STK001

Sorry guys, I've been away today. I appreciate all of the input. The boat is 18'6 with a 150 Optimax. I haven't added any weight to it in the back so that's not the issue. The prop is a Merc prop but don't remember which one, does Laser II or III sound right? I haven't looked at it that closely really. I don't know what plugs you guys are talking about....can you enlighten me there? The thing that sucks if I have to go back to the dealer is they are 5 hours from here...not just a quick deal you know...would any Triton/Mercury dealer switch it out?

I hope he apologized for the wait at least. I would have asked him to move it after about 5 minutes of waiting...it's not like he has some heavy rig that takes any effort to move out of the way. Interfering? I hate people that just feel entitled like that! After ten minutes I would have moved it myself....

Hey guys, I hope you can help me here. I used the livewell in my Triton for the first time last night and I got a surprise when I tried to take off....no hole shot! It just dug in with the nose in the air. So I figured it must be the weight. I let the water out of it down to about a third full and it took off just fine. Is this typical? I wouldn't think I would have tournament grade livewells only to be able to barely fill them up. Any ideas? Thanks in advance! Stuart

Those poor Dancin' Eels take a pounding..mostly from people I will admit to owning one and have to say it does look pretty darned good in the water! Never caught a fish on it but never took the time either. I would like to hear of someone loading the boat with it though! I did see it on a show once (other than Bill Dance AND they weren't plugging the thing shamelessly) and they did catch a lot of bass.....hmmmm. Verdict is still out. Good luck!

I sometimes spend an hour on a fish if I have to but I start off and finish by hitting that fish every single time until it can't stand it anymore. Eventually you will get bit, just be ready. I've caught a lot of bed fish with a Mattlures Ultimate Bluegill and the Crappie....they don't like this bait one bit! Good luck. Storm makes a few small, inexpensive swimbaits that work well also.

The Ranger does sound like a nice boat and it's a great boat for a first time owner. Just have the outboard checked out before you decide to stroke a check. If it checks out I say go for it. The other place to look is boattrader.com. There are several nice boats on there for the price range you're looking in. Just go on and refine your search to bass boats, zip code, and price range. Depends on how far you'd travel also. Good luck! Enjoy your boat!

I guess you if you read enough you'll find that every boat and every car out there is the worst in the world and , oh yeah, the best! Opinions are what they are. I have seen a lot of the pros and cons about Triton and so far mine has been great. I agree with the one thing all Triton owners have mentioned about learning to drive the boat. Other than that I haven't had any complaints about my 08' 18X2. I love it! It's a great fishing platform and performs wonderfully! My only concern in your case is the work on the outboard. I would be cautious there and reluctant to spend my money on a nice boat like that only to potentially have problems that not only ruin fishing trips but get into your wallet. As much as I've looked at boats I know there are enough of nice ones out there that haven't been worked on to that extent and one's you can be proud and confident to own. Of course, that's my opinion. Good luck with your new boat and enjoy it. I had a Champion too, I loved that boat! I didn't love the Johnson GT150 on the back but loved the boat...handled rough water better than most.

You could be right ..I bought the pop'n image the other day and noticed it was heddon....I didn't expect it to be but I didn't know I'd be buying one until that moment either...looked good anyway. We'll see what happens! The Fat Free shads look nice under bomber but I would like to see some better colors..I wonder why they would change it up if what they had was working well. It seems that happens with a lot of great products though doesn't it. I love the Megabait Yabby which catches the heck out of fish and it's now disco'd while River 2 Sea makes one that is very similar and looks great but is a bit small I'm buying some anyway, might pan out.

I didn't own any of the Excalibur's but I think the one's I have are pretty good looking and well made baits. What happened with Excalibur? Here's another question, is there a crankbait that someone would recommend that would cover moderate , even shallow, to say 20 feet or so? One crank I can throw on and work all of those depths..would the Fat Free Shad work or even the DD22? If I'm cranking it pretty shallow wouldn't the deep runner get down in there and tear the bottom up or bang the heck out of the rocks in say 6-8 feet? That's a good thing right?

I have several of the SPRO BBZ's and I know what you're talking about. Mine are Slow Sink but when twitched or reeled at a faster pace they do tend to head to the surface and can be kept there fairly easily. They are considered swimbaits and not technically wakebaits like the Jackall Mikey or new Strike King Wake Shad. The Sebile is also considered as a hard swimbait and can also be worked at the surface with a faster motion or retrieve. I can't speak for the Tru-Tungsten because I don't own any but I have to imagine that it too has similar characteristics in that slow sink fall rate. I have heard pro's and con's about that bait but it does look great. I can say from experience that the BBZ is my favorite of all of the swimbaits in that size range. It looks fantastic and catches fish, works for me! Good luck.

My 08' Triton 18X2 with the 150 Optimax, love it so far!

Thanks I'll try those! Yeah, I have the David Fritts American Rodsmiths 7'6 composite rod and the slowwwwest Fritts crankin reel with Yozuri Hybrid on it....I like it so far. Still haven't caught any crankbait fish on it but I like it I have a couple of the Fat Free Shad's and I like them(still no fish) but I like em'/ I will get some of the DT16's...they do look sharp. Thanks, I won't give up on cranking just yet

I've fished out of a Tracker a long time ago, the 175 and I liked it quite a bit. I really enjoyed the deck space and the room to move around especially at night. It's a solid boat. I've never owned one so I can't say how happy I'd be as an owner. I had a Champion years back and I now own a Triton 18X2. I can say that I didn't even consider a Tracker in my choices of what I should buy. In my opinion I would buy the Triton if the money is close on both. Certainly don't put yourself in a position where you're paying more for your boat than what you are comfortable with. Having a boat should be something you can enjoy and afford to do without worrying each month. Either boat will be a pleasure for you I'm sure. I've loved the Triton so far! Enjoy your boat!

I saw the Poes Cedars on sale at Sportsmans but didn't buy one..had my hand on it because it looked great..I'll look at the Muscle Deep. I've never really had an success cranking and it's probably because I haven't spent any real time doing it. I want to be good at it! What should I do to try to gain some confidence? I've cranked on rock and timber like I've read about and it bangs the crap out of the structure..still no takers! I grab a spinnerbait and bang....fish! I'll check out the Muscle Deep too. I have some DD22's which I like but still, no fish.

you dont have to keep plastic in a jar,plastic does not dry up on your hook if you leave it layin out, pork trailors are only available in a few shapes, sizes and colors, plastics are available in hundreds of shapes, sizes and colors...plastics are cheaper... plastics are alot cleaner and easier to deal with...pork is better in some situations i suppose, but i have never found myself in a situation that i only had plastic and was wishing i had some pork... just my opinion though...by all means if you catch bass on it and you dont mind the hassel...use it.. I suppose I have used it for so long that I don't see the hassel though it is annoying to start catching fish like I did on Sunday on a spinnerbait and forget that the jig and pig are just laying there for an hour..by then the pork is crisp, time to throw it out...that sucks. So you do think that plastic produces just as well? I swear the action of the pork has gotten me strikes and caught me some monster fish. I am going to try it. I do own some chigger craws and craw papi's...I'll get some of those paca's...keep hearing that name. Thanks. Good luck to you guys! I'd love to get out this week but the Eiltes are in town for the Blue Ridge Brawl..if anyone is close to Smith Mountain you should come to the weigh in's!

No one that I've seen has recommended the Uncle Josh #11 trailer in black...this has been a producer for me. I can't understand why anyone would use plastic over pork...any good arguments for plastic that I'm not understanding? I see a lot of it being used so there must be. Enlighten me guys.

Guys, I'm no poor boy by any stretch but anyone saying $20 to $30 for a swimbait is one of the "cheaper" ones is either wealthy, sponsored, or spoiled...Hey, go and buy some of the Yum Money Minnows, the Megabait Charlie is excellent and it's under $10! I've caught a ton of bass with this bait and I own King Shads, Spro BBZ's, Jackall 180's and Ninja's...have some Huddleston's, Mattlure's, etc...I will say the baby mattlure's are reasonable..around 13 bucks...you can even get the first series of Mattlure's on ebay for around 16.. definitely a quality swimbait for that price. Good luck and don't spend a fortune when you don't need to. Go catch some fish and remember they don't care what you paid!

I can't answer the question about the gear ratio but I have been using the David Fritts cranking reel with the slow 4.7:1 ratio and I like it because it takes the worry out of "am I cranking too fast"..if I still think I am, I crank slower. This one is for Scott if he's reading this, what about the Manns 30+? I bought a few and man they're big! They seem ideal for Smith..opinions? Thanks guys!

I don't have an Explorer but I did look at one before I bought my X2. It's a nice boat(Explorer I'm speaking of), I can tell you that. I didn't really look at it all that closely but mainly it lacked upgraded bells and whistles. No lighted compartments or stainless locker pulls(plastic of some kind)..and maybe a few other (non-essentials) in my opinion. It was powered by an Optimax so no corners cut there. I got a great deal on my X2 and paid only 2.5K more for it so naturally I chose it. If you're worried about performance or fishability you can stop worrying, it's a great boat. Just compare prices and features before you make a decision, you may find a better deal out there and get more than you expected. Of course I don't know if you're talking new or used or what you're looking to spend. Good luck!

I get a little bit of that too...how did you get it corrected? I'm wondering if that's why I'm not getting a ton of speed out of mine...I'm getting about 52mph with two people and gear but I feel I should be getting more out of it. Of course it may be because of the break in period. I can't imagine that I'm even close to getting through it yet considering I've only had it out 4 times and haven't ran it that much..

Most of the Elite Tech's retail for around 180 to 200. I have the Elite Tech Target Spinnerbait rod and I absolutely love it. I got a great deal on it too. $100 for that rod sounds like a very good deal and furthermore I don't think you'll be disappointed in the performance at all. Go for it. If you aren't happy you can turn around and sell it for what you're giving for it with ease.

You're exactly right. I ended up calling Navionics and the guy told me how to go in and get it working correctly. Thanks for your help. You just got a new 18X2 as well huh. I love mine so far. Mine doesn't have the ProXS but I do have the 150 Optimax. I got a great deal on the boat down in South Carolina. It's white with black stripes..it's pretty darn sweet. I like yours too, nice looking rig man! I've been trying to get some pics on here but the ones I have are too large...I'll post em' when I'm able. Good fishing to you!

I have a Lowrance 520C on my Triton and I ended up buying the Hotmaps for my region...I'm in Virginia so I think it covers a few states, not exactly sure. However, no great detail comes up when I'm on Smith Mountain Lake...is there something other than inserting the card that I need to do or is this an older version without SML included...is there a version where Smith is on it? I understand it's supposed to show road bed's and other hidden structure.....Can someone enlighten me? I tell you I used to enjoy fishing so much when things were simpler! Now I just get overwhelmed and frustrated! Ha!

While we're sharing our funny mishaps I'll throw this one out for you guys to laugh at..bought my first boat back in 97', an 89 Champion with a Johnson 150GTV6. Nice boat...well my Dad and I went to pick it up and decided to go ahead and take it out since we were already at the lake...night fishing... Well, we get it launched and Dad pulls the truck WAY up the lot and parks it far from the dock. I noticed a considerable amount of water rushing into the floor of the boat...forgot the plug..screaming for Dad to hurry to run and get the truck..he gets it, we get in onto the trailer and as we pull it out of the lake the clutch in the truck burns up for the most part ...finally got all of the water out..decided we're fishing no matter what(second mistake) We get back in the water and take off without further incident....decide to come back after fishing for a few hours and the outboard won't start..nothing! After letting it sit for a bit we choke it and it does start. Great! Let's go. Get it back to the dock, get it on the truck and it pulls it out. We drive on to the house. Now the driveway is long and rather steep. We get it to the flat part of the driveway but the boat and trailer are still on the slant when we stop. Well, I get out of the truck and it starts to roll because I didn't put the brake on. Dad and I are trying to stop this from happening but of course we can't...well, the truck runs over dad's leg but this turns out to be a good thing (believe it or not) because it get's the truck and boat to turn enough to jackknife and turn into the yard coming to a stop. It bent the lip of the trailer of course. We had to call a tow truck to pull the boat out of the yard and onto level..safe ground. Needless to say, that's something I will not forget or repeat!! So far no problems with the new boat

Thanks for all of your responses guys, I appreciate it. I think the verdict is in, CXX is out. I am happy to hear that it's not just me or my equipment. My equipment is pretty darn good so I had ruled that out in the beginning....as for me, well I constantly question that Good fishing to all of you and be safe on the water!