Fishtails

Ray.....we have been going to the Florida Keys every winter now for the past 4 years or so. We may miss this year though if work doesn't pick up. I've stayed at various points through the chain. I've stayed at Crystal Bay Resort in Marathon (mm52), which I guess is the Island before Ohio....then 7 mile bridge. There are a TON of charters & party boats. My favorite fishing area for deep sea would by Islamorada key(m82), Proclaimed to be the sport fishing capital of the world). You will pass through Islamorada on your way down to Marathon. Everything goes by mile marker. Key Largo being the start of the Keys around mm100, and ending at Key West at mm0. Don't miss Key West!!! Bridge fishing is fun& free,but you'll mostly catch small fish. Going deep this time of year beyond the reef will mostly be for sailfish. Summer is the better time down there for big game, but there ain't no such thing as a bad time of year to fish the Keys Reef fishing is a blast too! You can take a party boat for about 50 bucks, or rent a boat. I'd suggest going on a bigger boat, as the Atlantic will be rough most days this time of year. The gulf is normally glass. One or the other is usually going to be fishable. We've rented a boat already and fished the gulf side and had a blast!! It's easy and the Mackerel are there in big numbers.....real line burners on med. tackle. The best advise I can give you on fishing is USE LIVE SHRIMP and get a chum bag and several 10 lb boxes of frozen chum at the local bait store. No matter where you fish....the chum bill bring the fish to you!! I could talk about the Keys for hours. It's my favorite place to go. If you want more info, PM me with any questions and I'll tell ya what I know.

I've found that it's as much in the presentation, as it is the lure type. Spring pike are sluggish, and prefer a slow steady retrieval. As the water warms, I'll start twitching the lure a lot more, and by dead Summer into fall I'm in heavy twitch to rip retrieval mode for pike. Also, If I'm not removing weeds from my hook at least 1/3 of my casts, I'm not fishing close enough to the weeds. Non active pike lay near the bottom in weed beds, but they have a hard time laying off an injured bait fish swimming above them. They won't leave unless it's a guaranteed free meal.....so jerk and twitch that spoon/lure and you'll entice more strikes. Caught this one on the lake last spring on a glow frog spoon (nk28 I believe) My favorite pike lure though is a white or black rubber worm or twister tail on a black/red or white/red bucktail.

When I was a little kid (6-9) growing up in Florida, we lived in the middle of an orange grove and I'd fish the big lake behind our house everyday. I'd catch bass and keep them in the bathtub till my dad got home to clean them. We were really poor so we ate fish alot!! Every once in awhile, a cottonmouth snake would swim by close to shore, so I'd take a big shiner, put it on my hook, and stun it by slamming it on the ground a couple times. I fished with a cane pole, so I'd hold it out and let the shiner float on top of the water.......the snake would eat it every time!! Then, I'd take the hooked snake and go screaming to the house like it was an accident Since they are deadly poisonous, one of the dad's would come out and kill it for me.

Hey Ray....you sure you should be criticizing others about not being able to control urges..... Actually, I'd love to paint up some spoons. I have a furniture refinishing business so it would be right down my ally....just no time as of yet. One of these days.......

Just when I'm sure I have everything I could possibly need, someone has to come out with something new that I just have to have! It's a sickness we have guys, but I can think of worse illnesses to have

Tell ya what....I think I need every one of those new spin doc patterns. When are they going to be available?? I only have 18 different spin doc patterns already, and I'm guessing many of you have way more than I do! Will it ever be enough?? When do these tackle buying binges end?? :roll:

Sounds Great.....I'm certainly going to try to be there.

Hey Clark.....I'd go along with ya but that's Jen's B-day. She'd probably get pi$$ed at me

You have a pm Bill

Thanks for the chuckle Stix!

Thanks Rich.....that's cool of you to offer. I had the boat at Don Cooks up till a couple days ago. We decided that since I like this boat, we'd give it a good going over. Cook's has both outdrives and they are refreshing both of them. To save a few bucks, they suggested I do the engine swap myself and then take it back for them to finish it up. While I'm at it, I'm pulling the other motor also to replace that coupler as well. You know how it goes Rich, once you get started you uncover all kinds of things that could use replacing. Might as well just get it done! She should be running like a top by early April! I can't wait till spring!! I'm hoping to be out west a big chunk of May.

He didn't really know Hank, but he bought it from another local marine shop. I fugure now I have three good motors and I only need two, so I should be ready if anything unexpected pops up. I hope to make the swap later in the week ??

Thanks again for the help Bill & Hank. Everything seemed to check out ok per your suggestions, so I bought the motor today. Hopefully if this weather holds a little longer I'll get it installed sooner than later.

Thanks again Bill....between your advise and Hank's, I think I will be able to make an informed decision when I see it on Thursday.

Hank, Does it matter if it was a saltwater motor prior to it's rebuild? Being from Maryland, I'm sure it probably was. I did not ask this question, but I'm told the motor is still in it's break in period with only a few hours and has been rebuilt top to bottom. It's at a boat dealer who had bought a pair of them for another project, but for whatever reason they have not gotten to it. He sold one and has one left. Here is the picture he sent me....I'm going to look at it on Thursday. Anything I should look for....or be concerned about? I'm told the compression is good and equal in all 6 cyl. I've never bought a motor like this that wasn't in a boat. Can we start and run it out of the boat? Thanks for the help guys!!

Thanks for the input Bill, I appriciate your advice. I spoke with Cook's (who are doing my repairs) and they agreed that it sounds like a good plan and a fair price. I am picking the motor up on Friday from a boat dealer in Maryland. Both of my current motors have been converted to the electrinic ignition, as well as the new one. I ran these 165's for the entire season last year without any problems and I really like them. I think my gas consumpion on my 24 ft Searay with twin's is not much worse for a day of trolling than my 19 ft Lund was with a merc. 90 outboard.....seriously.

I have twin mercruiser 165's (inline 6) powering my boat and I have a chance to buy a completely rebuilt 165 that is a pan to carb plug and play motor. The two motors I have both run solid with perfect compression, but one needs a valve guide, engine coupler and the exhaust manifold is a little leaky. I'm thinking of buying this rebuild and pulling the one that needs repairs....then having that rebuilt eventually to replace the second. The boat shop is asking $1400, but said they'd take $1250 for the motor. Does that sound like a fair price for a no trade-pan to carb complete 165 ?

I have a Fishhawk 520 (with owners manual) for sale, only slightly (but possibly never) used. I had this as an emergency back up in case my Moor sub troll went out, but I have never used it so I may as well sell it to someone who may. It would be good as a back-up, or for someone who wants down temp, but doesn't fish often enough (or has the $$) for a depth raider/ sub troll. It's a handheld unit and works perfectly. New they cost $200..... The Most Popular Temperature instrument in North America! Protected but open sensors provide instant accurate water temperature readings to depths of 200 feet. Advanced digital line counting system indicates depth of weighted probe. Fast lowering and retrieval with big easy-wind reel. Temperature data displayed in Fahrenheit and Centigrade. Fast Lowering and retrieve with Big Easy Wind Reel. Accurate Digital Readout Indicates Sensor Depth [/b]

Geez....my life is BORING in the winter. I gave up skiing when we became a totally self employed family 2 years ago, cause if I get hurt we'd have zero income. Gave up hunting cause that is my busy time with work. So I pretty much work all winter so that I can take off most of the summer. So I daydream alot while I work, play with the kids and get one fishing trip in to the florida keys every January. Come spring though......I'm a free man to fish & play whenever & wherever I want to

I have done one fly trip into Canada, and it was to The Gouin Resivour in Quebec. I don't even know if that outfitter is still open, but this one outfits out of Gouin and one other lake.....http://www.tamarac.ca/ I'd definitly throw a recommendation towards Gouin......absolutly huge pike and good walleye fishing. One guy from our group caught a pike that was 54". Lots of fun and great fishing! I'd suggest not going up north till the second week of June or later. Going before than could result in you being eaten alive by the black flys.......and that ain't no fun at all!

Most will tell you you need both. I know that's not the position your in though. Temp is just so important. You can get by with a decent second hand ff for awhile and plenty of guys use a handheld gps also. It depends how serious you want to get. Look at it like this. A fish finder will often times tell you where to fish by the marks you see on your graph. Fish on (or slightly below) the depth you see marks...right? Simple enough. Some days though...you won't mark much in the way of fish. We have lots of days we catch plenty of fish, but mark very few. We fish temp though, so we know we are in "the zone" even if were not marking much. Then again, you need a ff to mark bait, and finding bait is key to finding kings (especially early in the am and late pm). So...it's tough to say one or the other cause they are both important. If I were you. I'd try to stretch my $$ to get both. Maybe a good quality second hand color ff, and a brand new depth raider or sub-troll and stick with the hand held gps for now. Then, when the money allows, go with the new ff/gps. Just my .02

Yes, I totally get what your saying Clark. I'm certainly not saying they are not worth the money, nor worth watching. My opinion (and I've only watched them once so far) is that they were worth buying. I figured if I only learned one solid tip that I put into my everyday practice, It was money well spent. Well, I picked up a couple tips I will definitely put into practice. Also, I found the video quality and editing to be very good and very professionally created. That beng said, I just felt as though it was lacking content in certain areas, and there was a lot of info left out. I'll be really interested to hear how others feel after they watch them. I've said above that maybe I expected to much ?? All in all, they were still fun to watch. Got me pumped for spring @ the bar!!!!!

I'd say that in general, it was somewhat entertaining. I'll certainly watch it a couple more times to see if I can get something out of it that I missed. Don't get your hopes up to high on the lure selection. It seemed to me like he talked about it for awhile without really telling you a whole lot of anything beyond basic salmon fishing 101. Let us know what you think. Like I said, to be fair, maybe I expected to much???

I got mine and watched both. I hesitate to give a review and blow it for those of you who have not watched it yet. There were some things I liked, and I did learn a thing or two. I expected to learn more though. I found that I already knew almost everything he went over. Maybe I expected to much....I dunno? I'll keep it at that and I'll look forward to hearing what others say after watching it. I thought it fell well short of my expectations.