Bass_junky

Nick, The pitch & diameter should be stamped on the side of the prop, note "should be".

First, I have a couple of questions. What is the WOT (wide open throttle) rpm's ? What is the spec'd maximum rpm's of the motor, i would guess 5200? a 17" pitch sounds a bit small for this motor/boat. Is there a jack plate installed on the motor? Reason I ask about the jack plate: When I first purchased my boat I put a dolphin/hydrofoil on to increase planing time. A year later I installed a manual jack plate and didn't gain any top end speed after adjusting several times. I removed the hydrofoil and immediately gained 5-7 mph.

You might give spoons a try!!!

regarding the trolling motor prop, measure the diameter of the motor, this should put you in the ball park. Or take the simple approach and remove the prop and take it with you to the store. 6 gauge would be my bet also for wire size.

If you are referring the noise while on plane, you are over-trimming. Watch your RPM gauge and this would give you the best trim compared with WOT.

The deepest I fish is 15 ft. but i am in the northwest. Water temps seldomly reach 75 deg.max. My approach is to fish the inside weed line from first light until about 7-8 a.m. Then i switched and fish the outside weedlines in 10-15 ft water depth. What presentation to use? I wish i could say the I have one presentation that stands out, but this would not be an honest statement. On calm days I never use spinnerbaits after 9 a.m. I'm limited on patience (which I need to improve) but i start with a tube on the deep side of weedlines, then switch to Yum Gonzo. On occasion i will throw a c-rig. I have read several articles regarding the old johnson silver spoon, I am going to try this technique, but they are not available at the local tackle shops here so I have to order. I revert back to the thickest weed bed I can find starting at noon. I search for the pockets in these weedbeds and have had much success. It is a hassle trying to move around with my old Motorola 740 trolling motor since it is not the weedless style. I purchased a 20 ft push pole (commonly used by duck hunters) and this has helped. My rational for this approach: everyone else is fishing the deep points. Not too many will go in after the bass in the weeds. I do not catch any 6 lbs + on a steady basis but I do well on the 2-4 lb bass with this technique (pitching). I realize this also depends on the lake you are fishing. The lake I fish most often is a upland reservoir. Not much wood structure/humps in these lakes. I do however seek out the drops & old road beds when I decide to try for smallies. I use a tube bait with a bell sinker inside the tube for these tough bonzebacks.

I use Unlce Josh trailers when the water is 55 deg or colder. After that I use scented plastics for trailers.

I also Texpose my hook. I would like to ad a rigging method regarding weights and Tube baits. I read by adding a bell weight inside the tube further reduces catching weeds. I tried this method. I wet the bell sinker and slid it inside the tube. I then inserted the hook in the tip of the tube and through the eye of the bell sinker. I was amazed at the helicopter downfall this created. It looked as if it were making 6" dia circles on the way down. It also reduced the muck that I use to get by an outside weight. This also improve my skipping technique. I will never rig a tube with an outside weight again!!

I have to put my 2 cents in on this one. I took my son river fishing for smalley's, this was years ago. We caught plenty of fish and decided to keep 5 for supper. At the time the house I owned had a well. The trip from the river to home was about 30 min's. When we got home I asked my son to put them downstairs in the utility sink and run some water over them, I will fillet them shortly. 30 min's later I went to fillet the fish and yes they were all alive!! I don't know if it were the temp of the water or the well water, all I know is that they were alive. I decided not to fillet them and let them loose in the creek (which fed into the same river we caught the fish) and they swam away like they had never been out of the water. True story!!

Regarding the Smallmouth record. I beleive I read in July/August Bassmaster a duo caught what should have been a new record or very close. This fish wasn't weighed until the next day!! The downside is since two people (father hooked the fish & the son retreived it) caught this fish it does not qualify. What difference can this possibly make? One fish caught on one hook & one rod should equal one record. Being a parent I know I would have also done the same thing the father did for his son, give him the excitement of his life, regarding fishing. Although they may not go down in history, the memories of a father/son outing is worth far more than money.

I do keep bass on occasion for a fine meal. I impose a slot size when I do this between 14-16". I fillet all fish, can't stand those nasty bones & I hate picking around them if the fish is not filleted. I start my fillet by making an incision around the gills from back to belly, your almost making a U with the cut. Then i run the blade from the incision on top of the back down the spine. I flip the fillet over and where the meat is still attached to the fish (by the tail) I run the blade to remove the skin. Then i cut out the ribs and do the other side. This is the most efficient way I have found. If you would like further details just email me. I hate to see waste on fish/game when being dressed improperly.

I switched the pages on my 136 df to the flasher. I received the same issue, depth lock-up. I am at a loss with this issue. I bought this in the spring last year. Never had any issues with speed and depth. It doesn't make sense it is random. I adjusted my ping speed but that didn't help either. I do have a temporary fix though. My son is in from college for the summer. I can grab him by the ankles and hold him over the edge of the boat while moving . Wonder if he will kick any?

Good point OP, I was very concerned with this issue because the fuse should have blown first. I did remove the prop but only found some dried out Hydrilla on the shaft. Thanks for the responses ;D I will investigate further.

I prefer to night fish with a full moon. But the only reason is for vision at night. I hate running into those stumps at night, the noise carries very far, lol. If you relate the moon phase to deer/elk, they will feed more at night during a full moon. For bass fishing, if the time tables show a period is best during the night, then I go, if not I stay home.

I went out last night to a pond/lake that only allowed 10hp motor. I took my boat but due to regulations, my motor is too large to operate. I used my trolling motor to manuver around the lake. This is a motorguide 740 touring addition, 1-5 speeds @ 45# thrust. When I kicked the trolling motor on auto @ 5 speed after 5-10 min's the trolling motor died. I felt the wiring leading from the foot pedal to the plug-in and it was very hot. I let the trolling motor cool and turned down the speed to 4 and didn't have any further issues. MY QUESTION: shouldn't the fuse have kicked out? I understand amperage is causing the overheating, but unsure of a correction. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Boy, I thought this was a forum full of experienced Bass fisher-people. You guys & gals afraid to touch this thread? Maybe this question is beyond most peoples thought patterns? What gives, I'd like to hear some techiques from some of you.....

I purchased a 136DF Lowrance last spring. After I set it up for my use, it performed great. BUT the last two trips I made the depth range, while traveling, locks up. I made no modifications to the setup prior to this happening. I reset the unit to factory default, ran the boat, still same results, depth range locks up. The only thing I can recall doing is coating the transducer with armour all. I have scrubbed the transducer clean and will see if it changes anything the next outage. If not I will be contacting Lowrance.

I have found, for price comparison, that www.boattraderonline.com is a good resource and may be worth checking it out. I'm not advertising any websites, but i visited this site often when I was in the market for a boat. If you do decide to purchase used vs. new. You can have a certified marine mechanic check out the engine and general condition of the boat for about 200-300 bucks.

The primary forage for bass in this lake, in my opinion, is yellow perch. I have had too many regurgiated perch floating in my livewell to think otherwise. Bluegill are present as well as a population of whitefish.

I wanted to get opinions of how you would fish the following scenerio. This particular lake is for power generation. Main channel depths are up to 180ft. & the flats are from 12-4 ft. deep (hydrilla weedbeds on the flats) which drop up to 50ft. The lakes level fluctuates daily when mid-summer approaches. Typically the lake is drawn down starting in the early afternoon (about 2-4ft drop), then back to full pool by the next morning. Then the process starts all over, of course depending on the power supply demand. MY QUESTION: First, there are no shad baitfish in this lake, this is a NW region lake. I know how I have fished the scenerio in the past, but would like to here the experience on this forum explaining how you would approach it and with what technique?

I would talk to the boater and ask what his plan will be. Take the tackle you need to fish his type of patterns. Show him how to fish from the back of the boat !!

Bass tend to school up after the spawn. First check out the main lake points with gradual slopes or submerged islands. C-rig, plastic jerk baits & cranks seem to be most productive.

I would support Glenn in this opinion. Bass are from the sunfish family. Sun in no way bothers bass. Example, how about when they are spawning? Bass beds are in direct sunlight aren't they? They are several reasons why bass are found (in bright sunny days) around structure. In weed beds, during hot days it is for the oxygen produced. Under docks, fallen timber, ect. it is for security or water temp's. I have witnessed bass hovering, swimming, & feeding in open water during the hottest part of the day & i didn't see any of them wearing polarized sunglasses.

I don't keep bass anymore. When I did keep bass for supper i generated my own slot limit such as 12-15". I soaked them in buttermilk overnight. How do you cook em? Beer Batter....or use the standard eggs, flour but instead of crackers or corn meal try crushed potato chips.....mmmm, getting close to supper time...

Crawdads typically come out of hibernation when the water temp's reach 50 deg.f. When the water (approx temp) reaches 52 the males turn a bright red around the edges and display themselves on top of rocks (and click) to attract females. Bass pick up on this and crawdads are the easiest meals when ambushed due to their slow movement. Most people overlook this. I have mentioned before in a string, set out a crawdad trap and check it after a few hours to determine their color.