Kevin22

I forgot to add that if its an electronic steer it may not work. But my cable maxxum has gotten me home on electric only lakes when one battery went out. I hooked it up to straight 12V and ran it on 100%. Looked to be roughly 40% speed. It got me home.

Yeah, you can. It will just have a lot less power. You can always go less volts to slow a DC motor down, but never more volts. Its only going to run at half power though, so would be like a 30-35lb thrust.

Get your frogs out. Water temp is 60-65 there, and there are a lot of scum mats forming.

I was looking into them last year and talked with a couple dealers. You have two options on the trackers, you can buy a package deal (what you are referring to) and then buy any upgrades through your dealer and pay him to install them ($100/hr shop time). OR you can go through your dealer to customize a boat from the factory (sometimes not an option), and they have options for that. You can upgrade TM and wiring, you can upgrade electronics, seats, flooring, dash configuration (on some models), livewell pump sizes (on some models), add hydraulic steering, etc. These upgrades take place at the factory and are only available on new models and have a looonnng wait time. My dealer said it would be WAY cheaper to have him find a year-old package deal somewhere and have it shipped to him then do the basic upgrades (tm, electronics, pumps) by myself or in his shop.

Fluctuating temperatures cast to cast in the same spot isn't right. But on different days it could be right! A few weeks ago I fished a lake on a calm day and water temp was 44 degrees. I fished the same spot the next day, it was real windy blowing into that spot and water temp was 58 degrees.

That's a standard size alum bass boat, not extra wide for sure. That appears to be just what you need. Now be sure to water test it before buying. Stop at autozone or NAPA and get or rent a compression tester on your way there. Water test it, run it, test the livewells and bilge, test everything you can think of. Check the compression on the motor and carefully inspect the engine, as well as the lower unit housing/prop hub. With the transom savor off, gently shake the motor front to back and see how much flex the transom has. If it all checks out, I think its worth what he is asking. If he won't let you do any of the tests I mentioned then walk away and forget about it. Don't let him give you excuses to why you can't test something.

That's fine and dandy, and I do agree the FG knot is by far the best knot.. But the issues we are having is the line is fraying 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 feet above the bait. It happened on the OPs rod, all of my nanofil set-ups, and 3 of my buddies' setups. Parts of the line that don't even touch the bottom get frayed up. I don't know why, but it breaks down FAST. First month or two its pretty nice line (a little stiff for me though), then it goes way down hill very fast. We were all using 10# nanofil locally.

I just posted above that I have cleaned over 1500 fish with my knife, going THROUGH THE RIB BONES. And it will still shave the hair off my arm. NEVER been sharpened, just honed on a steel. Did you watch the video I posted above? I have the same knife and fillet the fish the same way. I bought this knife because I hated sharpening knives after every batch of fish. Its strong, flexible, has a great grip, long enough to have good leverage, and holds an edge. If you have ever cleaned a white bass, you know how thick the rib bones are.. This knife goes right through them with no issues. If that isn't the right knife for the job then I don't know what is!

Because its fast and easy. Cutting around the ribs is just too slow for me.

The VMC have epoxy over the gap in the eye. I use the 5/0 VMC ike EWG and they are a great hook. Have not used the flippin hook so don't know about that. When I run out of my other sizes of EWG and worm hooks I will switch them over to the VMC as well.

That's probably about right for casting distance with 7# line. That's about how far I can throw a 1/16 jig/leech for walleye with the same rod and 6# line. If you need more casting distance you need to go to braid as a main line or drop down to 4# line. Your rod/reel choice is perfect though, that's what I use for walleye.

Sushi knives are made for cutting flesh, don't touch a bone with it! Sushi knives are ground to a VERY small angle with an extremely fine edge, very similar to a razor blade. If you watch any cooking shows you will notice something right away, if the chef uses a "sushi knife" he uses two knives. One to fillet the fish on smaller fish, and the other to cut the sushi. If he uses the same knife for both then he isn't using a sushi knife. Here is a crappie guide that cleans more fish in one week than all of us who commented on this thread clean in one year, combined!

Better use the color match stuff and get the lightest color you can find! The black is going to cook you in your boat.

Remember he is taking his wife and small son out as well. A 14' Jon or skiff might not be the correct boat for family safety...

0000 steel wool and a bucket of soapy water. Pretty much just polishing the paint or clear coat. DO NOT DO THIS WITH FIBERGLASS BOATS OR MOTOR COWLS.

VMC IKE approved! I love them!

I'll sell you some tips. They are $5 each and I accept paypal only. Edit: fyi this was posted in the buy/sell forum

I prefer 6'6MF for jerks and walkers, and a Moderate or Mod Fast of any length for poppers.

I don't like to fish by myself. I have a creek full of smallies 1/4 mile from my house, I can walk down there and fish any time I want to but just don't care to fish alone. Yeah I can concentrate better, but I'd rather have company.

Hey there is NOTHING wrong with those spinners! Some of my best inlines had unpainted bullet weights as bodies. And how pretty your wraps are have no influence on how many fish they will catch! Just personal preference, but I do like my blades a little lower so the blade turns and covers at least 3/4 of the body. Those look like northland crawler harness blades, good looking blades!

No, but I had the same thing happen to me with my ONLY black/chartreuse KVD 1.5 on the boat. I could see it wedged in there so I beached the boat and walked the shoreline to get my crank back!

I can idle 5mph with my 17' ranger and 115, why have a boat that can only go 5mph? Makes no sense to me what so ever! What if you want to take a family trip somewhere on a bigger lake? You are going to get swamped! What if you get caught out in bad weather? I've seen plenty of 9.9' and 15's getting rocked and rolled in the waves, swamping the boat, while I ride up on top and get home safely. Makes no sense what so ever to limit yourself to such a degree. (talking a 9.9 on a 17' boat here, not a 14' skiff). Also I think someone mentioned fuel economy?? I was on a 5mph lake today and I can ASSURE you my 115 idling at 4.4-4.6 uses way less gas than a 9.9 running 3/4-WOT to go the same 5mph. I can disconnect my fuel line and idle for 15 minutes at 1800rpm which will cross any 80 acre lake I know of. Idled all over the main lake today (400 acres) and the fuel gauge never moved, I doubt it used a gallon of gas.

While I have never had one tow me, I have had to chase them down with the TM to avoid losing a bait. Back in 08-09 I had 4 days in a row where I pulled a 19-25# carp off of the same dock. Every one was the same, set the hook and off they go! chase them down with the TM for 15-20 minutes until I could get my bait back.

The black and red caught my first bass! My dad would throw the black/red and black/pink.

My first link. Otherwise the helix 5 si. those are the only ones i know of in your price range.