Bud_in_OR

Hey Guys, I wouldn't think of posting here (not a tournament fisherman, not wired right) but the question keeps being asked; 'Anybody using one?'. The answer is ...yes. I've used mine since late Nov. 2004. Does it work?...I can tell you that they aren't getting mine back any time soon. I bought the thing on a whim thinking I was getting a 'killer' deal. Their website was asking for 'testers' and giving an introductory price of half the suggested list, At that time the 'list' was $1200 (few months later BassPro was selling it for $700). Anyhow.... When I got it, my water was down (Corp. drawdown), cold and muddy. I took it out anyway and dropped the microphone into a feeder creek about four miles from the 'low pool' edge. I used it just like they said, Fishing for fifteen minutes with it off then I turned it on with all the sounds(six) playing in sequence for five minutes each. I was using an old 'Man's Loudmouth' jig w/ rubber trailer. shaking and dragging. About twenty minutes into it, I was totally bored and freezing my butt off when something whacked the jig. I remarked to my son (who was standing with his hands in his warm pockets) that I'd just been bit. We were discussing why I had not set the hook when I was bit again.....I set back this time and broke off as the line wrapped around a rock. I tied on another jig and a couple minutes later I pulled in a two lb. Bass. Shortly after I caught my first BSX fish, it started dumping cold rain on us so we folded it up and went home. Now...there is no way I expected to catch a fish under those conditions. We were definitely 'hooked'. Last Spring I gave the machine a good workout using their instructions; fishing with it off, then with it on. I have come to some conclusions. First, I turn it on immediately and leave it on. Next, I do not attach it to my trolling motor as they reccommend (I think the motor sound blanks out the fish sounds). Finally, the 20' cord that comes with the machine is too short. I have had my best results with the microphone deep and drifting (wind or current) over structure/cover without using the trolling motor except to position for the drift. I have since purchased their, accessory, 50' corded mike. As I said; I'm not wired right for 'tournament' fishing BUT I have fished behind 'club' fishermen and caught a heck of a lot of Bass that they missed. Also, I use the BSX unit for Stripers in a couple, coastal, rivers here and am actually catching them consistantly, during the day-on slack tide-with a high sun. About every outside curve has a deep hole where the Stripers hang on slack tides during the day. I drop an anchor upcurrent and hover over the deep water with my long-chord microphone in the water. After a few minutes of 'sounds' I drift a big crawfish, sardine or bullhead through the pool. We hooked and released thirty-nine (39) Stripers last Summer and Fall doing this. In the prior thirty years of Striper fishing I have NEVER caught a fish with these conditions; mid-day, slack-tide, high-sun! FYI, the sounds on the machine are all either bait-fish or Bass feeding on bait-fish. The machine has an SD card slot for other sounds. The company is (finally) coming out, next month, with cards to read. The first will be 'crawfish', 'shrimp' and 'Bass feeding on worms' (I chuckled at that one). I have been whining to them about the lack of West Coast sounds and they promised me (groveling was involved) that they would soon come out with Sardine, Herring and Anchovy sounds...We'll see. Anyhow...Please be aware that I have absolutely NOTHING to do with Biosonix, other than giving them my money. As I said, 'They won't get mine back, anytime soon'. It's the best $600 I ever spent....You do what you want to do. Bud

Go to Google and type in 'PinPoint Trolling Motors'. Bud

Hey Hookem 19, I ordered BPS' 9' Pond Prowler a couple weeks ago. It should be here next week. I have a thirty lb. Minnkota I'm going to stick on it. I'll let you know how it fishes with just me in it (275 lbs.) and with a grandson added (another hundred lbs.). The thing is rated for 550 lbs... We'll see, after I add gear.. Bud

I'm in Heaven. Navionics has added my close reservoirs to the Premium Gold-West card. I ordered that puppy this morning. Good things do come to those who wait. Hey Oilpig My hand-held is a Garmin 60CS. It's a far cry from my old Magellan 320. Papa, No snow for me. We have an uncommonly dry and warm winter. Water in my ponds is 48deg. When the 'Corp.' fills the reservoirs I could be fishing a month earlier than normal. Bud

Hey Papa and Oilpig, Could you post here on the forum (instead of e-mail) so we might all benefit? Thanks, Bud

There you go Papa. Oilpig is your man. Bud

Hey Abelfisher, I shot you one back. Hope it worked. Bud

Ernel/Eric is right on the money. He can fish in my boat. Bud

Hey Squid, www.gpsnuts.com is GPS for dummies. When you get there, click on 'Learn the Basics' and branch out from there. Even I could make it work. Bud

Hey Papa, Whatever you do, stick with it until you learn how. You'll never go back to map and compass. Start with the easy stuff. I'm talking 'saving a waypoint'(a one button shot), 'naming it'(if you like) and using 'go-to'(another one button shot) to get back to it. Learn how to follow the 'track' on the screen. Don't get tied up in 'routes' until you get the easy stuff down. You do not need a CD. The E-Trex Legend , Vista and standard 'E-Trex' series have an instructional video that is available at Cabela's for $9.99. Try to wait until you go through the instructional video before worrying about adding to your problems with a 'CD'. I hope this helps. Good luck. Bud

I think you would be doing the correct thing. Make sure you don't take your 'go-to' lure along. You won't get past the tenth pitch or flip with the jig before you start leaning toward your tackle box. Your go-to lure probably will not work in the same water that a jig will excell in. Your procedure is the only way I learned to fish a jig or spinner-bait. A person can go without these essential tools for a long time if he doesn't knuckle down and force feed himself (read 'Leave the Rapalas and Traps at home'). Bud

I've had the same problem for thirty-plus years. Most(read 'all') of the reservoirs I fish are drawn down for flood control, the boat ramps high and dry. Dragging a small boat across a mud flat to get it in the water doesn't feed the Admirals' cat. I have a bunch of ponds which are stocked with Trout(Bass food), scoped for times like these, after the water temps. are in the high forties/ low fifties. Don't miss this chance to scope out your reservoir structure and cover that are exposed now. Take pictures and GPS readings of the stumps on edges, old bridges , channel junctions, outside grass points, etc. You may be the only one who knows where they are when the water covers them. Bud

Ain't no thing Papa. These youngsters that were raised with a computer or GPS in their teeth don't understand when we, who fished for forty years, or so, without them don't quite compute....as it were. Bud

Hey, Go to Google and type in gpsnuts.com. click on 'What's New' Seems outdated but it isn't) then click gps101. Hope this helps. Bud

Yes, Baron49, Yes. Same story here except it was an eighteen foot- 41" deep Crestliner with a 125 Mercury. It has every amenity that a, zero freeboard, 'bass boat' has except the upkeep. I did the Columbia River in a 20' fiberglass 'bass boat' ONCE. It was like a potato chip in a washing machine. I kept asking..."Aren't you concerned about the water coming over the bow??" Never again, buddy. Bud

Got one on my Crestliner. I've never had a problem. I weigh...choke...280. Bud

I have a Pin-Point, the original version before Motor Guide bought them out. Had mine for three years with no problems. I was dancing in the boat when Motor Guide jumped in. Pin Point was a small company in Central Calif. and I was sweating them going belly-up and leaving me with a broken/unfixable toy. Having said that,... The tracking motor is the best piece of fishing gear I've ever purchased. I pitch to the bank with the setting at twenty feet, it follows it unerringly never varying more than a foot in or out. If I find fish on 22' breaks on points, the Pin Point never misses a beat while keeping me over 22', all around the point. I want to fish a channel edge in the middle of the reservoir, I push the 'channel track' button and the boat will track the channel edge until I run into the dam. It does all this while compensating, automatically, for wind and current. And, if I want to follow the same structure, in the opposite direction, I punch a blue button on the foot-pad and I go back over the exact same structure breaks. If mine ever breaks, I would refinance with my first-born son to get another!! Caveat!!! You're talking $1600. I paid $2200 for the motor/sonar combo. I would hope that they have improved the sonar in the few years since I bought mine. I bought the top of the line and it isn't worth ten cents compared to a Lowrance. Bud

Striper and Halibut!! Trim all the red meat off and throw away. Cut fillets into three inch pieces, one inch thick. Get a cookie sheet with flat screen rack ready and pre-heat oven to 400deg. Also heat a large skilley with a quarter inch of cooking oil. Get a box of Krust-ease Bake n Fry, 1/2 cup grated parmesan, 1 cup Italian bread crumbs and 1/8 cup dried parsley (sometimes I add corn flakes). Mix together and put it in a paper bag. In a flat bowl beat some eggs and milk with garlic salt and pepper. 1. Dredge fish pieces in dry mix then dip in egg then back in dry mix. Nasty-messy but worth it. 2. Brown pieces quickly in hot skillet (both sides) and place on rack in cookie sheet. You are not cooking the fish in the oil, merely browning and crisping the coating. The inside will still be raw at this point. 3. Place cookie sheet in 400 deg. oven. Bake five minutes per inch. That would be 2 1/2 min for half inch thick pieces and 7 1/2 min for one and one-half inch thick pieces. If you have a better, grease free, recipe for flaky moist fish, please tell me. Bud

Bass West, Bassin' and Inside Line, in that order.

Glen, I should have clarified. I was talking about my favorite reservoirs near Eugene. Wickiup is ok but Crane Prarie would be better if I went over the mountain. The ponds near me; Fernridge, Dorena, Cottage Grove, Fall Creek Res. and Hills Creek Res. are my waters of choice and the only one they have is Hills Creek. All except Hills Creek have given up ten pound Largemouth. Someday soon Hills Creek is going to be a noted Smallmouth (Oregon wise) fishery. Some days you can catch 30-40 fish, mostly dinks. My biggest is a three lb. eight oz.. Bud

Hey J.T., Please pardon me for butting in. The problem is that Lowrance thinks they are worth $1600. If a person really wants/needs that kind of quality they'll have to suck it up and hope they don't go stone blind looking at the price tag. And....Don't go nuts. this is only an opinion...I totally agree with Glen on Hummingbird sonars. I've fished on quite a few boats that had a Hummingbird and found that if one is used to a Lowrance, a so-called comparable Hummingbird isn't getting it done. One of the Eagle Fish Elite 480 Combos (of my sons) that I mentioned in an earlier post was a gift from me after going fishing with him and spending a day jerking around with a Hummingbird, trying to see things other than surface and bottom. When he switched sonars he asked me if I wanted the Hummingbird. I asked him if he thought it would float. Bud

HawgHunter, I've checked every site I could think of. They don't seem to recognize that there are bass fishermen in OR. Boy howdy,...If I lived in Minn., Cal., or Texas.... Bud

HawgHunter I answered your questions in the other thread. And YES, they get really proud of them after you get past a 6' screen. Sixteen hundred bucks??? Bud

Hey HawgHunter, I do love it. I've used it since last...Early Summer and its good in about any light. My only gripe is with Navionics, not Lowrance. They won't put my favorite Oregon reservoirs on their darn map cards. Hey Phishn, You may be right. She told me a couple weeks ago that I was insured to the max.... Hey Glen, I apologize...I have a smart mouth and a dumb brain. Bud

Hey, I know this is presumptous but,....I've been with the same old gal for forty years and I'm a tricky(read selfish) buzzard. You need to take your wife fishing. I don't mean just any fishing. I'm talking about hiring a guide if you need to. Get the woman slinging lures and yarding in fish, lots of fish. Make it the best fun she's ever had (don't think dirty). She'll be wanting her own rods and reels. Your fishing will be gold. This also works with hunting. My wife has her own rifle and camo clothes. Hee Hee Hee ;D Bud.