LunkercityVB

Good one from the big fish tournament last weekend in Yale Va. Took the win with this 9.17.

there are two different scorpions, one is a jdm version of the Curado like ^ said before, the other is a version like the current Chronarch (not the Ci4) and thats the version i have. Only reason its better is the chronarchs are going for $199 and i got mine off a jdm site for $159. Same reels tho just colors

If I remember correctly from what I saw a week or two ago the 195 has the largest beam of any other tracker boat out there. And I am including the new Nitro Z20 and Z21, it wasn't by much but a few inches. That's crazy to think in an aluminum boat. But financing anything boat related for 15+ years is just insane to me. The interest alone would make that a 40k dollar boat in the end. Too many people buy these large flashy boats that cant afford them and forget that a nice boat like that doesn't bring you better fish. Often people with the smaller boats are rewarded the better fish for the simple fact that fishing pressure and bigger fish are better in those hard to reach areas that many big boats cant get to.

Just got back for Florida this week and caught some nice ones on Okeechobee. No giants this year but some nice peacocks as usual. The peacocks down there always come through. Last year we caught most of them on topwater but the winds have been so strong lately on the east coast we caught most on jerkbaits, spinnerbaits and hairjigs in about 6-10ft of water. Good trip tho and the water is warming up quick back home in VA. Many fish are on beds and a few are even in post spawn in some areas. I will be back out this weekend getting a few more. tight-lines

Flippin and pitching mostly, any kind of structure along the bank or offshore i dont pass up. Most of my summers consist of punching through lily pads.

Kids these days that promote big companies all over social media, that claim to be "sponsored" for a measley 25-30% retail. Its great to get discounts but theres too many people running around bank fishing with more sponsors than the average BFL guy. Pro-Staff = promotional staff, not professional staff. Be Humble

I have almost this exact same setup, mine is a 2002 165 with a merc 9.9 4-stroke, same year motor as the boat and I too had it carbed up to a 15hp. However im runnning 10-12 with 2 people and gear and maybe 13-14 with just myself. I think i paid 2900$ 2 years ago which is a hell of a steal around here. Most of the lakes around me are horsepower restricted to 10 or less and its what everyone wants. Would be an easy sell if i ever wanted to do so. Just wish I could get 17-18 mph with one person, id leave my buddy at home on tournament days.

Roland Martin Marina has some 18-19 ft stratos boats for rental with graphs for pretty cheap, I would call ahead tho and make a reservation.

well thats good news, I had a cold front come through a few years ago while we were flying down and lastest all the way through the night. Some of the guys were saying the water temps dropped over 5-6 degrees in one day, we spent most of that day flippin the everglades and turned out to be pretty good but it definately ruined the peacock fishing for that day. This year we are coming down for a week but plan on fishing 4-5 days that way we can move some days around depending on weather. Be there in two weeks, thanks for the help.

"Ben" check out bass pro on their elite 4 and 5 hdi models. Lowrance has come out with the new Chirp version on all their fishfinders and are discounting the older models extremley low to make room for the newer models. Last week i picked up a new Lowrance hdi elite 7 but i saw they had the elite 5 hdi for 299$ with free installation, a sun cover, and GPS disc. These things are all pretty easy to install but i tell you theres nothing like FREE professional installation. Good luck

This is great research. I've always heard depending on bait and bass population in a lake a bass can grow up to 1-1.5lb a year. And i'm sure this goes more for the younger bass than the old kind of like us, at some point we for the most part stop growing. Makes me an even bigger supporter of the slogan "let em go, let em grow" and even crazier to think ive caught fish that have somehow survived for 15-16+ years. Great info thanks for sharing.

Quick question for all you south florida boys. I live in Virginia Beach and unlike you guys we get all 4 seasons, but every year in march or early April me and a few buddies book a trip to south florida to fish the glades, okeechobee and some private lakes for peacocks. The past few years we've gotten some really great fishing and when there's usally snow or ice on our lakes up here we come down there and get in shorts and sandals and whack em. My question is when it comes to planning my trip is there a better time than early spring to fish south florida areas. I know bass fishing pretty well and have some good guesses and can usually pick and choose my days pretty well here but when the weather is consistantly in the mid 70s-80s in S Florida whats a good weather pattern to look for? In the past the cold fronts have really messed up some of the days we peacock fish because (in my experience) once the water temps get below 74-75 degrees they get pretty inactive. However ive had days we've caught over 100 when the water temps get close to 80. Largemouth i know will be completely different, but any input would be appreciated. thanks

The group 27 deep cycle weigh roughly 50lbs each depending on manufacture, the golf cart 6v weigh roughly 65-67lbs. Do the math but wouldnt be too much heavier.

I have many rods and reels and I truly love everyone of them. I especially love the great ones I got at a great price. I have the falcon bucoo micro 7'2 mh that I ordered from tackle a few years ago and it's by far the best rod I have. Extremely light and super strong. I think Wally World has the 7' mh here in my town and that's a steal at that price. I love lews and use a lot of their reels but the rods are a little heavy that I have...haven't tried the new speed stick tho.

"Way2slow" this is what amazes me about people like you, you come on here claiming to correct someone's words "that are totally wrong" and you are getting your info from a friend or something you read from a manufactures spec sheet. You should've just left with your last comment about erasing your posts and keeping your mouth shut. It really doesn't require a whole lot of effort, but i guess for someone like you (mr 1900+ posts of mostly negative *****) that's spends a good portion of their day TROLLING around these forums claiming you know everything and everyone else on here that's giving advice is wrong, that would be life threatening for you. I know US Battery very well for starters, they are a very small manufacture that deals more with a specialty product ie, mostly golfcart, scrubber and a few marine batteries. We actually used to sell them a few years back for probably over 10-15 years. They are a lot like Trojan which I'm sure you've also heard of. And these engineers and other manufactures you speak of are the very people WE work with day in and day out. Ever heard of Johnson Controls? I'm not a salesman in some retail store trying to convince everyone on here to buy interstate, I could careless actually. I sleep just fine every night knowing what's in my boat works just fine but as far as the next guys problems it really has no affect on me, however when someone asks I'm gonna tell them what's the best. (And no that's not my opinion) If you're gonna do a little more research to come up with some long drawn out post about RC or how AGMs just suck, save it. You're just making yourself look silly.

2014 id give a solid A- The spring came and went way too fast, got ahold of a ton of bed fish this year in the 5-7lb range, however the summer bite wasnt near what it was last year and thats the only reason for the A-. Last year i could catch a nice one anytime of the day on topwater, this year the summer consisted of flipping cover or thick lily pads. The fall was awesome. Caught 4 over 7 lbs in 3 weekends just before it got too cold on a black and blue dirty jig and one on a senko. Most all of the lakes here are frozen over now but im headed to south florida in 2 1/2 weeks to fish Okeechobee, the Everglades and some private Peacock bass pits to officially start my 2015 season. Hope its a good one. Tightlines

I have a pro 165 and mine is rated for a 40hp, however the motor i have is a 9.9 and its definately a little under powered, yours is kinda in the middle which might be a little frustrating in larger waters but for smaller lakes it would be perfect in my opinion. Good luck

"way2slow" you are obviously one of these "old know it all rednecks" that cant handle the fact that someone else knows more than you do about something, I simply responded to this kids question for the very reason that he wanted some expert advice about something he obviously wasnt sure about. And I call myself an expert because its what i do for a living and have since i was 10 yrs old learning from my father whos been selling batteries for over 40 yrs. You sir are simply one of these people that refuses to let someone else get good info without chiming in about something that youve read on a forum or something youve experienced a handful of times in your life. "blackmax" got his answer and leave it at that. I dont get on here and argue with people about subjects im not an expert on unless I state "this is just my opinion" and neither should you.

They make smaller hydrofoils for smaller engines for a reason, the prop was extremely damaged also the reason I started this post to see if someone suggested something different than the stock one. The hydrofoil definitely helps and I might notice that with a new prop with a new pitch I might not even need it. But for the last year the motor would peg before it even got on plane. I took the stock prop to the local prop shop today to be fixed so I will see how that does before I pay for a new one. Getting this one fixed isn't costing me any money. Thanks for the input guys

"Blackmax" this is for you man since someone just sent me something about Optima Batteries which have one of the highest warranty rates of any battery out there. Believe me I've sold them for over 15 years, not worth the money. If you want my personal opinion, go ahead and go with a 800 cold cranking amp battery (whichever brand you choose) The cost difference between something in the 500-600 range and the 800 is usually less than 10$ and for the price of a lunch you know you will have more than enough. It's gonna be an overkill but say 2,3,4 years down the road when that battery on its best day is only operating at maybe 60-70% it should still be enough to start your motor. Your brand you choose is your choice, I choose interstate however there are other companies out there that make good batteries. Just pick one you can afford with the best warranty and enjoy the time on the water. These forums are here for people to ask questions and get answers that someone else might know more than they do. I know that's why I'm here.

"way2slow" im glad you are one of these people that do enough research about your product before you buy( like it sounds like you do) however you are Extremely wrong on the Reserve MINS WITH AGMs. They are just numbers. Yes many people do think they are the latest and greatest batteries and I'm not one of them (they havent been around long enough to know if they are better than the lead acid product) however I do run them in my boat, and here are a couple reasons why. The particular AGMs im running use 99.9% pure lead, not recycled lead which all SLA products are now. Agm's also have a faster recharge rate and a slower discharge rate hense the reason you always see less reserve capacity mins on an AGM battery, however its been proven that they can last up to 4x the runtime and that was enough for me. The amount of time the batteries stay down is cut in half when being charged and that in itself is better for the battery. The more time a battery stays in a discharged state the faster it begins to sulfate. And most standard charges will charge AGM batteries correctly however not if they are paired with a wet battery. I also like you get a discount (free) on my batteries so I'm always changing them out whenever a new product comes out. But its always Interstates because we own the one in our area, but I also check and replace hundreds of thousands of batteries a year and Interstate in this application has always been top dog. East Penn are great batteries as well, so nothing bad said about them. Different strokes for different folks.

"way2slow" the motor was just carbed up to a 15 not anything else, didnt mean it was a solid 15hp now. And i can promise you a number of guys in our opens are getting close to 20, believe me i notice the difference everytime we launch..some i know have reduced the weight dramatically and other use jack plates (which i didnt think did much for these motors) and other have the same motor in a 2-stroke. My motors starts pegging at about 5800-5900 rpm, and from the sound of it thats pretty good. One thing i didnt mention earlier is I put a hydrofoil on the motor to help with the cavitation. Before the hydrofoil my boat wouldnt get up on plane until almost 5000 rpms, now with the hydrofoil the boat stays on plane but we lost a mph or 2.

Heard a lot of guys getting better luck with the 2-stroke, but i know guys getting 15-20mph on simalr boats. I'm fine with the speed we are getting since most of the lakes are smaller however in tournaments it helps to be faster, just didnt know if there was something better considering i have to change it anyways. thanks for the input Wayne.

2014 Tundra Crewmax 13.5-14 mpg without boat 12-13 mpg with boat

I've searched all over these forums for a good answer to this, but i have a 2002 Bass Tracker Pro 165 w/ a Merc 9.9 that i use to fish some of the smaller horsepower restricted lakes here in Va Beach. The motor runs fine and always has however the trackers have always been hogs when it comes to weight and the 9.9 only gets us a top speed of around 13mph and about 10 with full livewells. Ive heard mixed reviews about changing the props out on smaller motors like this but its time to change the stock prop and im just curious if anyone has had any experience with props other than stock on these smaller outboards and if so do they perform better. The motor has already been carbed up to a 15hp so im not sure theres much more i could do. Any advice would help, thanks.