SmokeRise1

Anyone know the diameter of Minn Kota 24v shaft? 1 1/8" or maybe 1 1/4".

My lake is very shallow and full of stumps. When the management lowers the dam, new obstacles pop up from time to time. I go through a half dozen pins a summer.

I read on another site that you can cut down #7018 welding rods to be used as shear pins for Minn Kota motors after you remove the flux. I think I could make a life-time supply of pins out of a dollar's worth of rods. Has anyone tried this? Any welders on here who can tell me how to cut a welding rod?

Are all trolling motor shear pins the same size? Minn Kota, Motorguide, Bow, Stern, Thrust???

Anybody know where to get replacement rubber feet for the Foot Control on a Minn Kota? Home Depot or hardware store have anything like that?

I just inherited a MinnKota AT40 from a friend. The foot pedal doesn't do anything because I think the steering cables are stretched beyond the point of being useful. I just ordered a replacement kit and will be installing it next weekend. Anyone done this before and have any advice, diagrams, videos? Thanks in advance, TB

I fish out of a Basstender 11.3 and I think it would meet your needs.

I've been appointed Tournament Committee Chairman of my local club for the next 2 years. It is more of a social club than a serious fishing club so it might be a bit of a challenge. I would like to have some fun tournaments to draw more anglers to the lake. I think 1 will be a "Barbie Pole" tournament and maybe 1 where everyone has to pick 1 lure out of a bag (without seeing inside) and fish with only that lure for the whole event. Anyone have any ideas for fun tournaments?

I wish I could fish jigs in my lake. It's too shallow and the bottom is nothing but muck.

That's the best advice...so far.

I know. I know. Keep the jars in a separate container. Well I made the mistake of stuffing my headlamp in the same pocket of my tackle bag containing a jar of JJ's and now it reeks. I put it on the other night and after a few minutes I had a killer headache and couldn't take it anymore. Does anyone have any tips on soaking or cleaning cloth that has been exposed to JJ's? Thanks, TB

I also tried the popper. Issue with mine is, they don't pop. They just submerge for the length of your pull and then resurface. 8# mono on a m/h spinning rod with a fast tip. $$$ down the drain for me.

My local lake is about 100 acres and fairly shallow (avg. 8 feet) so I consider it a pond. 1 Popper- everywhere 2 Rage Shad or Toad- in the pads 3 Wacky Rig- along the shoreline 4 Suspending Jerkbaits- in open water 5 Chatterbait White/White- everywhere

The "admin" tag should have clued you into knowing this was legit.

I like these worms too. I especially like the larger black or motor oil at night, weightless and worked very slowly.

I have both rear and front drag Symetres. I got the rear drag one by mistake and while I had read a lot about how bad they are, it is probably my favorite spinning reel. I also can't stand the quickfire trigger on other reels. I think the lever on the back of the rear drag is something like a "fighting drag" where you can increase or decrease the drag a few pounds either way with a quick flip of the lever. I've never needed this, but I guess it is cool to have.

I'll be down in Avalon next month and would like to get on a 1/2 or full day boat. Not sure if Miss Avalon is any good or if I should head up to Sea Isle City to pick up a ride. Anyone have any experience blue water fishing around there?

I thought about trying a big black worm too.

I'm going to try something different this weekend. I'm fishing an evening tournament in my local lake. I've had some success fishing tubes on a C-rig but I'm looking for more an bigger fish. I'm going to tie a dropper loop on my leader and add a lizard to the mix. If you were going to do this, which would you put on the dropper loop/end of the line? I'm thinking lizard on the dropper loop and tube at the end with some foam in the tube to keep it up a bit. That will leave the lizard a foot or so closer to the bottom. Thought?

I used to heat and shrink the tubing if it wasn't too windy. I always wondered if this gave off a negative scent. Never tracked catches or hits compared to not shrinking but I figured if I could save a step and potentially catch more fish I would just go with option #2. That's all I do now.

Soft plastics, casted to the shoreline from the boat, get hit anywhere from the instant they hit the water to 5 feet from the boat. I try to bring the boat to within 50 feet or-so of the shoreline so I don't have to heave it too far, but sometimes I'll really snap it to get it out there. There are a lot of stretching exercises that can help you with your neck and shoulders and may alleviate your pain.

There is no real need to shrink the tubing unless you want to hook only the tubing. If you're going through the worm as well everything will stay in place without slipping. I go through the tubing and worm at about the mid point.

Is this a 'walk the dog' bait like a spook or a constant retrieve like a toad?

You could try bending the hook points to open them up a bit. The frogs will not be as weedless, but your hookup ratio will get better.

I'd like to get more organized this year. I'm planning on buying a new, smaller tackle bag and some extra Plano boxes of whatever size my new bag holds. I'd outfit the bag with pliers, scale, sun-screen etc. and take the same bag every day. My plan would be to decide what I'm going to fish with on any given day and then load up the boxes with only those lures. Maybe keep 2 boxes loaded with top-water stuff, 2 with mid-water stuff and 2 with bottom-dragging stuff. Then I could reload these boxes as needed and bring only them instead of a suitcase full of every lure I think I "might need". My question is, does anyone have a cabinet, storage shelf/drawer system at the house that they organize all of their lures into so that they can just pull out whatever they want without having to dig through boxes and shopping bags. Thank in advance for any ideas.