Fishing Forum

Full Version: Dang there's a lot going on here
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I had no idea - but am looking forward to being part of it. Some info about me below but first the questions that led me to look for a fishing forum. I don't have much experience (see below) but just bought a used canoe and trolling motor to use for fishing. I bought a Walmart deep-cycle battery (I know - but price is a really big factor for me). Now I need a charger to go with it. Can I get by with their $30 auto battery charger or is there an important enough difference that I should buy the $50 charger that says it is for deep cycle batteries? Thanks.

Now about me. It is going to be way toooo much so you might want to skip on to the next post. Before my teen years we camped on the coast at Pacific Grove (near Monterey, CA) every summer. In those days there were no restrictions and we could walk across the road to use restrooms at the City golf course. The last day, Mom and Sis went shopping while Dad took the brothers and I out on a party boat for rock fist. They fished while I chummed. Once got sick before untying from the dock.

As a teenager we always had at least a couple summer weekends camping and trout fishing in the Sierras, generally around the Sierra City area. Fished exclusively with spinners, mostly in streams, and always caught at least a few.

After that fishing events were few and far in-between. Very far. Didn't marry until 29 and first kid at 40. Tried trout a couple times in my kids elementary years but literally did not catch one fish. Three years ago the in-laws took us to Harmel's fishing lodge in Colorado. All catch and release but stocked with all varieties and sizes of trout. my kids both caught their first fish - lots of them and big. My daughter even caught a small golden. A fantastic place - both the fishing and the food - for those that can afford it.

My son is the sweetest kid alive, and bright, but has Asperger's syndrom (on the autism spectrum) which makes friendships difficult. At 14 he was young enough to still want a birthday party but old enough that it was getting hard to find kids who would attend. So as an alternative we went surf fishing near Orick CA over presidents-day weekend. Red tail surf perch are fun to catch, so we did the same trip last summer and added a half-day rock fishing on a six-pack out of Trinidad. The ocean was smooth and everyone limited.

By now we both had the fishing bug, so this summer we bought the canoe, I built out-riggers for stability (will try to post pictures next time I put it together), and spent a long weekend at Kangaroo Lake west of Mt. Shasta. Some people were catching but I didn't have an anchor (never thought of it) and the new line I put on our spinning reels was blue. I wasn't aware of the color when I bought it but it was very high visibility against the green lake water. I am not sure that was really a problem because the last day I put about a 4-ft leader of 4-lb clear line on each pole and we still had no luck.

I am looking forward to using the canoe in the delta and on the American and feather rivers. I might even get brave and try the Sacramento. The out-riggers make the canoe very stable but I still don't think I will try for Salmon, unless we use it to get to places for bank fishing that are not accessible from shore.

Well, that is my fish story from about age 5 to 58. I need to pack a whole lot more fishing into my remaining years. If any of you read through the whole thing, you definitely have the patience of a fisherman.

Tom
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Tom... welcome to the site.. what a great intro.. :-)

.. you mentioned several different things on your fishing adventures but I would sugges you start on the [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/gforum.cgi?category=70"][#ff0000]Freshwater Forum[/#ff0000][/url] where there are anglers who can answer your boating and battery questions and more...

we do have a saltwater forum as well.. so dont forget to check that out when you can...

MacFly
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Welcome to BFT. You have a lot there. I have a minn kota deep cycle charger. Works for me. On the float tubing general forum we have talked about this a lot. Come over and see us.
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Thanks Mac, I'll give the freshwater forum a try.
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Thanks Al, I did a search on the forums in general and went to the float tube archives but the only thing I saw specific to my question was a guy who said it is better to have a cheap battery and a good charger than a good battery and a cheap charger. Since I already have a cheap battery... I will try over on the freshwater forum.
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look in the boats and motor section ad well, you can always start a new thread as well.
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