Jig Man

I mostly fish lower lakes with clear water because the pressure is lighter. One day 6 of us tried a little unscientific experiment (4 used mono and 2 of us used braid). We were jig fishing in the same area trading spots as the day went along. I was one of the braid guys. The other braid guy was in a different boat. He and I caught fish but we got our BUTTS WAXED. That is when I started using leaders on braid.

If you have a $10 multi tester, you can determine which is which very easily. If you get the wrong one then you will be trying to run a 24v unit with 12v.

Bad grounds can cause all kinds of crazy problems. If you are grounded through the ball, I change it to the frame.

A friend of mine has one on his Champion. I don't know the brand but it doesn't work very well except in the middle of the day.

If your unit has the 2 red wires which are fused, maybe one of them has become disconnected or a fuse has gone bad.

Here's that link. http://www.in-fisherman.com/magazine/articles/if2806_HookRemoval/index.html

lol. Yup, my first optimax! Actually, my first motor made after 1988' :-? Optimax had a bad rap for a while. My tech says the biggest problem he has encountered is people not letting them warm up before they take off, especially in cold weather. When I start mine I let it warm to 120° before I head out.

I have that problem with tubes. I don't know of any way to avoid them when the fish are agressive. However, it is pretty simple to go through the gills with a pair of hemostats or needle nose pliers and turn the hook around. Then it is a simple matter of reaching inside the mouth getting hold of the hook and taking it out. Somewhere on here there was a GMAN post with pics.

I keep mine in a zip lock bag in the boat. When I go with someone else, I take a couple and put them in my life jacket pocket.

Early morning top water and buzz bait fishing, I keep the sun in my face. That way it is not in the fish's face. I get more strikes that way over sun at my back and in the fish's face.

I fish lower end clear water all the time. I use 10# mono or fluro leaders. I fish a lot of jigs, tubes, and craws. I don't get may bites with tops, buzzes, or spinnerbaits.

You will like that Xpress. It has the lift of a glass boat. I am sure it will run around 60 but remember it is a light alum. boat and can get squirrely.

I am running the ping at 100% when I am under power. I have only had it on the water once and next time out I plan to try a bunch of stuff even changing the heads to see if I can correct this problem. I am grabbing at straws to come up with a cure.

If I am using the black lights I use Pline Hi Vis. When using the white lights I like braid with a fluro leader.

I put the hook in an eyelet close to the reel. I then hold the rod up and swing the weight letting the line wrap around the rod. It will usually wrap tight. I reverse the proceedure when I want to use it again.

I have been using it for 4 years without any problems. Like stated above you must have a bad batch or a spot on you rod that is nicking it. The only problem I have with it is it frays in rocks and needs to be checked once in a while.

You could put in a pop rivet and JB Weld around it.

I just put a Lowrance 520c on the bow and on the console. I have them networked. I had them on the water together for the first time today. The console unit loses the bottom at 30-35 mph. It is connected to the same transducer that I had on an LMS 480. Nothing about the transducer has been changed. Do you think this new unit is more powerful and causing the transducer problems? Do you think lowering the sensitivity would help?

Sounds like you did ok to only have a $20 pro rate. Hope the new one works well.

That is really a nice looking rig. I have a Champ and they are fine boats. Is this your first Optimax?

I don't seem to get as much distance with braid as I do mono on a baitcaster. One reason your casts might be shorter is the braid may be packing on the spool. You might walk it all off and wind it back on to see if that helps. As for the reels, I would be about cleaning them if they had gone for a swim.

Yes it is. Shimano is changing the Stradic again this year so several places are closing them out.

I thought that they were just another gimic to get your money. I saw some at the Bass Pro shop outlet store for $2.66 so I gave them a try. I have been using them for about 5 months. I don't plan to ever be without them again. I was in the store last week and they had a bunch more so I bought up for the future. BTW: If you buy large or XL there will be enough to do two rods from the reel down. That is all I ever touch and lets me take the reels off without moving the wrap. I also use them to color code rods.

At least with the Citica, you know who made it. The BPS stuff gets rotated around with contracts.

This is pretty good for rigging and techniques. http://www.richz.com/fishing/articles/dropshot.html