Bassun

lol, a little delayed post here --- but good point! She ran fine the rest of the year, so looks like I'm ok for now...

A little late but joining in none the less: That you MUST use different rods for different lures. That 1000 different colors are necessary (not to say I don't own 999 lol but...) That you MUST use casting gear for bass fishing. That fishing with live bait is at all wrong or "less than" fishing with artificials. That high end gear helps catch a single fish. (More fish over time, yes by virtue of longevity perhaps - but as far as any individual fish.) That you cannot catch fish on your boat without the latest and greatest electronics and gadgets. That the lure matters. (Location matters. No fish, no bites. Find fish, they will hit a variety of lures.) That more than 1% of the posts on here are based on anything more than what any one of us happens to "think". That because angler "X" caught fish on whatever, that we should use that or that using that will automatically work for us. That 99% of the things pros "preach" matter to average anglers. (If you are good enough for the subtle nuances of fishing to truly matter, then you are better than 99% of the anglers out there.)

Oh, I should say that I generally use WD40 for cleaning contacts, and connections. In this case, I used WD40 and some elbow grease. I always have WD40 around, so it's an easy go to

So problem was pretty simple... popped open the switch. Cleaned it. Works great. The end I would show the other contacts, but apparently I've hit my image limit, lol.

As wide as you are willing to spend the money for. I would like to do a 2072 at some point, but dang - they are expensive. 48" is the bare minimum, but I would personally not do anything less than 60".

Nope, it only has the one. And YES it is annoying... I had planned on completely reworking the boat year before last. New carpet, new switches, additional switches etc. Have the stuff, but we finally found a house that fit what we were looking for and other projects took over. All I ended up doing was putting in the new seats and calling it "ok for now"... Course I haven't had much time to have it out on the water either way, so... uggh.

Hey, while were talking switches, anyone know where I can get a 10mm x 15mm 3 way momentary rocker switch? lol

Engine has been left up until I released it earlier today to check the impeller (totally unrelated). Boat's not in the water, and hasn't been in far too long. Looking to finally get a chance to take it out again next weekend, and was doing some prep and ran into the issue. And yeah, it appears to be the switch on the throttle (only one it has). Now I just have to track down the right size switch.

Ok, so I was going to go check the voltages again and make sure I didn't miss something and was now getting 12v both directions across either one - and suddenly motor fired going down. Monkeyed with the trim switch a bit, and got the odd occasional down. Solenoid clicks every time, but motor only engages occasionally. Pulled the switch and bridged wires manually, worked fine...both ways. So YAY, it is NOT the motor or the solenoid, but the switch! I guess its sending enough juice to attempt to do something, but not enough to fully engage it. IDK, never would have guessed the switch since it was clicking, but seems to be the case! Thanks for suggestion of more voltage checking, I don't know that I would have figured the switch for it else wise. Moral of the story, a switch can go bad and still be good enough to make things click...but not good enough to run the motor. Never would have guessed that...

I was hoping the same thing initially, but posts and terminals were in great shape. Zero corrosion at the connections. It did have a good coating of grease on it. Maybe I can try wiping things down and reconnecting, worth a shot.

I should add, however, that is NOT what the motor assembly looks like with the original. It looks like two parts. I assume the replacements are built the same basically, just enclosed in one piece.

It is a two wire system, blue and green, with what I assume is a common ground through the casing. So, in essence I think it would work like a three wire system. When I tested the solenoid I connected to the ground and to the blue. Hit up trim, got ~ +12v, down got about +.55v. When I connected to the green, I got ~ +12v when pressing "down" and +.55v when pressing up. I attached an image of the solenoid, and a replacement trim motor to clarify.

Ok, so I am more convinced it's the tilt motor. I bypassed the solenoid, just to make sure that I wasn't missing something with the multi-meter. Up fine, no down. Then after reattaching the wires, up stopped. A few mins later, I bumped up, mostly one of the frustrated "why aren't you working" things, and it worked fine on up. I'm guessing I've gotten some rust/corrosion. I guess I will pull off the motor and see what I see, unless I hear something more definitive that indicates I don't need to. Watched a quick video, not looking forward to taking it off...

Do you mean something else beyond the solenoid on the engine? From the looks of it, the solenoid wires run directly into the motor housing. I have not taken it off yet, but that's what it looks like. There may be more, and I certainly don't know...

Hey folks -- Running into an issue with the trim, and since I've never had any issues wanted to bounce it across y'all to see if I diagnosed it correctly. 1999 Yamaha 90 outboard, "C" IIRC although I don't think that matters. If it does matter, it's whatever came on the 90SS Skeeter. But I'm 99% positive it's C. Trim works up fine, but only clicks when you attempt to go down. Trim motor does not "try" to run, just a click from the solenoid. I checked voltage at the solenoid. Blue across black, 12v when I go up. Green across black, 12v when I go down. I traced (and shook while attempting down trim) the wiring and found no cuts, or shorts. At this point, I have to suspect I either have a bad connection at the motor itself, or the motor is failing. I would have expected it to fail both directions, however. I did not expect the motor to work in one direction and have no reaction in the other. That makes me think maybe I have a bad connection somewhere internally. (Unless there are two separate motors in there? Doesn't make sense, but IDK.) Any thoughts? Am I going down the wrong rabbit hole, or is it time to pull things apart and dig deeper?

I'm not a baitcaster master, but when I was learning (I come from years and years of spinning gear) a few things made a huge difference, and if I'm teaching someone I have them do the following. --Practice heavy. Learn with 3/4 or 1 ounce. Yard work is key. If you can get elevated a little, it will be easier. --Adjust the drop as you did, but don't be locked in to it being perfect. You will quickly feel like you need to loosen it. That's a good sign. Start your first pitches too tight. --Pitch, pitch, pitch, and pitch some more. Pitching will get you more and more comfortable with the reel and spool and start locking down the muscle memory. Once you get comfortable start loosing the spool more and more...you will quickly feel the difference and how you have to respond with your thumb. This will not be 1:1 with casting, but you will see just how much further you can pitch and the impact of the brakes overall. --If you get a little back lash, pull it out (or cast it with a soft sidearm lob out if its just loose) then practice pitching again. Don't just keep pitching through it. Once you are comfortable with it, then you can begin working on casting. Oh, and from experience --- a good reel DOES make a difference. lol

Totally depends on the situation. Generally I keep 5 or 6 on deck. But what's on them could be from: Carolina Rig, T-Rig, Jig/Creature, senko, fluke to Topwater, Fluke, Crank, spinner, umbrella, jig. Or if I'm working on something specific I may have multiple rods with the same lure type on...say different jigs, or whatever. The only constant is I try to cover the water column (basically) and I almost always have some sort of jig/creature and a fluke on to start the day. Naturally I try to logically think out the situation before I'm on the water and set up my first choices based on the expected conditions. I also have some extras in the rod locker, one will always be rigged with a grub for when things go south, lol. I usually hit the water with a mix of "normal" stuff (5 or 6 usually on deck more in the box), a couple extra big and heavy and a couple extra light. The end of the day NEVER looks the same as the beginning. I will start honing in on what's working and have a mix of that style tied up on deck. It's been a bad day when I have the ultra lights out, lol. However, I am not one who locks down a rod to a specific use generally. There are certain characteristics I like for certain things, sure -- but I'm not opposed to pulling off a jig and tossing a heavy jerkbait or deep running crank, or go from crank to spinner to a t-rig, etc on a rod. I also don't spend 100's of dollars on a single rod so I use them for multiple presentation types.

I'm in that Jig boat. It's embarrassing but I am not very successful with them. But, let me clarify a bit. When I say jig I mean your normal off the shelf jig-n-pig... put a creature on a jig head, and things change. I thought I just sucked at jigs until I was fishing with a buddy who is dang good with them. It wasn't necessarily that I was "bad" with jigs, I just didn't use them as often. Take a brush pile, I may have a baby brush hawg on a weedles jig head and be getting bit -- he would have a regular jig doing the same thing. I use the terminal tackle for jigs a fair bit, but generally with other bodies vs your typical "jig". Same thing around rocks, I may be bouncing craws or grubs on a jig head, he just left on the same jig. I've always had better luck with something "on" a jig head except around docks. I'm guessing it has as much to do with how much I use them vs reality. None the less, standard jigs are not quick on my list, ironically I start every day with one tied on lol. I think part of the reason behind it is what I was used to fishing before migrating to lakes. I used creatures, grubs, tubes, etc a fair bit for smallies - but not a standard "jig". My instinct it still to use other stuff with a jig head. The other thing that I really suck with is rattle traps. I cannot seem to trick anything into biting them lol. IDR who mentioned the Rapalas, but I really struggle with them on the lake as well. Broken Back Rapala's are my absolute go to in streams and rivers. I keep a slew from J5-J11 and I remember clearly my first trip on the lake. I had a couple tied on and was expecting to catch with them as well as I was used to. I tried every color, every size, every technique...Skunked. That whole first year I tried to use them and kept failing. All I could get would be the occasional top-water bite off em. Then I discovered a fluke. They basically replaced the BB Rapala for me on the lake. I've obviously learned a slew of other techniques over the years, but its a rare day I don't have a fluke on at some point.

If I could only throw one thing at a dock, it would be skipping Flukes underneath. Adding a second I drop jigs vertical at the posts, or swim them from the bank. I really try to spend the most time at the first and last dock, or any dock that is different. For the middle cookie cutters, I will sometime just crank them pretty quickly unless I really feel they are holding on all docks then I'll take my time. We key in on the above water changes (especially at docks), don't neglect a ditch,hole etc. underwater. One of my most productive docks looked just like a dozen or so others, but there was some deeper water with an old tree in front of it. I have probably caught more off jigs at that dock than any other.

Hey A-jay -- maybe you can speak to likely reasons why I wasn't asked about having an inherently buoyant vest? The USCG check was a courtesy safety check by the auxiliary -- so I guess maybe they assumed I would be wearing it the whole time, but that seems a bit of a stretch. Actually, as I typed this I realized that I was actually probably not breaking the law. I did have a couple of old orange floater vests that I kept in the bottom of the rod locker. I got them for like $1 at a yard sale and kept them on the boat as a just in case someone needed one. I probably pulled them out when getting my distress flag out for the check. Quick access, and fits the bill I guess. So that explains that, and I really feel like an idiot now lol. But, I wouldn't have gotten that out for the wardens. I guess they only enforce local rules not federal? None the less, I will have to double check that I have something in there currently... :S

Well, I stand corrected and props to Toxic... So, when the USCG Aux did their safety inspection and when the wardens did their check I guess they just ignored that, as I definitely did not have two standard vests on board. Haven't in years. And I've been checked by wardens a few different times. I wonder if there is some difference between off-shore vs on-shore regs? I'm guessing not, but I'm really surprised that both the game wardens and USCGA neither addressed having an inherently buoyant vest on board. I mean, not even a warning, or any comment. Hence my full belief that the VA laws were equal in terms of PFD's. I will have to stow a couple of backups under the seat. Thanks for the correction!

A buddy of mine and I were talking about lure selection the other day. We were debating when throw top water in spring and then he dropped this nugget: "If its daylight, all you need to throw is a senko; if it's not, throw one anyway..."

Toxic -- I have to disagree with you on this one. We had a coast guard vessel check a few years ago, and there was no comments about having only inflatables (plus the Type 4). Last year, the water police boat did a license etc. check while fishing. No jackets on, and only inflatables and Type 4. They didn't board, but did ask a bunch of questions and wanted to see the charge of the jacket, cushion and fire extinguisher. No comments and certainly no citations for not having standard vests. Given the seriousness of this convo, I pulled the DGIF boater info (https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/boating/wog/equipment-regulations/#Personal_Flotation_Devices) And found the following: There must be one wearable (Type I, II, III, or V) USCG approved life jacket for each person on the boat. The life jacket must be the appropriate size for each intended wearer. Each wearable life jacket needs to be “readily accessible” if not worn. Readily accessible means the life jackets are out in the open ready for wear or stowed where they can be easily reached. Readily accessible life jackets cannot be in protective coverings or under lock and key. In addition, you should check each life jacket for proper fit. This is especially important for children. Check theDoes Your Life Jacket Really Fit section. A Type V life jacket needs to be worn according to the manufacturer label to meet safety requirements. This requirement applies to all boats including paddlecraft (canoes, kayaks, and stand-up paddleboards). In addition to the wearable life jacket, there must be at least one (1) USCG approved Type IV throwable (ring buoy or seat cushion), on vessels of 16 feet or greater. Inflatable Life Jackets must meet all the requirements for life jackets listed above plus the following: A properly armed inflation mechanism, complete with a full inflation cartridge and all status indicators showing that the inflation mechanism is properly armed; Inflatable chambers that are all capable of holding air; Oral inflation tubes that are not blocked, detached, or broken; Inflation status indicators that are not broken or otherwise non-functional; The inflation system of an inflatable life jacket need not be armed when the life jacket is worn inflated and otherwise meets the requirements above. A Special Note about Inflatable Life Jackets Inflatable life jackets are lightweight, comfortable to wear and take up about one-tenth the storage room of conventional foam-filled life jackets. Most are USCG approved only for persons 16 years of age and older who are not engaged in whitewater or skiing activities or riding on PWC. They are a great choice for adults on the water! Don't get me wrong, I am certainly not calling you a liar --- but, if someone is getting ticketed for that, they should simply challenge in court as that is not the law. *note to other readers, this is in Virginia.

Cool deal. Yeah, I was just thinking in current you would be adding the potential for line twist on the non swiveling connection point. Always good to have options though! This certainly seems to be a more finesse option.

IIRC in VA the law is that any PFD must be immediately available, unless you are under 13, then it must be worn at all times when on deck. You must have 1 PFD per occupant, plus at least one Type 4 throw ring or cushion. But you do not have to have a "vest style" if you take off your PFD.