KayakJimW

Well said. I try to think about wind direction in bigger terms like weather patterns or fronts blowing through. Look at the wind map of the entire section of America you're in, not just local weather. I think about this rhyme I heard when I was young, I think Bill Dance said it on his show: Winds from the North, don't venture forth Winds from the East, fish bite the least Winds from the West, fish bite the best, but Winds from the South blow the bait into the fishes mouth. That being said, I just go when I can and rarely let wind forecasts keep me home. ...unless the mph is crazy high. Sometimes wind blown banks are the ticket, some times protected banks are. Sometimes the same wind blown bank at 6AM turns to glass by 9. Those are pieces of the puzzle that are hard to prepare in advance for

FWIW, I have the harbor freight type bed extender (the kind that go straight out from your receiver, then 90 degrees up) and it gives me problems on anything other than flat, paved roads. The 90 degree "elbow" likes to bottom out whenever I go through a dip, or back up to any kind of incline. If you have an uphill driveway, it may not work at all. Boonedox, Yakima, Malone extenders have remedied this by angling the "horizontal" bar upward. They cost more but if you need any clearance, they're the way to go. This has been my experience in a 1500 Silverado...

I've camped at a private camp spot at the end of Algers rd several times and paddled from Island Ford rd back to camp. It's about half way between Front Royal and Luray... I believe there is a public ramp across the river too. The fishing is great in the summer, I can only imagine it would be on fire in the fall. Compton rapids can get hairy depending on river level, but we always "pull over" to a bank before it and stow or tie down our gear before running it. One of the prettiest stretches of river I've been on, too. Have had the best luck on 3 and 4 inch stick baits, or small plastic craws on light keel weighted hooks

I put 4 tubes like these across the back of my H crate. The h crate has hex holes inside that fit 10-32 or 3/8" nuts. Get you some short 10-32 bolts, nuts and washers and they go right in. I did have to drill new lower holes in my tubes to line up, but they are a fraction of the cost of the Hobie tubes that do line up. I want to say those are $35 per tube. Crazy.

Thanks all. The 9.9 HP upgrades are pretty neat for sure. I'm looking at EFI instead of a carb and there's even a way to boost those. There's a little metal restrictor that can be removed and looks pretty simple to do, but here's the kicker (pun intended). I've seen my buddy get stopped by game wardens because they thought he was going too fast for a 9.9. He has a Johnson 9.9 on a very light boat, and they made him remove the cover so they could verify serial numbers and check for enhancements that would've taken him over the 10HP limit. He was good, but that alone makes me shy away from doing it. I've also wondered if some of these mods (Suzuki's, Hondas, etc can all be pretty easily tweeked) makes them run above their recommended RPMs and could potentially do some damage over time? Eventually, I'll hook up a tach and play with different props to squeeze what I can out of it that way, but for now I'm just happy to get this thing ordered. Great recommendation on weight distribution too, sounds like that could affect some MPH for sure

Thank you, I value your input. Yep, it's a 20" transom (21 actually) and my favorite spots have the 10HP restrictions. Standard 9.9 it shall be Thanks

Hey folks, hope y'all are doing well. I'm about to pull the trigger on a new 1754 jon boat w/ a 9.9 tiller. This is something that I've been kicking tires on for a while now, looking for used with no luck, so I'm ordering one. I know that I want a tiller with electric start and tilt / trim, 20" shaft but I have a few questions about the different models and I'm having a hard time finding certain info... I see there's a 9.9 and a 9.9 pro kicker. My understanding is that the Pro kicker is geared a little different to troll more steadily at lower speeds, but built tougher / more heavy duty? Also there is a difference in 3 or 4 blade props that I'm hearing differing opinions on. My goal is to have a faster top speed (I realize faster is subjective when talking 9.9s but...) if I can get to the back of my reservoirs quicker, that's what I'm looking for. I'm also thinking carburetor motors may be a little quicker than efi, but efi come with less maintenance down the road? Am I way out in left field here? I'd like to hear some thoughts on which 9.9 would be the better choice, and why please. And maybe what to avoid? For this size motor, I'm not too worried about price differences if I can get a top performer in its class Thanks all!

Wow, that's nuts! Glad you got it taken care of... Luckily I've never been spined that didn't heal on its own... But, I had a nasty case of Microbacterium Marinum from scratching my knuckle on some rock in my old reef aquarium. My hand looked like the Toxic Avenger for a few months

That's a solid combo for sure

Yep, I used to be pretty lax about sun protection until I got it myself. It was a basal cell carcinoma which isn't as bad as other skin cancers, but still leaves me with a daily reminder why I should take the extra minutes to protect myself out there.

Either an excited, "Sweet Sassy Molassy!" or a firm "Bob Saget"

Ya mean Woo-sta ?

Sorry I didn't see this until today, good luck out there! I'm guessing water should be pretty clear. Sandy recovers quickly, especially mid lake. I haven't been there in over a month, when lots of baitfish were shallow. If I were out there today, I'd be looking at the creek bed off the dam, and also heading south toward the big ring of cypress trees looking for baitfish. If you're not marking fish, then I'd keep going toward the far timber following the creek bed up toward the big island. If that fails, I'd ride around checking temps and beat the warmest banks this afternoon. But as far as big fish this time of year, finding them on the sonar in 10-15ft+ and counting down chatterbaits/spinnerbaits/swim jigs has produced over the years. Swimbaits like you mentioned may be good too, I just never throw them. Good luck, hope to see some pics!

I had the same mindset until a family friend asked for help with his overstocked farm pond. Fish weren't getting any size and needed to be thinned out. Then later on we had a public lake, Amelia Lake, in a similar situation. Below is what Dept of Fish and Game said about this Lake, and upped the creel limit from 5 to 25 per person per day! I've always figured there's enough folks harvesting bass at my favorite fisheries, that I don't do it. But luckily there are places I can go catch a meal and feel like I'm helping the fishery Fishing Opportunities Largemouth bass The Amelia Lake largemouth bass population currently exists in a very unbalanced state dominated by high numbers of small fish. Densities of bass collected in our samples (measured in number of fish per hour of electrofishing) reach levels over 500 bass per hour. Normal densities in comparable lakes in the Southeast are much lower at around 100-150 bass per hour. With densities of fish this high, food and other resources become limiting in the system and growth of the fish suffer. The end result is a population of bass over-run with fish around eight to ten inches. To combat this overcrowded bass population, the size limit restriction that was in place at Amelia was lifted to encourage harvest and reduce numbers of bass in the system. Currently there is no size limit in place at Amelia Lake.

Hear! Hear!