jeb

Looks like the 987 was just a little behind the others. Here's the latest list I just got in an email: New Releases as of 1/14/2010: 1197c - v4.750 1157c - v4.750 1155c - v4.750 997c - v4.750 987c - v4.770 981c - v4.750 957c - v4.750 955c - v4.750 947c - v4.750 937c - v4.750 931c - v4.740 917c - v4.750 798c/798ci - v4.780 797c2/797c2i - v4.770 788c/788ci - v4.780 787c2/787c2i - v4.770 786ci - v4.750 785c2/785c2i - 4.770 778c - v4.740 777c2 - v4.740 768 - v4.760 767 - v4.760 757c - v4.760 755 - v4.740 747 - v4.740 737 - v4.760 728 - v4.760 727 - v4.760 718 - v4.760 717 - v4.760 Matrix 12 - v4.750 Matrix47 3D - v4.740 Matrix97 - v4.750

I went the other way from Prarire Creek last night, up to Van Hollow (Rocky Branch) area. No ice anywhere that I could see. Water temp was 39. Fish are not jumping in the boat, but catchable. I saw some dead shad on the surface in some areas near Rocky, so I guess they must be dying off in this cold water?

Looks like you are correct, the 987 is not on the list I see on some of the HB forums. But they have announced they will have an update for the 797 after all.

Humminbird's Down Imaging update (version 4.750) came out today for the 1197 and 997 units, at least. It adds lots of stuff like faster GPS updates and additional color pallettes (depending the unit you have and what level of software you're at), but the biggy is DI. This will be available for all SI units except the 797.

Thanks. I had done the let the line out behind the boat and then reel it back in thing. But I'd also freshly spooled up my other spinning reel with Seaguar Invisx and had much less issue with it. I had the Cabela's sitting around so figured I'd try it. Learned my lesson there. I'll use the rest of the spool for C-rig leaders.

Forgot to mention the water temps. 36 degrees when I started at 10am and got up to just over 40 by 4pm. Good to hear they're going to start drawing the lake down. About time.

Yes, I went. Was out from about 10-4. It was actually pretty darn nice. Fished quite a bit of the time with no gloves, and was comfortable. Never even lit the propane heater. No ice anywhere in the Prarire Creek area. I was going to run down lake to the Van Hollow/Rocky Branch area, but my depth finder was showing massive amounts of fish near home, so I stayed put. Fishing was pretty slow, though. BTW, Cabelas brand 6# flouro sucks on spinning reels. Spent way too much time messing with tangles from that.

Looks like I'll have to stay down lake today! Prarire Creek cove is frozen all the way across way up towards the creek, and a few feet of ice out from the sides in spots. But it melted off a bit yesterday, and I'm looking forward to getting out there today!

It was still at 44 degrees around Prarire Thursday. Planning on hitting it again tomorrow, so will see if how much it changed.

Nothing at all wrong with that boat. When I lived up north, my favorite fishing boat ever was an 18' lund with a 50hp tiller. I fished a lot of Mississippi backwaters and it was a great boat for that or the main channel. I'm also just a recreational angler, but the size of the lakes down here made a faster boat make more sense to me. It really opens up the lakes. But on our trips to TR, it can be tough to go fast in the middle of the day in the summer with all the big boats and wake board boats stirring things up. Beaver can get that way, too.

I only fished around the Prarire Creek Marina area last night, but no ice anywhere up this way. That could easily change in the next few days, though. Brrrr!

Check this out. There is now a bass series for boats with a max of 150hp. Read about it in this months BASS mag: American Bass Anglers 150

The main lake has no ice on it at all yet in Sunset Bay/Praire Creek. But there is a little thin ice where Prarire Creek is flooded up into the trees. I'm hoping to get the boat out for some fishing this afternoon, but I don't expect to see any ice on the main lake.

Thanks for the great news, guys! I've never been in an Academy either, but they seem to have a great rep, and I'll be looking forward to checking them out when they open. This area really needs a replacement for Sportsman's Warehouse. I hope they do well with it.

I was fortunate enough to get a new boat this year. It was a year old, brand new "leftover" Skeeter. But performance was not my main criteria for the motor. I went against the advice of many and paid more for a 4 stroke motor. I'm sure I'd see a couple of more MPH out of an HPDI Series 2, but I was most interested in fuel economy, not having to buy 2 stroke oil and quietness. I'm sure it'll pay off in the long run over a 2 stroke, even though I may be a little slower to get to the fishing spots (top speed 65mph). I kept my last boat over 20 years, and got decent money for it when I sold it. I hope to do the same with this one. The mileage has been phenomenal with this motor. It's really opened up the lake for me over my older 2 stroke 150 Evinrude. What a gas hog that thing was!

Good question, Quillback. I've been here 4.5 years now and have not seen anything but a tiny bit of skim ice along the shores. But I've heard old timers say it has frozen over quite a bit in years past. The ditches along the road we live on are full of water because the lake is still so high, and they've been freezing and thawing for a while now. Our first winter down here was mint! It was 50-60 and sunny about 95% of the winter. Wonderful weather, especially after spending the 35 previous winters in MN. Can someone tell me what I can do to get Global Warming back?

Man, if that's really the MSRP on the SHO, that'd be a great deal compared to their older F's. The MSRP on the Yamaha F225 on my boat is higher than that! I'm very surprised to hear the SHO might actually be cheaper. But I agree, $70k on a bass boat and motor is a huge pill to swallow, especially in the current economic (and lending) environment.

Thanks for the report. I was out fishing Beaver Friday too, but not in the tourny. We got out about 9am, and the guides were still icing up until about 11, so I imagine it was really bad at 7am! I heard someone say at Hook, Line and Sinker that they paid down to about 8lbs, so your bag may have gotten you some money if it went 9.

I was going to mention the Yahoo group too, but it's harder to navigate, IMO, and you need a Yahoo id to be able to post. And the same guys on it are also on the other two I linked. But I'm email subscribed to the Yahoo group, and there is some good info there. Lots of great pictures of installs and sonar views. Probably the best resource in that area.

Try this website to start: http://www.xumba.scholleco.com/index.php There is also a good sonar forum at BBC: http://bbcboards.zeroforum.com/ Congrats on the great present!

I've read on other forums that you can convert the Curado's to the Citica gears for $30 in parts. So I would not let the gear ratio be a show stopper. I was all set to try the 200E7, but Santa wife gave me a Calais 200DC for Christmas. I fished it for a while yesterday here on Beaver Lake, and it's a very cool reel. But it's tough to get a good feel for it with the line guides icing up so quickly. Nasty day on the lake. Brrrr. Might still try a 200E7, but I'm afraid nothing is going to stack up compared to the DC! The wife might have opened an expensive can of worms there. Oh, I also just bought a Revo SX. We were up north in Toledo for Christmas and the local Dick's had a 50% off on it. I was only mildly interested in trying one at normal prices as the Shimano's seem to get better reviews overall. But at half price on a brand new one? Gimme! Threw a rattle trap with it a few times yesterday, and it seemed fine. But be warned, you'll want to start with the backlash control on max, and a little extra reel tension. Then back it down from there as you get used to it. They have a rep of being easy to backlash on the lower magnet settings.

Wife got me a Shimano Calais 200 DC and a Loomis BCR804 GLX. She's a keeper! Hope y'all got what you wanted, too.

Cool! That's very near to where I live. I don't fish for stripers, but that sure looks like a fun day for sure.

Santa came early. She let me order a 997C SI yesterday. Should be a great addition to my 798CI SI. Curious on the Lowrance SS. There's no way to hook it up on a trolling motor so that is has BOTH 2d and SS, right? So you'll have like a 2d transducer on the TM, but your SS transducer, and therefore images, will be like 20' behind you? I guess the question is, do they have a single, integrated transducer that has both SS and 2d built in like HB has?

Thanks. Some interesting data. I'm a little surprised Beaver is the top rated lake in the survey for catching bass. Looks like the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence!