Greetings and salutations to all

**Kevind62** · 03-21-2022, 11:18 AM

Just coming aboard. Thanks to the welcome notes in the welcome thread posted. Been crappie fishing for better part of 20+ years. My first exposure was from Bill Dance tv show. Thought I'd like to try it. A few years later I caught my first crappie on a 6 & a half foot Ugly Stick with an Ambassador 6500C. Not what one would consider crappie gear but it was what I had at the time. Caught it on a Beatle Spin. Hooked ever since. First 15 years fished only springtime spawn along the Tombigbee River since at the time I was limited to blind fishing with telescopic cane poles with no fish finder. Once the kids were all grown and gone I upgraded and began to fish year round. I'm a project nut. Bought an XPress all welded aluminum bare bone hull and began customizing little by little over the 9 years I've had the boat. Built everything, including the trailer, in the boat myself from the aluminum false floor, the spider rigs, to the battery compartment. Due to age, I had to convert my tiller steer to a remote steering center console. Built all of that out of aluminum too. For organization I built an elevated side rod rack. Upgraded my fish finder and built a pedestal for it too. Only addition left to do is a remote control trolling motor. Finally narrowed it down to two models. Once I decide on which on I'll pull the trigger.

I also do a lot of fly fishing throughout the Rocky Mt. region from northern NM to MT. And do quite a bit of Midwest deer hunting both bow and gun. And predator control at home on the farm, mostly hogs, with a few coyotes, bobcats, coons, and possums to protect the turkeys. Also a long range shooting fanatic. Below is a few upgrade stages of the boat.

Original project was just gunwale false sides, side rod racks, rod holders and seat pedestals ( pedestals and rod holders were purchased, not fabricated by me. I just mounted them.) and indoor/outdoor carpet for noise control.
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