reellittlephish

Big Sky, Don't take this lightly. There are many unmarked reefs and humps in Mead now. Park Service can not mark them all. You either launch at Overton or Callville Bay. Most tournaments start out of Callville Bay. Wind is a super big factor. They bite in the wind but you want to arrive at the weigh in safe without a torn up boat.. Wind from the SE against a current can quickly build to 4 ft swells. Smallmouth bass are everywhere but you need a few largemouth to stay near the top of the pack. April...depending on the temperatures... the smallies have spawned. Fish to 20 - 25 ft. Weightless plastic on chunk rock flats sometimes, or jigs ( about 1/2oz. with an active trailer. As mentioned earlier surface lures and grubs on darterheads. Many tournament have been won around the Middle Point area. Crawfish in Mead (and there are a lot) run to red and dark brown. December, we still have some weedbeds. find one of those and you have a good chance to find bass. If absolutely desperate then the steep walls and you can catch 5 but likely they will be small. 1/4 oz tungsten is the gold standard. I fish 8 and 10 lb fluorocarbon but you have to check your line often. Mead has both quagga mussels and Zebra mussels. Fishermen on Mead often neglect the effects of current. If the dam is drawing the fish face upstream. Make sure everything is tight and runs on you rig. Arron Marterns has a good article on colors for Mead. Change colors during the day as you follow the sun/shade. check out the photo. Mead can do good for you if you get to the right sport right time. Near Rotary Cove. After Julie landed this one I landed 3 more slightly bigger on weightless plastic in early May.

Looking to trade a trip to Texas this spring 2008 for a trip showing you around somewhere in Nevada, along the Colorado River south to Yuma, or in California - maybe Clear Lake. Ideal, would be a place to stay in Texas at reasonable cost near place of fishing. Saving up for maybe a month of fishing. Running a 2007 Skeeter ZX 225. Not a tournament fisherman. Thanks, Tom and Julie

First off, if you can't resolve this yourself get a marine mechanic to look at it ASAP. Ejecting from the boat and getting driven over will ruin your day. You found the little knobbed stud somewhere near the ignition key slot??. The stud should be in the pulled out position for the motor to run or start. Anything else is not safe. If the motor starts and runs as you say, the safety circuit could have been jumped under the dash; carefully check the wiring.

Finesse Fishing: A light line technique (6# /8# test fluorocarbon) using small plastics from 1 to 4 in water clarity to 30 ft. where the fish are either, neutral, inactive or highly pressured. Usually rigged as a split shot, t- rig, drop shot, brass and glass, bobber rig. Usually using a spinning outfit...weights are in the 1/16 to 3/16 range... Sometimes includes stitching the line. Get this out when the conditions are calm and the water is flat or when surrounded by numerous boats. Fished slooow with precise lure postitioning and usually prior knowledge of the underwater terrain. From a California guy...

Jim, I know about the discharge curve on wet cells. One of the reasons I'm running an AGM Optima as my cranking battery is the more liner discharge rate. Based on your comments, I went back to the StayNCharge site and see the AllCharge has no provision for a direct on the box AC connect. On the other hand it seems a Stealth system has both an AC connect like Dual Pro and Guest chargers as well as capacity to charge from a DC source in this case they talk about charging from the outboard's alternator. Has anyone made a hybrid system using DC power from the tow vehicles alternator? Using the AllCharge and a portable charger; if the first battery in the system is at 100% charge the AllCharge feedbacks a requirement which puts the portable charger into low amp maintenance mode. At least I believe that's what he said. I asked for clarification... and am waiting. Has anyone experienced that? Here's a typical scenario and why I am purchasing the StayNCharge. Launched this morning at Boulder Harbor on Lake Mead after driving 40 minutes, All batteries completely charged. Motored over the Vegas, Government, Gypsum Washes to check out any surface striper action for a friend. About 6 miles maybe 12 miles round trip and maybe 25 minutes on the Trolling Motor. Out at 10:00 AM. drove home and went to bad. Experience tells me TM batteries are OK for tomorrow's trip without recharging. I'll take my friend fishing - probably 6 hours tomorrow or until the wind drives us off the water. After that I'll have to pull the TM batteries and charge them (2 - 10amp Schumacher portables) about 6 hours.. Based on a judgment of wind conditions, I'd like to just load the cooler and drive to Bullhead City in the evening and then to Needles ( 125 miles one way or 2 ½ hours) to fish Lake Havasu and Topock Marsh on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I figure with the StayNCharge I might be able to get away with NOT pulling the TM batteries- just top off the cranking battery and charge them on the drive off the Toyota's alternator. Now I don't expect the 2 Trojans to be fully charged in 2 or 3 hours of driving. What I'm looking for is just what Jim said about keeping the Trojans in that top 20% of the batteries charging capacity. If I got there and the TM batteries were low after a days fishing, then I'd want to be able to hook them up to an AC source a RV slot at some RV camp and bring them back to 100% overnight. A note on wiring; the Toyota does not have a tow package, so I will be running wire from the alternator probably # 4 AWG, #2 AWG if I can find it to the StayNCharge. You see, I already figured out I can use that. Now should I get the AllCharge or some other on board alternator capable charger?

I see you are near Austin, TX. What kind of water are you fishing? Shallow or deep? How clear? Wind or calm? Generally if you are new to plastic worms a somewhat shorter cast means you will miss less bites. Other than that, you probably will grow in knowledge if you think more about the conditions on any given day, letting them dictate casting distance.

It floats, right? It's all good! Do what Madhouse said. Don't forget a life preserver and maybe throwable flotation. Upgrade as soon as you can afford it.

What is your boat? I run a Doel Fin and it does just what Dougherty says. As far as lean. Could be simple weight distribution. Bouncing - porpoising - you might be trimmed up too high. The fin isn't gonna help there. Get someone experienced to ride along and check your rooster tail - a high one above the motor housing you might have the motor too high or trimmed too high. Should be able to hear the sound change as the prop comes near the surface of the water. Take a look around on some other forums; Ken Cook is especially knowledgeable about boat set-up. Learned a lot from him

You have got to be way underpowered with the new 40 pound minnkota. That much glass boat you are needing 70 to 80lbs thrust on 12/24 v. system. But now that you've done it, you can look around for a rebuilt TM - sometimes at a good price from a repair shop. The shops rebuld the older ones as people ask for the latest models on their new boats.

I've gotten a bit deeper into this and have some numbers for the thread. My 2004 Toyota Tacoma's alternator puts out 70 amps and the Yamaha C115 outboard apparently is a 55 amp alternator. It appears those who have a StayNCharge really like them. Has anyone connected a StayNCharge to another brand of onboard charging system? One person sent me a gallery of photos on how he hooked up his StayNCharge.. I'd appreciate pictures of onboard charger setups also.

A little polishing can't hurt - done by someone with a feel for it. Then a boat cover and some kind of gel coat protectorant on a regular basis - keep the value of your investment up. Great find!

Aggie, I see you're in Texas. Depthfinder choice just depends on what kind of water you fish. For instance if you fish shallow flatland reservoirs all the time then something which calls out the depth and maybe when you are over weeds or firm bottom may be enough. Like some one said about fishing in Louisiana, as he stuck his rod tip into the water don't need no fancy depth finders here it's about 4 ft. However if you fish deeper reservoirs, then a decent depth finder to locate schools of bait fish, drop offs, bottom composition changes and so forth is invaluable. So what is decent? I think the truth is you get what you pay for. I'd look at Lowrance, Hummingbird, Garmin sites for starters. Read the articles on this site. Get the biggest display screen you can. Get a transducer with a 20 degree cone angle. Regardless what you end up with, it is crucial that the transducer point down at 90°when the boat is in the water. If you are powering with a trolling motor, then a large hose clamp can attach the transducer to the bottom of the TM. This is a time honored set up. If you want to eliminate electronic interference from your TM motor electrics then you need a separate battery source for the depth finder. This may be a condition you can live with however. I did for years by just recognizing the signal patterns. In a search for inexpensive sonar units you might check out ebay. Many sell their older units as they upgrade to the best and latest. Just remember no warranties there.

This will work fine. I used a 35 lb MinnKota hand control and when really poor - a garden variety auto battery. Mounted the TM bracket permanently near the stern of the canoe and set the battery just forward of midship to keep balance. A nice touch is to use an Optima "blue top" deepcycle battery. That way no possible fluid leakage from the battery onto you or the boat. For charger you will need a 10 amp to 15 amp auto store portable - I got one at AutoZone couple years ago for about $35 on sale. I see West Marine has a very nice one on sale for $60. These chargers last a long time. Battery lasts maybe 3 years depending on use. My Minkota lasted over 25 years and as far as I know is still running.

I really appreciate the input guys, but please no need to be confrontational. To clarify my situation; I live in an apartment complex where to charge my batteries I have to remove them from the boat, take them upstairs and put them on portable chargers. Been doing that for 2 years and it is workable. What I was hoping to do was be able to charge my batteries, cranking and trolling motor batteries while driving to the local water. Now Lake Mead is about a 45 minute drive one way for me and everything else is farther. Lake Mojave is about 1 hour and 45 minutes to Cottonwood one way. Bullhead City (access to the south end of Lake Mojave) is 2 hours of driving. Needles and Lake Havasu is about 3 hours of driving about 125 miles. Temple Bar on Lake Mead is 125 miles. Echo Bay is 76 miles and 2 hours. I can fish about 2 full ( 12+hours) days on the Trojan SCS225's in moderate wind (to 15mph) and be drawn down to 60% of battery capacity if my portable charger gages are accurate. If it is calm or I am not using the TM a lot, I can get 3 days. I mentioned my motor size; it is carburated, but I don't know what amount of current the alternator is putting out to my cranking battery. My Lowrance X15 indicates I can bring the battery from say 11.4v to 12.7v in about 25 minutes of running at 4500 RPM. I was doing that regularly this early spring running to some coves 7 miles northeast of Callville Bay. I fished out of small boat for years so I have to alter my normal behavior to do a run and gun pattern -meaning I seldom run more than 15 miles one way locally. Now, I don't expect a driving while charging system to recover my batteries to 100% in 90 minutes of driving. But if I could fish locally for more than 2 days, returning to the apartment nightly, without pulling the TM batteries for a recharge after a days use, a tow vehicle charging system might be worth purchasing. I know as long as I live in these apartments I will have to remove the TM batteries and charge them on the portables. For local trips knowing my cranking battery would be topped is comforting; especially night fishing during the summer. As far as trips go. My usual behavior might be to drive somewhere, for instance I am thinking about driving to Northern CA from Las Vegas about a day and half to fish there for 2 weeks. I was thinking I could use a drive while charging system while motoring to the various ramps on Clear Lake thereby prolonging the intervals between paying for a charge in an RV park. At $25 a night just to charge batteries I can pay for a charging system in 12 RV visits; if it works?? Typical behavior might be launch, fish all day, rack the Skeeter on the trailer, drive 20 miles round trip for chores or to a camp spot, sack out, repeat next morning. If I install an on board system I fully expect to use a 115v. AC circuit to charge during trips, but them I wouldn't have to carry the portables around. Hope this clarifies what I want to do and what I expect... I know about the 1000 watt generator . Pretty reasonable prices also. I haven't crunched all the numbers yet, but I will before spending money. I think about carrying 2 stroke fuel around and the noise for the rated output; reluctant to go this route. I also talked to my son (fishing partner) about running the # 2 gage wire with an isolater circuit from the Toyota's alternator to the back of the truck. Is this all the StayNCharge is? So I really appreciate the feedback . I am especially interested in how you installed the various components and how they have lasted to date. Anyone running the Stealth?

Yes, mostly go alone. Just too cranky I guess. Seriously it is cause I'll go at a moments notice and I have a schedule where it is difficualt to plan time off in advance. I'm always trying to get my son to go, but has no interest right now.

Anyone on the forum who has used the StayNCharge, I'd like to hear about your experiences with it... Anyone who has a Stealth 1 or Stealth Optima onboard charger installed, I'd like to hear about your experiences as well Out here in Nevada I am driving at least an hour and half to the water lately and camping out - doing more multiday trips due to the price of fuel. I figure the cost of an onboard charging system will be easily paid back aganst what is charged to get a sip of electricity at RV camping spots (currently $15 to 25 a night). Thanks, Tom

What's your boat? Bass boat or ...? Motorguides with the tranducer in the lower unit are known to get a leak in the housing where the transducer face comes through. Ruins your motor(and digital controls in this case) and replacement is expensive. Gone through 2 lower units in 2 years at about $400 a pop labor and parts. That said, I like the industrial design of the motorguide over the minnkota - just personal preference. Both are good and reliable except for that little design problem Motorguide still has. Get around that by using a strap on transducer. Far as foot control...had both - Once you get used to the foot control you will not want to go back to hand control. if you look around on other bass fishing forums you will see huge threads on this subject - very controversial.

"The fish I am losing are on my line...I'm not good enough yet to notice these small taps and such. I get real heavy, agressive bites. I set the hook and always lose him when i start reeling. I use standard 7.5 inch culprit or charlie worms with a weedless hook. When I miss a fish, my worm comes back balled up around the hook. A 4/0 hook should be fine with a 8 inch Culprit - I don't know Charlie Worms - You may have to sharpen the hook however and create that channel I mentioned. Worm balling up means either you made too loose of a hole in the inital threading and bass are grabbing the rig right at the front of the hook - thus pulling the worm down. Solution for that is mono pegging and or an offset hook. Buy a pack of Extra Wide Gap offset hooks and try them. Lots of articles on internet showing rigging and discussing hookset methods. Let us know how suggestions are working..

Use offset worm hook or use 50# test mono to "peg" the worm. Insert 50#mono threw rigged worm, passing through the hook eye and out other side of worm. Clip off short so no fouling on moss or weeds. Go fish. Do some online research on the "slack line set". Try "skin hook" which is hooking point in side of the worm; work the point back and forth to create a channel in the plastic. You may need to view video on the subject

How about sharing some incidents of boat & trailer maitenance for new owners out there. For instance shortly after purchasing my first bassboat (used) I noticed dark water spots on the console. Was water in the lower unit of the trolling Motor. Or Grease thrown on the rim of the trailer wheel. My bearing bra was leaking grease, but I didn't make the connection that the bearing might now be partially filled with water. Duh!

Snag, I was just in Bass Pro Shops this afternoon - got out under $50! - and saw the new Minnkota, Motorguides. If you are using their mounts looking at new holes. Had same hole problem, plugged holes with pieces of black rubber from an old bungie and some black shoegoo. Came out fine. Did you through bolt the Motorguide mount and use big fender washers and a nylock nut?

On trimming the weedguard. Different makers of jigs means not all weedguards are same in stiffness, angle or length. Trimming the guard entails removing some of the fibers by wiggling them till they break back at the jig head. More importantly, I spread the fibres in an arc before fishing it. That way if it falls on its side, less chance to hang up and better deflection off wood, reeds, rocks etc. Before you start removing weedguard fibers fish it some and see if you miss bites.

Thanks for replys. got bunch of Rapala shad raps and fat raps. Some are customized to suspend. Fished the rapala stick baits for years. Got some fat A Bombers and one Lucky Craft Staysee 90. Never tried the red hook. Read some of the links refered to Glenn. Figure I got the basics like burning, stop and go, ripping. Don't have the finer points. Looking for suggestions and pattern tricks for highland lakes as well as fishing reed, salt cedar and cat tail areas.

How about some tips and advanced lessons on crankbait fishing. Ran across a Luhr Jensen link describing some tips on getting through cover. Never heard of squirt'in, rip-rap escape or 4 wheel drive for crankbaits. Never really thought much about rod position either in terms of getting hooked in brush. An Adobe pdf document. http://www.luhrjensen.com/techreports/542%20Brush%20Baby%20TS.pdf

thewayweball02, Took a look at the site. Have not used them. Look like cross between Kreature and Ika bait. Probably be good where you are. At $4.20 would I buy these or Kreatures? hmm.. kreatures are more expensive. These Yamamoto ikas and kreatures, according to Don Iovino, have been used very successfully in last year because the fish have not seen them before . About all I know.