HistoryNerd27

My Dad and I are trying to flush out the motor on a Tracker Pro 170 we bought from Bass Pro a couple years ago. It's the Mercury 40 HP Jet model. Looking in the Mercury manual it suggests just attaching a hose to the back but also says to take off the prop (being a jet, we don't have a prop). From what I remember when we bought it, there is an adapter that you can purchase which attaches from a regular garden hose to the outboard that you are supposed to use to flush out the engine after winterizing it. Was hoping someone could provide some clarity about this to me and possibly tell me what adapter I need if thats the case. I purchased one from gander mountain that definitely did not fit. We are trying to learn more about the motor this year so we don't need to pay to have it winterized or worked on. Any info or tips are also helpful.

I felt the veritas today at gander and was considering it. Does feel very nice in my hands. Didn't realize they had dropped recently to $79. Obviously my local gander hasn't caught up with competitors yet. The only baitcasting setup I have now is with a BPS PQ, so I was hoping to try another brand just to experiment a bit. You're trying to get me in trouble with the girlfriend if I come home with 2 combos instead of 1 :P. Thanks for the tips though.

I started this post earlier but I guess I'm not allowed to mention certain brands or something. Anyways, I'm looking for a baitcasting 6'6" or 6'9" combo for under 200. I'm leaning towards the abu garcia revo s3 and *** since they are on sale. Just wanting some other suggestions before I go all in. Thanks everyone

Since I haven't seen any reports on here lately I was wondering if anyone knows the clarity, temps, etc. on Anna right now. I'm taking a day off school and work tomorrow to get a day of fishing in and want to hit the uplake region to see if we can catch a few. Hoping the weather hasn't affected the fishing much. Thanks for any info guys!

After a week of fishing lake Anna from my boat and catching nothing over 3 lbs, I decided to fish a local pond today. Ended up pulling in this 4 lb 7 oz fish on a drop shot. New personal best! Who needs those big lakes anyways

Glad to see I'm not the only one that struggled then. That makes me feel a little better hopefully the images will attach this time

Took me a while to get back to reality, but thought I would get on here and post about Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday was tough. One Fish Anna stayed true to her name and I did only catch one real small (maybe a pound) bass all day. Everything that worked Monday stopped working, so we ended up trying to find some new water and I did manage one on a shakeyhead right before we called it quits. That evening we were a bit sick of throwing for bass so we stopped under a bridge and caught a few crappie. I spotted a huge mass on my graph every time I would go under the bridge and then the nice folks at Hunter's Landing told us that it was crappie. Got to use the livewell on the boat for the first time too, so it was generally a success. Thursday we decided to get out of the Pamunkey and try the Anna branch. We managed 3, one of them almost 3 lbs so it was better than the day before but not exactly a huge success either. We spent most of the time in an inlet I felt pretty good about. Saw fish all over the graph and shad/panfish hitting the surface pretty well. Guys were catching striper in the mouth of the inlet the evening before. Even heard what I'm going to assume was a carp flopping around in the shallows. Still really couldn't figure out the bass though. We ended up catching the few we did off points with rocks and grass, completely different from Monday. Guess it just goes to show you how quickly a lake can change. The water did clear up a good bit by Thursday. Probably gained 2-3 feet of visibility. Overall it was a pretty good trip. The family caught a boatload of panfish from the dock and even about 10 catfish. I caught my first fish off a baitcaster (which actually caught all but 2 of my fish) and now of course I want to buy another one. The last day we were there the sun came out in the evening and bugs started coming out. Holy smokes I have never seen so many fish hitting the top of the water. Definitely proved that the baitballs I was seeing on the depth finder were there, which was pretty cool. Seemed like a lot of guys were doing pretty well with stripers while we were there too. Anyways, I'll try and post pictures tomorrow from my work computer if I can get them off my phone. Thanks everyone for the info. It was very helpful

Thought I would make an early report since it looks like I'm gonna get rained out all day today. We fished most of the morning yesterday and then an hour or two in the evening. Was kinda cold so we didn't get out until around 8 am. Water is pretty muddy (no surprise) and we found fish holding tight to cover. Dad pulled an almost 3 pounder off the end of a dock and I pulled a barely over 3 a few docks down. Ended up catching about 10 combined yesterday but the rest were 1 lb and under. The bigger ones came of chatterbaits, but crankbaits, jerkbaits, and worms all yielded fish too. Side note, got to use the new lowrance and I'm a bit hooked now on learning more. Can actually see bait balls, structure, points, etc. Pretty exciting for someone new to bigger lake fishing. I did find some pretty big carp cruising the shallows in the back of an inlet. Might try and fish from the dock today and see what other species I can hook into. I'll post pictures when I get back home and have better connection. We fished the pamunkey arm so I'm hoping maybe tomorrow or Thursday we can hit the Anna arm and see what's going on there.

I was hoping to fish the river this week but I figured with all the rain we've had for the past 2 weeks she would be chocolate. I'm imagining you are a good bit south of me but how was the water clarity?

Thanks for the information guys. Seems like a lot of places are requiring fees to fish anymore. I guess if the fishing is good though it would be worth it. I definitely will have to swing over there sometime and see what I can do. Too bad they only have shore access and no boat launch.

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone around here has some knowledge about what's going on at Beaverdam Creek Reservoir. I know they re-opened in May last year and are supposed to close again sometime, but I heard that people were petitioning against it so Loudoun County was re-thinking what they're doing. Anyways, I have never fished there but my dad has before it was sold by the city. If they drained it recently I'm assuming the fish population isn't very strong, but again I don't know much more than what I've heard and the VDGIF website isn't super helpful. Just wondering if anyone had some info on it since its within an hours drive for me. Thanks!

Thanks for the report. Here I thought going to the big lake and getting away from the little ponds would save my tackle from the turtles. I'll try and post a few reports here in a couple weeks to let everyone know what I find too. Thanks again for all the info!

That's the place. I heard from a friend that it's under new management now though so I'm not actually sure what they are doing anymore. Anyways, I would definitely appreciate the report since that is the area I'm looking to fish. Good luck!

Glad to see a couple reports on Anna. My family and I are heading down there for a vacation in 2 weeks and it'll be the first time I really get to test out the Lowrance we bought over the winter. We are up-lake a good ways though, staying near Hunter's Landing. We had some pretty decent success last year fishing around that area in early May so I'm hoping to catch a few good ones. I think you guys both gave me some advice actually for that trip and it worked out really well. So, any more tips I can glean from the experts?

I do hope to learn baitcasting better someday. I actually have a 6' shimano voltaeus/caius combo that was a gift a few years ago that I've tried with several times. Ultimately I end up with birds nests I can't get out or just bad accuracy that leads me back to spinning rods. I've also gotten so used to working a rod with my right hand, it feels weird doing it the other way around. Anyways, I will learn baitcasters someday I hope. Probably when I have more time to fish with it solely until I get much more comfortable. That said, you have made a really strong case for me to start now. Thanks guys for all the responses, I think I'm going to just wait for a bit until I can make a couple hour drive to a Bass Pro and feel a few rods. I only have a gander mountain near me and right now their stock on rods is severely limited for some reason.