fishnkamp

It is funny because i used Max Gain parts to help assemble an amateur antenna years ago. They make nice stuff.

That is a picture from their website. I am not sure if I am ready to pull the trigger yet. If you look on their website at some of the videos, it sticks out pretty far but seems to work well. I was wondering if anyone here had used it. The other really well known piece is Dig In , but you are probably referring to a video a catfish guy did called DIY shallow water anchors. He is using parts made and sold by Max Gain. I was familiar with them because they a fiberglass manufacturers they make collapsible fiberglass poles we use for putting up temporary antennas, as well as some fiberglass pieces to assemble some amateur radio beam antennas.

I run a Lowe Stinger 17 which is a nice wide aluminum bass boat. Unfortunately everything that makes this boat great also makes the wind and tidal current push it around. For lake fishing I installed a Minn Kota electric anchor which is great if you want to stop and retie while sitting in deep water but not good if you want to park next to a dock in shallow water. I am looking at installing a Venom Lures Done Right anchor pole system on my trolling motor. I already purchased a Dig In pole and intend to make a bracket for use in the rear. Has anyone used the Done Right system they look pretty nice. You can see them at http://www.venomlures.com/venom_down_right.htm Here is a picture of one.

Well the MHX blanks are really some of the old ( and great ) G Loomis blanks and are as good as it gets, imho, but if you are looking for something else see what Batson has in the Rainshadow series. My rod builder Tom uses blanks from both companies and likes them equally.

Yes I am very familiar with those motors. I have owned many between 25 hp and 75 hp which is what I have now. The funny thing is when my wife and I were looking at new boats in 2010 we looked at everything available and narrowed it down to two boats. One was a VT-17 and the Lowe Stinger 170. We chose the the Lowe only because of the storage layout, but I loved the vt. Now the engine you have is a 2 cycle outboard meaning it is like a lot of the lawn mower engines of old. You will fill the oil tank and the engine will mix the oil and gas automatically. That oil gets burnt with the fuel. A four stroke or 4 cycle engine uses a pan or reservoir to store the oil, and a pump to distribute that oil through passages throughout the engine. The oil is recovered and cools in the pan to be reused. The first place a 4 cycle oil pump sends the oil is to the filter and on to the block. Lets get back to your maintenance. I recommend you find the small Mercury engine tag located on the engine near the trim tilt assembly (near the engine mounting bolts). Jot down the year, model, and serial number. My tag says it is a 2000 Mercury model 75ELPT. This also tells me it produces 75 HP 5200 RPM and then lists my serial number. Take that info to your local dealer. Order an "Owners" manual, not the service manual, but the factory original operator manual. They are little, like 5 inches wide and 8 inches high, should cost about $20 bucks at most. In here will be a lot of warnings and stuff, but all of the maintenance info and how to use the engine will be here. They are very useful, even for me since, different years have different starting habits due to the fuel system components. I have yet to see any Merc under 150 HP that said to use high test, it won't hurt it, but they always suggest 87 to 89 octane and that is what I use . Your outboard and mine are very similar so here is what I do with mine. In the beginning of a season I remove the top cowling and visually inspect my fuel lines for cracking or aging, make sure the plugs look good (I pull em, if they are good I reinstall them), I replace them about every 2 years, but mine get a lot of use) I make sure my batteries are charged up. I hook up a set of "ear muffs" ( a tool to run water through the outboard while running it on my driveway hooked up to a garden hose) If the water pressure gauge shows I have good water pressure and the tattle tale (water pee hole) has a good stream coming out I am fine. Once every other year I service the water pump with either a new impeller or a new complete water pump. Once all of that is in order I drain and inspect the lower unit oil and refill with new. That is about it, but I do one more thing and this has to do with the fuel we are forced to buy these days, We are forced to run gasoline which contains ethanol which can cause many many fuel related problems with outboards and for almost every type engine it get into. The ethanol can cause fuel lines to come apart internally, cause gasoline to draw water and those two do not coexist well, destroy internal engine gaskets and sealants etc. A very simple solution is to add Startron fuel additive every time I add fuel to my boats' tank. It comes in a clear bottle and is a blue colored. it is concentrated so I just add a bit when I refill my tank. I believe an ounce treats like 30 gallons? You mentioned SeaFoam that is a terrific fuel system cleaner and I highly recommend you top up your boats fuel tank and run 1 bottle through it. I also use it more concentrated when working on an outboard with gummed up carbs, but you won't need to do that. Also do not mix it in with your oil. If you have- it won't kill it but it is not good for 2 strokes. I would recommend always using Mercury or Quicksiver Premium Plus TCW3 2 cycle outboard oil. there are cheaper alternatives but I build engines for a living and will not use anything less with these outboards. I had one Merc 200 HP on my 20 footer that ran perfect for me for over 13 years and it is still running fine for the guy that bought it from me (it is a 1998 200 EFI) To save money on the oil I usually buy it at Bass pro shops in the gallon jug. You are right on as far as the trailer make sure all of the hardware is tight, lights all work, and I pull my bearings every 3 to 4 years, but keep them adjusted and greased and that about covers it. Good luck and enjoy your new toy. If I can answer anything else feel free to send me a note directly that is what makes this board great. Bob

I ran the CMC PT35 trim tilt plate which gave my Merc 25 hp trim tilt and a 5 inch setback. If you are using the PT130 that works the same and adds a 6 inch setback. I never had a problem with it, but my anti cav plate was just about equal to or just below the bottom of my boat. Generally aluminum props work best deeper than you think. If you are running stainless than it becomes a trial and error situation. I ran that setup on a Lowe Stinger 17 bass boat because I was fishing a hp restricted lake. After some prop trials we settled on a pitch change of 4 inches, and the addition of a Stingray jr. hydrofoil. With that combo I got the 1000 pound hull up fast and level. Top speed was 18 mph. I think if you can lower it just a little and see what happens i would try that. That setup worked terrific till I moved next to the Chesapeake Bay and repowered with a 75 hp Merc.

If you can catch a sale on the Cabelas AGMs they are definitely worth their price. They have been on both of my last two boats. My current set are 6 years old. they get run a lot but recharged each time I return home. I have a BPS on board battery charger that feeds 10 amps per battery. I just come home and plug in. i run the group 30s and right now these are on sale so you would save $100 off a pair

A lot of the guys around here (Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River) love that rod for throwing rattle traps for bass and strippers. Truly it is a durable rod, good for many techniques. I own its siblings, a 7 ft mh which I use for frogs and a 7 ft hvy which I use for heavy jigs on deep structure. Some have had guide issues where the insert popped out, if that happens just find a good rod repair guy and re-guide it. That has not happened to me but I am pretty easy on my gear. Those rods catch a lot of fish around here.

He had only one transducer on the trolling motor at a time. The reason to have a gps up front is so that you can share way points with the gps unit mounted at the helm. Let me explain. If both units are networked it would work like this. On my Lowe Stinger 17 I have an Elite 7chirp ( now known as a Hook 7) at the helm and another on my front deck. As I motor along I find a submerged tree with fish on it using the unit at the helm. I mark a waypoint. Now by the time I do this that tree is way behind the boat. I spin around drop the trolling motor and use it to go back to the spot I marked on the rear unit only this time I am using the front unit. As for what would fit, here is my opinion. It looks like you would need to stay with a Hook5 if you do not want to change a transducer. The Elites have side scan so it takes a different transducer. Instead, I would leave the 5x where it is. Add a Lowrance Elite7TI mounted behind the windshield using a ram mount. This gives you a bigger screen to look at, gps mapping, as well as down imaging and side imaging for the least cost for that package. I would use the 5x for its standard 2d sounder sorta like a flasher was used while running fast in the old days LOL. I would then save up and add another unit up front such as a Hook7 or Hook 9 later or even another Elit7 TI. As you can see I have had many boats and lots of electronics. Try to never buy "just big enough" units. You will find yourself upgrading and like computers you loose money when you resell and upgrade. I have owned a ProCraft sport style boat before, so I know how you can do it. Also when you go to order an Elite 7 TI or a Hook series unit get it with the Gold Mapping it costs more upfront but what it includes is the mapping chip so all of the lake contours will already come loaded on a chip. If you go to get it later it will cost a lot more money.

Most spinning reels are on the left side already, very few people actually reel with a handle mounted on the right side.

That should be a nice rod for crankbaits. Like you I prefer a composite or glass rod for cranks. The medium moderate action helps with the trebles. What do you intend to pair it with?

I prefer to use both for several reasons. First I have been a mechanic on heavy equipment so I have used my hands professionally for a long time. Changing up helps avoid cramping in my hands during a long day out on the water. Besides that, I have come to use the left handed reels on baits that I impart action on such as a jig, a frog, a jerkait or a carolina rig for example. Here my dominant hand is on the rod ( my right hand) and my left hand is reeling in the slack. Baits that I chuck and wind like rattle traps, crankbaits, spinnerbaits etc I prefer my right hand is on the reel and that has always made my choices easy.

I have a friend that marshaled last year when the BASS Elites were here on the Chesapeake Bay. His first day was rather boring. The "really well known angler" he drew went to one grass bed and fished all day without hardly catching or explaining anything to him. Day two he was paired with a little lesser known angler who told him everything he was going to do and why. That day was great. He enjoyed the conversation, was able to pick his mind a little and really enjoyed the day. His day two angler also had a tough first day but learned something at the end of day one that propelled him to a very good day two. When his day two angler caught his 5th fish he turned around and asked him if he knew what that fish looked like? Confused he said "a largemouth bass?" He said "No a day three invitation and a paycheck!! That was something his day one angler never earned that weekend! Hey really enjoy your experience, my friend ultimately did. The most important lesson he learned that week was that the "PRO's" had a little better equipment than he did, had the same basic baits that we weekend warriors have, but mostly they fish with a greater level of confidence and better accuracy. That accuracy comes from spending every minute with a rod in their hand. He said that he was amazed how many casts per minute some of them make,

The Tatula will be great! I own 5 Tatulas (both Tatulas and Tatula Type Rs) they fish great, The T wing is no gimmick, it reduces friction on the line during the cast giving you a chance for longer casts. The drag is terrific as well. I also own one Diawa Exceler which works very well for a little cheaper reel. All of them performed very well during my week long vacation on Dale Hollow Lake this past spring. All told we landed over 25 smallmouth most over 4 pounds. (just got lucky the smallies were just off spawn and were putting on the feed bag back on main lake grass flats. That lake is amazing! Enjoy the new reels

Look at my Okuma split grip spinning rod. I use it to fish light weight jerkbaits like Rapalas. The action of the rod is perfect but the long butt smacked my forearm so Tom ( of www.Toms Custom Rods.com) shortened it up by cutting the butt off, reaming out the blank within it, then cutting the extra off the blank. He was able to reuse the original butt cap after reaming out the blank material. You can hardly tell Tom did anything to it. Now I can set up a perfect cadence without touching my arm. The first two pics show you what we did with that rod You could either do that or consider cutting off the original butt cap and the entire cork section behind the reel seat. Go to Mud Hole and order a set of Winn Grips in the natural color. In the third pic you will see a change we made on my G Loomis rod. The plastic lock rings kept loosening up so the reel would get loose. Rather than wait till my brand new $300 Loomis rod was useless I had Tom strip off all of the cork and reel seat including the plastic hood and rings. We chose an American reel seat and Winn Grips. As for your project check out the video Russ Lane did on youtube. , Just search Winn Grips on youtube it will show up. Let us know what you end up doing.

That crazy little bait killed em while I fished dale Hollow Lake his spring. I would not have expected it to work so well all the way out to 20 foot deep. I caught a lot of 5+ pound smallies on it.

That seems to be "in the past" They seem to be really good now. I use a guide in TN. often and his is running flawlessly daily.

How close to NorthEast Maryland are you? We have a terrific rod repair guy in Bel Air Maryland (about 30 minutes below Northeast Md.) Go to the Tom's Custom Rods website and check out his work. Also he does go fish the upper bay so a meet might work out too but that would cheat you of the experience of sitting in his living room/work shop and talking rods!

Take a look at the Irod Genesis II Gabes Rip Rap Special. It is light weight, well made and is composite so it helps with keeping fish hooked. I have been fishingcrankbaits for bass as well as throwing traps for strippers. Often while fishing for strippers we run into big blue cats. A 20 + blue on this rod and a Diawa Tatula is a blast. The rod runs about $150. Check them out on the IROD website. Tackle Warehouse as well as many local dealers carry Irod now.

Go to the IROD website. Look at the Gabes Rip Rap special. I fish one of these , they are light, comfortable and since they are composite they do not rip hooks out. In addition to throwing cranks for bass I run into both strippers and blue cats here on the Chesapeake Bay. A 20 pound blue is a work out but the rod has been fine for three years now. Also to throw bigger deep cranks there is a rod called Fred Crank Launcher an IRG7113CC Check em out they run about $150.

Go to Amazon Type in Diawa Exceler You will find Sportsman Outfitters has this reel for $68 bucks with free shipping. Now this is a quality Diawa reel with a very smooth drag. It normally retails for $99.00. I upgraded 6 reels this spring. 3 are Diawa TatulaR's ( $200 reels ) 2 are Diawa Tatulas($150 each) and one is an Exceler 6.3-1. I got to fish all of them at Dale Hollow in TN. during vacation. The Exceller is as smooth as the others and I tested it heavily with 6 pound smallies in deep water. I have a friend that regularly catches strippers as well as snakeheads up to 25 pounds ( off the Potomac while bass fishing) using several Diawa Excelers and they have held up for over 3 years now. This way you purchase a one hundred dollar reel for much less instead of settling for a lesser quality reel at its full price. By the way I have purchased 3 reels from Sportsman good people to deal with. Good luck let us know what you get.

Consider another rod. Try an Irod Genesis II IRG712S. It has a fantastically sensitive and feather light 7"1 M blank and is rated as 1/8 to 3/8 6-12 pound test. My wife purchase its MH brother, a 713S, and teamed it up with a super fast high speed Shimano Symmetre 3000. The rod will run you $150.00 and that reel ran $99.00. However for your purpose I would set yours up with a Pfluerger President, either a model 3930 ( a 3000 size reel) or a 3935. Either one is a 10 ball bearing reel for $60. The difference between the Presidents is a little more spool capacity on the 35, but is almost physically the same size. Between my wife and I we own 5 Presidents and 2 Shimano spinning reels. For the money and weight ( the 3935 is only .9 ounces heavier than her new Shimano), as well as the line capacity, I would choose the President 3935. Now if you wish to run some braid or floro you have plenty of capacity. The rod she fishes for shakey heads, dropshotting or wackey riggin is a G Loomis IMX with a President 3935. It is spooled with Berkley Original Fireline in 12 pound and we run a six foot leader of P Line cxx in 10 pound. That is her preference since she hates dealing with mono-copolymer-floro lines due to tangles. If you go this way I would add some decent inexpensive mono or copoly backing and attach lines together with uni to uni knots. Hope this helps.

I own several more expensive rods to crank with, but when September rolls around I need more rods to throw different size, weight, and manufacture of lipless cranks for strippers here in the Chesapeake Bay tidal rivers. We throw Reyeye Shads, Rattle Traps. and Xcalibur 75s & 50s and each in one knocker as well as regular series. Believe it or not those suckers will tag on one and ignore the rest. I have purchased three Berkley Lighning Shocks. They really are nice fro their cost. Get a 6'6" Medium 1/4 to 3/4. They work well.

Any good local rod repair guy can do what Tom did. He removed the original full cork grip and G Loomis's cheap plastic reel seat and locking ring assembly. He then measured and ordered the American tackle Comfort series seat and locking assembly and Winn Grips. Go to You tube and look up Winn Grips Russ Lane did a video of him doing a replacement job. Check it out. As for the Loomis rods I still believe they make a great rod blank but not too happy with the changes they have made on the total rod. Maybe I got a bad one because they use the plastics through out their models now. Too Bad.

I run a 2002 Merc 75 on a Lowe bass boat. My prop of choice is aluminum because I run on the Chesapeake Bay and the possibility of hitting something in its shallow tidal water is high. My choice of prop is a Turning Point Hustler prop. They only cost about $100 for the prop and then you will need to purchase the correct hub kit for about $50. Right now West Marine has these props for sale for starting at about $70.00. Look at your prop for its pitch it may say 17p. 19p etc and it should have a part number on the outer body of the prop, If not perhaps you may have to remove the nut holding the prop on and the number may be on the inner surface there. Do an internet search with the part number and you can find the prop size and pitch. This can then be matched to your new prop. Mine is a 13 inch diameter -19 pitch prop. The other option is to have a local prop shop repair it. This can be fairly cheap too.