Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! So thankful God chose to send his Son to earth to take the form of man, die on a cross, and give to all who accept it the gift of the blessed hope of eternal life.

Just an update on what has been going on the past month or so. I have fished every chance I have gotten, though I have not had the success I had hoped for. However, I have spent a ton of time looking at electronics and looking for brush piles and rock piles off the bank. The side scan feature of the Lowrance HDS Carbon is amazing. It is almost addictive – I find myself looking instead of fishing. I plan to post a video soon showing what I am doing and some of the places I have found. Most of my time has been spent at Wylie and Norman but going to Murray soon for a combo striper/largemouth trip.

By the way – the Trick Step system (https://www.trickstep.com) is absolutely the number one addition I have ever made to a boat. I will never own another one without them. From launching/loading the boat to just getting in and out while on land it makes it so much easier and safer. Seems like the older I get the more I look for safer and easier ways to do things! Installation was simple - 15 minutes by myself and they were installed.

I finally got my Ultrex calibrated. It is not really covered in the manual like I wish but I was able to find a YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH7wdU6epsE) that explained it well and I took care of it last weekend. It is a simple process if you just know how.

I finally got my GoPro up and working. I purchased the Hero 5 Black and have mounted it to the butt seat pedestal on the rear deck. Great video and I am able to pull screen shots from the videos for pics as well. I am going to get a small tripod in order to be able to shoot some video of electronics as well as particulars of the boat. I have really been surprised at how stable the video is at full speed. It is more stable than if I was holding it for sure. I will upload a video showing the view from the pedestal at wide open speed.

After thinking about the day yesterday I decided to address the issue of getting in the boat when launching. I researched trailer steps and settled on the Trick Step system for Ranger boats. They are expensive but I think I will feel better unloading and loading my boat by myself with this system. Ordered this morning before church and hope they come in this week and I can get the system installed before next weekend. 

Spent the afternoon working on waypoints. Finally figured out how to convert the old files to a format that will upload to the Carbon units. You Tube is your friend! Then looked at waypoint management and figured out how to save waypoints by lake on an SD card and erase all of them from the unit itself. According to all I have read this is the best way to maintain the speed of the unit. When I get to a lake I will just download the waypoints from that lake to the unit and at the end of the day save them (and any new ones) back to the SD card and delete off the unit. I did keep a master copy of the waypoints in case I mess up at some point and lose the data.

November 10, 2018

Never thought I would be breaking in a boat on my birthday but that what happened. I put in on the lower end of wind swept Lake Norman around 8:00. The boat launched well but I did see that the boat sits higher up on the trailer and it was a little difficult getting in the boat after unhooking the strap from the eye. The motor cranked right up (you just turn the key and release – the motor spins until it cranks). The sound of the engine is incredible – I was really impressed.

I spent the first half hour idling and making short runs and working to get my graphs set up. My waypoints would not load from the SD card (ended up having to convert them to another format for the carbon to recognize them. Took care of that on Sunday afternoon) so that was frustrating. The side scan and downscan worked great but sonar would not work correctly. There could very well be a bad transducer inside the boat – checking on that Monday.

I spent the next 4 hours running the boat and looking on the lower end. Was really impressed with the ride in the whitecaps. Much easier on my back than my 461! Around lunch I decided to fish. Well I could not get the trolling motor to work. Operator error! Thankfully Andy Greene took my call on his day off and walked me through finding the master switch in the back compartment to allow power. 

I was very happy with the performance of the trolling motor and did manage to catch a 2 ¾ lb fish on a jig in the pocket I was in.

I spent the rest of the day running the boat and idling rocky areas looking at sidescan. I think I found a few places that will pay off with a crankbait this winter.

I took the boat out at 3:30. Very pleased with the ease in which the boat loaded on the trailer. I was afraid I might have to adjust how deep I had the trailer in the water but I hit it perfect first time.

Due to the rough water I never got to run flat out. I got the boat up to 69 on GPS but did have a little chine walk at that speed. I am interested to see if it still does it next weekend on hopefully calmer water or it could be I need to lower the motor a ¼ inch on the 10” setback. Weight distribution could have been an issue as well.

Looking back on the day I could not be happier with how the boat and motor performed. I am looking forward to finishing up the break in process next week and hopefully be ready to hit Hartwell over Thanksgiving. Thinking I might fish a little more than hunt this late fall/early winter this year.

A New Boat

November 9, 2018

Finally got my boat…I cannot say enough about the folks at Anglers Choice Marine in Spindale and the job they did working to get my boat out by Friday afternoon. Gene and Austin did a great job working on it as they also were getting all bays and the showroom emptied for the floors to be redone over the weekend. Can’t wait to get to Norman tomorrow and see how it does.

November 4, 2018

Well I have been silent over the past 2 months. I have been battling a severe pulmonary issue and my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on September 12.  Most of September was spent with me in the doctor’s office or else helping dad and mom with whatever they needed. Dad passed away on October 4 and it was a blessing that he did not suffer much and was coherent up to the last 18 hours of his life. I urge anyone reading this to make sure you say the things to your loved ones that are on your mind while you still can. I was able to do that and it would be a huge regret if I had not had that opportunity.

My health is improving slowly and today has been my best day breathing in over two months. I almost feel normal and am looking forward to getting on the water.

I found out Thursday that my boat is complete and is shipping any time. I am hopeful it will be in early this coming week and I will be able to break it in on Norman next weekend. I have spent the afternoon getting tackle ready and preparing the items that I will load in the boat when I finally get it home. I plan to write this week on the progress of my boat and what modifications for the seat we finally decided on. And by the way – I went with the Loomis rods and am very happy with them. 6’8” fits me just right for skipping.