdrive. I went with a Pro-Nav GPS system. If you add Minn Kota's i-pilot (is that what it's called?) to a powerdrive you lose the foot pedal. I wanted to keep the pedal. The Pro Nav stuff worked great for a month. I've had nothing but problems since. They've been great trying to help, but good customer service is no substitute for a working product. The first one lost all gps signal. They suggested a firmware update, which fixed it for a couple weeks. Last week it lost gps for a couple hours. I contacted them again. They sent me a complete new unit. It worked this morning for 45 minutes or so. So, I'm torn between getting the (backordered) GPS stuff from Minn Kota, and losing the use of the foot pedal, or buying a (backordered) Terrova. I'd pay the price for an Ulterra in a minute just to show off the auto stow, deploy and trim but I don't want to go to 24 volts. If I were looking at 24 volt stuff I'd strongly consider a Ghost. (a little above your price, but I say buy once cry once)

I rip on my friends who fish for catfish and crappie, but I don't hate on them. The crappie fishermen say they're fishing for food. I tell them I have a friend who runs a restaurant. He'll give me all the fish I want, already cooked, with hushpuppies and fries. All I have to do it give him some money. I took a kid (16) bass fishing a while back the lives to fish for catfish. He caught a couple 3 pound bass, but it didn't excite him. A few weeks later texted me a picture of a 10 pound flathead he caught right after I had gotten a 50+ pound flathead in the boat I caught bass fishing. His Dad said he nearly passed out when I sent him a picture of my cat. The cat was fat and full of eggs. I turned her loose to "catfish" some other bass fisherman in the future.

10 1/4 pound Largemouth on a Devils Horse. (topwater propeller bait). I need to add my PB smallmouth, and a story about taking a kid fishing. I took a 14 year old son of one of my friends fishing. We were at Lake James (NC) fishing on James' bottoms during spawning season. The water was clear so we could see the fish. I had the kid throw his texas rigged lizard toward a HUGE small mouth. I was watching her pick up the lizard by it's tail (not near the hook) and move it away. I grabbed hold of the kid to keep him from trying to set the hook. He cast there again, same thing. The 3rd time he cast there she engulfed it. He fought her for what seems like an hour, finally getting her in the boat. She weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces, and it on his wall. That was ~35 years ago. He's an avid bass fisherman now and has been since then. I caught my PB small mouth that same day, the same way. She weighed 5 1/2 pounds on my old mechanical scale. I released her. Experiences like I had that day are why my signature is "take a kid fishing".

Around here the March winds aren't as bad as the April wake boats. The wind make it's hard loading a boat though. Back in March, in 25 mph winds I caught three 5 pound bass and several smaller ones near a wind blown bank in less than an hour.

I've never caught a bass on an Alabama Rig.

My old boat that I sold 30 years ago was a tiller with no kill switch. I kept forgetting to attach the lanyard with my new boat, but I've found something that helps me remember. For some reason I can remember to cut the kill switch off (disabling the motor) when I've stopped the boat. I'll sit down, try to start the engine, then, when it don't start I'll remember to attach it. I know I should all the time, but the only time I wear a life jacket is when it's really cold. I should get an inflatable and leave it sitting in my seat, with the kill switch lanyard attached to it.

For covering water a crankbait.

58 year old automotive technician, woodworker, guitar player. My hands hurt in the morning but stretching takes care of that. (so far). I've got a partial tear in my right shoulder, and a recurring pinched nerve in my neck that causes pain in my left arm. Over the past year ice and physical therapy have helped my shoulder a bunch. My neck nerve is aggravated by leaning my head back, looking up while working under cars. I've helped that a bunch by using different glasses when I'm working under a car. (not leaning way back to look through my bi focals. So for fishing I always used rods with a short grip and cast with my right arm. Now this hurts my shoulder. Using rods with long grips, and casting with both hands has remedied this. I had some back and between the shoulder/neck paid after fishing for quite a while. I fixed this by getting an adjustable seat pedestal and a butt seat, instead of the standard height with a folding seat. Raising and lowering it throughout the day helps eliminate this fatigue. I've been blessed with good health, and I'm thankful for it. I'm 58, I've never had any kind of surgery and haven't spent a single night in the hospital as a patient since my birth.

Not hook related, but......... every time I think "this is a bad idea", it's a bad idea. I was loading my boat a couple weeks ago. The ramp is pretty flat so the back of the truck is in the water. It was warm enough that I didn't have on my rubber boots, but I did have shoes and socks on. I tied down the front of the boat standing on the trailer tongue. I had the bed cover rolled over my truck bed, and I didn't want to get my shoes wet. The curb at the edge of the boat ramp was high enough that it was just above the water 3 feet or so beside the truck bumper. I decided I'd jump from the bumper onto the curb. I wish someone would have made a video. I ended up basically standing on my head in the water. Not only did I get my shoes wet, but all my clothes, wallet and gun were soaked. It's a wonder I didn't break my neck or something. I didn't even get a bruise.

I need to add, it's bad luck to be superstitious.

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission says But.... they list the state record spotted bass out of the region indicated. They consider spotted bass an invasive species.

I believe my Tracker Classic XL is around the same size and the Lund mentioned. I've got a 55 pound trolling motor (powerdrive with pro-nav gps). It would quickly eat the 88 amp hour Interstate that came in my boat. I've got a 125 amp hour lithium now. I fished 12 + hours last Saturday with both of my grandsons (15 and 17) in the boat. It was windy. My trolling motor battery was at 56% at the end of the day. The 55 pound motor will propel the boat to over 3 mph. It wouldn't hurt to have 24 volts, but I don't think it's necessary.

My boat came with an Interstate group 24 cranking battery and an Interstate group 27 trolling motor battery. (bought in Dec 2021). I would occasionally have to jump the big motor if I stayed on the trolling motor for a long time. I added a trolling motor with anchoring, then I'd run through the trolling motor battery in 4 or 5 hours. I decided to add a lithium trolling motor battery, and combine the Interstates to make 1 big cranking battery. Last Saturday I fished from dawn until dark in strong winds and my 2 teenage grandsons in the boat. My trolling motor battery (125 amp hour) was at 52% when I got home. Combining the 2 lead batteries solved my electronics/cranking battery problems. I already had a Noco charger. The cost of lithium stung. I'll decided if it was worth it in 10 years or so.

I only use baitcast reels. I only use mono. I use 3 rod-reel combos. One for light stuff, one for heavy stuff and one for worms/spinnerbaits. The "light stuff" rod is a 30+ year old ugly stick. (back when they were marketed as unbreakable). I catch more bass than anyone. (LOL) I hate wake boats.

A couple weeks ago I caught a 50+ pound flathead catfish on a square bill crankbait. I was fishing on Lake Wylie (NC/SC). I was planning on fishing until 1PM as I had other things that I needed to do. At 1PM I told myself "this is my last cast". I caught a 2 pound bass, so I decided to fish 15 more minutes. I saw what I thought was a log on my side view sonar. I casts a little past where I thought the log was. When the fish hit I thought I had snagged the log....... then it took off toward the main channel. It was going into the wind away from the bank. I followed it with my trolling motor to keep it from taking all my line. It took me ~40 minutes or so to land it. I was at least 1/4 mile away from the spot I hooked it when I finally got it in the boat. It was 45 inches long. My 50 pound mechanical scale was bottomed out with several inches of it's tail still on the boat. I've caught an occasional catfish while bass fishing but never one like this.