Tim Ford

I'll try my best to describe my problem. I have a 1999 Mercury XR-6 150 HP with 3 carburetors, and an after-market holley red electric fuel pump. The problems began around the first of June. I had just got my boat back from having it polished, and having the carpet replaced. When I got it back, I took it out for the first time, and it did well at first. It took off normally and ran good. My wife and I stopped at a place to fish for a few minutes, then we decided the water was too rough so we were going to go somewhere else. I went to take off, and the problem began... So at this time, I pushed the hot foot to accelerate, and take off, but instead the engine began to accelerate briefly, then it was as if it wasn't getting any gas, and it just revved down. I tried again with the same result, several times. Finally I realized that if I just barely pressed the gas I could go just a little bit faster than idle speed, but if I pressed it too hard it would "give out." I was far from the boat dock, and very upset (because I thought the people at the boat repair place messed something up). I finally opened up the battery box, and I noticed that the black wire from the fuel pump to the battery had come disconnected from the battery terminal. I replaced it and the boat ran fine for the rest of the day. I thought that solved the problem, but... About 2 weeks later, I was out fishing, and I noticed that if I got the r.p.m.'s up above about 4500, the engine seemed to lose power, if I began to decelerate at all from there, the boat would rapidly lose power, and eventually it would just die, unless I quickly pressed the hotfoot down hard again, then it may or may not power up. Also, it began to have the same problem at take off too. I would go to take off, and it would begin to rev, then just lose power (like it wasn't getting gas). I would try several times, and eventually it would take off properly, but still, I could not get it above 4000 r.p.m's or it would begin to lose power and "lag" again. I assumed that since I was having the same type of symptoms as I was when the wire came off the fuel pump that something must be wrong with the fuel pump. So Tuesday I bought a new fuel pump. I replaced the one that was in my boat with the same one, it is an after-market Holley Red Electric Fuel Pump. I thought surely that would fix the problem, but... I took it out Tuesday afternoon, and it was doing the same thing. It would lose power several times before it would finally take off properly, and lose power beyond 4000 rpms, and die if I tried to decelerate. I called my dad. He suggested that I needed to replace the fuel filter, and spark plugs. So I did that Wednesday. Took it out Wednesday evening... Same thing. When I got home I called my neighbor, who is an auto mechanic, and he looked at it and noticed that the fuel hose that was going into the bottom carburetor was kinked badly beyond 90 degrees. He said that fuel might not be getting to that carb, but added that even if it weren't getting any fuel at all, the engine shouldn't be dying like that. Then, Friday afternoon I talked to a man that used to race boats, and he told me that I might have something in my carburetors, and I should remove them and clean them thoroughly. Well, yesterday afternoon, I put some fuel system cleaner in my gas tank, then I repaired the kinked fuel hose, then I sprayed my carburetors with carb cleaner (but I didn't break them down). I took the boat out yesterday evening, and guess what... It's still doing the same thing. The thought crossed my mind, that I might be still getting a bad connection to the battery terminal with the fuel pump wire. So this morning I checked the connection and it looked good. Then I took the fuel lines off the carburetors to clean them, I noticed that there was a filmy, gasoline colored, residue on the inside of the hoses. I took off each one of the hoses, and blew that stuff out of them, and sprayed some carburetor cleaner through them. I also cleaned the carburetors and cleaned the battery terminals. I took it out earlier this afternoon, and I thought for sure that cleaning those hoses would solve the problem, but now it's even worse than it was yesterday. I am clueless now. I know it's not the starter because the starter is only about a year old. It has a brand new fuel pump, brand new fuel filter, and the hoses and carburetors have been cleaned. What else could it be??? I have noticed that it idles perfectly, and it sounds perfect when I run it hooked to my water hose adapter, but when I actually get it in the lake, against resistance, that's when it won't work. It's as if as soon as the engine senses water resistance at the prop, it loses power. Could it be that it needs a new water pump? Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Very nice fish. I haven't been to Percy Priest yet. I live about an hour and a half from there. It's hard for me to get over there when Guntersville is an hour and fifteen minutes from me in the opposite direction.

how much are you looking to spend? I have a '99 TR-186 with a Mercury XR6. For the right price, I would sell it.

I agree with LBH. I use good gear, and that includes good fishing attire (Columbia, The North Face, World Wide Sportsman, etc.). When you wear clothes that are designed for fishing, you are comfortable, the clothes are functional, versatile, and these brands also include UV protection in their material. Plus, I like to stop at the marina and get lunch or often stop at a restaurant on my way home from a long day of fishing. So I guess the answer to your question is yes and no. No, I don't "care what I look like." But like LBH said, usually when you buy nice gear you look nice.

air temp: 6 am- 65 degrees 2 pm- 92 degrees water temp: 79 degrees sky: clear blue wind: none current: none water color: stained, not muddy I'm wondering if the full moon may have been a big reason they weren't biting. I met a guy at the boat ramp who was leaving as I got there (at 6 am). He had caught 3 nice bass between 4:30 and 5:30 on a buzz bait in very shallow water (1-3 feet deep).

needle nose pliers...

it's either: "tore 'em up" or "wore 'em out" Sorry. I know those are both pretty generic and boring, but it works for me.

I'm sure they are both great reels. I can only speak on behalf of the Pflueger though. I bought one for my wife last year, and I've found myself using it when she doesn't come along. It is exceptionally smooth, and comfortable. I think it is the best spinning reel I've ever used.

Man... For the first time in a long time I got shut out today. I feel defeated. Whooped. Violated. The worst part is, I fished from 6 am to 4 pm. I tried everything too. Shallow, deep, crank baits, jerk baits, spinner baits, top water, flukes, senkos, t-rigs, c-rigs, under docks, over road beds, in tree tops, around bridges. I tried natural colors, silvers, golds, forage, chartreuse, firetiger, black, etc, etc, etc.... Nothing. :'(

Ryne Sandberg... My #1 favorite baseball player of all time. AWESOME!

In no particular order: Pearl Jam Dave Matthews Band Pink Floyd Smashing Pumpkins Radiohead

have you ever been to Florida? I would have a harder time telling you where NOT to find a good lake than where to find one. When you go to Orlando, you'll see what I'm talking about. There are lakes everywhere!

Wow, that looks like a great day. I bet you guys had an awesome time. I've never heard of Glenn Springs. Looks like a great place. Congrats.

Today was the first day I've fished on Tim's Ford in a while. It's hard to fish there in the summer because of all the jet skis and pleasure boaters. I almost didn't even go, because it was cloudy and the forecast was predicting thunderstorms. But I finally decided to chance it at about 1:30 this afternoon, and I'm sure glad I did. I started out alternating between a chartreuse and white Rapala X-Rap and a chartreuse and white spinnerbait. I started on a 8-20 foot ledge off a main lake point off of a cove. I didn't have any luck with that, and slowly started to work my way shallower. Finally, I got up to the bank and threw a junebug ultravibe worm into a tree top. I got a good bite and missed. Threw it right to the same place, and hooked up with a 3 lb large mouth. Fished there a little longer with no luck. I headed north and hit an area right outside of a cove that had some boat houses and fallen trees. I tied on an orange with green flake Yum tube. First cast into the first tree, I caught a 2 lb small mouth. I quickly threw back to the same spot, on the very next cast caught another 2 lb smallie. Moved down to the next tree, first cast into it 4 lb small mouth. Next cast, I hooked into another one but it jumped and threw the hook. I tried it a little longer with no luck. As I got further away from the cove I had less luck. So I fired up and went to the next cove. I got on a great pattern with tree tops in and downstream from coves. Nearly every treetop held at least one small mouth. I ended up catching 2 large mouths and 8 small mouths. Every smallie I caught was on a tube. As it got darker I switched from the orange to a "black and blue dominator tube" by Reaction Innovations. It was the best day I've had on Tim's Ford in months.

Thanks a lot Ellesar! That is some good info. Saturday morning we actually started on a grass flat down river from goosepond on the left. You may know what I'm talking about, but it was only 3-5 feet deep, and very thick with milfoil. A very funny thing about the trip on Saturday that I forgot to mention: When we first pulled up to the milfoil flat, the guy I was with said he was going to throw a fluke. I decided I would try a rattle trap. I only had three rods with me, but I brought some extra spools with braid on them. I put on my braid spool while he was making the first casts of the trip. When I got my strike king sexy shad red eyed rattle trap tied on, I cast as far as I could and within seconds I hooked the first fish. (on my first cast ever at G-ville!!!!!) I had the drag bottomed out with my 30 lb test power pro braid. I got the fish about half way to the boat and it started taking drag! I had never had a fish take drag on this rod before. I was flipping out, I knew it had to be at least a 7 or 8 pounder. My heart was pounding, I thought I was about to catch a monster. When I finally got a glimpse of it I realized... It was a catfish :'( We still had a great day, but that broke my heart. We didn't catch anything else there, and after about half an hour we tried another place before going to the channel ledge. There were other boats around us, and I only saw a couple of guys catch anything there. I figured we were too shallow.

He told me the water has come up over the past month. He said it was so low in April that you couldn't hardly get your boat in, and that most of the good places were inaccessible.

I'm leaving on 6/11 and returning on 6/15. I'm looking forward to 3 straight days of fishing the Harris Chain with my dad from dawn to dusk. This is an enormous fish that he caught there last year. He says it weighed 13 lbs 11 oz. Hopefully I'll be able to post a pic of myself holding one just like it in a couple weeks.

It's going to sound crazy... but for me, Bass Pro Shops XPS Pro Series poppers are the best top water poppers I've used.

Lucky Craft and Rapala for me.

I ended up paying $1800 (plus tax) came out to be about $1975. I got ripped off so bad. :'(

Thanks ellesar! I was fishing near Goosepond on the river channel. Any other places you would recommend?

hey, that's awesome. I fished Guntersville for the first time this past weekend. I'm taking the day off on Thursday to go back. Any advice?

WOW! That is awesome. Congrats to both of you! A day you'll never forget.

Thanks Dock Master. We had a great time. Guntersville is an awesome lake. There are a million places that look awesome. I've never seen so many bass boats in one place in my life! We had a great day today. We left @ about 11 am. We caught 7 fish with about 3 and a half pound average.

My top 3 favorites of all time: 3. Bill Dance 2. Skeet Reese 1. Rick Clunn My top 3 current pros: 3. KVD 2. Mike Iaconelli (super nice guy in person, I love his passion for the sport) 1. Skeet Reese My bottom 3 least favorite all time: 3. Charlie Moore 2. Jimmy Houston 1. Alton Jones