Jig Man

No it isn't bad for the motor. When I had 12/24 with speed levels I had to use 12V part of the time to get the speed I wanted to be fishing. Now I have 24 only with infinite speed control.

Like smalljaw stated unless you want to get into some serious money, you can buy premolded jig heads either painted or unpainted and skirt material. Then you can put them together yourself and see how it goes. Check places like Cabelas, Bass Pro, Stamina Inc, Barlows, Jans Net Craft, Lure Craft, and Fishing Skirts for supplies. For example: Barlow's has football heads for around $.60 each and skirt tabs in a kit for around $.30 each. So you could put together jigs for $1.20 per jig. You can make the a whole lot cheaper once you have you lead pot, fluid bed, powder paint, lead, etc. But unless you buy hooks by the 1000 and skirt materials by the 100 you won't have a lot of savings.

Maybe because OMC went belly up and no one wanted that part of the industry. The boat companies went several places like Genmar and Bombardier bought out the motors.

That is the way I have always found them to be. That is why I keep doing business with them.

Optimally speaking if they are the same size and same age they will work better and longer. I had a battery go bad after 2 years while I was on an extended fishing trip and had to replace it. I opted to get one and see how it worked. It was 2 years later that my original battery started weakening and had to be replaced. So I had about 150 fishing trips with batteries of different ages. The thing to remember is go for as many reserve amps as you can find and have room for.

I keep all of my baits in boxes or tackle bags. I bought a plastic closet at Lowes and put the extra stuff in it.

There are some really bright colored gold tones out there. I use yellow braid but it is a bear in the wind. When in clear water you could add a fluro leader if the color bothers you.

The best buy on the mold release is Zeiners in Wichita, KS.

Mike I also am running Optimas. My charger does fine on them and I have been impressed with the batteries so far. BTW: Deal directly with Dual Pro. They will probably give you a better deal than anyone else out there. When one of my banks went bad on an 8 year old charger, they beat the next best price by close to $100. They may also have a new version for the AGMs.

sycamore sinks and stays put

The mileage isn't as important for me as the service record. Today's engines can go a long ways if they have had regular oil changes and the rear end, transfer case and transmission serviced when needed.

I'm running a dual pro 3 bank 15 amp.

All of my reels are shimano and my rods are gloomis and st. croix. That way I don't have to mess with any different feel except stiffness in the rods to compensate for bait weights. That is critical for me especially when it is dark and I have to go completely by feel.

Some say that it isn't so but a guy who spent 35 years in the government working with their gps equipment told me that they vary the accuracy that you are allowed to have from time to time so on a bad accuracy day one will have problems. What ever it is, I know that mine doesn't work the same from one trip to another getting on wpts in open water.

Go 3 batteries and 24 volts. That is way better than going 12 volts.

I the very clear water I fish in the winter and early spring I have found that braid and fluro are a good combination. In fact I have 5 setups rigged and loaded for tomorrows trip to upper Bull Shoals.

It may be your technique or the way you control your boat. I catch a lot more fish on windy days than I ever do when the wind isn't blowing. My best days are when the wind has been blowing for 3 days from the same direction.

There are two ways: dipping and injecting. Dipping can be done 2 ways: vertical and horizontal. Dipping can be very cheap to get into. Injecting will cost from $150-400 depending on how many molds and injectors you buy. Any kind of slick rod will work for dipping. Melt your plastisol and put some cooking oil on the rod and dip it down into the plastisol. Let it cool and take it off. Cut the tail into strips and you have a tube.

First when you melt down old plastics you will wind up with greens and browns as the various colors blend so I strongly suggest that you buy some medium plastisol when you make your initial order for molds. As stated you will need a microwave oven ($40 for a cheap one or check flea mkts.) or electric hot plate ($15-20). With the microwave you'll need some 1 cup Pyrex pitchers. With the hot plate some pans with thick bottoms. You will need some colorants and some glitter when you make your order. A very important item is gloves. Molten plastisol is around 350°F and will take your skin right off. It is very easy to scorch plastisol so you also should buy some heat stabilizer. Since many items you may want will have a higher shipping fee than the item itself, take your time and find the site that has what you want so you can get it all and only have one shipping fee. Some places you may want to look at are Barlow's, Jann's, Lurecraft, and Bear's. There are many more if you want to do a google search.

When I use my homemade Bondo molds I spray them with garlic before I pour the plastisol in. It makes them easier to get out and adds some stinkum.

Yes, with and with out why are you asking?

That is also my thoughts but I don't have any reels with parts like that on them.

I found this under the driver's console in my boat. I only have Shimano reels but can't find any missing anything like this. Sorry for the pic quality. I took several and never could get a good focus.

Remember when you combine a bunch of colors you will wind up with brown.

I gave up on the Ds and got rid of mine. I have several levels of S spinning including the Sahara and Symmetry reels. If you will use it a bunch, I'd get the Symmetry. I have some of them that are 11 years old and have been used a bunch. An occasional cleaning and once in a while an antireverse clutch is all they have had done to them.