Wayne P.

LOL, LBH, no I just catch a bunch on each outing. I've fished 28 days since the first of the year. I'm retired and fish during the week and pick highly productive waters and use highly productive presentations. I have found that Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are the least pressured days for the fish.

Have you checked for the legality of using any type of light such as spotlights and headlights while navigating?

Big-O, when I use the hooks without a spike or spring, I use a size 10 crochet needle inserted into the bait head that I hook my line to and then pull the line out thru the head and tie the hook on. Then I pull the hook eye into the bait before inserting the point. It creates less damage than trying to force the hook eye into virgin plastic or even premaking the eye channel with the hook point and barb. I use the same procedure for swimbaits and Flukes.

So far this year I have 23 bass over 4# and 1,054 bass under 4# so I would guess my average is around a pound and 1/2

For those using Senko style baits in vegetation, just put the hook in the skinny end instead of the blunt fat end. It will hang up less in grass and pads.

Falcon Bait-Jerker Hooks Mister Twister Weighted-Bronze Hooks Mustad Power Lock Plus Hooks BPS Verticle Dropshot Hooks Daiichi Butt Dragger Hooks VMC Bug Eye Hooks Owner Weighted Twistlock Hook w/centering spring Lake Fork Tackle Ultimate Swimbait Hook Dave's Tournament Tackle Weighted Swimbait Hook Those should give you some more choices.

Yes the X96 can use a speed senor; an accessory list for that unit is here----http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Accessories/Accessories-Search?SearchType=Unit&Unit=X96

Different batteries work fine. Your total run time will be the determined by the lowest capacity battery.

I agree with nb1226 and do it often. Using fluorocarbon line will add to the sink rate. I don't worry about lure contact, I want fish contact. Lots of time slow is the way to go. With the larger fat baits you mentioned the sink rate is faster than what I use ( finesse worms and Trick worms)

PM sent

Yes, charge them separately without disconnecting them, current will only flow between the positive and negative of the charger/battery connection. Lots of people use multi-bank charges that are mounted in their boats and each bank is independent of the other. You should get another charger and charge them both at the same time. For longer battery life the battery should be charged as soon as possible after a discharge.

I fished in just those conditions a couple of days ago. I moved around the lake to see if I could find some warmer water and found it in the back of some non feeder creek coves that were near the dam and the dirtiest water was about midlake in the main water flow from the upper end to the dam. I takes a lot of cold rain or cold weather and time to drop the temp of the whole lake. I just found the warmest water and the active fish. The lake water temp was 71-73 before the rain and cold weather and 4 days later, the upper end of the lake to mid lake was 61.4 . The warmest water I found was 69-71 and less dingy than most of the lake.

You might want to try the Arkie U-Heads. Hank Parker was using and recommending them on his show. They have a regular offset worm hook and the lead head is not part of the hook, it is loosely connected.

I'll be driving to and fishing Fork most of next week thru the weekend and a guy from California is flying. He shipped his rods to a local resident that will be fishing with the same group. Where are you staying?

It has the circuit breaker you are looking for to go with your OMC motor. It is listed in the parts for OMC motors. Do you have the old style bent shaft motor and is it bow mount and foot control?

It does matter to the fish. While you are having a sporting and exciting time trying to land a bass on light line, you are contributing to the potential death of the fish. If you have to spend much time landing a big bass with light line, lactic acid builds up in their muscles and they may die because of it. It is more beneficial to the fish if it is landed quickly and released quickly. Using 12# line in "thick" cover is adding another harmful effect to the fish if you have a break off, you will be leaving some amount of line attached to a hook that may result in their death. That is not very sporting or exciting.

The more weedless models of swimbaits work quite well there. There a very few places where the likelyhood of catching a large one is that I would use any style of exposed hook swimbait.

Thanks ado124, I won't be posting any on Va. waters for a couple of weeks. I'll be fishing JEJMoe's future home lake next week and some of the following week. There are a lot of uneducated fish at Hunting Run, take advantage of it while you can. It should be highly productive for the next couple of years.

http://www.trollingmotorparts.com/index.cfm/act/catalog.cfm/subcategory/Electrical%20Items/category/OMC/browse/null/MenuGroup/Home.htm

The fishingva.com site replaced the former fishinmusician.com site after the creator left the state. The site owner was a contributor on the former site just as I was. It serves it's purpose quite well as the older one did. Most of the users are more interested in fishing and just Virgnia waters than the extra BS that is found on most other fishing sites.

Add a Chatterbait to the list. It can be used higher in the water column slower than a spinnerbait.

Only if you want zero memory, zero stretch, maximum sensitivity, small diameter with high breaking strength, more reel capacity, just to name a few.

Also PM sent

I also use yellow/gold braid but if I don't use a leader, I dip a couple of feet of line into a bottle of softbait lure dye in the red color. I use the uni-uni connection and have never had line breakage unless it was on purpose when getting hung up. Most of the time the fluorocarbon line will break at the hook IF if breaks. Lots of times the hook will bend or break. Most of my leader set ups have 30# Stren Super Braid and 20# XPS Fluorocarbon. If you are controlling your hook set technique for braided line, then it must be your line tieing skills with fluorocarbon that need work. Especially with the relatively rough surface of the braid, if you don't wet the knot a lot and tighten very slowly, the fluorocarbon will be damaged from friction during the tightening process. If you are tieing prefect knots and using the proper hook set technique, then your brand of fluorocarbon is suspect or is a flawed batch. It sounds like it is your hookset technique since you don't have a problem with spinning gear but do with heavier baitcasting tackle. You must use a lot more hookset force with your baitcasting gear than with spinning gear due to the use of a heavier action rod and ability to use both hands to apply that force. That is not necessary as all you need is a quick wrist snap to get the hook set and not the whole body/major arm movement hookset as used with mono. Remember there is no stretch or overcome when using braid.

Gas motor: it's always advantageous to use a gas motor when allowed as it gives you more running time with your electric motor for fishing. It saves time between fishing locations also. It will get you back to safety quicker if a storm is approaching. The only negative I can think of is the price of gasoline.