Erik's fishing rants

My favorite mini chatter bait broke last week, I was left with just the blade (the eye on the jig broke) So I made it new and better. I present the chatterspin! I tested it in my fish tank, it chatters, it flashes, it spins, its amazing!

 

Good Christmas for fishing for me!
Wife got me some korker wader boots, though I need to bring them back to get them 1 size down. I normally wear a 12 in korkers, but the web site says to get 1 size up so you can fit your waders and neoprene socks under the boots. I dont wear either of those things, so my feet are swimming in these boots (she got me a size 13)
Step sister in law got me a lowrance castable fish finder, this should be fun to use when bank fishing.
Got a couple of gift cards to Amazon and scheels, so I ordered some things I have wanted, but never got.

I also ordered a bunch of things for myself for christmas, and my parents got me a ice suit a few weeks ago.

 

I am prepping my single person flip over for a track sled I am building soon, so I needed to make the seat in there flip the other way so I can sit in it while the track sled pulls me along the ice. So, I built a swivel base for it. I started out by building one from scrap wood to make sure its something that would work, everything seemed good and worked right. I went out and got some more 1x1 steel box tubing, cut it up and booger welded it together. Put some rivet nuts in it to bolt the swivel to, and boom, now I have a seat that is about 2 inches taller and can rotate all the way around.

 

Went to walmart today to get some spoons, swung by the fishing section and found a ugly stik dock runner spincast combo.... Its a 36 inch medium rod that can take a baitcaster reel. This is by far the funniest rod I have now.

 

Well, I am now the proud owner of a micro bass boat!
I picked up a 8 foot pond prowler, Im installing a casting deck on it, getting a foot control for my trolling motor and getting it all set and ready for open water. The boat fits perfect in the bed so no need for a trailer either.

Im hoping to get it all set up for musky fishing and doing some of the larger lakes around me that my kayak is just too small for.

 

Building some rod holders for my new boat. Im putting 2 on each side so I can bring a total of 4 rods (secured), there is a slight angle on the mounts so the rod tops on my musky rod will sit up over the lip on the front of the boat.
The mounts are built out of triple rod surface mount holders that I had gotten a few years back. I cut off 1 rod mount from each and then flipped the part over to make a leg, they slide right over the ribs and attach with silicone glue.

Foot control for the trolling motor is almost done too, just need to mount the pedal and hook up the linkage.

 

Got a little bit more work done on the mini bass boat today, could only do so much with the temps being around 17 degrees. I installed the battery, got the new sonar ordered, and cut out a new casting deck as I screwed up the first one by trimming too much off the sides.
Still waiting on the silicone glue to dry all the way holding the new rod holders in place. But while that glue continues to dry, I am thinking up ways to mount the rod holder tubes near the back of the boat.
Next I need to figure out a good way to mount my transducer. Most people put them on little arms that fold down into the water, I like the idea, but im afraid it might end up getting hit or damaged from a dock or one of my kids hitting it with their kayaks. I might try putting it on the trolling motor for a little bit and seeing how well it works there.

 

Put on a bimini top last night, this is going to be great for those hot summer days. Its got a metallic layer in it to stop the heat and UV rays.
Im swinging by cabelas today to grab a new trolling motor, the one I have was cut down to fit my kayak so its too short for this boat. I really want to get one with a foot control, but at $700 for the motor and another $200 for a transom to bow mount adapter its just not a good way to spend my money.
My buddy is giving me a old gas motor, but its 60 years old, 2 stroke and doesnt currently run. So I may end up buying a new motor thats a 4 stroke. Im looking at a little coleman 2.5hp or just spending the money on the honda.

 

Got my sonar all mounted up, I used a clamp from a old dj laptop stand.

 

Rearranged my boats today to make going out easier. I put the loaner kayak and kids kayaks up in the air, then put my main kayak up front and my boat in the back (moving the kayak is easier than moving the boat).
Also started on my kayaks new trolling motor, its a old bow mount pedal controlled motor that was broken, so I fixed it, then swapped out the bow mount with a old aluminum transom mount. Next I need to adapt the cable from the foot control to a hand control next to the seat.

 

Got a trailer for my boat last week, and have been working on getting it perfect for my boat. The trailer I got is a 40 inch wide, 48 inch long mini trailer. It was about 4 feet too short for my boat, but the width was perfect to fit in my garage, at first I had a good amount of overhang front and rear, but it worked.



The tongue on it was super short at only 2 feet long. So I got a 8 foot long 2.5 inch box tube and went on to make a long tongue for it.



Much better, but now the front end hangs way over the deck of the trailer and bounces... so we need to make the deck longer.
(I dont have any pictures of this yet) In order to make the deck longer, I needed to buy more box steel, but by doing that I would end up have to make a whole new deck all the way back. The metal to do it was about $300... hmm... Well instead of going that way, I ended up buying another 40x48 trailer ($350)! I built the deck for the new trailer, and bolted it to the old deck and to the tongue. All the holes lined up perfect. So now I have a deck that is 84 inches long (I trimmed some off) and 40 inches wide. This is the perfect size for my boat.

But a new problem came out of it.. the axle is really far back on the trailer. Thinking of ways to fix this, I decided that since on the normal trailer, the axle is 20 inches from the back, and 28 inches from the front, my best option is to just swap the frame rails left to right. I may have to drill 2 new holes for the tongue to fit the swapped rails, but it should push the axle forward about 8 inches total giving me a closer to 60/40 split instead of the 75/25 split it has right now.


But anyways, now I have like 3/4 of a new trailer still in the box since I had to buy another one to make what I wanted. On the plus side, I now have extra axle, extra hubs, extra wheels, extra leaf springs, extra hangers, tons of extra parts.

 

Ok, so I have made many updates for my boat and my trailer.
First we shall start with the trailer.
Here it is with the extended front deck, I cut 10 inches off the front of the deck and welded it to the back, this moved the axle 10 inches forward without actually having to remove the axle.





Next I added some self retracting straps to make it easier for me to tie down the boat.




Next up I switched my casting deck up. It was made of 3/4 plywood and covered in carpet, but this was stupid heavy and would eventually warp and rot. So I built a new one out of aluminum and HDPE. The boat is already made of HDPE, so lets make the casting deck that also!






Last thing I need to work on is figuring out how to transport my outboard without putting it in the bed of the truck. I want to make a mount that attaches to the trailer, just trying to figure out the best way to make it.
Thinking either using a old bike carrier, replace the arms for the bike with a 2x8 and some big bolts. Then I can just clamp the outboard to that and then u-bolt the bike carrier to the tongue. This would hold the motor in a vertical position.
Other thought was to make a cradle on the tongue that holds the motor horizontal. The outboards clamps would attach to a 2x8, then the skeg would rest on a rubber covered "V" cradle.

I like to use things I have laying around, and I have a pair of tongues from the old design on the trailer. Thinking I could cut one of them about half way, then bend it so one side is up at a angle, and the other is laying flat. This would give me a nice shape for the horizontal cradle idea.

 

Big mod time!
I spent 4 hours taking this boat apart... its held together with about 300 staples and a weird ticky tack stuff (the stuff you use to hold posters to a wall in school). Well, that glue was not great at keeping water from getting into the hull so its getting replaced.
But, I am installing new wires and plug for my trolling motor, along with a anderson plug for the battery to plug into the hull.
Then I am installing drain plugs in the back and actually securing the foam together so it doesnt slide around so much.
Lastly I am going to fix the bottom half of the hulls warped side. It has been bugging me for so long because one side bows out like 3 inches and causes the deck rails to sit at an angle. You can see it in the pictures.




Here is the warped side


Here is the generally straight side

 

Little update, I put in the metal strips to strengthen the sides of the hull. Pretty sure they should of done this from the start, these are great at making it more rigid.



But you can see how much of a difference it made to put in that support

 

Put the boat all back together as my trip is coming up soon. Put my new rod holders in, holds 6 rods (3 on each side).

 

Well its almost time for my annual ocean fishing trip! Going to spend a week at my parents in Florida, they live on a intercoastal river with a 300 foot dock out into the water, then the ocean is across the street in front of them.

Most years we catch tons of catfish, eels, rays, and random other fish. This year I am trying to get my son on something big (redfish, shark, or snook), his sister caught a pike on our last camping trip and all he has ever caught is a bluegill.

 

With the weather being stupid hot, and all the lakes covered in weeds and jet skis I have moved on to the river for the year.
I never catch anything at the river, but thats going to change this year! I ordered a couple hundred worth of catfish things, got 2nd catfish pole since MN finally opened up 2 lines for the river. Just need to find where the catfish are hanging out now.