reellittlephish

You gotta be going to south end of Clear Lake? Anyway there are some variables here. First if wind comes up you will want to adjust the weight up so you can maintain contact with the bottom. That's probably #1. If you are fishng directly below the transducer at that depth probably start with 3/8 oz. If bottom is not jagged (that's lava rock there) you can get away with round dropshot weight ( Swell Mart) as long as you don't move the boat horizontally very much. If you are climbing the bait up and down points the round weight may snag a lot - depending on bottom composition..the probably best thing is buy, borrow or beg some mojo weights. http://www.mojolures.com/ If you need more weight then you are faced with pegging larger sinker or pegging a bead below a larger sinker. Don Iovino has info on this on his site. A piece of steel guitar string makes OK threader. Rubber bands or old rubber skirt for stopping material. Ok now you can manage botttom contact. that's #2 If you fishing horizontally at all you will appreciate the mojo's or bakudan or rockhopper.. http://www.iovino.com/ http://www.***/articles/dropshot-hotshot.shtml http://www.***/articles/hh/wall-drop-shot.shtml http://www.***/articles/dropshot-garland.shtml http://www.***/articles/dropshot-first.shtml These links may help dial you in...on leader length and other things I WOULD ONLY USE FLUROCARBON LINE - maybe P-line or Sugoi if you can manage it on your reel..I would use only recommended hooks. You could probably dial up to 8# test. Flurocarbon is pretty invisible in the water. If you use monofilament you will miss a lot of bites at that depth. Sometimes the fish just want the plastic sitting there being gently manipulated while the sinker stays in contact with the bottom and other times they will only hit it on the fall- that is raising and lowering the rod - little like spooning - or you might be fishing rip rap or wall where the plastic falls from ledge to ledge. Then the fall rate can really figure in. I've found at Lake Mead in that situation go with the lightest weight you can manage and still have some bottom contact. The trade off is of course waiting for the dang thing to get down there. If you get on them they will probably be schooled tight and you could load the boat in short time! Remember the hypodermic for de-compression. Fishing the Spook Throw it as far as you can with the wind at your back for starters. Establish a cadence. Like 1,2,3 pause - 1,2. Repeat that all the way to near the boat. Then think about some variations. Experiment with your rod jerking power, distance and angle- too much power and the lure will nose out and splash - which can be good. rod too high and line comes out and you loose action and maybe "spook" a prospective bite. Too little and it won't walk. Generally rod is down towards water - different rod angles make different actions. The slack you give it after each pull makes the walk. Vary your timing there as well. Long pulls and hesitation will cause it to walk more side to side. I'd start with something slow maybe even very slow if your partner can deal with it - given it is December and go from there. Letting it splash and just sit there before begining retrieve can be good. Just barely twitching it after it lands can be good also. with practice you can twitch it in place.

Heard Yamamoto was having difficulty keeping up with demand for Kreatures. Direct order here: http://www.insideline.net/ Didn't boat anything this year I would consider "a big fish" i.e. double digit. Two strong producers this year in Nevada were 9S watermelon red flake 4" senko#208 in spring and watermelon redflake tube post spawn which morphed to shad and bluegilll laminate pattern by summer. Began using snag-free tube weights which I really like. Gamakatsu EWG hooks increased my hook up ratio. All the bigger fish came on brown or black jig with Yum craw trailer

Aaron_S, JT is correct - opens worms. Your decision depends on water fished, boat size, style of fishing. I would get one size larger thrust than you think you might need. I owned a Minnkota 65 MX for maybe 15 years hung on the front of a 12' fiberglass Sears boat. Great little small lake rig. Was a hand control and that was a pain sometimes, but price and reliabilty - outstanding. Only went to the shop once, because I wrapped line in the prop and decided to replace the prop shaft seal. It is still running. This spring I bought a 97 Skeeter with a 2000 Motorguide Energy 67 (24/12v) on the bow. I like the industrial design of the Motorguide and find the rack and pinion steering OK, and I have some screws in my left ankle which compromises my stance. The electrical design is rugged and easy to troubleshoot. When I bought the Skeeter I knew the Motorguide shaft was bent and until I replaced that steering control was harder. Noticed once the shaft is bent it is easier to continue bending it when you bump things. Now I keep my Gatormount/Breakaway somewhat loose and so have not managed to bend the new shaft. That said , the bottom housing of the Motorguide was an absolute nightmare. Apparently Motorguide distributed quite a few of these models which had the transducer puck improperly glued into the housing and they leaked. There was no fix other than replacement and Motorguide does not allow transference of original warranty with sale. So several trips to the repair shop and about $350 to replace lower housing($240 part), new armature bearings and seals twice. Original motor cost about $800. So I spent some days hanging out in JR Trolling Motor shop down in Henderson, Nevada - gateway to Lake Mead. Opinion in the repair shop was "get a Minnkota" or "get 2 Motorguides is you fish tournaments". There were problems coming in with the Digital Motorguides where the electronics in the housing got wet from a leaking housing and were frying - also expensive. On Minnkota side there were complaints about the design of the dual cable control system and how easily those cables frayed and broke. Motorguide cables were also item for complaint and repair. Shop consensus was Minnkota had better repair service and easier for service people to work with. If you do a google search on Motorguide and Minnkota you will see a wide range of opinions. So I tried to keep this accurate and factual. Since I ponied up for the housing replacement in July 2004 the Motorguide has not had any problems and I'm fishing every weekend.

duncast48TN, This is list of Motorguide authorized service centers( from Motorguide site) in Tennesee. If your dealer can't solve the problem then better try authorized service center. For this problem be sure to take the boat and motor mounted as they have to check the complete system. Appliance Service Center 3560 Park Avenue Memphis, TN 38111 Phone: 901-324-5898 Alternate Phone: Fax: 901-324-3940 Linda's Lakeside Marine 436 Hwy 25 E Bean Station, TN 37708 Phone: 865-993-4343 Alternate Phone: Fax: 865-993-4862 Marine Electric Service 525 Savely Drive Hendersonville, TN 37075 Phone: 615-824-3205 Alternate Phone: Fax: 615-824-9295 Sport Outfitters 1152 Pine Street Lebanon, TN 37087 Phone: 615-449-3515 Alternate Phone: Fax: 615-444-6635 Swafford Electronics 6441 Friendsville Rd. Lenoir City, TN 37771 Phone: 865-986-4455 Alternate Phone: Fax: 865-986-4455 link to Motorguide Service: http://www.motorguide.com/index.pl/service_centers I had problems with the Motorguide Energy series - not related to charging and the Motorguide service people got repairs authorized. Had to call several times. but finally satisfaction.

duncast48TN, Gotta love those Motorguides when they run. Had similar situation with my motorguide this summer and it was a real head scratcher for a couple weeks. The local authorized reparman (JR Trolling Motor) in Vegas told me 90% of the time a problem like this either connections or bad batteries. John fishes the Angler Choice circuit and sees a lot of these situations. Solved my problem with multitester, his bank of batteries and about an hours diagnostic effort. Turned out the amperage draw starting the trolling motor (24v) was shorting out one of my deep cycle batteries internally. The batteries tested good at the local autoparts store! I have no affiliation with Trojan, but 2 new Trojan batteries solved the problem, but yours could also be poor connection(s). link: http://www.trojan-battery.com/TrojanPartNumber_2.asp

FatDaddy151, I see you're in Indiana. Out here in the west, Nevada and CA in the sun and on big water, those Nitros don't hold up so well. Upholstery cracks on everyone I've seen and appointments are a little cheap. For that 12K you can do better buying used from private party if you do the research. check your other posting about bass boats.

Bassin_Nutt has excellent advice. Also make conditional on the sale passing a marine inspection. You pay and usually costs $100. $12K will get you a nice ride. make sure you do a lot of research and ask a lot of questions. Remember you will be putting $$ (maybe 1000?)into this rig after you buy it Budget accordingly. Get exactly the model you want! Don't compromise - you will never be happy. Boat values found at NADA link at boattraderonline. Check these sources online: http://www.boattraderonline.com/index.html http://www.boatsetup.com/ Maybe inquire politiely through a local bass club if anyone wants to sell. This could be an inside line. Winter is better time to buy than spring when everyone raises the prices. IMHO hardest seller to deal with is someone who neglected their boat, realizes they want or need to sell it so pumps $$ into refitting and then wants to recoup the investment.

Currently fishing around Las Vegas, NV. Originally from California.