Shamster

Thank you! I finished it this past weekend! I got to take the family out tubing/knee boarding and we had a blast. It was really great to finally see all the hard work(and money!) come together for the whole family to enjoy. Uploaded with ImageShack.us Finished product!

My first top water fish! x 2! I didn't have my scale with me, I left it on my boat and was out with a buddy. The first fish pictured was on a top water frog, 2nd one was on a clear tiny torpedo just as it got dark. 1 dink, these 2 guys, and one that broke my line(bad knot). Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us

When you say power drive style, what are you referring to? The ones that mount on the outboard itself?

I've restored this boat from the ground up! Just finished replacing the ENTIRE deck and transom. Its very likely that at some point this fall/winter(once my finances recover from the restore) That I will build a removable front casting deck. I have bow cushions that I just had recovered, but I think this winter I'm going to get some wood and build a deck that fits over the front section and I can swap between the cushions/deck when taking it out skiing etc. The deck should be pretty simple really, get a nice template made and some exterior ply and I'll be well on my way.

I want to put a trolling motor on my boat once I have the cash, but I don't have the slightest clue what to be looking for. Can someone give me a rough idea of what kind I should be looking at for my boat? Bow mount? How much thrust? etc. The boat is a 1975 wellcraft Airslot 165. Its a tri-hull design. This is the best picture I have at the moment to give an idea of hull design: Uploaded with ImageShack.us Is bow mount an option for this? What are the advantages of having a trolling motor bow mounted vs transom mounted? I don't think there is even room on the transom at the moment to fit a trolling motor. Uploaded with ImageShack.us

If you are EVER in the area, let me know. I can meet you off post and it makes coming on post a piece of cake and we can take my boat out. I would love to have someone show me the ropes so I can learn how to find and fish bass a little better. I live about 3 minutes from Tholocco, so I'm there preeeetty regularly

Right on the money. I'm in flight school here. You live in the area? I'm pretty new to fishing, and am just learning the basics, but I go fishing on Tholocco probably 4+ times a week on average. Just took the boat to get the impeller changed and some other minor work, but should be back on the water by wednesday this week. I want to take a trip to Eufala sometime later this year. I still haven't caught a bass over 2lbs in the lake here, but I'm getting closer! Probably caught about 18 bass so far since I started learning a few weeks ago. I'm still using super cheap wal-mart rods.

I really like the setup so far. I feel like I have more than plenty room to comfortably fish any direction off of the boat and its still really comfortable for 6 people to ride in(although a bit crowded). I originally bought the boat for tubing/skiing/wake boarding, but I will probably fish out of it more often than any of those, but I have to be able to do those to really enjoy the boat! Its a tri-hull so its really pretty stable for walking around on while fishing as well.

I saw this on cabela's site and I think it may suit my needs. I'm a casual fisherman, and only do it for my own enjoyment. Occasionally I like to keep a fish and take it home to eat. However, I hate having to end my fishing trip immediately after snagging a good one. Is this likely to suit my needs or would I be better off just bringing a chest full of ice out on most trips?

This is how it sits for fishing at the moment(snagged my 2nd bass today in it!) Its a bit naked still, but almost ready to be finished up!

Here are some before pictures(it was way worse than it even looks in these) This is about where I'm at now. I'll have the rest of the seats and trim installed hopefully by this weekend. The original "deck" was just a piece of plywood overtop the rotted deck with carpet on it. The transom was completely shot and I can't believe the engine was still hanging on. Now it's a nice new coosa board transom with a fiberglass deck! I'll post final pictures next week.

Yeah. I've been slaving away on this boat for many hours a day now for about a month. I should have it 100% finished by this weekend and I'll post some before/after pictures

I've been in the process of restoring a 1975 wellcraft Airslot 165 now for a while. Well the deck and transom are finally finished and I have the 2 back to back seats installed. I'm still waiting on the rest of the seats to come back from the upholstery shop to install them. I took the boat out fishing for the first time by myself this evening! I had so much fun I can't even explain it. I feel so lucky to not be stuck on the shore anymore. Here's how it went! The engine is running great, but I'm going to have the carbs rebuilt and the impeller changed for peace of mind. The last owner was a bit of a dirt bag when it came to maintenance in general. The boat was falling apart when I got it, but now its not looking 1/2 bad!

I'd never really freshwater fished until two weeks ago. Id been surf fishing a few times. A few weeks ago I bought some rod/reel combos that said "bass fishing" and came with a small bit of tackle. It took me over 20 hours on the lake here to catch a fish but I got one! That was last Sunday. Today I caught 3 bass! Ive caught 6 total so far, but nothing too far over a pound yet. 2 on senkos and 4 on one of the french fry worms that came with my rod! I hope to get something over 2 pounds this week.

Definitely will do on the boat. I can't WAIT to be done with it. Every day its not done, I sit on the shore fishing watching guys roll through just killing the bass. Then off in the distance I see guys wakeboarding and skiing and I cry a little inside! A few more weeks and it'll all be finished. I still haven't had any luck with topwater lures. I've had great success with pretty much any plastic worm(pink'ish seems to be working the best atm). I'm going to try drop shotting this afternoon, just rigged up a rod a minute ago. I think it will work REALLY well for the area that I'm fishing from the bank.

I'm in Dothan, AL. Actually on Ft Rucker, but close enough! So far I've just been fishing on Lake Tholocco, but once my boat gets fixed(2-3 more weeks) I want to make some trips to eufala. Tholocco isn't too terrible, and its only about 2 minutes from my house! I've been stuck hitting it from the shore. I bought an older boat and am redoing the transom and such now. It's a 1975 wellcraft Airslot 165. Not setup for fishing exclusively as its a new hobby to me. I'll probably use it about 50% for skiing and tubing and the likes with some friends and 50% fishing by myself or with a buddy. I'm in the process of restoring the basically everything except the motor Brand new interior, brand new deck/transom. When I'm done it'll be a beautiful boat!

No luck yet, I may try again this evening.

I've only got a spinning rod and have been eyeing baitcasters, I'm just kinda scared to pick one up since I've only ever used spinners.

I usually bloop pause, or bloop bloop pause!

I think I'm going to try sunset today on a different lake nearby here. I'm just dying to hook one topwater!

Thanks for the information, just got started fishing here in southern AL.

I'm sure I'm making all of them! A lot of these contradict each other though!

[quote author=5E515C445E524A5C4F593D0

I'm so excited about catching a bass on topwater bait i cant even explain it. I'm dying to see a good topwater hit, but no luck so far. Everytime I use a topwater bait right now, I feel like I'm wasting time b/c I know I can snag em on the soft plastics. I should probably take a day and only take my top water baits out to try and make myself catch one that way. I want to see it so bad!

Thanks! It took me probably 20 hours before I caught the first one, I probably had some terrible techniques going. I hooked one at probably hour 16 on a rattle trap, but he threw the hook. Jumpy wretched.