BrianSnat

I was fishing on late season ice with my buddy. The ice was thin enough that we made it a point not to stand too close to each other. In Retrospect we probably shouldnt have been out there at all. Anyway, we hear a couple of ATVs buzzing around the woods. Apparently they saw us on the ice and figured it was good so they took their machines on the ice, with us frantically waving them go back. They got the message and slowly backed up the way theh had come.

I've been thinking of upsizing a bit. I have a 14' aluminum now and would like to go to 17 to 18 feet. I still want aluminum to keep it light. So far I've been looking hard at Lund and SmokerCraft and like what I've seen. The SmokerCraft Pro Camp has a nice balance between light weight and features. Their Ultima and Pro Angler also look nice but they are getting up there in weight.

You may be best off looking for a used kayak. You can get a lot more bang for the buck. Sun Dolpin is garbage. Pelican too. They are made of cheap plastic. I lived in a lake community where a lot kayaks and canoes were stored on the shore. You could pick out the Sun Dolphins and Pelicans from a distance because of the terribly warped hulls. It only takes a couple of seasons for that to happen. Also consider that if you buy a cheap kayak new, you can add couple of hundred bucks to the cost after buying a paddle, PFD and outfitting it with rod holders and other fishing friendly anemities. A good used boat will usually come with all that included in the price and you are getting a better boat for slightly more than you will pay for a cheap kayak.

Throw a few blocks of poison in the boat. It gives them a ready "food" source. Worst case is that you will have to deal with a few mouse carcasses come spring.

The problem is this. Once you get a high end reel, the rest of yours will feel like crap. You will never want to use them again and might find yourself wanting to upgrade all of your reels and that will be an expensive propisition.

I picked up a Fenwick HMG medium wt. rod, 7' with medium taper this summer. It quickly became my go to rod for everything but soft plastics. I love the feel of the rod and the way it throws light lures, and best of all, it was LT $100.

I've had a lot of conflicting info regarding running the motor dry of gas vs. leaving the gas in with stabilized gas. I tried both. For the first few years I would run the motor dry, but I had a hard time getting it to start come spring and it took a few trips for it to run well. The last two winters I ran some Stabil and Startron through the motor and left the gas in over the winter . The motor started on the first try each spring. I mentioned this to my mechanic and he said that leaving the stabilized gas in keeps the seals lubricated. Whether that is true or not, it has been my experience that leaving stabilized gas in the motor is the better route.

Hard to beat the Lunds for a family. My fishing buddy has a 2075 Tyee and I'm jealous. He bought it specifically because he had a family and wanted to have a boat that was good for the family, but it is a great boat to fish from for bass or anything else.

No problem. You can always change the oil come spring if you think it is an issue. And you also want to run that Stabil gas through the engine befoe storing it over the winter. It does the motor no good sitting in your gas tank.

It's a fine canoe for fishing. I much prefer canoes for fishing over kayaks. Outfitting it for fishing should be easy and not expensive. Add a couple of clamp on rod holders. Humminbird makes a clamp on fish finder called Fishin' Buddy that is ideal for a canoe. Or if you have a little bit of skill you can make a clamp on mount for nearly any fish finder using wood and/or PVC pipe or a combiation. I did it and I'm about a 2 on 1-10 scale when it comes to DIY things. I think it cost me about $15. You can also make a DIY mount for a trolling motor or buy one. Also you will not regret getting yourself one of these Sit backer Two points. I assume its a tandem canoe. If you are solo, you want to get yourself close to the center of the canoe when paddling to control it better. Sitting solo in the back seat of a tandem makes paddling difficult, especially if there is a breeze. If it is a symetrical canoe, you can flip it around and paddle from the front seat. I do that with my tandem canoe when I'm going solo (this doesn't work with an asymetrical canoe) . Or there are after market canoe seats that you can place toward the center. Also, though you have a rack, you need front tie downs, especially if you will be taking it on the highway. Racks fail and the last thing you want to see is your canoe bouncing down the road in your rear view mirror at 65 mph. There are a number of ways to do it. You can go to a place like paddling.net for ideas from the paddling experts.

I'd definitely go no shorter than 14 ft, especially if you fish with your grandfather. I definitely think you should forget the idea of cartopping the boat. Even a 12 ft jonboat is going to be close to 100 lbs and that's without any deck. Also there is something to be said for loading the boat with gear in your driveway and being ready to fish when you get to the water. If you cartop you need to load and unload it at the launch. PITA You can deck the boat but consider keeping the deck lower so as to lower the center of gravity. See my boat below. It's extremely stable BTW I got this 14 ft V hull with 9.9 motor and trailer for $1,500. I'm not much of a bargainer and paid the asking price, but probably could have chewed him down.

How about some pics. It would be great to see the before and after shots

I've done the hook thing too. I was awaiting a friend and took the boat out a short distance to fish while waiting. I had a jitterbug hooked to the biggest guide. When I went to take it off it slipped and the pole acted like a bow and drove a hook into my thumb. I tried but couldn't get it out. No way to push it through and cut the barb because of the angle and it was in deep. My buddy showed up and saw it and said "Shouldn't you go to the ER?" I said that I preferred to fish and worry about it later. Got off the water about midnight and when I came home my wife woke up and we had a chat while I was hiding my hand behind my back. I taped the lure to my hand so it didn't flop around while I slept (in retrospect I should have simply taken it off and left only the hook) and the next morning I went to the ER. When I told the Dr that it had happened the night before he said "That was stupid to wait so long". Yup.

Unfortunately they make these like garbage these days. You would do well to replace the crappy hooks while you are at it.

I have a few. One time I trailered the boat to a local lake. I had just loaded two of my rods with brand new line and put them in the rod holders with no lure on the end. I apparently didn't properly snug the line under the tab on the spinning reel. By the time I got to the lake (about 2 miles away), both spools were bare. The wind apparently caught the line and ripped it from the reels as I drove. No plug? I've done that several times. I had a 12 ft jon boat I kept chained on the shore of the local lake. The plug was always in it so I never bothered to check. I was about 100 yards onto the lake when I noticed water around my ankles. Someone had swiped my plug. The other times were with my boat on the trailer. Each time I caught it before I even backed away the trailer, but it's amazing how much water can enter the boat in such a short time. Another time I had launched the boat and was pulling the trailer out. I hadn't noticed that the wind had blown the boat back over the trailer and the trailer hooked my trolling motor on the way out and ripped it from the transom. I fished it out of the water, reattached it and tried it and it worked fine...for a few minutes, then it died. I probably shouldn't have used it until it had completely dried it out. That was a $250 mistake. Probably the dumbest thing I ever did was while night fishing on a reservoir. I left the launch, and was soon at full speed with my "tiller" 9.9. I was headed out to open water, there were no other boats on the reservoir (the lot at the launch was empty and no boat lights on the water) so when I noticed my fish finder wasn't working I looked down at the battery to check the connection. I was fiddling with it when I looked up and saw something strange ahead of me closing fast. It took me probably a fraction of a second to realize what it was, but it seemed to happen in slow motion. It was the shoreline. I took my hand off the tiller, covered my head and braced for impact and hit the shore at nearly full speed (the boat gets up to 18-20 mph when I'm on it alone). I was pitched face down on the floor. I was fine, but what about the boat? I had hit a gravel, but gently sloped section. The boat seemed to be fine but it was pretty far up on the shore. I gave it may all and eventually got it back on the water. Taking my hand off the tiller had slowed the motor an instant before impact and it was undamaged. I consider myself very lucky. 50 yards to the right I would have hit a concrete dam head on. 50 yards to my left and I would have hit a boulder field on the shore. I landed in the only possible spot in that area that wouldn't have been a total disaster. I've never taken my eyes off the water while driving the boat since.

I tried braid on my spinning tackle and disliked the vibration and noise, so went back to mono on my spinning outfits. I still use braid on my bait casters and the vibration and noise isn't nearly as loud and doesn't bother me.

At one lake I fished there was one beaver who would follow me around all night and slap its tail every few minutes. Scared the crap out of me the first few times it happened. I tried fishing the opposite side of the lake a few hundred yards from its home, but I guess it considered the entire lake its territory. I got used to it after a while.

When I had a real bad case of wrist tendonitis that is exactly what I did, grabbed one of my old bowling wrist supports. At first it was good, but as the tendonitis got worse, I took a wooden ruler and placed it over the back of the wrist support and then wrapped the hand and wrist with an ace bandage, which totally immobilized it. After about two months it went away, thankfully never to return.

That happened to me when I accidentally hooked the motor with the trailer when I was pulling the trailer out of the water. I fished the motor out and stupidly tried to use it. It worked for about 5 minutes then died. I think that if I never tried to use it until it was well dried out, it might have lived. I put the motor on Freecycle stating that it didn't work and why, and received about 20 emails asking for it in a few hours. I guess there must have been an easy fix.

I'd go with another Shimano, or perhaps the Pfleuger President. Can't go wrong with either.

I have 5 baitcasters, two have 35 lb Power Pro and the others have 50 lb. I really haven't had issues with either

Some good rods in that price range are the Fenwick HMG and HMX and the Shimano Clarus. The Berkely Lightning Rod and Lightning Rod Shock are even cheaper (usually under $50) and great rods for the money. That'll save you some money for other gear.

It will do the job. But I found that fixed speed motors are not to my liking. High is fine for moving around but way too fast for most trolling. The low fixed speed seems too slow sometimes and the medium is a little too fast for what I want. I think you would be happier spending a little more for a variable speed motor.

I simply get the deep cycle batteries from WalMart or BJs for my 55 lb thrust Minn Kota. They are about $100 and seem to last about three years. I'm sure I could get more out of them if I were to keep then charged over the winter. I unfortunately tend to leave them on the porch, covered by snow all winter which isn't good for them I'm sure.

About 4 months ago I think it was Sports Authority that had a buy one, get the second at half price sale on Gary Yamamoto lures, I bought four Yamamoto Tenkuu suspending jerkbaits. They are all still in the original box in my tackle box.