Bird Watcher

Its not real clear if you ask me, but then again it rarely is. Here is a link to the installation instructions.http://www.motorguide.com/pinpoint-lowrance-gateway/compatible-products. I ordered a generic 20' NMEA cable to get from the trolling motor back to my console, a red connector Lowrance NMEA cable to get from the last T connector up to my graph, and an extra T connector for the end of the run. (the wiring diagram shows 3, but the kit came with 2) last night. Best I can tell, I'll need these things but the network starter kit didn't come with them. I'm only hooking it up to one graph, so you'd need another lowrance cable if you are hooking it up to two graphs. More to come I'm sure.....

I thought I'd give you a head's up, I received my motorguide NMEA 2000 starter kit tonight. It does not include a backbone cable to get from the trolling motor to my graph. I think it includes everything but that. I'll let you know after I get it set up. Hopefully I can work on it this weekend. I'll report back once I complete it.

Best of my knowledge, the white means it's a mallard x black hybrid, even if it has no other mallard characteristics since true blacks have no white, just black.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/MOTORGUIDE-PINPOINT-GPS-NMEA-STARTER-KIT/1932256.uts?productVariantId=4041865&srccode=cii_17588969&cpncode=38-12511245-2&WT.tsrc=CSE&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=04052622&rid=20

I've had one since February. I love it. I can't compare it to the ipilot except it's a lot quieter than the minnkotas I've been around.(the steering servo motors, not the main motor) I think it also holds on a tighter spot while anchored than the minnkota does. I think MG holds to a 5' circle. It doesn't have the lcd screen on the remote, which I think would be nice, but learn what the audible beeps mean and you'll be alright. FYI, they just released the software and network cable on 12/4 which makes it compatible with Lowrance for autopilot. Mine should be here anyday. I can't wait. That's the only thing I can think of that would make it even better. Oh, I almost forgot, I haven't been able to get it to sync with the foot pedal, but I don't care. I thought it would be important to have a foot pedal, but I never find myself wishing I had one.

Neat. I shot one exactly like it many moons ago on Grand Lake. It was in a flock of mallards and was 1/3 again bigger than the rest of the birds. That's the closest I've ever come to shooting a black duck. The only true full blooded black duck I've ever seen shot in person my friend shot right beside me out of a flock of mallards on Martin Luther King Day. I swear on all things..I'll never forget that.

Super nice boat. Hard to find, Evinrude rigged, pre Bass Pro Model Ranger. It just appreciated in value.

Pretty much this... Took a great boat with a great reputation and ruined it by cost cutting cheap manufacturing. Not saying it will happen..don't really care.. not in the market for a new fiberglass bass boat nor will I be..but they ruined the Mako's. Wasn't Babler on here saying that Ranger had went down in quality a lot over the last few years anyhow? Seems to me like the boats with the reputation for high end quality as of recent are still independently owned. This just make the rest of them more "the rest of them".

awesome. Love the soundtrack

Your buddy is a DB. I have divorced buddies for doing that. That being said, It's public property. There are no secrets on public property. Just spots that the people who came before you have forgot about and the people that will come after you haven't found yet. I'd forget about it. Ducks are migratory. Today's hotspot is tomorrow's dead sea. But lesson learned on the "friend"

One thing that is lacking from the fishing journals I have looked at that would be very beneficial for me would be a real time interface with USGS river gauges and dam releases. (i.e. current!) I usually have to pull that information together myself from 2-4 sources and reference it back to a time that the fish started biting.

Nevermind. I guess this is stocker trout satire. I thought you were serious.

Don't know that I have any trout for trade. I guess I could go catch some if it was a deal breaker. What do you want for them outright? 110VAC?

Wow. No words. Sorry for your loss

Those are nice pictures Ness. I've been getting reports of duck beatdowns in the KC area. you should have some luck. Might find a lot of hard water, but when you find them you will really find them I think.

Probably just a young male traveling through from Montana looking for it's own territory.

Dutch I don't know about SWMO, but this place in Fayetteville is always advertising on craigslist. http://fayar.craigslist.org/bod/4755344163.html

salient point bfishn.

Don't get me wrong, I believe fronts change fish behavior. One thing is for certain though. If you put 100 anglers on the water on any given day, someone is going to catch them. Sometimes it's you, sometimes it's not. That's enough for me to go any chance I can though. Weather be darn, as long as it's safe.

I think that's what the Arkansas Fish farmer said right before he dumped some harmless Asian silver carp in his pond.

Yeah, but........ I know, I know. TL;DR, but basically, it doesn't matter according to this guy. Barometric Pressure and Bass by Ralph Manns | August 24th, 2012 Read more: http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/barometric-pressure-and-bass/#ixzz3IodQZ6g4 One of the most persistent myths in fishing is that barometric pressure controls the activity of bass and other gamefish. Although many researchers have tried, scientific studies have been unable to demonstrate that such a relationship exists. Every scientific report we’ve seen, in which barometric pressure was studied, reached a similar conclusion: no direct relationship is evident. This consistency results mainly because no way has been found to isolate barometric pressure influences from simultaneous weather phenomena. We need observations of fish behavior when air pressure changes are the only variable. But significant barometric changes are rare without accompanying changes in wind, temperature, and sky conditions. The typical weather front is preceded by dropping barometric pressure and increasing cloudiness, while postfrontal conditions usually are clear skies, bright sunlight, and higher air pressure. Although barometric pressure might directly trigger gamefish responses, no mechanism for detecting these changes has been seriously postulated by scientists. Field Studies Years ago, I studied bass behavior through electronic tracking and underwater observation. My team monitored barometric pressure among more than 100 variables we recorded. As in previous studies, we observed no obvious relationship between pressure readings or the nature of pressure changes and the behavior of largemouth and Guadalupe bass in Lake Travis, Texas. Nevertheless, some of our findings provide insight into the possible relationship of barometric pressure, weather, and bass behavior. When the barometer reading was less than 29.30 (low), about 27 percent of the bass we observed fed on the surface, away from the shoreline. This percentage was greater than the 18 percent observed feeding when the barometer was higher than 29.70 (high). But when we merged the observations of apparent feeding reported by divers and trackers with the surface sightings, we found 36 percent of the observed bass were apparently feeding when the barometer reading was high, as compared to 30 percent when the barometer reading was low. When we evaluated actual strikes and refusals of lures presented to bass observed by trackers and divers, we found 52 percent of the bass struck lures during lows compared to only 39 percent during highs. But the vast majority of our strikes took place when the barometer reading was neither particularly high nor low (between 29.30 and 29.70). High or low barometric readings, by themselves, were not consistently indicative of bass activity or catchability. We also looked at the possibility that changes in barometric pressure were more important than absolute pressure. When the barometer was falling slowly (less than 0.21 inch per hour), 65 percent of the bass that were presented lures struck, while 35 percent did not. On a slowly rising barometer, only 30 percent struck, while 70 percent didn’t. But our fishing sample was small. In our larger sample of tracked and observed bass, 29 percent fed offshore on a slowly rising barometer, while 24 percent fed offshore on both a slowly falling and a steady barometer. The data are confounded by other factors, however. For example, 32 percent of feeding events occurred on solunar majors, only 20 percent on minors, and 27 percent between majors and minors. So solunar influence and other factors may have affected the barometric data. These results don’t necessarily mean that falling barometers increase fishing success or that rising barometers increase offshore activity. Schooling and aggregating behaviors are apparently associated with increased feeding and vulnerability to angling. When the barometer was high, 54 percent of the bass observed were aggregated (groups of 3 to 15), 12 percent were schooled (moving synchronously), while 44 percent were alone or paired. When the barometer was low, 57 percent were aggregated, 5 percent were schooling, and 38 percent were single or paired. When the barometer was rising slowly, 64 percent of observed bass were aggregated, none were schooling, and 36 percent were paired or alone. When barometric pressure was falling slowly, 53 percent were aggregated, 20 percent were schooled, and 28 percent were alone or paired. If it weren’t for other factors affecting bass activity, the data might suggest that a falling barometer, approaching storm, increasing cloudiness, or a combination of these and other factors increased feeding activity. Use of Cover How about cover? With a steady barometer, 34 percent of observed bass were within 1.5 feet of cover, 31 percent more than 6 feet from cover, and the remaining 35 percent were in between. A slowly falling barometer found 30 percent in or close to cover, 25 percent away from cover, and 45 percent in between. During a slowly rising barometer, 30 percent held close to cover, 30 percent away from cover, and 40 percent in between. Barometric pressure changes didn’t provide a positive clue to bass location relative to cover. The data did, however, demonstrate that most bass are away from cover and suspended most of the time in a clear wood-deprived grass-free highland reservoir like Lake Travis. We also monitored the location, movement, and apparent feeding of bass under various cloud conditions. Under overcast skies, bass were observed farther than 46 feet from shorelines in 23 percent of cases, while 19 percent were offshore under broken skies (50-80 percent sky coverage), 33 percent under scattered clouds, and 32 percent under clear skies. Our bass apparently found little difference between partly cloudy and clear daytime skies, but most likely moved offshore under bright sunlight. Feeding was seen under overcast (42%), broken (23%), scattered (24%), and clear skies (28%). While overcast skies were clearly associated with increased feeding, clouds, even a broken ceiling, had little effect. The low light of heavy cloud cover apparently makes preyfish more vulnerable to predators and encourages bass activity. Surprisingly, we documented slightly more feeding activity under totally clear skies than under partial clouds. The maximum brightness of clear skies, which creates optimum feeding opportunities for plankton-eating prey, likely encourages maximum preyfish activity, which in turn may stimulate increased predation. When we analyzed the relationships between weather trends and bass proximity to cover, no trends appeared. Virtually the same percent held close to cover before and after a frontal passage, though more were found in cover after the front passed. Bass behavior seems determined by many variables, with no single factor like barometer reading, barometric change, sky condition, wind speed, wind direction, or even prey availability compelling bass to be active or inactive. We monitored all of these variables and many others without finding any single factor that was a reliable predictor of feeding or striking activity by black bass. At any given time, some bass were inactive, some neutral, and some active. Small catches result when the percentage of inactive bass increases, while larger catches result when a few more fish decide, for whatever reason, to actively seek food. Apparently, the only sure biological fact is that adult bass that have recently fed heavily and are digesting food tend to be inactive or neutral regardless of any environmental factor, including barometric conditions. The length of time since many of the bass in an area fed heavily and the time required to digest that meal are perhaps the most important clues to when a significant proportion of any bass population will next become active. We found it interesting that in Texas in midsummer we experienced daily barometric pressure changes, due to the sun’s warming effects, that sometimes exceeded pressure changes associated with fronts. Each day, as the sun warmed the land and water, pressure dropped. Each morning, pressure was high due to the all-night cooling. Mornings tended to be clear or with short-lived low clouds, while afternoons generally brought increasing high cloudiness. We didn’t find bass more active or less active in typical morning highs or late afternoon lows. Yet frontal passages and associated conditions, including overcast skies, wind, rain, and temperature changes, often seemed to turn bass on. Apparently, heavy cloud cover and low-light conditions affected bass activity, not air pressure changes alone. Effects of Air Pressure On Fish Air pressure and associated temperatures and moisture contents are major factors creating clouds and weather. Changes in pressure often are indicative of coming changes in weather and sky conditions. But when the possibility that air pressure alone controls fish behavior is considered, distinct limitations appear. A fish with a gas bladder needs only to swim up or down a foot or two to experience as great or greater a pressure change than that created by all but the largest natural pressure changes—typhoons and hurricanes. A fish might notice that it’s floating or sinking a few inches in response to a change in air pressure, but it experiences larger pressure changes as it changes depth a few feet while hunting prey or moving to a new location. Black bass and other fish with closed gas bladders use their bladders to achieve neutral density and hold at constant depths. This weightlessness conserves energy by reducing their need to swim. If air pressure or depth changes, a fish with a gas bladder slowly and naturally adapts bladder pressure to reestablish equilibrium. Depth adjustment of a few inches easily re-establishes balance and makes it unlikely that bass sense pressure changes for long periods. Depth changes likely override the perception of small changes in air pressure. Biologists never have identified physical mechanisms or sensory systems that would specifically allow fish suspended at neutral density to sense relatively small changes in water pressure associated with air pressure shifts. But biologists have long postulated that clouds, waves, and changes in lighting affect hunting success by predators, by favoring species with eyes sensitive to low light levels. We await any scientific information or interpretation that better explains the relationship between gamefish behavior and changes in air pressure, when isolated from the confounding effects of weather conditions. Until a biologically reasonable mechanism is proposed, we think it’s more reasonable and likely more accurate to consider weather and sky conditions rather than barometric pressure in explaining fish activity and inactivity. *Ralph Manns, Rockwall, Texas, is a fishery scientist and angling authority who has contributed features and columns to In-Fisherman for almost two decades. Read more: http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/barometric-pressure-and-bass/3/#ixzz3Iodvx7ne Read more: http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/barometric-pressure-and-bass/2/#ixzz3IodjbLub Read more: http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/barometric-pressure-and-bass/#ixzz3IodDqjg5

Funny how people are some times. I usually get to shoot all the ducks I want, but I'd skip it any day for a quail hunt watching good bird dogs work, but then again I've only had the pleasure of quail hunting over good dogs a handful of times in my life. I stumbled into a spot last year that was holding 5 or 6 coveys on a section down here in SW MO. I went out one day and kicked them up, shot 4 quail for dinner and left them. It was the last week of quail season, it was bitter cold and they were probably on the section because the farmer had left a lot of standing beans. I didn't really even enjoy it. It felt like I was wasting the experience because I wasn't using a dog. They are what it's all about if you ask me. Ramble over....

Just a reminder folks, there is no such thing as a private discussion on the internet. Everything you write is being collected, gathered, reviewed and monitored by someone, somewhere. That goes for hunting and fishing reports too.

RPS, I think your current electronics are fine for what you are wanting to do. If your front graph is having trouble while the trolling motor is running, you are getting interference. It's pretty common with digital trolling motors. There are several cheap ways to fix it. do a google search on "how do I eliminate interference on my sonar." I'd put the 898 at the front and spend your allowance to get a 9 or 10 for the back. I'm a big believer in only buying what I have to. Just had to update graphs myself in order to have the capability of steering the trolling motor, but I called Lowrance and asked them what the bare minimum I needed to purchase in order to accomplish what I wanted to do. Ended up, I just needed a new touchscreen head unit. It wasn't cheap, but at least I didn't have to buy any accessories. Graphs are hard to see in the sun. I know they make sun hoods and I think they make applied sun filters, but I just use my hat if need be. Put it on a ram mount so you can rotate it around and find a position that it's easier to view. ETA: Networking, the only thing I use it for is sharing gps waypoints between the units. Really depends on the species of fish I'm fishing for if this comes in handy or not. I use it sometimes, sometimes I don't. Also, pop for the premium mapping card, whatever flavor you prefer. 1' increments make walleye fishing so much easier.