BassThumb

Thanks guys. There doesn't appear to be any braces in there from the other unit. I can stick my finger in the 1" hole and feel around. Nuts and bolts sound like a good idea. I have been using wood screws with a shot of adhesive silicone in the pilot hole to attach other things, like a recessed petal and battery charger. Funny thing is, I never had any probelms cutting/drilling into the glass before, but this top cap is another story. It's way tougher than the rest of the boat. I drained my cordless drill's battery trying to make one hole through the metal yesterday.

Not for me. I'm finding largemouth in their summer spots even thought it has started dropping into the high 40's at night. It won't take long with night temps like that for the fish to begin gorging. It's nice to see some of the scummy weeds starting to recede and die back.

You should make it clear to her how upset you are about this, and that you need some time for yourself once in a while. Just be honest about it.

Black/blue or green pumpkin. I haven't seen a jig yet that doesn't match up perfectly with a green pumpkin trailer. GP works really well on a junebug jig or white swim jig, too.

I just tried to mount a new graph near the console of my Stratos, and after drilling pilot holes into it about 1/4 of an inch deep, there seems to be a metal plate or something in there that's not allowing me to go any deeper. This is right next to the holes from the other graph that was on there, and they went through cleanly. Any suggestions?

Please delete your team before the draft starts at 6 CST.

I'm pretty quiet when I fish. I would rather concentrate on what I'm doing when I'm fishing and save the talking for the drive to and from the lake.

Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Argentina.

I was expecting some freakishly deformed, cross-eyed cat, but that was very funny.

How much of the skeg is missing? An inch?

The last couple years, the flipping/pitching bite for me was best with heavy black/blue and junebug jigs with large, bulky trailers. This year, a more subtle flipping approach has been best. 1/8 - 5/16 oz Sweet Beavers, Smallie Beavers and finesse/shaky worms have had the best results, with many bites coming after the bait hit bottom. There have been numerous times this year where I couldn't buy a bite with my favorite flipping/pitching presentations of last year.

Long rods and long casts will help you sneak up on the fish. A 7' 6" spinning rod is perfect for wading little rivers, IMO. Also, I noticed that when I would wear long, dark pants or waders I would spook fewer fish than when I would wearing shorts while wading. Drab colored clothing is an absolute must. It takes some practice learning how to walk in rocky rivers without disturbing the rocks and making a bunch of noise. It's easy to make a racket because the rocks will often shift under your feet. Take your time and try to be as careful as possible when putting each foot down near your fishing spots.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44334747/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/#.Tl2uS65EiRl

Lightly touching the spool during the cast to control it (feathering) is a very useful trick in reducing backlashes. This can mean barely tapping it just a few times as your lure begins to slow down, or very lightly dragging your thumb for the entire cast. This is the best way to "educate your thumb." Easy on the spool tension, and heavy on the magnetic brakes is a rule of thumb that works for a lot of people.

I've been using the 6# Hybrid on spinning tackle for two years now, and yesterday was the first time I've broken it off. I don't think it broke at the knot either. There may have been a nick somewhere. The stuff is tough as heck. I use the Improved Clinch knot, always lube up knots with a good amount of spit, and I take my time when tightening down the knot. Then I give it a good, hard tug so that it will break if the knot didn't come together right. I think a flawed Improved Clinch knot will break at about 50% of it's rated breaking strength, so I keep that in mind when yanking on it. Doing this gives me a little cut on my pointer and pinkie fingers once in a while, but it saves me the headache of lost lures and fish.

I've tried it, but I still prefer the Improved Clinch for all lines other than braid. The Modified Improved Clinch is a terrible knot for fluorocarbon, in my opinion. There's too much friction when tightening the knot due to the second pass thru the eye, and the line tends to burn and weaken.

For trapping minnows and craws, use a can of seafood-flavored cat food that was stabbed up with a flathead screwdriver. It works great, lasts long, and it's clean.

I have never handled the 743, but I own a 3 power Dobyns Champion Extreme spinning rod, the DX 703SF. Tossing a jig with a Lobster on the DX 703SF would be way overkill. Even a 3/8 oz jig with a average sized trailer with a total weight of about an ounce would severely overpower it and wouldn't allow for good hooksets. I fish 4-5" Senkos, flukes, and smaller 3/8 oz jerkbaits like the Pointer 78 on it.

Owners will corrode from contacting salt from soft plastic baits, just like any other hook. To me, it seem more difficult to damage the tips than with needle-point hooks. I've yanked Owners from rocky snags and they were still thumbnail sticky sharp.

We have 5 already. We need at least 3 more people to join up.

Good tips in here... Never wait to feel weight, second hooksets, rods with stiff tips, rod power upgrade, etc.

Around here at least, the sunfish colors vary from lake to lake, season to season. Some are very colorful with lots of orange, blue, green, yellow, and purple. Others are more drab and silvery, and look nothing like the bluegill imitations sold in stores. I think it would be best to go catch a few from the bodies of water in question.

I guess it depends on how often you have to break off Texas rigs on snags. To me, Tungsten worm weights are worth every penny and then some, because they allow me to feel bottom content 10x better than lead weights and I'm able to fish the bottom more effectively. I have only lost a few of them over the last couple years since I started using them, and those were mostly to northern pike. I tend to toss jigs into the snaggiest cover instead of Texas rigs, so I rarely break off T-rigs. Check out Alley's Tungsten for some affordable tungsten weights, and go with the insert-free weights. The inner bore on the Alley's weights are not quite as smooth as the Tru Tungstens, so you'll have to retie a little more often when your line gets scuffed up from the weight. That's been my experience at least.

I'm in. Let me know. I'd like to do a live snake draft and not autopick, if that's OK.

Dobyns Champion Series rods Yo Zuri Hybrid line Braided line Northstar Premier Series jigs with Owner Cutting Point hooks Assassinator spinnerbaits Lucky Craft Pointers GYCB Senko Tungsten worm weights J.J.'s Magic scent Minn Kota Maxxum Pro trolling motors LED trailer lights Seafoam gas additive in an outboard motor Bow-To-Stern (BTS) Marine Protectant 3M Finesse-It 2 polishing glaze Columbia vented fishing shirts Costa Del Mar 580 polarized glasses Services than exceeded expectations: Online flea markets and eBay for buying fishing gear Tackle Warehouse Bass Resource