J Francho

Beautiful photos, Rick.

Apparently Sea Ark released a boat as well. This is somewhere around $40K w/ 200hp. It's a stepped hull, similar to Xpress' Hyperlift. Looks pretty nice. http://seaarkboats.com/boat_models/view/123

The heavier TCS rods have plenty of muscle, but a somewhat forgiving and longer tip. This makes them easier to cast than a pool cue stick. Not the same rod by any stretch, but features a similar bend under load, here's a review I wrote of a TCS rod: https://www.bassresource.com/fishing_lures/mat-daddy-helios-review.html

A tiller aluminum deep V would be a great all purpose boat to start with. You'll be fine with a two stroke. I had a 15' Sea Nymph with a 50 and later a 17' Sea Nymph, both tillers. Loved those boats and I'm thinking of returning to that style after fishing in my buddy's 16.5 Lund tiller.

He is a great guy. Been friends for years now. Met him at a couple local get togethers.

Here's some Great Lakes action. First are those 2 footers that are like 25' long. They're rougher than they look. Next is what can kick up in minutes.

I had a brown trout on, and he shot back at me under the boat, to the other side. I had to reel up the slack, and get line under the motor and reel up more slack. The dang thing was still on! I thought for sure I'd lost it. Turned out to be a nice fish, 8-9 lbs.

I have several Okuma rods from their EVX, Guide Select, and Helios, and have fished them heavily without issue. The EVX 7'2" Heavy is a really nice rod that fits both your length, power, and price point. Also, the TCS is Scott Martin's line, not a Helios, which is their high level line. They do make a Helios TCS reel, which has blue accents to match the TCS rods, while the regular Helios has green accents to match the Helios rods.

The next higher light weight frame reel is going to be the Exsence at 7.1 for the 3000 or the Stella 2500 at 7.2. The CI4+ is still lighter than both, though at 6.7. I personally appreciate that lighter weight. Mine are on either a Avid AVS63MLXF or AVS63MXF. I have two copies of each, I like the rigs so much.

Not even a day old....

Also consider retrieve rate. When a smallie shoots straight up from 30 FOW, you want to be able to keep up. I like the Stradic CI4 line. I have four, 3x2500, and a 3000.

By "dodging" it, that also means temps in the teens. It has been a very cold March.

For me, size mostly a matter of depth. A heavier bait will run a deeper at the same speed.

It's totally dictated by cover.

Well, we do get nailed by lake effect much more than down state.

It just varies by brand. Each should have specs listed on the box or their website.

I used my buddy, @Maico1's reel. I'll defer to him, as he has a ton of experience with them. It was basically, here try and backlash this, as he let me use it.

Places like Overton's will send you a swatch card for free with all their colors.

Get the power pedestal. You'll thank me later. It's worth the extra ten minutes of install time.

Adjust for the bait, and let it fly. I can't help but to stop the spool as the bait touches down.

If you fish calm, shallower water then the 42" will likely do fine for you. That is the standard length. The 52" is for taller boats, or for fishing deep, wavy water. I had both for my Bullet. It was a pain fishing shallow because I had to keep the head so high for the prop to clear the shallows.

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Spoons and inline spinners work well, too.

I've been popping all kinds of plastics on a jighead since my grandfather taught me how to rig what he called a "jigworm." This was before I knew anything about a Texas Rig. They work. The shaky head hooks are nice with thicker body baits because of the bigger hooks and the bait holder. Just because they were designed to be rigged weedless doesn't mean you have to use them that way.

I rig them like this on a light Bite Me shaky head jig. The hook is plenty big enough.