Noble's First

[pa]

My best buddy Noble wanted to fish for white bass for the first time, as well as dle up a float tube for the first time also. So I was happy to get him going. Planned on a early start, but a broken water pipe under the house said no way.
Got it repaired bout 11 and off we went.
Arrived at the knolls around noonish 30 and launched shortly after. Got on my toon and was putting my flippers on and broke one in half. Just lovely. Noble had my motor on the tube, so all I could do was row row your boat .Ugh. Without flippers I had to row constantly just to stay off the shore. Did manage a few whitties though,
Met Tubedude a little ways from the private property line and he had limited out on the kitties and was on the way in.
Noble started catching the white bass in the brush line bout that time and that was it. Could not get him to leave. But that was ok. He was picking up his floating skills and catching fish also. What could be better? I had a ball watching him and giving a few pointers every once in a while.. He caught lots of white bass and got himself hooked on Tubedudes RC KILLERS and his red/chartuse road runner jigs. Never made it out to the 15 ft mark where Pat said the kittes were, but that is ok.
It was a wonderful day and I was very pleased to have my first outing with Noble. It will be the first of many.
Get the kids involved and stay safe out there.[]

Pa
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Sounds like you had a great day...after a bad start. Better than the other way around.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Glad the young lad got into some fish. Those everlovin' whities create a lot of grins. Too bad they aren't as easily available all year. But, if you know where to go and how to find 'em...and get lucky...you can still score some. Remember our bubbleup trip? Haven't found them there like that since then. We just timed it right.[/#0000ff]
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[peter805]

Way to go ! Fantastic.
Looks like you got your self a new tubing friend []

Peter
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[Jay76]

Hey TD, i have an off subject question, what size trolling motor and battery are you guys using on the ODC 420 and fat cats?
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Hope pa doesn't mind.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You can use anything from a 24# motor to a 45#. I know of tubers who have all used them. I use a simple economical Minnkota Endura 30...with a 30# thrust and a 30" shaft. Works just fine.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I use a big series 27 AGM battery. But for "average" fishing you can get by with smaller series 24 batteries that weigh somewhat less. I even used a small 33 amp/hour wheel chair battery for a while and got good performance on minimal use trips.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Pa has been through the same series of batteries. Not sure what he is using right now.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Waljustia is using a series 24 battery on his tube and he used it a lot yesterday...and it was still runnin' fine when we hit the beach.[/#0000ff]
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[pa]

I am still using the 33 amp/hour battery. For my style of floating it suits me well. I mainly use the motor to go from point A to point B with a couple of C's and D's thrown in for good measure. It has never gone below 40% in the 2 years
I have used it. It is not to heavy for my Fish Cat and has even worked on my 9ft pontoon some. []
I also use the Minkota 30 and it has served me well. Gets my little tube moving plenty fast an 3 and 4 setting. Those settings are plenty fast enough for me and do not drain the battery to fast. One time at Willard I was fishing from the south Marina, and kicked all the way to the north Marina before a super strong wind blew all of us off the water. Even the big boats. But that little motor had enough guts to power me back to the South Marina with no problem. The battery handled it fine also, but I keep it fully charged without fail.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]I was also pleased with the output of the 33. I no longer use mine and have only run it a few times. Want a good deal on a backup?[/#0000ff]
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[flygoddess]

I have always used #27. Even back on my Donut.. (Float Power)
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[cpierce]

I have a 24# Minn Kota and a #24 series battery. I use it on both a FishCat4 and a NorthFork Outdoors Renegade. It is small but mighty!!! Well, anyway it gets me where I want to go.
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[pa]

Hey C,
Do you use the boat bumpers with your Fish Cat?
And if not , does the weight of the series 24 battery cause any off level problems?[]
pa
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[cpierce]

I don't use the boat bumpers, but I do have an inflatable cushion under the battery box on the inside. It is to raise it up a bit because I use the same motor mount on both my FC4 and the Renegade and there is a height difference between the two.

That is the pillow's main purpose, but since that area of the tube is flooded usually I think it does "lighten" the battery box some too. I didn't have a big imbalance without it either though.

This is the type of cushion it is: Cheap!!!

http://www.coghlanscampinggear.com/coinaircusep.html

If you are interested I will try to find some pictures of my current setup or the post where I showed it.
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[cpierce]

Here is the original post that shows my battery box mount. It is from just over a year ago when I first posted about putting a motor on a float tube. It seems like a lot longer ago than that!! [crazy] We've all come a long way since then. [cool]

It doesn't show the cushion though since it wasn't in the water, and sat at about the right height on the grass. The cushion helps that area of the tube not to sag when in the water, and I think it provides some buoyancy, but from the inside.

The battery box mount is on the 2nd page of the thread, where I show my original mount that I started with and then my box mount.

http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/gforu...ox;#594051
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