surfer

I check the solunar also, but I only give it about 10% with weather bieng 50% and luck 40%. So I went out on my home lake with 200 minnows in the bate bucket and chased after schooling bass that were targeting minnow. We would look for lots of bass jumping or birds diving and run up to them. It was a loud approach, but the bass didn't care. As soon as we got to them we would throw lures at them and throw in a handful of minnows to keep them fired up. I landed 5 1 and 2 lbers. we had 12 fish in the boat. Not my best day this year, but good enough.

This is the main part I think is over the top. Calling the athorities for a petty or small crime. When I see kids throwing rocks at dogs I tell them to "Play nice. That dog never did anything to you." And when my neighbor's dog barks all night long I call the neighbor to give her a chance to fix the problem. When I have friends over until late playing Ping Pong and we are too loud I appreciate a phone call or a nock on the door over a squad car in my front yard. I had viewed this as one of those situations. I didn't read into the story that the kids were dangerous. Looks like I am out voted though. And you can't go wrong calling the authorities.

If my local rod and real shop said no and no one on here can, then it's just a shiner real from now on. I probably shouldn't have used it in salt water, and laid it on the sand at the beach, and etc. Thanks for the replies.

bob, That's a little over the top. They are kids with a spear gun. They play in the lake regularly. They are almost neighbors. Are you sure alerting the authority is the neighborly thing to do? I am not saying the authorities should not be alerted. I am saying talking is probably a better first action. You might even educate the kids and get immediate results of no more killed bass.

I go to the local tackle shop also. But I normally walk right up to the front counter and tell them I am new on this lake and looking for advice. They get to sell me a lure and usually give me tips on how, and where at the same time. I doubt they have ever given me the honey hole, but it beats trying to map out the lake if they are willing to point you in the right direction. It helps if behind the counter is the same old man that was fishing alone in avids post.

Did you try talking to them first? Maybe they didn't know any better. Morally or legally. After all I remember being young and shooting lizards with a BB gun just for the challenge of hitting them. If they end up being little $hits about it then I wouldn't hesitate to involve the athorities.

My vote was for the transom mount only because its easier. I dont know whats better.

My real has been discontinued from support and Fin nor says they have no parts. My reel makes a gargling noise on retrieve so I took it apart and oiled the bearings and greased the gears. I noticed the largest gear had some corrosion on a few of the teeth. The sound is still there so I assume this is the problem. Dose anybody have this part laying around. EBay didn't have any broken ones for sale. This real has been reduced to shiner fishing so I don't have to listen to it accept when there is a fish on. Then it's not so bad.

You guys are right. I had no problems today. I was fishing Texas rigged. The problem must have come from a hang up in some weeds when I yanked and yanked to get it out. It dug in deep and I had to unthread 30 yards, cut, and retie to fix. I am keeping the Sahara. Sahara =

Tried out the Shimano Sahara twice now. I have 10# Suffix Braid. It's a realy thin line. I think I read somewhere on here that the spool on the Sahara moves up an down slower per revolution of bail than a normal spinning reel and that that may cause dig in with braided line. So far whoever said that was right. I am a big fan of the braid line and will probably return the Sahara for something else if I can't figure out how to make it work this weekend. Nothing wrong with the Sahara, just not a good match with thin braid. Any one have any similar or diferent exsperiences?

This should answer part of your question. I know it will do better than I can. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1141187546

1st Replace the hook. The last time I lost three fish in a day uneder similar circumstances a buddy ran his thumb nail from the wire part of the hook to the needle. Just as his thumbnail got to the needle it got caught on something. He told me to do the same and I felt it too. He told me with super sharp hooks the tip can fold back on itself rather easily. This makes it much less sharp and dosen't set like you are used to. It was so small I couldnt see it with 20/20 vision. Replace the hook. I agree with Brian. Hook all the way through then hide the neddle just under the surface.

So thats why my reverse gear stripped. At $400 to fix it I decided I did'n need to go backwards. >

Forgive me if I am of topic or repeat something, but I just read the first page of this thread and something jumped out at me. If you are building a boat with electric motor only I think it is a safe assumption it will never be on plane. If that is the case then you can eliminate a lot of drag by changing the back of the boat from square to round. Not specifically round, but a design that would give a smooth release to the water. The square back with a sharp bottom corner is designed for a quick release of the water that is trying to stick to it when on plane. For a slower boat that is not intended to get on plane a canoe shape is much more efficient. I am not recommending a canoe specifically, but a canoe is a prime example of drag efficiency at a fast paddling speed. A 40lb thrust trolling motor took me a little bit faster in a canoe than me and another buddy could row it. Since you are not trying to get on plane you want something that will disturb the water the least. Such as while canoeing the quieter you are the more efficient you are. Not necessarily faster, but more efficient. The more white water you make behind you the more energy it takes away from your system to make that white water. Two canoes strapped together with a deck mounted across could be a fairly cheap test of the trailing edge drag efficiency concept and it would have grate stability like a pontoon. I know, every one would laugh. Those little one person sailboats come to mind also.

Rig it with a stainless steel cable. You will get more than one year for sure.

Never droped an anchor nor forgot the plug. But i did get my anchor stuck in some structure i was trying to anchor up on. A sunken barge from back in the cypress harvesting days on Brick lake. It was the only thing I hooked up on that day. Lost the anchor.

"If you builit they will come". Nice. Bass Doctor, I had not thought of that. I have always released live store bought shiners that were leftover. Am I supposed to kill them then toss them? Or put them in a garbage can. Or can I just release them? Reminds me of Goldfish. JD FL, Lake Conway chain has lots of deep territory. Here is a map of the lake the tree is in. http://lakewatch.ifas.ufl.edu/RevisedMaps05/OrangeMaps/ConwayNorthOrangeMap.pdf This site has a list of lots of Florida lakes. http://lakewatch.ifas.ufl.edu/MapList.htm Topwater, The tree fell back during the hurricanes and has just been sitting on the edge of the lake. I tied a ski rope to it and used my 60 hp to ****** it out into the water. I then chained blocks to it and sent it down. I did a thorough job as this is a very popular ski lake and I don't want anyone injured by a floating tree. It's took three hours and was more involved than I lead onto, but that's the concept. Its 0.4 miles from the nearest shore line and has no visual markers. GPS and sonar is the only way to find it.

I guess I will fish it once a month untill I catch somethin. Then I will know.

Thanks everyone. I am novice enough to not know everything I need to look for in a rod. Smart enough to admit it and ask for help. To be honest I trust your opinions better than my own. Three months ago (before I joined this forum) I read an article that compared rods and praised Ugly Stick. So I went in Bass Pro, picked it up, whipped it around, and it felt fine. Fished with it for about three outings before I realized the sensitivity was terrible. So I switched back to my old rod for fines tactics. I have weighed all that I have read here and on other threads. From what I gather there are two answers that I have received to the first two questions big upgrade and Loomis. 1) Yes 2) There are other options, but that's a good option. I am not going to put another thought into it. I am going to push the easy button. Obviously I want to catch more fish. But I know the rod won't do it for me, but it dose increase the sensitivity factor or strike detection as FishinDad puts it.. The expeditor service is like icing on the cake. I have no intentions of breaking it, but that is one nice safety net to have on this kind of investment Every body who has offered up a another brand aside form G. Loomis also said in the same post you can't go wrong with a G. Loomis. I find that to mean other brands compete, hold their own, and even surpass G Loomis, but never by much. That makes it sound like a crap shout for a novice like me to find one better than G. Loomis. Easy button pushed. FishinDad, You have said some great advice for a novice there. I didn't know there were 4 basics. I have throw spinners and crainkbaits with some success. I thought they were the same type of presentation. Throw it out and real it back in. If you can, go slow and close to the tops of the underwater weeds. Tell me more if you have time. I like wormin texas and weightless texas mostly in a deadstick style when the wind allows it. Just learning Carolina. Never jiged. What category would a soft plastic buzz bait fall into. I have had great success with these as the go very slow and make a nice gurgling sound on the surface as I real. I don't consider myself rough on my tackle. I have only broken one rod in 5 years. My dumb mistake of picking it up by the tip thinking it was stronger. I don't have a rod locker. Only rod holders when I am under way and I lay them down when fishing. I am still working on presentation. I had no ideal there were so many presentations that work. Then again anything can work. As for the strike detection I am working on that with a rod upgrade and more water time. I enjoy watching the line with calm winds. Thanks again everyone.

I hear ya. I surf a lot and can't understand why people are scared of sharks

Last Night i sunk an orange tree sized limb complete with 15 branches still atached. The lake has a 35 ft deep field sloping up to 14 ft of water over 400 yrds. I sank it in 20 ft of water to get it completely submerged. Its an 850 acre lake and the tree is 200 yrds from known bass habitat. It is basicly in open water. How long will it take for a population to take hold naturaly? Are ther things i should be doing to help start a population? :-/ Ideas so far. put out fish food release unused shiners release caught bass

I assumed you guys were going to go that way and had already prepared two more questions. But you already answered those also. Thanks for the link and thanks for the sound advice. Just for fun i will post the other two questions. Choosing a high end rod. I am not %100 sold on G. Loomis, but listening to you guys it sounds like I can't go wrong with a G. Loomis. I fish 45% weightless and 1/8 oz t-rigs in light to heavy cover, 45% weightless plastic buzz tails in light to heavy cover, and 10% Spoons, Rapalas, etc. Now don't laugh, but I only use spinning reels. It's just a personal preference as my time is limited and I don't want to learn a casting set up and untie three birds nest per session. I have also grown accustom to a 7ft rod. Anytime I use something else it just feels weird. SJR842S GL3 vs. SJR843S IMX I notice on the G. Loomis web site SJR842S fits nicely being a M Fast rod, but is only offered in GL3. Would I be better of getting the M/H Fast SJR843S in IMX ?

This is my first post. I have been reading for about two months and wanted to thank all of you for such detailed ideas and tips. It has made my 6 months of fishing grow in leaps and bounds. I also want to thank you all for introducing me to the Bait Monkey. We got a long great for a while. He would tell me what to buy and in turn the bass would bite. Lately he hasn't lived up to his end of the bargain. So now I want to make friends with the rod ranger, or whatever you guys call him. I am ready to step up and get a more sensitive rod. I have a few questions just to make sure I understand correctly. I have only paid attention to fishing for about 6 months now. I use Suffix braid with floro leader (thanks to this message board). I have a 7 ft ugly stick with a Cardinal reel and a 6'6" Abu Garcia $40 combo. I also have a Shimano Sahara real that I intend to pair with a new rod. I was about to upgrade to a 7' Fenwick GT. After reading a few threads about Rod Sensitivity and Rod vs. Real: Which is More Important it sounds like I should spend the $200+ and get one of the guarantied for life rods. I can justify the price if spread it across the remainder of my fishing years. G. Loomis vs. Fenwick Is a G Loomis IMX too much upgrade for a novice? Will I be able to appreciate it or will it just make a bunch of confusing noise in my hand? Am I better off learning on a Fenwick GT ($60) for a year or two before I make the big jump? :-/ Thanks in advence.