DanielG

Well, familiarity helps. You take the same route(s) day in and day out and they become very comfortable. Of course this is the benefit of living a life in the same place. On the other side of the coin, it's pretty much all that I know!

Maybe it's the location that is important. I fish lakes here that are tough, the fish aren't huge but the lakes are fairly large and deep. There are 22 of them in my area. It seems like in some areas the bodies of water are smaller with big fish that can be easily fished out. Maybe in some places mounting might be an issue. In a (small) show of support. I've got a daughter and her husband who have solar panels on their roof, drive an electric car, eat guacamole and hummus and go to the gym regularly. I'm amused by it, and sometimes, as a Dad I kid them about it. But, deep down I know, it doesn't mean they're wrong.

I use the 735c glass. Great rod. My favorite actually. That's all I can tell ya...

It's not hard to remember. I follow the edge sometime and other times I cut across the lake in certain places. I've been on this lake all my life. I live here. I've snorkeled it as a kid and I've got a Garmin that shows me the topography. So, I guess I know it really well. It's not an issue. This is one of the loops I do. It's path has to do with the rises and falls in the lake bottom. In the summer when the water is warm fish lurk off the drop offs. The loop varies from 10 to 90 ft in depth. The entire loop is approximately three miles. I live at the red dot. Somtimes I take a straighter path about double the distance up. And it varies with the temperature of the water, as with the seasons. I do this and other paths three times a week at 5 am. and sometimes at 7 pm. It never gets old. I do though!

Any, standard motor's top speed is determined by the weight it has to push. Some of the more expensive, bigger ones will go faster but their purpose isn't speed. The reason they are higher thrust is that if you have a heavier boat the added power will be needed so they can do what they were designed to do. The props are designed so that they hit a max speed no matter what you do. If the wind comes up they draw more current to fight it but the prop doesn't spin faster. They're made to stabalize a boat and move it around will keeping things constant. So using one as a traveling motor is using them for something that is outside of their intended purpose. But, it can work, as long as you're in no rush. If you like being on the water and want to fish a body of water it's fine. Just not to zip from one location to another. Where I live I have a set loop I usually travel on. It starts at trolling speed and stops sometimes at locations to cast. I fish the entire loop. It wouldn't be practical to go a distance to hit a spot to fish then move on to another location. Then again, I do cover about three to five miles in my loop....

Belly ornament... Out about a hour from home, I live on the lake and have electric motors. I pulled up a smallish bass and am holding him rather close while trying to get a rear treble hook out. He flips and the forward treble hook stabs me in the belly. I'm wearing a tshirt. The barb is in, no blood, no pain. I can't pull it out. I can't get it out of him at that angle. The fish is periodically flopping around. I have to stand to mosey home. I arrive with a bass hanging and flopping about on my belly. I've poured water on him to keep him alive. Don't ask me why, I just figured it's not his fault. But, if he died he'd stop moving. Eventually we come to an understanding. I need him to stop moving, he needs to live, so he calms down a bit and waits looking up at me with that big eye, curling his tail once and awhile. He's probably near death right. At home I manage to yank the hook out without going to the ER (not fun), the fish dies. I bury him (her?) in the flower bed. He's destined to become a petunia.The wife still chuckles about it sometime. She says she has pictures. She blackmails me once and awhile. Sigh..... I've also hooked a new dobyns pole with a carudo reel in the middle ferrule while casting and javelined it over my head in what was a very good cast. Luckily the hook stayed hooked and I reeled it in. It's so weird to see that pole shoot out over the water though. It kinda happens in slow motion giving you time to have that 'sinking feeling'. Ya, pun intended....

A slight adjustment of the tension knob and you can ignore your thumb and no backlashes. That's like a conventional bait caster? Take your regular baitcaster and take your thumb off the spool.. forever. See then if there is a difference. That's what you paid for, and it works. Shimano never said, set it and forget it. That's why there is a tension knob on the reel.

I love my DC. I've posted here a few times about how I learned to love it. The directions from Shimano suck..... they don't work. The one with the tighten the knob until the reel doesn't rattle. I've contacted them. They've replied with "we'll, take it into consideration". Right... 1. Put a lure on your line 2. Set the brake for the line type. I use braided. It's set on 2. 3. Adjust the tension knob so that when you shake the rod lightly the lure drops a little, maybe a foot, with each shake. 4. You have to readjust with each weight lure. It just takes a few seconds. I had not one entanglement all last summer. I cast into the wind, with the wind, light to med/heavy lures. I cast short. I wind up and hurl it. Hundreds of casts. No nests and NO thumb. It will lightly fuzz up a bit sometimes but always settles down. I have to concentrate to keep my thumb off the spool. I wouldn't have believed it but it's true. No kidding. Sometimes I'll release the brake a bit or the tension knob and use my thumb but otherwise I never thumb the spool.

I troll a homemade from an 18 ft sailing catamaran boat (see lower icon in the margin) with two 35 lb minn kota's. I usually only use one as two give you more power (like in wind) but not much difference in speed. According to my Garmin I can hit 2.5 mph on a good day and usually troll at 1.5-2 mph which seems sufficiently fast. I have two 100 amp AGM batteries (the motor is 12 volts). The time I'm out is usually 3.5 hrs, but I can do up to 6 hrs at a time. I don't stop much. Lots of steady trolling in this deep, little cover lake. My boat isn't that light and neither am I! I'll bet my boat is at least double the weight of yours. This is sufficient for my needs. The size of the motors is sort of a sweet spot in performance and cost. And the reason I have two motors and two batteries instead of one larger one, is that if one motor or battery dies. I can always get home. And... when one battery is low on juice... it's time to turn around with the other one.

All of these effective solutions are free or nearly free and they will work as good as anything else. I had to think all day but this is what I came up with. Post it note near your starter key/button. It should say something like "turn off the battery!" If this works for you, make a more permanent sign.... Another alternative is put a post it note on the center of the steering wheel in your vehicle upon launch. Of course you've got to remember to do that... so... keep on on your backup mirror. You've got to look into that to back up the boat. Then it will be there when you take it out. Last alternative if those don't work. Place the centerfold from a magazine on your vehicle seat or dash as a reminder. If that doesn't do it for ya then I'm afraid there's no hope and you'll must perpetually have a dead battery.... in more ways than one. I hope this helps.

A couple of funny things we've been discussing this morning here at home. First: I noticed my last bait is two faced. I'm still new to this and I'm really pleased with the way this one came out. But... when you paint both sides you try to deep them the same. Obviously it doesn't always work. ~One side is the 'startled fish look... It's saying "Oh no, I'm about to be eaten!" It has a round pupil (I make my own) and roundish gills and more red around them. ~The other side is the tough fish look... It's saying "Bring it on, eat me if you dare!" It has an elongated pupil and square jaw and more black in it. Startled bait Badass bait And I have no delusions. This part is very oddball; but that's kinda who I am. I have been doing all of my filming for my videos and pictures with an older $100 Sony vacation camera and processing it in iMovie. Yup, I'd like a gopro or a better digital camera. I've read all about them. They're expensive, and I could afford one if I want and I'm still thinking about it. But, as cheap (frugal) as I am, I'm always looking to make do and have a very strange amount of fun doing it. This is the first time I've mounted it on my old hat using some stainless steel (only the best ? ) hardware. It works quite well. Expect some 'on the boat' action in the Spring! BTW... the boat is homemade too. See the icon in the margin. Strange Man

I hadn't seen this. You have to know what to ask for for the right things to show up on Amazon. Nice find, especially for the price. I've found that if you put the word "fishing" in front of it the price doubles. And sometimes you don't need the ones that will survive a fall from an airplane because.... well, you're in a boat.

Pill bottles. If you're a geezer you probably throw them away all the time. They have 3-4 different sizes depending on the pills. Locking covers etc. As far as boxes (and please remember this old geezer is a very cheap uh... frugal one) I purchase these boxes on Amazon. They are thread organizers. Good hinges and tight clasps and it's not cheap flimsy plastic. The dividers are fixed but there are a few long ones in the center. 46 compartments on two sides. They are about 10"x3x14" and to get an idea of the compartment size, they are often purchased to hold matchbox car collections with room to spare in each compartment. Those are big spools of thread. And about $13 each.

Yes, it has. Then again, some people can easily hold 12 beers at a sitting and not act like a fool. It's amazing they can do that. I wish you the best. Thanks for the topic.

Adding to my previous post. Not only have I never had a beer, I've never had a drink. I find that people who are alcoholics or on their way to being so, are always talking about their drinking, and bragging about it as if it was an every day occurrence and it's normal to chug stuff all the time. I have lots of experiential examples of this in my life. Abusers of alcohol aren't really aware of it but when you don't drink you realize you live in a world of self medicators. It's an engrained part of our culture. And for most... it sneaks up on them and only later do they realize that they are 'there'. Sadly often too late. That's why it happens to so many.

Ya, first hand experience of it destroying people. A family thing. I decided when ten yrs old that it wasn't for me. No judgement... just a choice. But, bad experiences have tainted me.

Dunno, never had one.

Contaminants are usually metals. They collect in predator fish as they go through a lifetime of eating other fish. They never leave their system. As we eat the contaminated fish the metals build up in our systems. They eventually begin affecting our neurons. Japan is a good example. They eat a lot of contaminated fish. Some seaside villages have people who have memory and clear thinking issues. In it's later stages it affects their muscle movements. No one around here will notice any issues directly, but as it builds up in our systems subtle changes in our thinking, memory, and motor functions, like balance, are present. Sort of like kids who've eaten lead paint on old houses. Is their IQ that way because of the paint of is it just their natural IQ? Here in Maine it's recommended no more than one meal of locally caught fresh water fish a month for most instances, and pregnant women should abstain. Personally, I don't eat them. Catch and release. Besides, I'm hooked on Gulf of Maine haddock. Nothing else really cuts it for me. From the Maine.gov website: Warning: Mercury in Maine freshwater fish may harm the babies of pregnant and nursing mothers, and young children. Safe Eating Guidelines Pregnant and nursing women, women who may get pregnant, and children under age 8 SHOULD NOT EAT any freshwater fish from Maine's inland waters. Except, for brook trout and landlocked salmon, 1 meal per month is safe. All other adults and children older than 8 CAN EAT 2 freshwater fish meals per month. For brook trout and landlocked salmon, the limit is 1 meal per week. I used to be a science teacher... Don't get me going.... you'll regret it. Ask my wife, she lives with this. ?

Go to their site. Each boat has a bunch of stats listed with measurements.

What?!.... improve? That's the goal? uh-oh.... Of all the hits and misses I've done over the past couple of years. I guess the top thing is learning my lake. I live on a four and a half mile one with water from a few feet to ninety feet deep. Paying attention to the bottom topography on my Garmin and where the fish are at when I hook them would probably be my best help at improvement.

My first Rattle jerkbait. I like how this one turned out. I made everything on it... woohoo! Wonder if it will catch fish?

Thanks, very informative video and it seems legit....

I've got the Dobyn's 735 cb glass. With solid stuff like crankbaits I just can't get enough of this rod. It's so wonderful to pull a fish in with it. The fish fights it and the rod seems to fight the fish. I'll bet you'll be loving it too.

Thanks. They have a lot of inexpensive gopro styled cameras. I look at some of the video that people upload to Amazon in the reviews and when I expand it full screen it looks very, very blocky. Maybe it's the best format Amazon allows in their reviews, I don't know. And it's pretty widely known that the reviews are often fake or payed. I'd love to get a camera like this but just wonder it it's legit. Anyone have any video they've uploaded showing what to expect if using this or another gopro knockoff? Addendum to this: I just thought of going on Amazon and looking at reviewers uploading of video like I did for the AKASO. I guess it's not Amazon. The video, full screen for the Gopro was really good. Every time I look at the less expensive action cams the video is extremely pixelated.... hmmm...

I love to put together video and I do this at home and upload to YouTube for friends and family. I was thinking I'd like to mount a camera on my boat, or on me. Not sure exactly. My research online shows lots of advice on this. Thing is, the cost factor for something like this is really high just to have a little fun. Right now I do my videoing with a little sony digital. You know the kind everyone used to take on vacation before iphones. (BTW, a phone for this isn't an option for me, I chose to go incognito when I retired just to have some peace.) Recommendations online are various Gopros, Some Canon and Sony models and such. But, they start at about $300, with what seems like an average of about $600 for what most use. I'm not that serious about it and couldn't justify that cost for my meager fun. I've noticed that there are gopro knockoffs that read good on Amazon but I'm willing to bet it's a bunch of loaded reviews. Has anyone had any success with something, anything, that does a decent job and doesn't break the bank? I figure some real world experiences with some of this equipment from real people would be enough for me to take a chance. Thanks.