Al Wolbach

Weddings and funerals are a huge waste of money, IMO. There is a very large chance you will not survive either, lol.

I am bringing my family to the Charleston area the second week of July. I plan to bring my pontoon boat since the grandchildren will be with us this trip. I remember a railroad bridge next to the Cypress Garden launch and if my memory serves me correctly it may be a tight fit for a pontoon boat. Can anyone tell me if I can navigate it under the bridge? As I recall the bridge is low but I can lower the bimini top and width may also be a problem. I plan to launch at Bushy Park then run to dam and back. We are staying at Foster Creek Villas at the Naval Weapons Station. Thanks

Not legal in Tennessee either

You are staying in the newest/nicest campgrounds on the lake, good choice. it is near the dam as well. Get a map of the lake and look for humps and points. If you are on the water facing the boat ramp at the dam there is a large hump to your left that holds fish throughout the summer and would be a good place to start. It can be difficult to fish due to boat traffic on weekends, however. Week days are good. The water is stained normally. The bass will be deep but can be caught using Texas rigged plastics, Carolina rigged plastics, deep crank baits as well as swimbaits. The latter usually wins the larger tournaments. Shad colored crank baits( and with some chartreuse) and plastics of many colors are favored. Some people will recommend red as a primary color for plastics and others recommend shades of green. Both work. If fishing creature baits such as lizards or brush hogs, I personally prefer watermelon gold or chartreuse pumpkin. If using worms I like grape, purple or some shade of red, red/black or tequila sunrise and I prefer large worms in summer(8-11in). However, many colors will work just some better than others. If you need any baits/equipment while here Bucks and Bass on Hwy 25/70 in Dandridge( about 10 miles north) can offer most of your tackle needs and good friendly advice. There also is a BPS about 10 miles to the south but fishing advice is limited as most employees are young and inexperienced. Hope this helps and enjoy your visit............Al

Swimsuits deep on humps and points. Generally that time of year 15-25 feet deep

I have a friend that is a marine master mechanic. I had this conversation with him a few years ago. He said first, there are to many variables to say when a pump will fail, but he recommends no more than two years between changing impellers. He said they can become brittle and pieces can break off and be cycled through the engine cooling ports( if you are lucky and block the ports if you are not lucky). He said the brittleness is probably caused by hot/cold cycles caused by weather and of course any dry start ups that may have occurred, such as starting engine while still trimmed up while fishing. Personally, I don't see risking a $20K outboard to save spending $20 for a new pump, but its your money. For those of you with extended warranties, your engine may or may not be covered if you don't change it at required intervals.

Published by Bassmaster, would you expect a different view?

I bow to experience. I have never tried it and it shows. Thanks for the info...

This will get the job done but it only pumps a couple of oz at a squeeze. If you have several gallons to pump you will be there a while, not to mention hand cramps. Through the sending unit hole with a siphon hose would be much faster because you can use a larger hose. The sending unit only has about 6 nuts to remove and replace when done.

test

All gas goes bad, not just ethanol blended gas. Not sure about Startron but Seafoam and Stabil treat all types of gas. Ethanol free gas just starts losing octane after a couple of weeks and we all know about ethanol mixed gas. After a few months even ethanol free gas is so low in octane it will run very bad and possibly damage your outboard.

Approximately 1oz per gallon

If you launch at Cypress Gardens go up river, under the swing railroad bridge then through the no wake zone. After the no wake zone there are several small islands separating the river channel from the rice fields. The 3rd or 4th island has a couple of large stumps on the channel side that sometimes hold big fish and there is a wooden wall that separates the channel from the rice fields. It is best found at low tide when you can see it. I fished the wall by using weighted baits, jigs, worms, lizards, etc. That wall runs on both sides of the channel and takes hours to fish thoroughly but fish the bottom along the wall. There are holes in the bottom that are deeper in places. I also had some success with buzz baits and spinnerbaits between the islands when current was pulling water from the rice fields. I have caught fish ranging from 3 to 11.5lbs along that wall. If I can find my map I will send more info but that area is a big fish area. You will see large schools of mullet in that area also which probably attract the fish. If you check out that area at low tide you will see a lot of cover..

Brent, I can share a couple of big fish holes if you are interested. Are you new to that area?

I love fishing that river but have never caught numbers of fish. I have had more success up the river from where you are launching and for big fish. There is so much current when the tide shifts it is difficult to fish. Have you fished the rice paddies upstream, above the railroad bridge? BTW I have never figured out the fish/tide relationship in that area.

I had to take a file to a mount a few years ago to correct this same problem but if yours is new I would take it back to Minn Kota.

Many do have hour meter on the boat and Mercury can tell you after the motor is attached to their computer.

You hook up the charger one set of leads(1 pos and 1 neg) for each battery as though they were the only battery. Charger should have three sets of leads, one set for each battery. Red lead is positive, black lead is negative for each battery. The charger has three separate circuits, each 12 volts.

This makes sense to me.

Many on this site like to use braid for jig fishing and I do if fishing weedy lakes. I also fish lakes with many laydown trees and for this situation I prefer FC because the fish frequently hit the jig on the fall. When the fish hit a jig on the fall it will most likely go undetected with braid but FC will jump and not go undetected. As long as you are fishing with a tight line braid is superior. Either is better than mono for jig fishing, imo.

Do they have jumper cables? If so, try jumping from a trolling motor battery to cranking battery. That should get them going and answer your question.

If you get to the north end of the lake there is a restaurant in Okeechobee named Lightseys. They have all you can eat local catfish that is great. All of their food is good but the catfish is great. May be to far to drive from Roland Martin's place, but imo worth the time.

If you went out this morning wearing all those clothes you need to move south, lol.

The state of Tennessee is absolutely littered with good lakes.

Check this out www.tnstateparks.com/FallCreekFalls They have cabins for rent on a good sized lake and a state record bass was shocked up on that lake a few years ago, then released. Beautiful area.