Don_B

You can with channel cats, don't do it with the other ones though, unless you have a crowbar handy to pry your thumb out.

I was just up Erie this past Sunday, and although you are talking about Ontario, Erie is exactly the same. I was catching them all day there, and they will wear you out after a few hours of hauling up the hawgs! I'm a die hard fisherman, but by the end of the day, I was more than ready to go home.

Here's another on, taken right after I got it trailered after about a 15 minute struggle.

Some good stories. I can only imagine the chaos if some of them were launching at some of the unfinished ramps on the rivers here, especially when the rivers are a little high. I fish mostly by myself, and sometimes trailering a boat back on in current can be quite difficult, to say the least. The courtesy ramp is a little to the left......

Good luck with your Muskie quest. A big one "on" definitlely gets your heart racing. You ask if you have all the right stuff for this quest. Yes and no. Musky fishing is the same as all other fishing. It doesn't matter what lure, or this brand or that brand of braid. You can catch one 4' long on a tiny spoon, or one 18" long on a huge swimbait. Presentation, conditions and location are the most important thing, as with any other species. Sounds to me like you have more than all the right gear for a battle with one. Read up on Muskie habits and behaviour and you will definitely run into a few....... If that just doesn't work, just go bass fishing with your most expensive lures on any lake or river that holds them, and....well....you'll see what happens!

I hate to brag but.........take a look at my pb and weep boys.........

For me: Pa Game & Fish, In Fisherman, Bassmaster, Muskyhunter, and Esox Angler.

I've got a big grype about Lake Arthur and Pymatuning. Those hp restictions suck in my opinion. I've fished Arthur from shore and always caught a few, but can't take my jet out on the water. I paid plenty in taxes when I got my boat, and pay for my registration and fishing license(Erie combo stamp too!).They use tax money for those lakes but it's almost like a club lake for anyone with 9.9 or 15hp or whatever ridiculously low number they decide on. Those lakes are both pretty big. I can take my 175hp jet on Crooked Creek or Loyalhanna, both of which are a puddle compared to Arthur or pymatuning, simply because they are run by the Army Corps of Eng. I can fish any river in Pa., anywhere I so decide, but not Arthur or Pymatuning? What's the deal? Are they worried about speed? Waterskiers or something like that? Overcrowding? Bigger tournaments? I have a Tracker Jetboat, not one of those Skeeter, Trion, Ranger, etc., and thank God I do because I can fish all the great rivers, shallow and deep, we have here in W.Pa. I guess anyone in Pittsburgh that has one of those big glass boats either has to fish in and around Pittsburgh, or go to Ohio lakes? The state sure wants their taxes, registration, trailer tags, etc. for those kind of boats, even though those guys are limited in lake access. Shenango and Wilhelm are open to them(or me), but why not the others? I guess I just don't think that it's fair to all the boaters. Should they charge less in taxes, registration, or trailer fees to a guy that has a 250hp boat as compared to a guy that has a 9.9hp and will be accessing more public water? I'm just thankful the state isn't in charge of the rivers yet.

I prefer fishing alone when out on my jet. I will take my kids anytime that they want to go, which is every now and then. I will take a friend with me maybe about once or twice a year though. I tried to fish with a guy on a sort of regular basis, but it was awful. He never offered to pay for anything, and his talking about himself over and over just made me want to just jump into the river/or out of the truck! I put an end to that after about three or four painful boat/truck trips. I try to be prepared for just about any fishing situation, so I usually bring about 5-6 rods/reels and two small gear bags, which doesn't leave much space on the casting decks for someone else's gear.

Wow! That's just unbelievable what stupid ideas some people come up with. Who gives a crap about them chubs anyway. Pike and smallmouth are a major species for a lot of sport fishermen. All that for some chubs???

Wow! A few pictures before and after seem so simple, but in between them, there must have been months of hard work! I'll bet your're proud of it.

Maybe I should have said "rivers in Pa.". I've never even seen a prop boat on the upper Allegheny, or the Clarion, or the Kiskiminetas. I've only seen a prop boat once or twice on the middle Youghiogheny, and both times I seen them bang their props trying to navigate riffles, turn around and head back p'oed.

Nah! In all seriousness though, I really couldn't use a boat like yours in the rivers that I usually go fishing. I travel a lot over areas that may be only 6-10" deep to get from one spot to the other, shooting through rapids, shallow flats, etc. You can only get to a lot of these places via jetboat, but once there, it's like a private fishing preserve. In the Northeast, I'd bet jetboats outnumber the propboats for fisherman. I'm not limited by much of anything as far as movement, except for actual exposed rocks. It's just a different kind of fishing that requires a different kind of boat. I can actually do about 50 mph through an area that two guys in a canoe would probably have to get out and walk through! If I lived down south by a few deep-water resovoirs, or even by the great lakes, I'd probably get a boat like yours for sure. Good luck with the new boat, get an anchor for it, and please go out an catch some fish so you can bust it's cherry already!

I would think that a real bass fisherman would know what his real bass boat should need ............if not: I have an 19' jetboat that I fish with mainly on the rivers(in current) for bass. I use a 20# river anchor to hold in place after I get my poser bassboat into position. I've also used my anchor on Lake Erie and a few others lakes without any problems. Hope that helps.

Ooooow! I'd go to the nearest Bass Pro Shop and walk out of there(Actually, trailer out of there) with a brandy new Tracker PT 185 Jetboat!

For me, it's pretty simple. I fish mostly rivers and just a few lakes. Where I fish, you have to have an alluminum hull and a jet drive. I have scraped bottom and bumped into quite a few rocks. A jet drive and an alluminum hull will carry you from one hole to the next over anything from about 10" of water on up. About the only thing you have to worry about with a jet and an alluminum hull is thick, matted weeds. If you never fish shallow, rocky water....Tracker has a sweet Walleye Pro model that's all alluminum and is considered a good boat for rough water. They are probably indestructable except for maybe crashing into a boulder. I don't know much about glass boats, except for what others have told me or what I have seen. I've never owned a glass boat. Outboard props and glass boats are not the best choice around here for the shallow rivers. If you are fishing mainly lakes, fiberglass with an outboard might be a better choice. They are some pretty boats and I guess have no problems with the weeds.

Very nice boat. Almost looks too nice to put in the water!

I doubt it. They probably just feel pressure in their mouths. They could probably feel something if you stabbed them through their body with a knife or something though. I don't feel sorry for fish, but I wouldn't fillet them if they were still alive.

2001 Tracker PT 185XT Jet Mercury 175XR2 Sportjet (175hp @ impeller) Hummingbird Matrix fishfinder/temp MinnKota trolling motor Don't know how to upload any pictures :-[

Sounds like prop boats would be the way to go down south, at least in your area, with mostly lakes and some with thick weeds. Our rivers up here are pretty wide, rocky, and fast moving. A lot of guys do fish the lakes we have(most of which are small), but most fish all the rivers around here because that's our biggest resource. River fishing is fun, but it does get old. You are always dealing with current. Everyone that fishes the rivers has an anchor on their boat. If you find a good spot, you can either anchor, have someone drive and steady the boat in low throttle, or stay on station with your trolling motor. Most guys use trolling motors from 80# thrust on up, 80 being about the minimum that works well. Below 80, you need to anchor or use any number of homemade or store-bought drag anchors. A lot of people do drift fish too, but you can only fish a spot one cast per spot that way. Lake fishing is relaxing to me, just touch up on the troller every now and then and spend most of your time fishing and using/watching the sonar for fish, instead of always looking out for shallow water or boulders. The sonar is pretty much useless on the shallow fast water until your are hovering over a hole. The fish in the rivers here are all about the current and reading that is more important than the sonar in most cases. Either way, you guys are lucky to be able to fish year round. Up here, the only way you are gonna fish year round is if you are into ice fishing. That's a whole 'nother ball game.

Weeds........Oh you mean the Achilles Heel of the jet boats! Weeds are not a good thing. They can clog your water intake or partially clog it and make it a bit sluggish. Certain times of year here the weeds are floating all through the rivers. If it's real bad, I sometimes have to stop and clean the intake. They do make three types of intakes for jets: One for stone-type debris, weeds, and a general purpose type, which I have. Presque-Isle Bay on Lake Erie has a lot of weeds in the shallower areas, but I didn't have any problems. I did clean out the intake after we trailered the boat. There were a few in there. If I saw an area where weeds covered the surface, I would probably fish through it with the trolling motor. Weeds could be troublesome if they are very thick. I could see a prop boat being more practical in the real thick weeds. Do props run well in thick weedbeds?

If by slop you mean rough or choppy water, the boat does fine on Lake Erie or rough water on the rivers. I just buzz right through it. They say you have to watch going through areas with too much air in the water, but I've never had any problems. My rig does have a modified V in the front to help cut through waves and it is a bassboat with fishing decks and does not sit too high out of the water, so a jetboat maybe like the RiverPro Highboy would be a better type of boat for Erie than mine, but that has nothing to do with the jet drive. As far as speed, I really don't know how fast mine will go. I've never ran it at full throttle for more than about 20-30 seconds. The boat just kept going faster and faster and faster. At 50mph on my speedometer(I don't have GPS) I couldn't see well enough even with decent glasses on to drive safely, so I guess I just don't have the stones to run it at max speed. It feels like the boat is just barely touching the water and ready to take off like a plane even at that speed. As far as horsepower(Rated @ the impeller), mine is a 175hp Mercury Sportjet, but you can get the Mercury as high as 250hp in the Sportjet. They twin motors like that up for speedboat racing, so I guess the sky is the limit on speed if you want speed. Some of the bigger Thunderjets have twin Merc Sportjets in them too. That's some real power moving that heavy-duty alluminum hull around over a few inches of water. I figure that I can keep up with most of the glass boats as far as speed goes(If I had the stones), I can fish the lakes they fish and then go all the way up the river that feeds the lake and fish that too. So now back to one of my original questions: What advantage would I gain by buying a Ranger, Skeeter, Triton, etc. as opposed to buying a Riverpro, Willies, Thunderjet, Jetcraft, etc.? I never see the jetboats on the fishing shows. Is it because Ranger, Skeeter, Triton, etc. are the ones who underwrite those shows or are they better boats?

Hi. New guy to this forum. My question is this: Do any other guys on this forum drive jets? If not, then why? I have a Tracker PT185 Jet with a Mercury 175 hp inboard jet. I have fished plenty of flatwater, including Lake Erie with no problem. My only limitation to fishing a body of water is whether or not they have a place to launch or if there are hp restrictions, but I mainly fish rivers so that's why I got the jet in the first place. As I said, I am new to this forum, so don't think that I am trying to be jerk or something with this next question. I'm just trying to get some opinions on your boats and how you use them. Next question: I read on here how fast and manuverable some of the glass boats are but I feel my boat is pretty fast, at least for me, and I'm dodging house-sized boulders on the rivers all the time while up on plane and sometimes running in only inches of water. So why should I buy a Skeeter, Triton, Ranger, etc. for 30-40K when I could buy a Jetcraft, Northwest, Thunderjet, etc. for about the same price and be able to fish just about anywhere I want to and not be limited to just lakes or the deeper parts of rivers? My last question is this: Now bear with me because I've never owned a glass boat. I've hit plenty of rocks in the rivers while drifting or trudging along not up on plane with my jet rig and have not damaged my boat in any way. What would happen if I hit a rock with a glass boat? Would it damage it, or can they take some moderate abuse? Thank you for all your replies.