Tim Kelly

There seem to have been a few attempts over the years to make a bass cap on a deep hulled boat, but they never seem to last long. The tracker mentioned, there was a crestliner and the Lund Predator as well as the Tuffy but I suppose there is less demand for them than I imagine. You would think they'd be popular with northern bass anglers who often complain about how rough the water is in their bass boats, but I guess speed is a big selling point and v hulls are not going to be as quick as flatter bass hulls. I was really wondering if any of the existing bass boats had a hull more geared to rougher water handling than the southern designed bass boats that dominate the market.

On some boats, mainly the older designs there is a big cutout in the deck like this. If you're fishing at the rear of the front deck and step backwards there is suddenly no deck!

I love how much space there is in the Lund, but this is my fantasy boat plan and I would prefer having the front deck with 2 rod storage lockers on the sides, like many bass boats have, with tubes on top and open at the bottom which would accomodate a 9ft rod. I would like the centre of the deck to be storage lockers which allow a recessed trolling motor mount to be fitted. A centre rod locker makes this difficult and the recessed TM pedal has to be a great step forward. Putting the livewell at the back is usually considered to be a better way to transport fish without shaking them around so much, so that's where it should be in my boat. Also, I don't like bass boats with the massive bear trap in the deck! Many of then have the middle of the deck missing, extending the cockpit forward. If you fish off the back of the front deck, behind the guy on the trolling motor this is an accident waiting to happen as you step back into nothing. Never understood the point of the bear trap! As I said, this is my boat fantasy and everyone wants something different from their boats, but if I could find a glass boat with decks to the gunnels with the layout described and a hull that could take rougher water I'd be a very happy fantasy shopper.

It's all down to personal preference I suppose, but to my mind the massive livewell takes up a lot of space in the wrong part of the boat and the rod storage is not long enough for a lot of the rods used today, especially for musky fishing. It looks like a great boat though and I bet you can get out on days when other boats wouldn't want to try.

Does the 2010 still have the livewell in the front and short rod storage boxes like the smaller models?

The Lund Predator looked like a good idea, though I don't think the interior was very well thought out, especially compared to a modern bass boat. Tuffy do there X190, which is a glass multispecies boat with a bass type interior, but again the interior design is a bit old school. I wondered whether any of the usual bass boat brands were considered better or worse as rough water boats in general.

Just having a little fantasy boat shopping moment and wondered which brands of bass boat are considered the best hulls for fishing rough water? They're mostly designed for speed and shallow water access but, especially for Northern bassers, I imagine there must be a boat with a bass interior and a better rough water hull.

I prefer a split grip as, when I build my own rods I like to put the hook keeper in the area between the handles so they don't snag the line when I'm "banjoing" a lure off a snag. With the keeper in the traditional place in front of the reel seat the slack line snapped when banjoing always seems to wrap itself round the keeper. If I am building a rod fro treble hooked baits I don't care either way and don't fit a keeper as the butt ring or reel are perfectly good places to keep the lure when not in use.

I like original 100℅ on casting gear and have started using the newer 100℅XL on spinning. Both work well for me. I tried sublime shooter on casting and honestly didn't think it was significantly nicer and not worth the price increase.

I have a Grand Cherokee with what I believe is the same Mercedes V6 diesel engine and I get around 27 on average. I'd be surprised if a half ton Dodge truck would get better mileage than a little grand Cherokee.

I've literally just got back from Cijara a couple of hours ago. Had a great week there with plenty of bass. On Tuesday I found a weedbed, which is a rare thing on Cijara, and with the westerly wind caught a number of good fish between 3 and 5 pounds, All came on a soft plastic jerkbait when I eventually worked out how to turn followers into takers. The rest of the week was easterly winds and the bite was more awkward. the weedbed produced nothing much, but I caught a good number of fish every day. On Thursday I went beating the banks with a senko and caught a lot of fish, probably about 50, although the average size was down. I still has a couple of three pounders and a four. That was the only day they were really keen on the senko though. Had a number of fish on an Alabama rig when the fish were schooling over deep water, a few spinnerbait fish, crankbait fish, creature fish and jig fish, so it was a matter of scratching round to get a bite, but they were regular enough to give a good bag by the end of the day. Even on a slower day I expect I would have caught 10-15lb limits. A great trip and it sucks to be home again with probably another year to wait for my next bass fishing trip! Just got to nurse my raw "bass thumb" now! One of the Comizo Barbel As we were loading up the van this morning to go to the airport I caught this toad... Quote MultiQuote Delete Edit

I've literally just got back from Cijara a couple of hours ago. Had a great week there with plenty of bass. On Tuesday I found a weedbed, which is a rare thing on Cijara, and with the westerly wind caught a number of good fish between 3 and 5 pounds, All came on a soft plastic jerkbait when I eventually worked out how to turn followers into takers. The rest of the week was easterly winds and the bite was more awkward. the weedbed produced nothing much, but I caught a good number of fish every day. On Thursday I went beating the banks with a senko and caught a lot of fish, probably about 50, although the average size was down. I still has a couple of three pounders and a four. That was the only day they were really keen on the senko though. Had a number of fish on an Alabama rig when the fish were schooling over deep water, a few spinnerbait fish, crankbait fish, creature fish and jig fish, so it was a matter of scratching round to get a bite, but they were regular enough to give a good bag by the end of the day. Even on a slower day I expect I would have caught 10-15lb limits. A great trip and it sucks to be home again with probably another year to wait for my next bass fishing trip! Just got to nurse my raw "bass thumb" now! One of the Comizo Barbel As we were loading up the van this morning to go to the airport I caught this toad...

It's an MHX blank I made up for it. Tried the Volkey, but prefer my MHX. Going on holiday to Spain tomorrow chasing bass, so I might learn to love it a bit more there.

I expected it to be a better finesse caster I suppose. It does 1/8 fine, but any lighter it's no where near as good as my little morrum 3601 sx with an avail spool. Love the fast retrieve speed, but it just doesn't seem to be much of in improvement in light bait casting than a curado to me.

They look great! Out of interest, how do you like your Aldebaran? I picked one up a couple of weeks ago and I'm slightly underwhelmed by it.

Get a bottle of "Mend it", it's a solvent glue specifically for repairing cuts in soft plastic baits. You can go as Frankenstein as you like chopping and rebuilding then once you glue it back together it will be as strong and soft as it was if it were made that way.

They're pretty stout rods! Rigged with those reels they'd make great inshore striper rods. Be fine for catching bass in ponds if you don't want to do anything too clever or specific, but lighter rods would probably do most things better. I use mine for targeting pike in the 10-20lb range.

I just bought the extended package and am loving the shows. One question though, what's up with the marshals? Are they not allowed to enjoy themselves or something? If I were doing it I'd be getting as excited as the anglers when they were on a roll. Those guys barely bust a smile.

Like most things in fishing there are no absolutes and while you can probably keep on whacking them when they're really in a frenzy there are many occasions when they're less obsessed and I'm pretty certain that returning fish on those occasions is a bad idea.

Lighter weights are less prone to snagging, so if you can fish slowly through some rough stuff they will be less frustrating than trying to fish slowly with heavier weights.

Good choice. You might want to look at the Lund Alaskan series too.

I absolutely believe it. No doubt in my mind that it can have a bad effect releasing a caught fish back down to a group of feeding fish.

You could put some of that protective film on the edge if it makes you happier.

If the bass were all stocked at once and became big, they may just have died out of old age. If you haven't been catching smaller fish it's possible that the pond isn't suitable for spawning success for some reason?

They're a slightly different species to yellow perch. The UK record is somewhere north of 6lb now. This one was about 4lb. They look similar, but different.