HunteR

I feel your pain. I thought I would never have a boat. While I lost my employment, I was fortunate enough to be bought out > Ford Motor Co. After getting some debt cleaned up, I was not able to get a NEW boat. I did find one that was a showroom left over with 1 owner who traded back immediatly for a bigger boat. Still, without the buyout, Davey boy would not have a boat! THANK YOU LORD!!!!! The main thing I would say is Look for and buy a boat you REALLY WANT! I shopped for 4 months online and around the area for new and used rigs. And YES the best deals are in winter but the most available boats are in spring and early summer (When the big guys get a NEW BOAT ) They ARE out there. DO NOT SETTLE for anything that is not what you really want!!! Here is a good link to some perty nice preowned boats... http://stlouis.craigslist.org/ scroll to boats and click... http://stlouis.craigslist.org/boa/ Mind this is the St Louis page, just enter your city and browse. Please understand that I know you do not have cash in hand, and I HOPE and PRAY you will be blessed with a rightious boat, but if you live on pages like this you will be MUCH educated on what folks are asking and if it is fair. For this to work you must understand NEW boat pricing, as well as dealer USED boat pricing. http://www.nadaguides.com/SectionHome.aspx?l=1&w=24&p=0&f=5601&DNAid=12879,8,192599,4176805,365035419,1180888150,boat%20blue%20book&aid=75276&iid=56865&nozip=1 > You can compare your findings here. Also consider your expense of use and upgrade (bringing it to your liking with add ons) I hope this helped, and I hope you will find a nice boat within your means. Dave

Nice, Very Nice!

This is a great bait. I have had trouble with hook set tho. Recently a fella out at the river while we were snaggin told us to STOMP on the heads. Said it made em crazy HE WAS RIGHT! Now we stomp em 2-3 times till juices are lterally oozing out. ( If yout in the boat, an old pliers works as well ) String em on the hook like a night crawler. They bait easy and do stay on. And using them this way allows you to use larger 'MORSELS" ;D We have like tripled our hooksets and catches. Our catches now are CONSIDERABLY bigger then ever before. Just 2 weeks back my fishin partner took a 46" Flathead out of Baldwin Lake. That after myself taking 5 fish with a combined weight of 33lbs > One was a 14lb Bluecat. And this at Coffeen so it works in many lakes as we have found. Something about smashing them...releases enzymes or some such I guess. All I do know is IT WORKS! Give it a try > You'll be glad ya did!

:)Grats! First boats are a lil like first loves. ENJOY! Dave

Very Nice for a first fish. LOL mine was a small drum :

Power Bait, Salmon Eggs, Night Crawlers. I have alot of luck with in line spinners, mepps, roostertails, and woolyboogers! Dave

Yeah alot of lakes by me have 25hp limits and run tourney's. I have the 50 now so I am waiting on parts to finish converting my 9.9 to fish Coffeen (in specific) and the strip pits > I can't wait! Now consider Youngangler13, that if you find these lakes there WILL be some of the big guys show up with 275-300hp engines that they can't use > They will be running only electrics!!!! I have a vision of Youngangler and his partner BLASTING past high dollar boats that can only use the TM! GL with your boat, anything beats a blank and upgrades are sure to come lil brother!!!!! Dave

OMGoodness! LOL That is priceless! ;D

I think it would definatley be more comfortable on the back. I know I am sore as get out sometimes from the "Leaning". Check out this thread. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1172115652/0 A recess was installed. I want to have this done, but my dealer tells me it will get into the front supports of my Triton 1650SC. Good Luck with yours! Dave

EXACTLY. Plexi Glass and Glue. You can make it any size or shape ya desire. My buddy runs his like this. Stays put and still relativley light to handle.

I have caught an 18 pound Blue Cat on a parakeet crank bait. Several Channels as a kid on beetle spins. I hear they catch alot of Channels and Flat heads at baldwin on various lures. Stands to reason, if they are hungry, I mean they eat live fish as well.

Fishing alone is nice, but yeah it is nice to have your buddy along. Here is a thought... When you are fishing alone and the MAN wants to see your throwable...(Make sure you have it first...) But if ya wanna get a lil rise outta him > Ask him who would throw it to you if you fell in???

All this talk about Ducks and a Geese... Well I am originally from St Louis. On dog days we would fish for carp at Carondolet Park. One morning this guy comes down, rigs his rod, then studies a group of ducks. 2 cast later he hangs one, man what a fight. He pulls the duck up, snaps his neck, and smiling heads for the car. Hahahaha What a way to get a duck dinner.

You did the right thing! If people have no conscious, then it is nothing more then stooping to their level! Ozarkie is wise in his action IMHO!!! Example...I don't wish to change thread, but make a point. If you have no sense of "HUMILITY" then you simply care not for your fellows! On one of my maiden voyages, as pulling into the ramp dock (It was VERY windy) I nearly bumped my boat into a guys new boat. I asked my son to arm out and stop us from bumping. All was good in the end, but you could see in his face "Dang dude, awful close to my rig!" I felt SMALL, BUT I was upfront to apologize for my INEXPERIENCE! I believe that if I had said nothing, He WOULD have! My point? Be humble and expect the same, but remember as ole Ron White states... YOU CAN"T FIX STUPID! Not with a fight, they will heal and be the same! I'd bet 9 times out of 10 that massive stupidity is most always accompinied by MASSIVE ARROGANCE!!!

Welcome Aboard! Very nice rig. GL with her... Dave

Maybe glue in some wider keepers/suppoorts for it?

Heh, I bought my boat in Feb this year. First time out I almost sank her for leaving the plug out. :-[ I panicked and backed the truck back under her to pull her out to drain. Later my buddy whom I have been loading and unloading his boat for years said "Why didn't ya just pop the plug in and turn on your bilge?" : LMAO... Well a few trips later with my son, same thing Forgot the plug...This time he is panicking, and I am calm. Don't freak I say, pop the plug in, turn on the bilge, we were dry afore we were more n a few yards from the dock. Unless they are seriously unsafe, I never pass judgment, as this could very well be me that is the spectacle...Did I mention that on my maiden voyage to Coffeen the big guys were having a tourny? O yeah, A sht load of tourny ready dudes got to watch that go down! Hahahahaha O well Live and Learn / Live and LET LEARN! Dave

Grats , is a beautiful boat. I looked at that one hard when shopping. Looking at that almost had me leaning Glass!!! ; GL with her! Dave

:-?WOW I am sorry to hear that! I have been running my Triton 1650 HARD since it was purchased in Feb. Tis not often I hear bad things about Triton's, however, coming from the Ford Assy Plant I can tell you that not EVERY item that runs past it's workers is completley defect free, to be modest! We are campers and deer hunt via our boats, so we are beaching them alot. Aluminum has my vote! And if the money was right, for the storage capability, I would have gone G3!

Thank you ALL very much for the feed back. Getting to warmer days but Ima still give her a whirl for a bit. Looking forward to a post with a respectable Musky Dave

Big Ole Gizzard Shad. We hit em alot snaggin for spoonies on the Mississippi here in WC Illinois. We have snagged em 12" and over > they get large. We freeze em for Catfish bait later when bait fish are tough. Eat em? hmmmm Ima pass!

What say a lil feedback on the Berkley Big Game Rods... Are they junk or will they suffice till I can get some really nice ones, and on that note what would some of you recommend as a good cast/troll rod for Musky?

WOW! Thanx for the input, please MORE! K Bigger leaders > Got it! A huge net, Got that too! Now for the lok-n-weigh, well I bought a Berkley Lip Grip. Lindey's Glove? I'll look into that TY, I have already been looking into the Musky Armor, I have gloves that could work till I get some better ones. I am very pleased to hear that the reels and line are OK. I have almost all Abu's for Bass as well, they last forever. I bought a pair of Berkley Big Game Power Series. I looked at several high dollar trolling rods and Musky specific rods. But they are so expensive. Maybe by Fall I can get a good pair, but I am hoping this will get us in the game. But still if these rods are not up to par, I am not going to be insulted by honest input, I can take it . Honesty is to be respected, especially if wisdom and caring are the driving factors in that honesty!!! Plus if these are not acceptable, I very much value your opinions, they have not been used yet and can be returned!! You guys been alot of help, any other advice will be much appreciated! Dave :)

Mornin I just loaded up on some Musky tackle. We (Lil guy and I) are very interested in trying to catch "FISHZILLA" We aquired some Bagley's Bango B's, Monster Shads, and Deep Diving Bango's, Rapala Super Shad Rap's, REBEL Jointed Minnows, Minnowlure Deep Cranks, Storm Shallow Thunder's and Deep Thunder's, Creek Chub Striper Strike's and a variety of Bucktails > Mepps Muskie Killers! I am currently looking into the spinner baits. All baits are 6" to 13" in length with diving ranges from 2 to 17 feet. Steel liters @30lb in both black and silver 9" and 12". I picked these lures out thru memory of what I saw Grandparents and uncles use when we were in Minn. as a very young boy. I am using Ambassaduer 6500CL3's and 6000's (Both models have bait alert and the only difference I can see is gear ratio. 6.3.1 and 5.3.1) on 7 Ft. 1 pc Heavy Action rods. I know the CL series are better choices but I remember well the folks catching em on plain ole 5000's as a child. (Some of those reels outlived their owners!) >>>My main concern...I strung them with braided 50lb > 12lb dia line. > Power Pro...I am partial to Spider Wire but keep hearing how well Power Pro performs. Will this work or will the lack of stretch destroy our new reels? I am noticing when refering to line most are saying Mono of at least 30lb test. Any input is welcomed, on the line or baits > know of something we should add? Thanx Dave BTW > Realease tools... Lip Grip? How/Where are these guys holding these fish in pics? Under the jaw it appears? Some of the old timers grabbed em buy the eye sockets, but I know this to be a NO NO or the fish will be injured upon release. They kept alot of Pike and Musky to eat up there, so maybe this is why they handled them this way, I donno. But I would like to know how to handle these montsers so they are returned unharmed to the water and we keep our fingers!