HardHead

Fish24/7 - thanks for sharing that video. Some very interesting info in it.

Thanks for the feedback gentleman. I've just been using the $1 superglue from Walmart, I'll def switch to the blue locktight as it seems to keep the plastics together longer. Love the Ned, but these kietechs on 1/8oz heads seem to be the ticket to finicky bass for me

Swing impact. The action is pretty unreal. Been swimming the 3inchers on 1/8 to 3/8 ball jigs. Anyone use small swimbait jig heads? I'd love to hear suggestions on how to make the most of the swing impact. Thanks in advance for any info

more specifically the hummingbird 899ci had si versus the lowrance hds 7 gen 2. I'm looking at one or the other for my triton. Was playing around with them side by side at gander today. Jmo, but the hummingbird seem to have a better graphic, more clear definition. Kind of seemed like the only thing the lowrance had over the hummingbird was the touch screen would love to hear others opinion, experiences, and/or reviews of either unit. Thanks in advance for the info.

Got on the water about 11 this morn, fished until 3pm. Went back out from 7-9. My buddy I'm with lost a 3lb smaller at the boat on his first cast with the Ned. Downhill from there. Fished mostly main lake and a few secondary points right by biltmores dock. Sat in 50 to 25 for and casted toward bank. Caught 11 short fish and one skinny 1lb 14oz keeper. Ned, couple drop shot fish. Had a fish break me off right before we headed in swimming a grub in 28fow. I'll be back out tom at 5am and will report back - hopefully with better intel

Thanks for info mixermark, I'll make sure I have a top water tied on in the eve at dusk. Looks like your little buddy had a blast - those are the best trips!

Thanks to both of you for the scouting report. Really appreciate the info/insight 24/7 and ham bring to the board. I know to be alert bc of the conditions, but sounds/looks like there's still fishing to be done in bull shoals. I'm thinking I will just fish south of the resort and take my time. If the bite ain't good or I don't feel comfortable with the water, we will load up the families and hopefully hammer some trout. Ham - I've seen you use post about using the ned on trout. Looking fwd to trying that out myself. Any color recommendations?

I am coming down Wed with my wife, son and another family of 4. Staying at biltmore resort in isabella. We came down last year in late march for the 1st time. We stayed with Ginny at ridge wood, caught a bunch of black bass from the resort to up past the theodosia bridge. Fishing was great, lake was gorgeous, people were friendly, and crowds were sparse, so we were really looking forward to this trip. Obviously, I am not all that familiar with bull shoals - we usually fish table rock. After seeing many of the pics and posts here, I'm really debating trailering the boat down from St. Louis. I guess my question is, what do you gents think? Table rocks north waters are fast, trash filled, and dangerous looking. Unfishable in my opinion. Is it the same around theodosia? How much better is it in the arky side? My thinking is we would leave the boat and bass gear at home if bull shoals is too dangerous - rent a river runner and trout fish the white. Bought a new boat last October, so I want to hit the lake if it's at all feasible though. Appreciate any advice!

Thanks so much for the help Bo!

I bought a 2004 triton tr186 with a matching triton trailer in Oct. After fixing up a few things on the boat, I'm on to the trailer. It has surge brakes. Manufacturers instructions say to keep the brake fluid filled to a certain level. It looks to me like its a little low. My question is two-fold: 1) Can I just add the needed amount of brake fluid to bring it to the fill line, or do I really need to billed the line out and use all new fluid? I know it's not a good idea to mix diff brake fluid types. And 2). Does anyone know what kind of brake fluid I need? I do not have the owners manual for the trailer and I'm having problems locating the info online. I've seen it suggested to use dot 3, but I can't find it stated as fact anywhere. Thanks in advance for any help. This site is a great resource.

Fished Baxter last Sunday. Water was still pretty dingy, about 5 foot of visability. Caught about a dozen with 4 keepers. All but 2 were smallies. Caught 4 up in the bank brush, others were on flats in 10-20 fow. One crankbait fish, all others were on a tube. Biggest was 2lb 7oz. Had a buddy who fished up there last sat and weighed in a 4.31lb brownie. He caught 8-10 keepers between last sat/sun - all on the jig, 15-20 fow, north facing banks. Hope that helps, good luck

Email sent. Thanks

OBBT staff - I tried to follow the link to register for the bonus program - I have 2 optimas - but I can't get the link to work. I tried to click through to the link via my phone and it gave me a cannot load message. I copied and pasted the link into my ipad - same thing. Is there any way to still get into the bonus program for tomorrow?

Bps has the elite 7 with chirp for $699, $769 includes navigation and chip. Is that chip worth the extra $70. There's also a $100 rebate offer. Thanks for the info gents. Gona check out universalmania.com now

Bought a 2004 triton in oct. I have a mark 5x dsi on the front. My dash unit is shot and needs to be replaced. I owned a 76 ranger as my first boat and used a $100 portable fishfinder on the side, so I don't have a lot of experience with electronics. My current dash unit is a lowrance lms-480 with gps. I def want gps on the new unit. I'm looking for a something I can mount on the side. I'd like to stay $750 or less. Any suggestions on specific fishfinders or suggestions on where to find the best deals would be greatly appreciated.

I've had quite a bit of luck using a space monkey on a 7/16 lerew hard head, but usually not until the water warms up. Swim senko trailer also works brilliantly in 75+ wt. This time of year I pair a hard head and small strike king kvd rodent. I love the thing, as my screen name indicates. We had a great day sat too. Fished mostly the back of cow, then scooner and mill about an hour each. Had 40+ fish with best 5 also almost 16lbs. Caught a couple 3lbers on secondary points in 18-20 fow. Had a 4lb 6ozer and a 3lb 13oz on 1/4oz shaky with a zoom craw. Saw plenty more nice fish cruising and bedding. The Sunday benefit was a different story. Motor probs as soon as we got our marker, so we didn't start fishing until after 830. Went to the same areas. Tough fishing for the 1st part of the morn. Threw the hard head with various trailers, no luck. Got 1 2lber on the shaky head shallow, nothing on a wacky senko, nothing on a tube, nota in the jig. Crank and spinnerbaits were both shutout. About noon, went out to 20+ fow and started catching them on a 3/8oz shaky. Caught about 15 more fish and saved face with a limit, but no good fish.

Thanks for the advice. $45 to list a boat for a year is a good deal on bbc. I'll be posting it this eve when I get off work.

I'm trying to sell my 76 ranger with a merc 150. I've had to deal with nothing but tire kickers and aholes on Craigslist. I'm not asking much for it, so paying to list it on boat trader seems like a waste of money. It's a good old boat - she ain't much to look at, but she's always been garaged and runs well. Any ideas on alternatives to craigslist for listing would be much appreciated.

Thanks to everyone for the help - especially Bo. I'll give you a shout out when I'm accepting my new nitro may 17th - a brother can dream can't he!

One of my favorite soft plastics, my favorite for fish on beds. It's been near impossible to find since 2013. I've read rumors LF ceased production bc the patent was up. I've emailed them several times to ask what the deal was, but no response. Anyone have any inside info? I've been using the big bites version and soaking it in LF crawfish aerosol scent. The baits look he same, the results are not. Maybe it's the fall rate, maybe it's a diff plastic with a diff buoyancy, whatever he case, it ain't as effective. I'm holding out hope the LF craw tube will make a comeback - lake fork still has it listed as one of their available products, but all are out of stock.

Gona be fun to watch Paul mueller compete on in the elite series this year. Kid can flat out fish

So Skeets being secretive bout what he's using to lead day 1. Gona be impossible for him to hide it tomorrow with a live camera in the boat. I'll be watching closely to see if it's the NuTechs.

I am looking at getting a new spinning rod to pair with my lews ts200. Mostly going to fish drop shot, weightless plastics, and my duo spy baits with the combo. I think I've narrowed it down to either a gl2 or a lews team rod. Anyone have any suggestions or reasoning to pick one over the other? I've read several complaints g loomis has gone down in quality since shimano bought them. Haven't seen many reviews of the lews team spinning rod used for finesse fishing. Thx in advance for any help.

I just bought a 2004 Triton that has a 2004 65lb Minn Kota Maxxum trolling motor. The previous owner told me the shaft bearings needed to be replaced, which I tend to believe bc of the amount of play in the shaft. Has anyone ever replaced the shaft bearings on a minn kota maxxum? If so, could you rate the process on difficulty? Any additional advice would be appreciated. Trying to decide if I should try to di this myself or if its best left to the professionals. I found information on maintenance on the shaft bearings including instructions on how to expose and grease the bearings, but im guessing with how lose the one im working on is that some of the bbs have come loose and it needs to be replaced.

I'll give up any and all info I have, just have to be asked for it That jointed football head - be it from larews, chompers, big bite, whatever - can be paired with about any soft plastic and its deadly. Ol Pete has talked about them in the past and I saw Stacy King on the Bass Pros talking about using them on ledges with a big worm. I pair it with a swim Senko from June-Aug for my go to