jbmaine

Congrats on the new Lund. You're going to have so much fun fitting it out. I see you are in NH. did you get it with the ice breaker bow option LOL Jim

I was using the original floater some 45 yrs ago and caught a ton of fish on it. The rest of the list, not so much. Not to side track this thread but am I the only one that gets confused by all the different minnow type baits on the market today, Rapala and other brands. It seems like if I bought some of each of the above listed baits, I would need a manual to help me understand when and how to use them. Jim

That's a classic, I love it. As far as only using a few baits , most of the time I do, but on those days when "old faithful " doesn't work I will start throwing a bunch of stuff, and sometimes a lure I bought years ago will produce, and that's when I scratch my head trying to figure out exactly what it is. Jim

Using a sharpie to write the depth on the bill is a good idea. I've tried keeping hard baits ( stick baits etc.) in their original boxes, but it takes up more room. I'm sure most of us have times when you try something you bought at one point, and the fish love it. When that happens to me my first thought is, I better pick up more of these, Only problem is, more often than not, I can't remember exactly what this is. Especially if I only have one of something, and I lose it. I'd like to know exactly what it is I lost, so I can restock. My boat is not the largest and storage is limited, so any tricks, tips anyone has for better organization, I'd love to hear. Any thing to keep me from towing a "tackle barge" behind me. LOL Thanks, Jim

hi all, Some baits are easy to recognize, others not so much. I keep most soft plastics in the bag's they come in, so I know exactly what they are. Most spinner, chatter, buzz baits are hung in slots in my tackle box. If you asked me today I couldn't tell you what brand, weight, style most of them are. I have most hard baits in slots in plastic boxes. I try to write info in the slots to tell me what they are, but it's not perfect. Same with hooks. I read over and over stories where people say " I was using a XXXXX with a XXXXX from XXXXXX brand. It worked so much better than when I XXXXXX with XXXXX". You get the Idea. I would very much like to be organized to that extent, so I was wondering, What is your organizational method? With all of the variety of hooks, baits,lures,tackle, out there, how do you keep it all straight . Thanks, Jim

Hi all, Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I am looking for a spinning rod because that's what I'm good with. casting, not so much. Believe me I've tried. I'll take a look at speed sticks, mogo bass, and tatula. Dink Whisper-- you mentioned Tatula 7ft 2 inch MH/XF for $104. I'm seeing them for around $ 150. Where would I find them at the price you mentioned? Croak Hunter-- PM sent Thanks Jim

hi all, Picking out a new rod doesn't seem to be as simple as I thought it might be. I am looking for a medium heavy spinning rod, kind of a general purpose rod to throw baits like 110 Whopper Ploppers, 1/2 jigs with trailers and so on. Length around 7 ft. My budget is around $ 100. give or take. I have a Dicks, a BPS, a Cabelas, and the Kittery trading Post within reasonable driving distance. I checked all of these places on line and came up with a list of possible candidates. They are / Cabelas fish eagle / abu Garcia vendetta and veritas / Fenwick HMX / st Croix premier series / duckett fishing ghost / falcon bucoo sr / . All of these are rated 3/8 to 3/4 oz. and should handle what I want to throw. I would love to get a hands on each of these, and pick what feels best to me. The problem is with the exception of cabelas fish eagle none of these stores have, or carry any of these rods in stock. So I'm kinda stalled out . What you guys do? Is it just normal these days to buy rods sight unseen ? If so how do you pick. Jim

I think I am easy going, I'll wait for ramp hogs and never try to crowd other fisherman, boaters, etc. However one time I totally lost it. We were fishing and a big thunder storm started coming up the lake. We booked for the ramp, as did everyone else. It was working well. We all queued in line and got our boats out in a orderly fashion. When our time came my wife held the boat at the dock while I ran to get the car. While I was gone a total jerk pulled up and tried to launch. When I pulled up to the launch he was on the dock yelling at my wife and trying to push our boat out of the way. My wife is hearing impaired , didn't know why he was yelling, what he was saying, and was scared to death. I lost it, ran over, tore him a new one, threatened to have him arrested, and told him to back off. Luckily he did, and we loaded up and left. I didn't realize it at the moment, but Every one else still waiting to load up heard us, and two other guys had jumped on the dock to back me up. It was ugly, but thank goodness it didn't get worse. That's the angriest I have been in 20 yrs. Jim

Glad to see you are starting to get around. Our thoughts will be with you for continued improvement. hope you get back out on the water soon, Jim

This can be, and often is, an expensive sport/hobby/passion for us. If I was told 60 yrs ago I would be spending this kind of $$$ just to catch a fish, and then to just put it back, I wouldn't have believed it, not by a long shot. Back then my only concern would have been, do I have enough worms, and will I be having fish for supper? Jim

Most of my favorites have changed over the yrs, but the one constant in my fishing life is the almighty Senko. I love throwing other baits, but I will never go out with out a Senko jigged up. Jim

Hi all, Thanks for the replies, I know craigslist can be hit or miss, but the last guy who contacted me was very interested. we talked a couple of times, and it came down to him saying if my boat was as advertised, he would buy it. We agreed to meet at the boat launch of a local lake to take it for a spin. I was just waiting for his call to confirm the time. He never called. I called and left a message, and E-mailed him. No reply. As I said, everyone has the right to change their mind, but they should at least have the courtesy to let you know. Jim

Don't ya hate it when you put something in on Craiglist, and someone calls and say's they really want it, can't wait to stop by and see it, and then you never hear from them again. I've got my boat for sale on Craiglist and this has happened to me twice now. Everybody has a right to change their mind, but for goodness sake, have the decency to call and say so. Sorry, I had to vent, Jim

here's a new one that just happened today. As some of you know from my previous posts, we have a new boat on order and will pick it up in the spring. As my wife is extremely sensitive to the sun, we got a boat with a sun top to keep her in the shade. However, I told her the sun top will only work when the sun is high in the sky, and she'll need to keep her big floppy hat with her. So today my wife was out shopping, and when she came home this was our conversation. Her: Hi honey, do you like the material I bought? Me: Ya, it looks nice, what's it for? Her: Curtains ! Me: I look around the house and ask, do we really need new curtains? Her: Not for here silly, I'm going to make curtains for the boat. Me: HUH? Her : You said the sun top won't work all the time, so I'll make curtains to hang off of it, to keep the sun off of me. That's a great idea, don't you think. At this point " happy wife, happy life" entered my mind and I said yep, it sure is. So with all the things I've been thinking about getting for this boat, curtains never once crossed my mind. Silly me Jim

I agree, Mousam is not the best. But that being said, it used to be. 10 yrs ago we averaged 15+ bass a day there with out trying too hard. I have pic's of a 4LB SM and 5+LB LM taken from there. About 7 yrs ago it went down hill fast. We try it once or twice a yr just to see if it might be coming back. This trip we saw sun fish and schools of yellow perch, something we had not seen in yrs. So maybe there is hope for the lake. Jim

Small world, I'm in Eliot. Where have you been fishing? We usually head up to the Acton area. Jim

Hi, I just went thru the same type of search and can suggest a couple of things. If you go to the Lund web site you can build a boat and get a pretty good idea what a new one costs. I can't tell from the pic's if the seat pedestals are air ride or not. Not a big deal but we found the air ride more comfortable. All in all looks like a great boat. Also shorelandr trailers get good reviews. Jim

That is so cute, I see fun times ahead for the both of you. Thanks for sharing. Jim

hi and welcome aboard, Nice to see a new member from Maine. you'll find this a great forum, lots of great people here with tons of knowledge and advice. What part of the state do you call home? I'm just outside of Kittery. Jim

Hi all, We had a chance to hit Mousam today and thought I'd report on what's going on there. The weather was perfect for fishing, air temp 68, totally overcast, misty, calm to lite breeze. The water temp was warmer than expected, 72. we mostly fished weed lines in 2-5 ft. of water, some extended out 100 yards from shore, more than I have ever seen there before. With these conditions I thought the topwater bite would be on, but no such luck. I thru a Whopper Plopper everywhere and anywhere with no results. Tried running a rage tail toad across the surface, still nothing. Went subsurface with a KVD swimn caffine shad, still zip. Finally found tossing the rage tail toad, letting it sink, then a slow retrieve, worked, and we started catching bass. all the bass we caught were on the toad, except one my wife caught on a Senko. Nothing big, all between 1-2 lb's. Looking for bigger bass we moved in to 7-9 ft of water, with submerged weeds up to about 3 ft below the surface. This time WP zip, toad zip, but the KVD shad caught pickerel after pickerel and nothing but pickerel. All and all we had fun, but this was a bitter sweet trip for us . We're picking up a new boat in the spring ( our retirement boat ), And it looks like our current boat will be sold this week, so this was our last trip in it. On a side note: we saw an around 3 ft eel swim across the bottom. I've been going to Mousam over 60 yrs now and never knew there were eel's in it. Here's a few pic's nice weed line little bass perfectly hooked pickerel thanks for looking Jim

Thanks for the advise. I also noticed a Falcon Bucoo SR that fits the price range. I have a BPS about 1 1/4 hr's away. I'll have to plan a trip Jim

My wife loves being with me on the water, but has tendonitis in both hands and arms, so has almost no strength to use a fishing rod. When she does, she can only use a spincast setup and weightless Senko. Her casts are mostly lobs that fall somewhere around where she was aiming. When she hooks a fish I have to reel it in for her. Because of this she has said a couple of things I have heard over and over. The first is whenever we are close to shore I will often hear " honey, I'm stuck in a tree", often before I can make one cast. The second is when she hooks a fish, as I am reeling it in, I will hear her say " Wow, that's cool, I wasn't even aiming over there". She did this last fall and hooked a 7.1 LM. I got it in the boat after around a five min. fight. Nobody will ever convince me Zebcos can't do the job. Jim

Thanks again for the continued advice and counsel, I talked to my dealer this A.M and was told reconfiguring to a 24 volt system was a minor thing to do, so I'll add this to my game plan. I'm really glad you all recommended this to me, because as I think of this, a boat with a full windshield + sun top will generate a good amount of wind resistance trolling against the wind on a breezy day. Jim

Thanks again, Won't the mercury charge the starting battery? Hope you don't mind all the questions. This will be my first boat with a trolling motor. Jim

Thanks for all the replies and kind thoughts and suggestions. I'll call my dealer tomorrow and see what might be involved in upgrading to a 24 volt system. We mostly fish for bass, but I am thinking of trying some trolling for lakers and salmon. Do all of you have onboard chargers or might there be a less expensive way to charge the battery's. Thanks Jim