fishnkamp

What is your budget for the rod and what is your reel budget? I can make some good suggestions if i know what you intend on spending for each. or maybe you have a reel already for this

I think I would stick to the Lews rod then. It specs higher than the others. Once you get it please come back and tell us how you like it.

I like the Irods alot,and have the Gabes Rip Rap special and a Fred heavy spinning rod also. The Stone Cold vibrating jig rod is terrific, a friend has that. I also would look at Powell they have a Max3d series. Check out the Max3d 734 or Max3d 723. Both are awesome. I own a Max 683 for jigs around docks. I love it for a lot more. May be my most versatile rod. One more to check out is a Dobyns Fury 703 or 733. They are real great rods too. The funny thing is a new tackle shop opened up near me in Baltimore Md. He carries all of these as well as more brands. I have recently had all of them in my hand. By the way I own the same Veritas rod. It makes a nice frog rod. The rods I suggested all run between $100 and $175 so I tried to stay in your budget and left a little to put towards a good reel. I suggest a Diawa Tatula in a 6.3 -1. Good luck shopping

I had my custom rod builder remove the factory reel seats and full cork handle off of two of my G Loomis rods. We chose an American Tackle comfort grip (not necessarily the lightest but oh how comfortable) and a set of Winn Grips in the natural cork pattern. Man those rods are super lite and almost melt into your hand, These were on 6 foot spinning rods and the difference was night and day. I also like that the grips still look like corr sorta Here is a partial before and after

First when you say you want to fish swim baits lets define what you want to throw. Are we talking swim baits like Kiteck and Reaction Innovation Skinny Dippers light weight plastics. Are we talking hard bodies 5 inch baits like a Lucky Craft Jointed smasher that weight 3/4 of an ounce or are we talking full on hard bodies 8 inch monsters that weigh 5 ounce like a Spro BBZ and a Huddleston big trout that weigh about the same. Those take very different rods. To understand what rod will work with which size bait read the description of five different Irod swimbait rods. These are not in your budget, I just want you to understand the specs a rod needs to have to perform with each type of bait. Go here http://www.irodfishing.com/category-s/119.htm and read the description and specs onthem. Now back to what I think you want to do. If you want to throw hollow body and hard body baits up 4 or 5 inches (like up to an ounce) and you want to spend less than $100 than yes the Lews Laser might work. Go put it in your hand. The rod will need a bunch of backbone but a soft tip to protect the treble hooks from tearing out. Another option would be The Gander Mountain Advantage 7 foot MH Moderat. It is GMA-701CMHT . Again put it in your hand. The last one would be an Abu Garcia Vengence 7'6" Hvy Moderate fast tip VENGC76-. Good luck.

Wow interesting I have never heard any Tracker owners complain about that. I had it happen to my Lowe. I have no idea why but the line got clogged. I took compressed air and an air gun and blew it open. Thankfully it has not happened since, try that on yours. Maybe it was blocked by some foam or something during manufacturing. I am glad you chimed in because I know Tracker sells a ton of 175s and 190s. Just two weeks ago I helped run a tournament out of the same marina the BASS Elites used last summer here on the Chesapeake Bay. I had not been around a lot of new boats since I purchased mine back in 2010. There were a bunch of big fiberglass and I was amazed how quiet the Yamaha SHOs are when idling. Also since there were two 190txs competing I got to talk to them. Both had the Mercury 4 stroke 115s. They were nice and quiet too.

I fished Suffix 832 that size but it was spooled on a baitcaster count down model. We fished gin clear water with live bait spinner rigs and live crawlers. I added a 4 foot leader to a 1/4 to 3/8 inline weight and we trolled deep water for fresh water perch. The schools would suspend part way down in 30 to 50 foot deep water. Those perch were in such big schools and competed for food so when they hit the rig they almost would rip the rod out of your hand. Love me some perch bites!!!

Right now the bass pro in Altoona has a 2015 190tx with the 4 stroke listed for just under $20,000. Now all you would do is work on electronics and if that is a new in stock boat they will work with you. They are offering special financing at 2.9 percent. They want last years model off the lot. 2017 boats will be showing up soon.

I like the RT188 a little better as well, but was not trying to send him on a three hour drive. Even though Bass Pro owns Triton and Ranger they do not have info or sell them at their Tracker Marine stores, at least yet. So back to "ordering a boat". From Tracker you pay the same freight and prep fee no matter what. If makes no difference if you buy a boat that is in stock or not. So that does not matter. Changing the choice of engine if it is one of their "upgrade" options is done in house. Yes the 4 stroke was one of their upgrade options. They will not order the boat special just for that. My BPS here in MD has spare motors displayed on the wall next to the shop. The brand of sonar is personal choice. Here is where size=money. There are fine units made by Hummingbird and Garmin as well. The unit I mentioned functions so close to the HDS series units costing twice as much. The Elite7TI will work almost identically without some bells and whistles that will not come in to play for you for a long time. The larger screen allows you to view part map and part fish finder at the same time. That is great. If you have the same unit up front you will only need to learn how to use one unit.These units can be linked so if you create a waypoint on one unit it will be shared by both. This helps if you are driving and see something like a bunch of fish, or a rockpile, sunken boat etc. and you want to go up front and fish it. i agree with iabass8 glass is nicer and is much less affected by wind. I like the Z6 too. but tin rigs run well these days, cost a little less, require much less maintenance and tow very easily. Also bumping a rock or stump in aluminum does not hurt like it does when you crack or chip fiberglass. Remember when comparing any two boats you must compare each boat with the same list of goodies not what the standard package includes. I went to Tracker Marine's website and played around in the Build a boat section. Here you can see the price change as you add or remove goodies. Anyway go sit in some boats and play with the electronics in the store as well. One more thing there is nothing wrong with the Tracker 175txw but it is a foot shorter and the floor plan is not ads nice. I also think the 190 will be a bit more stable too.

Okay boy you were right not a lot of boat dealers around you. I found an Alumacraft dealer here but he has more deep vee boats. He of course can order you one. WATERS EDGE MARINE1413 NW Polk City Drive, Polk City, IA 50226 515-984-8725 www.watersedgemarine.com Otherwise your best bet is to travel over to Bass Pro in Altoona. Go sit in a Pro Team 190TX The standard package is alright, but I would consider a few changes. i would ask for a motor change to the optional 4 stroke 115 hp outboard. It is actually going to be a bit cheaper with this engine which surprised me. All of the engines are going to 4 stroke eventually. The maintenance is a little different but the 4 strokes are much quieter and perform well enough to make it worth it. I would upgrade the fish finder. It comes with a very small unit at the helm. Do yourself a favor get a Lowrance Elite7TI with Navionics+. It is like a baby brother to the HDS units. It will cost about $800 but you will be doing something like this later. I know this is a foreign language but do a little research and it will make sense. if you want I can send you pictures of my setup later. It is almost the same. Now that depth finder will give you gps mapping and the ability to find and mark fish, waypoints etc. The boat comes with a Lowrance Mark3 at the console. You can get them to mount it on the front deck and add a transducer onto the trolling motor. Or if the budget allows it ,have them give you the credit for that one and have them put another larger unit on the front deck. Another Elite7TI would be nice but money will dictate this. I will tell you the larger the screen the better. For me I would have the trolling motor upgraded from a 45 pound thrust 12 volt unit. I would have them add the second trolling motor battery(that means you will have 3 batteries on board)and upgrade to a MinnKota Maxxum 65 pound unit. In the wind or river current you will need this. The only two other options I would really consider is an on board two bank battery charger to charge your trolling motor batteries back up when you get home and get a boat cover. There are lots of other things you could do but that will get you a great first boat. I purchased a 17 1/2 footer because I was assembling a special boat to fish a lake with a 20 hp max. I took great pains setting up a 25 Merc to look like a 20, adding a special tilt bracket, a hydrofoil wig etc to make a 1000 pound hull work on that lake. When we moved next to the bay here I sold the engine package and installed a used 75 Merc. If I was setting up a boat for this big water I would go 19 feet long.

I will be honest as I have been. I love the 3 Tatulas (regular ones- two leftie and a righty) and the two Type Rs one left and 1 right. I also have 1 Exceller righty. I have used two of them all last summer, the rest I upgraded to this spring. I have not even seen or touched the new ct. I just know I can get the Tatula 100 cheapest and really like my type rs as well. I went to the rs for the faster speed and as you can see I use both right and left hand reels. I do this for two reasons one I am a mechanic and after beating up my hands for 35 years I get cramps if I fish the same way all day. Also I divide it up this way. If I cast and retrieve a bait like a crankbait , chatterbait, spinnerbait, rattle trap I throw it on a right handed reel. If I cast and jerk, pull, hop, flip or pitch, I want my right hand (dominant hand) on the rod and use my left hand to retrieve the line. It makes it simple for me to choose how to set up my arsenal. My arsenal usually includes a dozen rods in the rod box just not the same dozen all of the time. My wife and I fish the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac river as our home waters. When we vacation we fish clear deep lakes like Dale Hollow in Tennessee so the arsenal changes to fit the waters. Not much need for a frog in a lake whe we fish for smallmouths in gin clear water 20 to 40 foot deep.LOL Also no need for a punch rod a nd a 2 ounce weight either.

All right that's a bunch so lets address the Veritas first. I like and fish 2 Veritas rods. As you noticed all of the Veritas run heavier than advertised. That is fine if you use the rod for techniques that match what the actual rod does not what is on the blank. So I own one 7 foot Veritas MH with a Diawa Tatula Type R. It is fantastic for frogging. I bought the type R to get the 8 to 1 gear ratio. My other Veritas is a 7 ft heavy. That was bought first to frog with and like you I found out it was too stiff. With a Diawa Tatula 7.3-1 it became my punching and heavy jig rod and it works great. Your Diawa Tatula rod ought to throw jigs big worms and even carolina rigs fine. I like your reel choice but I would load it with some 30 pound braid or like 17 pound Halo florocarbon line from P Line. That stuff is tough. Save the heavy Samuari braid. I would keep the Berkley Lightning Shock as is because they throw treble baits like crankbaits and rattle traps very well. I would look for a rod like a PowelI Inferno crankbait series 6'10 or an Abu Garcia Ike delay series rod model IKECW64-5 to fish top waters and jerkbaits. I own one Powell rod (not the model I am suggesting, mine is for jigs) and that exact rod from the Ike series. Think of that rod as a 6-8 rod with a slightly shortened handle to keep from smacking your arm when twitching the bait. Check the Ike rods on youtube where he explains each rod in his signature series. I would pair that up with mono since mono is best for topwater. It will double for jerkbaits okay. Mine has P Line Floroclear but I throw jerkbaits more than top waters. I prefer a 7 or 71/2 footer for frogs but your 6'9"rod is only 3 inches shorter than mine, you own it and it will work great I am sure. Go get a Diawa Tatula 100 type R in the 8-1. They normally retail for $200 but you can get one for about $130 off Amazon. The T wing really works nice. Here is where I would re-purpose the Samuari braid. I would load half of spool of good quality but inexpensive mono or copolymer line Then spool the braid using a uni to uni knot. I do that to all of my reels that I run expensive braid on. Frogging is one of the few time I tie directly to a bait. Otherwise I tie on at least 3 foot of leader, most often 10# P Line CXX. I like the leader setup in order to save the expensive braid when re-tieing lures. I hope I di not miss anything I know I covered some ground.

Your issue is the 5'3 bed period. There are some nice systems that carry rods and tackle in drawers but they are for full size trucks with long beds. Now you could put a rack system together. Use large diameter pvc tubing bolted to the rack from the inside and end caps that you can lock like I see some plumbers carry. it will take some creativity. Otherwise you will have to fish 2 piece rods.

In that price range under $200 there is no reason to do anything to a reel. Those reels in the $100 to $200 are fine just the way they are. You can not take a sub $100 reel and make it even decent. You can take a $100 to $200 reel and spend $500 and you will only waste money. The $500 reels are made of super light housings, super light spools a bunch of high end bearings and incredible drag systems. What you need to do is give up the idea all together. Find a reel you like in the under $200 range and go fish with it!

Each reel lists its own specifications, so let use my Shimano Symetre reel in the 3000 size. It list as follows mono 6# 230, 8# 170 and 10# 140 yds. It also lists Power Pro braid 10# 235, 20# 145 40# 145 yards . Obviously the ten pound mono is almost the same size diameter as the 40 pound braid. Go to your brand of line and check the line diameter. An example would be Berkley trilene 10# test =.014 inches in diameter. Stren Clear Blue mono is ,012 inches in diameter, which is almost the same as Trilene 10 pound test. Those are going to fill my spool with about the same amount of line. If I am trying to use that reel with braid and I want to roughly know how much will fit on it then I can use the spec on the line. I filled my reel with Power Pro 30# braid and it is .011 inches in diameter. If I did not use backing I would have needed about 230 yards. I fill my spools half way with decent quality mono or copoly because it is cheap compared to expensive florocarbon or braid. Now when I spend $30 for a 300 yard spool of line I get at least 2 reels filled. The manufacturers give the line diameter in both inches and millimeters. For example my Power Pro 30 pound braid is .28 mm or .011 inches in diameter. Not all manufacturers do that, so you may have to use the millimeter instead of inches. I hopes that helps.

That was what I meant by the budget being tight. By the time some good electronics and a few other option are added you are easily at $40K. One thing about the Phoenix 618 besides a really soft riding hull is that the standard package includes a lot of things that are option on other boats.

That budget is TIGHT for anything new in fiberglass. Check out a Phoenix 618 they are really nice, a Nitro z18, a Stratos maybe 186VLO. I am not sure how close a Skeeter ZX190 is to your budget either. Otherwise in your position you may end up far ahead to check out a well kept used boat maybe 2013 or newer. I have seen lots of good boats a couple of years old that are $45K+ new that are reselling in your budget. Coming from the dealer you can have the engine hours pulled and compression checked etc.

I was going to look at some brand websites and find dealers near him. Often new or perspective boat owners really do not know how many dealers are near them. Then too they may have a boat service center near them that can service their boat or engine but may need to travel an hour to get to a dealer carrying their particular boat brand to purchase. Here in MD. we have a ton of dealers that sell boats to run around in the bay like Regal,Bayliner etc, They service Mercury of Yamaha or whatever brand. To purchase a new bass boat I have to either shop at BPS or travel to PA or VA. Our in state dealer sells three brands but really only stocks one brand. My current boat came from a Lowe dealer 2 hours away. I had no fear because we have lots of places nearby if I need service though.

I got some heavy duty but thin cord from West Marine. I use it on an electric anchor winch. It is sorta like paracord

Sweet rig. I have a friend with a cougar and he loves his wifes' toy.; She says he bought it for her since she out fishes him when they fish in buddy tournaments.

Where do you live? Just town and state. i can do some research on dealers near you. Also what type of waters will you fish small lakes, big lakes, rivers, etc. There are some fine aluminum boats out there. I agree an 18 or even a 19 is a good first boat. Many of these are 'packaged' by the manufacturer or the dealer. Just because you find one in a nice package does not mean you can not get them to change to a different engine. Often a boat like a Tracker may come "standard: with the 60 hp motor but max hp on the boat is 75 for example. The boat will perform best with its max engine and it may only cost a bit more to upgrade. Look at Trackers, Lowes,G3, Alumacraft, Xpress and Triton and Ranger. I have owned 11 boats, from 12 footers to a 20 foot fiberglass with the 200 hp outboard. Each time we sold a boat it was because our fishing conditions had changed (from shallow rivers to lakes to tidal waters). There is no one perfect boat for all situations. Eventually if you end up fishing big events you will find yourself in a big fiberglass rocket ship. By then you will have knowledge and experience to choose which one it will be. Here is a pic of the rig I have been fishing out of for the last 7 years. It is 17 1/2 foot long and has a 75 Merc two stroke. I chose it for the size and storage layout. It holds everything that I carried when i tournament fished in my 20 footer.

I own 5 Tatulas 3 Tatulas and 2 Tatula type Rs. Go online and order the Tatula for about $100 and enjoy it. I chose the rs because I wanted the 8-1 otherwise they cast about the same have a great drag system and feel fine in my hand. Unless you are looking to purchase a $500 reel that weighs 6 ounces or less than the Tatula will fill your needs well. I purchased the first type R to throw frogs last year. After a year of use I was pleased with it so much I sold off a bunch of Bass Pro Extrerme reels at the fishing flea market this spring. I replaced them with the Tatulas. i caught a lot of 5+ pound plus smallies on Dale Hollow during vacation this April .

How much of the tip broke? Too much to replace a tip and still fish? If they are like Loomis and Powel they have one warrant against material and workmanship and another "no question asked" replacement cost for other circumstances. I broke a G Loomis IMX rod and it cost about $60 to replace under that program. Now that was a few years ago. Good Luck

If that is not an "old" blank the spec says it is actually a nice glass/graphite composite rated for 10 to 15 pound test. I think a 10 # copoly line would work well. The "unknown" line may have too much stretch to be useful on a slower action blank like that. Try a line like the P Line floroclear or even straight P line cxx in 8 pound. Personally braid on cranks is my third choice and I would run a line like Power Pro in say 20 pound which is about the same as 6 pound mono in diameter

I guess pivoting on the trolling motor works okay around a dock if you only fish in lakes with little current. I do not think it will work if you fish faster moving rivers or like I do I fish in tidal water. Except for about 4 twenty minute periods a day we have pretty fast moving currents and if you add the wind you can really crank up the current. To rely on the trolling motor around shallow docks means you will spook the fish. I think adding an anchor pole in addition to a Talon would work well and be pretty cheap. A pole can be setup for less than $70