Dirtyeggroll

I am pseudo in the market for a little starter boat. Someone local has a cleaned up 1989 TideCraft SpitFire XL with a 60 horse mercury and original trailer. I went and looked at the boat today, and it looked remarkably clean. Not a scratch or stress crack anywhere to be found. The guy said he had buffed the gel coat recently, and I am wondering if that could take out the stress cracks. I could only appreciate one 8" scratch on the hull near the keel (no keel guard) which did not expose the fiberglass. The guy had also replaced the carpet and beefed up the deck with marine plywood (and sealed) in the last two years. he has put new of the following: Motor: spark plugs water pump fuel lines speedo Accessories: bilge pump aerator for live well batteries fuse block for updated fuses radio and speakers seats and butt seat with pedestal new gas shocks for lids fuel and Speedo gauge steering wheel 1 humminbird helix 7 si gps 1 humminbird helix 7 di When I went to look at it, I did not open up the back hatch to look at the inside of the transom, but the outside of the transom was immaculate, not even a stress crack. I am wondering if anyone has any thoughts/experience with these older TideCraft boats? I read on another forum that the hull on these boats is thin and weak as paper. Literally every comment on another forum (http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4645778/tidecraft_boats said run away from Tidecraft and never look back. We are planning on taking the boat out for a test run on Tuesday before any decisions are made. From my perspective, it seems like a worthwhile deal. The asking price for this boat is $3900. Below are some pictures.

Yes, flipping near docks in the back of coves is a good idea (ned rigs under docks is pretty reliable this time of year).

The moderate rod is likely designed to be a crankbait rod. Go with the medium heavy... or since it’s a Veritas, you may even want to go with a medium. Those rods are pretty stout for their rating.

I don’t have any Zodias to compare, but I like my Tatula Elite Rods. The only thing that might steer you away is that on at least some of the models the reel seat does not expose the blank. I’m not sure it matters though as my Elite is one of the most sensitive (to my feel) Rods I have.

FYI BPS will price match most online retailers. Also, BPS tends to have pretty good prices on electronics when they are on sale. Those stik-o’s are virtually indistinguishable from the Yamamotos. The cheap side of my wishes they still made the Huddleston knockoffs.

The amount of plastics I go through usually correlates well with the number of fish I am catching. I tend to change my plastic at the slightest irregularity if it gets bit. After all, I want to reproduce the same presentation if it’s working. One exception is a time that I had prefished a lake and it was muddy with 6 inch visibility and then 5 days later it was clear 4-6 feet of visibility. I had brought only gear for dirty water. I fished a black and blue jig most of the morning and didn’t get a sniff. I hunted around through my boxes and I found a green pumpkin/blue jig with an okeechobee trailer, started throwing it and started catching them. One of the pinchers got bit off, and I didn’t have anymore in that color, but I thought “what the hell” and fished it anyway and continued to catch fish. The other pincher got bit off and I just kept fishing it and getting bit. I ended up with a 3rd place finish with about a 20 lb bag. Despite this, I still change my plastic at the slightest irregularity if I have them. But I frequently wonder how much it matters.

Been super busy on an internal medicine cardiology rotation, so it’s been 22 days since I’ve wet a line. Had yesterday off and got a little ahead on my studying so I snuck away to a small 150 acre local lake late in the afternoon. This lake has a handful of 5+ lbers and is loaded with <2 lbers, and has the occasional pike. I got there around 5 PM and sunset is around 7:40 these days. Started off in a little arm of the lake that’s super shallow and has thick grass and caught one on a frog. Fished a lot of grass around the lake without another sniff until I made it around to the old creek channel lined by standing timber. Made a cast to the outside treeline with a shaky head in about 4 ft of water, when my line kept looking like it was sinking like it is was much deeper. I reeled down a little and the line took off sideways. I’m thinking it’s a little dink or panfish carrying it off so I give a weak little half hookset and the line goes tight and doesn’t budge at first but then tugs a little. It really felt like whatever was on there had me wrapped in the timber. Then I notice I am making progress toward me, but it still feels the same and I realize it must be a decent fish, although it had the dragging feeling like a stick. Bzzzzt!!! Starts peeling drag (luckily away from the timber) and the fight is on. Whatever it is it just feels heavy and doesn’t seem to be giving a lot of head shakes, not really like a bass, but more like cat fish or a pike or walleye. I finally get it close to the boat when it surfaces and to my surprise it IS a nice bass. After a few more dives under the boat I net my new PB for this lake 4.21lbs. As the sun started to set the surface activity really started to pick up so I threw a frog at a grass line near the creek channel and caught 5 more ~2lbers. Fun evening.

Once again AmericanLegacyFishing is not included

Where in Arkansas? If NW then Elk river is a good place to catch a lot of smallies. Might not get any big ones but lots of fun.

A jig like this would virtually float with an ElaZtech trailer...

Keep us updated on your success!

The Tatula rods run a little heavy so I think M is your best bet.

Restocked my @Siebert Outdoors blue Craw dock rocker supply after I have been giving them to my buddies to try. I added on a random jig pack and got some interesting stuff to try. Got some hokey looking swimbait in the mail (not from Siebert. They all just arrived on the same day).

Link to both of these coupons... Need a swimbait rod!

Most people you ask will say that the best way to catch a big bass is to spend time on the water. Another thing they will probably say is to fish where the big ones are. So, my guess is that the things that catch the big ones are the ones that are in the big Fish water most frequently. I would guess that the jig (or Texas rig) is way up on the list of baits that are fished the most, thus giving it a bit of a bias as a big fish bait. Add on top that a jig/t-rig can be fished about anywhere and you end up with lots of big Fish on this bait. A lot of my big Fish this year have come on a jig. Two exceptional days where I hit the conditions just right with a flat-side crankbait on one and a brush-hog/frog on the other keep me from saying “most” of my big fish this year.

I have broken 4 rods in the last year. The 1st one was stupid. I was using the rod tip to get a crankbait out of some underwater landscaping fabric and the tip just crunched. The 2nd one I was walking into my house with the rod and our door to the garage isn’t set right so it closes by itself pretty hard. I entered the door with the rod tip behind me and the door caught it. I ended up putting new tips on both of these rods and giving them to some of my buddies that are just getting into fishing. The 3rd one was a heavy action Veritas 2.0 the snapped when I set the hook on a 2 lb fish. I sent pics of the broken rod to Abu Garcia and they sent me a brand new one for $10. The 4th one was just a guide on a Daiwa rod. The epoxy on the first guilde up from the reel seet cracked on a cast. I had to pay to send the rod to Daiwa but they sent me back a new one.

Yes. I do it all of the time using yellow hi-vis braid and catch lots of fish.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031938417302354?via%3Dihub Short answer, possibly... likely... In the linked study the authors gave one group of pre-spawn female bass a high dose of cortisol, a stress hormone and a control group a sham solution. Bass born from the females that got cortisol had increased fear responses, as well as reduced anxiety, boldness, aggression and potentially exploratory behavior. Its well-established in the literature that a caught fish produces a high amount of cortisol during the fight (and the amount is related to the length/strength of the fight). Its not unreasonable to think that (and I would guess there are data somewhere supporting) that bass can be classically conditioned to produce a stress response to a lure. Thus, its possible that seeing a recognizable lure could spike a cortisol response in a bass and this cortisol response could be transferred epigenetically to the offspring. I would also guess, that there are genetic/epigenetic profiles of bass that are adapted to environmental cues that dispose a lineage of bass to a location.

I fished with a black and blue jig all day on Sunday at a new lake (dirty/stained 1-2 feet of visibility) without a bite. Finally ended up on some underwater structure where I knew there had to fish and probed it for about an hour with out a sniff. Switched to a Green Pumpkin/Blue (blue craw) jig and got bit on the first cast in the same spot. Proceeded to catch 2 more fish out of that spot in the next 20 minutes... I am not a subscriber to color mattering that much and I have no idea why I switched other than I have been whackin'em on that specific jig. I was fishing with my dad and he continued to throw a black and blue jig and didn't catch a fish on a jig. The simple answer is color matters when it matters and doesn't when it doesn't.

THIS! Map it all then go scroll back and mark it.

I have not had the bill break on a flat 75x... but I have had several bills break on the crush 50x.

A little bit of Advil BEFORE and after you go fishing wouldn’t be a bad thing if it’s once or twice a week. Just as long as you don’t have any kidney disease.

Bought a Spro rat on Friday to reward myself after and exam. Caught a fish on the first cast with it. Ended up clicking submit order on a Johnny Rat last night before the sales ended... The bait monkey is also a dirty rat!

Have a 7’ H/F that I use for frogs. Love it. Never had a problem with it.

Dozen 3/8 dredge Dock rockers in blue Craw 2 - 3/8 Tungsten arkie in blue Craw 1 - random jig pack... I’ve been giving away my dock rockers in blue Craw to many of my buddies so ive got to restock!