st.croix

Just wondering what kind of a boat can I get for around $3000? I used to have a nice 16ft boat with a 25horse, front deck and trolling motor. nothing too fancy I didn't have rod holders, any storage or electronics. I sold it about 3 years ago and have been fishing off my pontoon boat and kayaks since then. I recently decided I want another straight up fishing boat. I'm obviously not in the market for anything super fancy with my 3k range so I'm just wondering what kind of boat could I get? Is there any special brand boat or style that have worked good for anyone that you could recommend or suggest? I don't live on giant lakes so I don't need anything with a huge motor to speed from point A to B and I mostly just troll the drop offs so I'm not looking for anything to high end. I have been looking on craigslist and came across a few that look like they would work but just want to make sure there isn't certain things I should be looking for in a boat?

Yeah I definitely wouldn't mind trying to get rid of the barb. I could take a few lost fish then to actually lose a fish. if the fish takes it deep tho and all you can see is the shank there's really not much you can do unless there is some hidden trick that I have not came across in the 15 years of fishing right? I hear that colored hooks ( like the red steel hooks I'm using ) wont rust out and kill the fish. I really hate bad hook ups, I wish there was a way around all of that. Nothing I hate more then pulling a fish out with a hook in its side or letting it back in the water with a hook in its throat.

thanks Clayton. Do you just put a splitshot a few feet up from the bait then and let it sit at the bottom while the minnow swims the few feet of line he has? I have heard of a lot of people not using bobbers but I would guess it would be better because I put a bobber stop about 15ft with a small splitshot about 2ft from the minnow so it can swim more freely and natural. I will have to try other methods including yours I guess. I wasn't intentionally fishing bass either I was going for a big pike that I had on a jerk bait that got off so I thought I would try again with live minnows. I did catch a pike like I was wanting to but it was not the monster that I had the other day Not to completely jump off topic but don't pike somewhat travel in groups? If I caught this smaller one today in the same spot as I had the big one on the other day there should be more in that area? sorry if that's a ignorant question but I have spent most of my reading and learning on bass and different panfish. This summer I would like to get more into walleye and pike fishing, always heard of good catches on my lake but never have fished them.

Just started fishing with minnows the other day and wondering what the best style hooks are for them? I'm using a red Gamakatsu octopus hook right now and I'm hooking it in the middle of the back near the dorsal fin and straight up and down the spine towards its head. I saw this method on youtube and its working good so far, hook stays in place and the minnow has plenty of life and action left. The problem I have right now is I'm having a hard time holding the hook to get it in the minnow the way I want. the wide gap and short shaft is making my fingers get to close between the hook and fish and its a pain however I do eventually get it. Second problem is the bass are sucking these minnows right up before I even see the bobber move and unfortunately 2 swallowed the hook and I had to cut the line and hope they make it. I feel like the hook is about as big as it should be for the size minnows I'm using ( about 3'' fat minnows size 2 hook ) but is there anything I can do so the bass cant suck that hook down? Caught a pike to and did the same thing, minnow and hook gone.. I have never fished with minnows in my lake but the other day I caught some off my shore and thought I would give it a try. So far I don't even have time to set the pole down before the bobber goes under. I'm pretty sure not to many people fish live minnows on this lake so it might just be my new bait for the summer, that's why I want to get the hooks down right. sizes and shapes and any other advice you can give me about minnow rigging. Thanks

yeh thanks guys, I will try all of those different techniques. As far as water temp I never thought of that but you could be right. I put someones dock in the other day and froze I disagree off! I haven't put a temperature gauge in yet but I will now and see what its at. Schools of bluegill are starting to come up shallow and I seen a few walleye last night in about 2ft of water. I never thought of that so I'm sure once it gets to full warmth between 70 and 80 degrees I will have a lot better luck. Every where online said bacon and chicken and all that other stuff was no good and fresh cut fish is the best you can get but I guess it wouldn't hurt to try since so many of you are recommending it. I crank bass all day on the crawdads made by yum so I can only imagine what they will think of a live one with no where to hide. Then again like you said I may be surprised. I have never used live bait in my lake tho so I'm going to start giving it all a try. Minnows, worms and crayfish. I have also heard of the trick putting a line with bait on it and slowly pulling it up and passed that idea up because I couldn't believe that they would hang on to it once it starts moving.

I have been doing a lot of research on crayfish trapping lately because I know it is awesome bait and I know that no one on my lake ever fishes with live crayfish. I built my own trap to an exact replica of the more popular ones I have seen and read about online with the guards coming off the entrance so they can't climb back out and last night I set it up for the first time using fresh cut bluegill which also was said to be the #1 hands down best crayfish bait and I set it but a huge shoreline of rocks all the size of about a football. i know this spot holds crayfish because a few years ago when I was younger I would just go and flip the rocks and grab them when they backed into a corner and caught many that way. Anyway my trap was empty this morning and the fish in the bait box doesn't look like it has been touched or pulled at. do I need to leave it there for another night or 2 for them to get used to it and discover its there and safe? Like i said this is an exact replica of a trap you would buy so I wont blame that and I know for a fact this spot holds thousands of crayfish up and down the shore. I was expecting a trap full and all I got was what I put down haha. anyone have experience or tips? I can't imagine any better place for them to live but should I try it somewhere else? I have rivers, rocky shores and shallow seaweed and lily pads, pretty much the same as any other major lakes.

I just found one of my old abu garcia ambassadors and I went to line it up and once it became full the right side of the spool had more line then the left side? It's never done this before so I don't know what it could be. It still casts and reels great but I'm annoyed with the uneven line on the spool.

Thanks guys glad I got that cleared up. I knew that I had to be on to something that someone was already onto haha.

I was on another forum reading about different lines for baitcasting setups and there has been a few answers along the lines of saying " PowerPro in 30 or 50lb with a P-Line fluorocarbon leader and any kind of cheap mono backing ". I understand the leader obviously but what is a backing? backing sounds like what I was trying to describe with just having useless line on the spool to take up space

Just a thought of mine. I have never heard anything about it but I'm sure there is an answer. I go through a lot of line in a season because I fish about everyday and my line is always in the sun and water so I'm always changing it. I'm wondering why we put 140yds of line on a reel when we only utilize about 60yds before we ( i ) change it? I feel like there is a lot of brand new perfect line underneath the small amount of line that gets used everyday and when I change it I watch about 80yds of new line underneath go into the trash. It would make sense to me to leave about 80yds of line on my reel all the time and just tie my new line onto that and reel on another 80yds of new line which is all I use so when its time to change again I'm only throwing away the line that I used. Am I out of the loop on this because I feel like this is logical and people already do it to save line but I have never heard of it.

I will open it up and make sure everything is clean and running smooth inside. I have never oiled or greased any of my reels tho so what oil/grease should I use? as far as the spool stopping abruptly, every once in a while when i fling it reel hard it sounds like a bearing or something rubbing when the spool is spinning super fast, but I noticed its more so when I have the drag set tighter. I set the spool tension different for all different weighted baits and have always been fine with it so I know thats not the problem. as far as it accelerating to fast that might be one of the problems because even if I thumb the spool the whole time its spinning it somehow still manages to slowly nest up. I have tried a bunch of different casting methods ( overhand, side arm and under hand ) and its all the same. I guess i'll just start with cleaning up the components and going from there. If all else I will be left with a reason to upgrade to a new one :-)

I have had the bantam curado for a few years now and have never had a problem. just at the beginning of this year when I got it out I relined it with the same line as all the other years ( 20lb P-Line ) and now when i cast it ( same lures as all the years before ) it gets crazy backlash and balls up with in about 20ft of casting distance. I know its not user error because I have not had problems with it for 3 years until all the sudden? does it need maintenance of any kind or is this caused by some type of component going bad?

why is that, when is the best time to fish cranks and other hard baits?

does anyone have any opinion on what the best producer of crankbaits is for all round crankbaiting?

aright its been really hard to catch bass the past week or two, it has been about 10 degrees over normal here so the bass are out of sight. I have been fishing the DT14 and had a little luck with it but still havent really found out exactly what the bass are doing and how to get them up. any tips on where to find them and what to throw to them when it gets hot in the middle day like this?

This topic has been moved to [link=http://bassresource.com/cgi-bin/bass_fish/YaBB.pl?board=boating_ID;action=display;num=1113872562;start=0]Bass Boating, Canoeing, Tubing and more[/link] by Glenn.

hey i have a 14 foot aluminum boat and its pretty wide with a deck on front i was wondering what kind of trolling motor to put up there.I dont think it would need much thrust cuz its just an aluminum fishin boat. thanks