Dogman65

Cattle lay down in front of bad weather....so if the herd is laying down....bad weather is comin. Maybe that's what this comes from.

Sorry if this is a dumb question.....what is a blade bait? Spinnerbait?

Try doing a search for Cedar Creek Lake fishing reports. There is a local tackle shop down the road that posts a blog with reports. Last time it was updated as of yesterday was for March 5 or so but they may do an update before your trip. I was there last week and the water temps were hovering around 46-47 at the surface. I was doing the initial breakin of my boat and didn't even bring fishing gear so no fishing gear. Talked to a guy that said it was slow as I was pulling out but they were biting.

Thanks for the tips all. I'll give those suggestions a try.

Hi all, I need some advice. I'm not sure if this is the right forum based on descriptions on all of them so if it's not I apologize. Here is my question regarding lure choice. One of the lakes I fish is Herrington Lake in Central Kentucky. It is a river like older impoundment. The lake is narrow and the banks are extremely steep and rocky, basically much of the lake is steep limestone dropoffs. The lake depth in the channel is 250 ft in places, you can be 15 feet off a bank and be in 60 feet of water regularly, even in the coves and creeks. There are boat docks floating off the shore but the back of the dock may be touching the shore while the front is sitting in 60 or more feet of water. There really isn't much timber but every now and then you will find some vegetation handing off your lure when you bump bottom with a crankbait. I just went out yesterday for the first time fishing this year, the weather started in the 40's and went up to the 60's by 3pm. It was pretty windy (10-20 mph) on the lake itself and the surface temps were between 46.5 and 48.7. I don't have a temp probe to look at temps other than the surface. I would say the water was stained....I could see my lure down to 4-6 feet. I have a less expensive lowrance that was showing fish hanging out in the 12-14ft range. I could see tiny schools of fish near the surface and twice I saw a little top water splashing in the middle of the lake in the sheltered coves. The wind was too strong to really see if there was much action out in the main lake areas. I tried a deep diving crankbait (10-12 ft) and a 15ft in both red and chart in the sheltered areas and the wind blown points (not much of those by the way) and around the docks. I was basically reeling it down to depth then trying to dig bottom by casting more parallel to shore on the points and also fishing all sides of the docks. I tried a char/white spinnerbait with white trailer and tandem blades in the same places. I slow rolled it best I could but the lake is deep and I sort of pumped it round the docks. I tried a black/red 3/8 jig with pork trailer anywhere I could find that wasn't a 20 foot wall from the shoreline. I also tried a squarebill under the docks (5 ft). I tried a suspending jerkbait around the docks and near the steep walls also. I also tried a lipless crankbait, retrieve pause, and yo-yoin it near the shore and docks. I spent about 5 hours working three different areas near the dam (two creeks and the main lake). I had zero luck except for a tiny shad I hooked on a crankbait as I was reeling it in...so at least some of those baitfish were in the 10-12 ft range (showed on my depthfinder there). My question is this....am I just doing this wrong with these lures? Am I using lures that sound reasonable for my conditions? If these lures aren't reasonable choices what are and what would you all try. This lake has a reputation for being very difficult to fish and finding info on it is really hard, I researched a ton before yesterday but really could find no info other than "fish at night in the summertime" regarding LMB, although I know it has some nice fish in it. On the upside....I am getting into this after being out of it for 10 years. Got a new boat that I actually got to go fishing off of for the first time and it was FANTASTIC! I would like to catch a fish though, so my wife doesn't think this is a total waste of money .

That connector in your picture is a 7pin rv connector. That is actually becoming the most popular connector for most trailers, although many boat trailers come with a flat (4 or 5) pin if it doesn't have trailer brakes. You can buy the 7 pin for your truck at auto parts stores, wal marts, lowes....many different places. To install one on the truck you need to buy one that comes with a metal mount or bracket. They are generally sold as a unit, you mount the bracket near the hitch and wire the plug and done. Many of the 7 pins also come as a combination unit that includes the 7 pin, a flat and metal mount. That way you can connect either to the truck. You can also buy an adapter to connect a flat plug to your 7 pin. The most complicated issue for you will be tracing the wires on your truck so that you have the individual pins connected to the correct wires. Get a 12v current tester (one that has a clip for ground then a probe that lights up when it shows current is the most simple, a multi-meter works also) and just test all the wires on your current truck-side plug while using turn signals, brakes, lights etc. Mark them with tape and you can transfer that to the new plug. The 7 pins have connectors for trailer brakes (hot and ground) that may be the power source for charging the batteries, I have no idea on that one. One thing I would do is to wire the truck in the standard fashion, most of the pin connectors you buy have the connections marked on them. So they will be labeled L turn, R turn, Brake lights, Grnd, etc. This is usually the standard wiring configuration. On the combo units all you need to do is make the connection to the 7 pin side and it's internally prewired between the 7 pin and flat connector. If you do this then most any non-modified trailer you tow and hook into your truck plug will then be connected correctly. Once you do that you need to check the trailer wiring configuration and change it as necessary to comply with the trucks wiring. All this is pretty simple with the 7 pin connectors. They come apart and are easy to wire, no splicing required.

Some things to think about.... Shotguns: Sounds like a good idea up front however there are couple problems. They don't lend themselves to manuevering in tight spaces too well. A short barrel can help but a handgun is much easier to deal with most of the time in a building search situation. Second problem is securing your weapon should you have to do so to deal with some loser you caught in your house. Granted you probably won't be handcuffing anyone but....if you need to go hands free there is no easy way to do so with a shotgun. So say you have to call 911 once you've got everything under control, if you're alone you have to one-hand the shotgun. They are generally pretty difficult to swing, aim and fire one handed. I know someone will post that the bad guy will be down so it's a non-issue. That's not actually very likely, when it comes to it, most folks won't just shoot someone who just gave up or was just wounded and has now just given up. So you may have to cover the guy while calling 911. That's hard to do with a shotgun while one-handing it. Yes racking a round into the chamber of a shotgun is intimidating, but if you've made the decision to confront the bad guy with a gun, be prepared to use it. Don't assume they care about hearing a shotgun rack, if they are breaking into your house during a time when most folks are home, they have probably made the decision to use whatever weapon they brought to the party. Caliber: Within reason shot placement is more important than the caliber you're using. So the difference between 9mm, .40 and .45 isn't as important as the weapon you're most comfortable and experienced with. There are penetration issues but this can be addressed to a certain degree with ammunition choices. All of these rounds have a chance of penetrating walls. You as the shooter must assume that it will and deal with it accordingly. If your family is behind a wall the bad guy is in front of, you have no shot and that's just how it is. Move until you do. The same applies with exterior walls. As a side note on frangible ammo. The big problem with this stuff is the chance for under penetration of the suspect. I prefer the more standard hollow point style ammo and use muzzle discipline to prevent collateral damage. It's really important to end the fight asap, good penetration and bullet performance along with shot placement are key. In terms of noise levels, you won't hear the shots you fire under those circumstances. Noise levels of your gun are irrelevant. Training is incredibly important. You need to learn a good combat style of drawing, shooting, holstering, reloading and malfunction drills. Then you need to practice them...alot. Many folks don't realize that the first thing you lose during high stress situations in terms of ability is fine motor control. Shooting a firearm requires alot of fine motor control. Expect your accuracy to tank. This means you're operating off muscle memory and it is incidentally why bad guys and good guys routinely miss each other from less than 10 feet in gunfights. You build those skills and work on them until you don't have to think about how to do it, you just do it. Assess, draw, point, fire. Not much aiming goin on there....which is why you don't take a chance shooting near a wall your family is concealed behind. The second part of training is learning what's ok and what's not ok. The castle doctrine isn't a magic bullet that absolves you of responsibility. Your individual state has laws regarding self defense and you need to learn them. In general a reasonable person fearing death, sexual assault or maybe serious physical injury can use deadly force to defend themselves or others (ex. your family). It's important that you know laws in your specific area. Gunsafes: These are nice but if you're buying a firearm for home defense and keeping it in the gunsafe or even unloaded you may as well not buy the thing. You likely won't have time to get to it. So then the issue becomes child safety. Lots of stuff to think about. Oh and bad guys usually don't just fall over with a couple hits. Be prepared to shoot until they are down, this may take many hits depending on mindset and mind altering drugs in the bad guy. Why do you see stories in the news of police shooting bad guys multiple times? Because it often takes multiple hits to shut humans down, so train with that in mind. And yes, lawyers are for suspects. States spend millions of dollars giving free legal service to the most violent criminals. They spend comparitively little giving any service to victims whatsoever.

Thanks Paul, This makes me want to get a thermometer with a probe. I'm just starting out (restarting) and need all the help I can get. This is good info. Dave

That's what I was thinking too. If it's cloudy then there isn't much flash since no sun....irrelevant on chrome or not since the light source for the flash is so subdued. I always figured the chartruese color in the low light was just to make it easier for the fish to find/target the bait? I'm just learning though so I'm just checking my logic on that reasoning.

LOL! Ya know if they would let them boys settle things in the infield a like they used to you'd hear a lot less from them. The Bush brothers need a Cale Yarborough smackdown. When I was fishing regularly years ago the texas rigged worm was my favorite. I never really learned anything else. I used to start with it and then stick with it all day....even if I wasn't catching anything. Now that I'm back into it I'm hoping to learn some more techniques. At least something I can use for finding the fish before I go to worming.

Oh I'm not complaining about it at all. I really like it so far...and I like how easy it starts and how nice it idles...and the fuel mileage...wow. Almost 2 hours of constant running....2 gallons and that was plowing around for much of it barely on plane. I'm just saying the break-in is really something else from what my last boat new boat was (98 merc 125 2 stroke). Of course all this stuff has changed so much since I was last in the "hole in the water" club...pretty much for the better as far as I can tell.

This may be a dumb question but.....I'm assuming 10fow is 10 feet deep temps your talking about? If that's the case then is my water temp shown on my depthfinder sorta useless then? Should I buy some sort of thermometer with a probe on a wire? I seem to recall seeing them years ago when I was actively fishing. I'm just starting back up fishing again and I want to actually try to learn something this time. Also on any particular day do the temps at the surface relate directly to the 10 foot level? So for example if I'm seeing 41-42 deg.s on my depthfinder (which is an elcheapo model that came on the boat lowrance x4 pro i think) and the I'm seeing 38 at 10 feet will that hold pretty much through the day? So I just subtract 4 degrees from what I'm seeing on surface temp to know what the weather is at 10 feet? I'm curious because I was out doing the break in on my boat the other day and the temp raised from 40.2 to 41.4 or so just in the span of a couple hours. It was sunny and about 48 degrees air temp. As I moved around the lake the temp varied a degree or two but those temps all raised about 1.2 degrees in that two hours. Thanks, Dave

I just took my new 175 w/60 merc out yesterday to get the first two hours of break in done on it. On the merc 60 4 stroke the break in is 1 hour at not more than 3500 with varied throttle settings. The second hour is not more than 4500 with varied throttle settings plus 1 minute at full throttle in every 10 minute time period. The next 8 hours is not more than 5 minutes at full throttle...varied throttle settings throughout. So....10 hours of break in total. The mechanic at the boat dealer said that it's pretty vital to follow the break in procedure as it's shown in the manual, even though it is rather lengthy. I think those 2 strokes actually sound easier to deal with on break in. I made it through about 1.5 hours of constant running before the cold chased me in. I will say this though, that little 60 really seemed to wake up once I was able to get it past 3500 and bump full throttle a couple times during the second hour. I was suprised at how quiet at idle and how easy to start/idle it was. Then when I got on it....it sounded good and pulled well...felt torquey (my first 4 stroke outboard). Based on how my 175 with a 60 on it felt, I bet that 75 is gonna be awesome. Congrats!

Waiting a little more to get what you know you want is always a good idea. When I bought my first boat (used) I got burned because I was in a hurry and didn't know much about boats....I wanted a decent boat and traded it within a couple months for a new boat. Well it was not near enough and I pretty much knew it but bought it anyway because I wanted a boat NOW. That was a mistake. I lost money on the used boat trading it, then lost money on the new small boat trading up a year later on something that would work for me. Sold that last boat 10 years ago after having it for several years just due to not having time to fish. When I bought the 175 this month I spent alot of time being sure about what I wanted. Took it out yesterday for the first time and I'm very happy with the choice I made. Sounds like your dad is doing a good job. Lessons like that stay with you forever.

I just bought a 2013 tracker 175. When I orginally started looking I was pretty set on the 170. I don't really need a large fast bassboat but I did want to be sure I had enough room to comfortably fish out of it and have enough storage and stability to keep me happy. I really think that "enough" is pretty subjective. My advice would be to go spend some time looking at all three. Get in the boats, sit behind the wheel and spend some time on the front and rear casting decks, get up from behind the wheel and walk to both, then walk from front to back. Open all the compartments while your at it. In other words simulate actual use on the water so you have the best idea of whats "enough" for you. After doing all of that I decided the 175 was a better choice for me. Also the smaller the boat the less stable among those three models, and if you have a buddy don't forget they will be moving around too. I am back in the boat owner's club after 10 years out of it. I've had used (got burnt), and a couple new glass bassboats. Without doubt the glass boats are very nice but aluminum is "enough" for me. I think all three of those are good boats so I have no idea which is right for you. Many folks fish out of a johnboat and all three of those models are a step up from that. It's really a choice you have to make after you've educated yourself on them as best you can. One nice thing about all three is that at least in my area the resale is really good so when you eventually move on to something else you should be ok selling it. Used vs new is again a personal choice. There are benefits (cost) and risks (inherited problems). That is another personal choice you have to make...just be sure to have any used boat checked by a marine mechanic that you trust, and take a test ride. Hope this helps.