If You’re Going to Repower Bass Pro is the way to Go

The fall fishing motor blues:

Starting at the end of summer and into fall my motor was giving me problems. The fall fishing was a total waste for me. The fish were in, I know because I had to fish from shore and watch huge schools of fish and birds feeding on bait along the Rhode Island coast. It was so frustrating, what torture. There I am fishing from shore watching the carnage out in front of me and only getting a fleeting chance at fish that move in close from time to time. Boy was my blood boiling. So I made the choice to repower. My motor is 10 yrs old and I assumed that repairs would get to be routine at that age and I didn’t want to go through the same frustration in the spring.

The Hunt for the right motor:

O.K. so I made the decision to repower now it was time to hunt for a motor at a reasonable price. I have this thing about getting the right deal. Whenever I buy a large ticket item like a car or washer I research, research, research to find the best product at the right price. It is usually a lot of work but it being winter and me not using the boat I figured I had the time. So I began calling around and researching prices on the Internet I must have phoned or emailed at least 10 different local marinas/ Stores. I even considered Ed’s marine superstore in Virginia, or ordering a motor from Boats.net in Florida and having it shipped and installed up here. It was while I was searching on the internet that I came across Bass Pro Shops (Tracker Boats) repower specials.

The search ends at Bass Pro Shops:

I had no idea Bass Pro did repowering. I thought they only sold boat packages. If you go to the Bass Proshops site (Tracker Boats) they boast that they are the number one Mercury dealer in the world. That's a pretty big claim and if you’ve lived as long as I have you get pretty skeptical of big claims, but I decided to give them a try. I went down to the store in Foxborough and spoke with Blake Phillips. He was very courteous, professional, and knowledgeable. There was no sales pitch, meeting in different rooms, or high pressure tactics like you’d get at a car dealer, just 2 guys talking about repowering a boat. After some back and forth I realized that they had the best price on a midrange 90 hp by far. No one else could come close. So I decided to order it, but in the back of my mind was that little skeptical voice saying how are they going to make up for the engine price, hammer me with an outrageous installation fee?

The Bottom Line:

Well I got a call recently the motor was in. So I headed down to settle the price of the new motor, removal of my old motor, installation of the new motor, prop, tach, trim guage, everything hooked up ready to run with my old motor crated. All I have to say is WOW! Not only was the price of the motor less than other dealers, the price of the installation and removal was ½ what other dealers wanted to charge. The whole price was from $2000-$2500 less than other dealers wanted. I’m truly impressed with their sales and service departments and I’m not that easy to please. It appears their claims were true. So if you’re thinking of repowering give them a call or send them an email. Tell them Steve Pickering sent you.

Who to contact:

Blake Phillips- Sales
Phone: 508-216-2663
Email: brphillips@basspro.com

Jason Hatlee- Service
Phone: 508-216-2671
Email: jrhatlee@basspro.com

Using Natures Signals to Find Fish

If you want to find fish on the bay and all the high tech NOAA data and fancy gps/fishfinder information has failed there’s other options. There are many times I’ve gone out and the fish weren’t where they were supposed to be. So the next best thing to do is stop, think, look around and try to get a grasp of what’s happening.

If fish are on the surface there will almost always be sea gulls feeding from above. If you see a large group of gulls diving and hovering over a small area the fish are probably there. But there’s even a more subtle signs. If there is a very large concentration of seagulls sitting on a shore it’s likely fish have been in the area and are about to reappear. Just stop the motor sit and watch and look around. In nature it’s all about conservation of energy if fish and bait go deep the gulls won’t leave until something better starts to happen elsewhere. On those days where the fish are tough to find I head up or down the bay and stop every ½ mile or so look and study the birds. Sometimes you’ll see almost no gulls and the ones you do see are all headed in the same direction. So what do I do? I follow them. Quite a few times they have led me to huge schools of blues or stripers. It makes scene that if 1000’s of fish are chasing huge numbers of bait most of the sea gulls will also be feeding there.

Fish movement can also play a part. If you're fishing on sat afternoon/evening and your catch large numbers of blues in the upper bay and you notice a general trend that most of the schools are moving south, it’s a good bet the fish will be a mile or more south of your position on Sunday. This is especially true during mid fall when fish are leaving the bay and migrating south. The opposite is true for spring. In that case start where you ended on Saturday and move south stopping occasionally to look for the birds and splashes.

Senses like sight, hearing and smell are also important assets. Blues splash the water pretty violently when they’re feeding and if the gulls haven’t found them yet the white splashes they create are pretty easy to see in blue/gray water. Splashes are real easy to see off in the distance if the sun is at your back. Gulls are real easy to see off in the distance if the sun is in front of you. Most people don’t give much credit to their scene of hearing when looking for fish but it can be very useful. Sound travels a long distance on water. When stripers are feeding on small bait on the surface they make a sucking, popping sound but they don’t splash much. You can’t see them from very far but you can hear them. In fact if it’s not too windy you can hear them from 100-150 yrds or more. This is especially true after dark when the bay may be pretty calm. If you hear that sound go to it and make some casts you may be happy with the result. Smell can also be an indicator. There have been times when I could smell the fish before I’ve seen them. If you think about it, 1000’s of pounds of baitfish are being consumed by 1000’s of fish. Not everything gets eaten; bits and pieces sometimes float to the surface or wash up along the shore and give off an odor. If you come across a strong odor of fish as your moving along the bay stop shut off your motor, look for gulls in the air or along the shore, look for splashes, listen for popping sucking sounds, and be patient trust your senses and wait to see what they are telling you.

The Best Time of day to Fish

What’s the most productive time of day to fish? Sounds like a simple question but the answer is tougher than you think. The best way to answer the question is to take it by season and fish species.

Striped Bass

I used to think nighttime was the right time for stripers but that’s not necessarily true.
In the early spring (late April-mid May) stripers are active pretty much all day. During this time daylight hours seem to be most productive. Cloudy, rainy, foggy, overcast days tend to be the best.

As the water warms up (mid May-end of June) these fish become more active in the evening or at the transitions from dawn and dusk. There is a real increase in feeding activity from sunrise into early morning and again at late afternoon till dark. For an hour after sunset there is usually an adjustment period where the action slows down then begins to pick up so if you were hitting fish at dusk and things slow down stick around and give it a shot a little later. After dark is also pretty productive at this time of year. One Night my friend Paul and I were pitching eels all night till dawn; we caught so many nice fish we didn’t want to stop. Mid day especially a sunny day is tough usually not much is happening. The exception is a cloudy overcast light rain and foggy day these days are productive all day. In the past few years I’ve come to believe dawn to early morning is the most productive time, the only problem is you have a very limited amount of time to locate the fish before things slow down.

During the summer months (July and August) striper fishing in general trickles down dramatically. Your only hope during the day is deep cool water usually outside of the bay or nighttime.

In the fall (Sept-Nov) the return migration begins and things go from evening fishing to any time of day as the water gets colder. Remember dawn to early morning and late afternoon to sunset there is an increase in feeding and tend to be more productive. Also overcast days tend to be better than sunny.

Blue Fish

Two things are important with blues, they are a warm water summer/fall fish and they are pretty much a daytime fish. You can get blues in June and July but the real big numbers are later in the summer. During the early months of June and July you can pick up blues here and there but they’re usually mixed in with bass. During this time of year you can catch them at night but usually only on live bait (eels, menhaden chunks etc…) they don’t usually like artificial lures at night. At night you usually you don’t get large numbers but the fish tend to be large 9-12lb range.

Blues tend to arrive in large numbers in mid August and stick around till October. Blues feed mostly during the day in big frenzied schools. From August-October and it’s not unusual to catch 75 or more in an afternoon. Cloudy days tend to be better but sunny days can also be pretty productive. The key to bluefish activity is a little chop and light to moderate wind, if it’s dead calm things can be tough. Even at this most productive time of year nighttime blue fishing is not very productive. Blues tend to be much less aggressive and concentrated at night. It’s not unusual to be surrounded by hundreds of feeding blues then once the sun goes down bang nothing. Like stripers however dawn to early morning and afternoon to sunset are the most productive. I personally think 3:00 pm till dark is the best time to blue fish.

Click Play on the video below to see a school of frenzied blues: