fishn bear

I use one from stingray and its great. Its made my boat into a whole new boat. It help me the most in rough water. Made it ride so much smoother. It didnt slow the boat down at all. I think it if any thing may have gave me a little more speed just because in rougher water I can trim it a little higher and not get beat to death. If you are happy with your boat may not need one but if you are looking for some help getting out of the whole or in rough water its well worth a try I think. O yeah I running it on a 17' procraft with a 140 johnson. not all that light of a boat.

With gas price going up very day I have been fishing a lot more close to my house in my jon boat and not make the loner trips and running my bass boat. In my jon I am running a 12v trolling motor and only have room for 1 battery. Any suggestions on a battery that will hold up to an all day fishin trip. Im running a cheap walmart battey right now and it just want last all day.

I have an 8hp honda on a 14' jon boat that with two guys 180-200 lbs each it will plan but thats about it. But it will get me anywere I want to go. I would look for a 2 stroke for two reasons. One it will be a lot lighter and two it is easy to change the jets in the carb to make it a 15hp.

If they are using there boat in both salt and fresh water then they will use a hand operated motor because salt water does a number on the cables in a foot operated. I have always hard that Bill Dance uses a hand operated motor because when foot operated trolling motors first came out he had the cables in his break in a big tourney and he never used one again.

Thanks for the tips! I am look for a web site for the water level/flows. If I find one Ill post a link.

Those are some nice smallies!! I have been planning to take a trip up to the new for about 6 mouths now just waiting for the weather to warm up a little. Do you have any problems running a boat it a small outboard on that part of the new. I have read that parts of the river you can only fish from a canoe or raft. I have a 14' jon with a little 8hp on it I was thinking of fishing from.

Here in North Carolina gas in running about $3.10-$3.20 a gallon. Not quite as high but still to the point of starting to put a hurtn on how much and were I fish as well. Im not running a big bass boat by no means an old 17' procraft with a 140 johnson on her but still cant afford to fill her up and just run up and down the lake all weekend. When gas does get to $4 a gallon Im thinking I will have to park my bass boat and go back to my Jon boat to be able to afford to fish. > but that might not be a bad thing I have cought a lot more fish out of my old Jon than my bass boat anyway. I think we will start to see of the boat manufactors change the new models they come out with in the next few years to become smaller and something that can run well with much smaller motors.

Great job on the deck so far!! Its looking good. I am also working on the same project with a trolling motor mount on my jon boat. I have decided to make mine out of aluminum and rivet it to the boat. Although I am having a lot of help from a good friend on mine who is a fabricator for a nascar team so he really knows what he is doing. That always helps. ;D But im "he" is making it out of .125 gage aluminum bent and formed to the size needed. Ill post pics as soon as its done. Maybe that will give you some ideas. I have also seen them made out of 2x4s and just plywood boxes cut to fit. All will work I just like the look of the aluminum and the idea that once I get it right it want rot out on me.

I think there was a good post a while back about 2 vs 4 strokes. Might be worth looking for, but I also have a boat set up something like yours. I am running a 97 8hp honda and love it. Now I got it at a great deal so that help in my deciding to go with a four stroke. If you are looking for "speed" the two stroke will be the way to go because it will be a good bit lighter. I like my four stroke because its quiet and I dont have to worry with mixing gas and oil. Yes you can play with the carb on a 9.9 and make it a 15hp however if you get a new motor that may void the warranty, so I would ask before I did it. As far as the EPA and regs on 2 strokes I dont know I have hurd that as well but dont know if there is any truth to it or when that will take place.

First let me say that I think alumacraft makes a great jon boat. Although I do not own one myself. As for your size of boat that depends on your buget and what size motor you want to run. Get the biggest boat and motor you can afford as well as dont be cheap on the trailer. Im on my third jon boat now and have learned that if you plan to pull the boat much a good trailer makes a world of differance. I have had good luck with riveted boats but I do think in the long run a welded boat would be the way to go again if it fits your buget. Like jigman said a v-hull rides better and a flat bottom will fish better. I have had both and have now met in the middle and have a semi-V. I think that is the way to go. You can get the best of both worlds. But a semi-v will cost about 10% more than a flatbottom will. The size and weather you go welded or riveted will determine the price. I know here in my area you can get a new 1436 with a trailer for around $1250 plus tax,tag, and all that good stuff. However if you look around you can find some good deals on used jons. Here is a good website to look at prices and get ideas for how to set your up. http://www.akmccallumco.com/ they are in Fayettville, NC might be a ride from were you are but good place to get some ideas of whats out there and what it will cost.

Its a great day in my book anytime you can get them to come up and get a top water. You are right I think that is one of the biggest rushes in fishing is when you know you have found there feeding pattern and can catch un all day long on it.

I recently bought a new crappie style jon boat. Its a waco c-14 and makes a great little poor mans bass boat. The only complaint I have with the boat and its a very small one is that I can get the drain plug to complete seal. I have got it as tight as it will go and still be able to get it in the hole. Its not a major leak by know means. I will have about a 1/2 a coffee cup full of water in the boat after about 6 or 7 hours on the lake. Any tips on stopping this little leak. Thanks for the help....

WOW....you title says it all that is an Epic story with get pics to back it up. I love the worm in the pic that a true Hawg size biat

I bought my first by doing the same thing team_Dougherty did by putting money into an account were I couldnt spend it and putting away every penny I could and it didnt take long. My first boat was a 12' v-hull with an 8hp honda motor and trailer. I pulled it with a little ranger and took it anywere I wanted to fish. I fished some big water with that boat. Fished lake norman just out side of charlotte nc with no problem. Just have to watch the weather and other boaters. Like several have said make sure to no your budget and stay with in it. About 2 mouths ago I sold my little 12' v-hull and upgraded to a 14.5' crappie style jon boat. So far its a great boat and Im having as much fun adding little thing to it along as I am fishing out of it. Biggest thing is just know what you can afford and stay with in that. My dad once gave me some great advice about boats "a fish doesnt know the difference between a $50k ranger bass boat and a $200 jon boat"

WOW!!! Those are the days you dream about. Nice Fish any idea how long she was.

For the tip of lakes you fish with lots of stumps and logs I would say aluminum. Aluminum will stand up better in those tips of conditions and will not show ware and tare nearly as much as a glass boat will. Performance wise there are some aluminums out there that will run with any glass boat of equal size and power. I have herd nothing but great things about xpress boats althouht I have never fished out of one. I would say look for a used xpress although at least in my area they are hard to find. Triton also makes a good aluminum and has the same hull design as an xpress and might be easier to find used. Good luck with the hunt and let us know what you go with.

Finally got to get out and do some fishing. With finishing college and starting a new job haven't had time to fish much. Fishing the fare upper end of lake norman saturday from 2pm till dark. Got on a good spinner bait bite ended up catching 11 keeper size bass biggest was a little over 3lbs and a 8.5lbs blue cat I have hurd of people catching cats on spinnerbait but had never done it before. If I can get my camera and my computer to talk to each other I will try and post pics.

Triton_Mike, I looked at the same boat with a 48" bottom the other day. No dout the wider bottom would be more stable. The only thing is I already have a small 8hp motor that im wanting to use on the boat and i dont know if it would be enough motor to push that size boat? Good to konw that someone has had the same boat and like it though.

Do any of y'all have a 1436 jon boat with a front deck on it? How stable is it? does it make a good bass rig? I am looking at a weld-craft 1436 all welded boat that already has the front deck welded in. Looks like a good rig but dont know about how stable it would be. :-/ It has a 36" floor and a 59" beam with 18" deep sides.

I to do a lot of river fishin with some shallow rocky places to run through. As said above best not to run your best prop and always have a spare and tools just to be safe. Seen this at bass pro and think it might work well. http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=20945&hvarDept=200&hvarEvent=&hvarClassCode=2&hvarSubCode=7&hvarTarget=browse Dont know how it would effect the top end of the boat though?

Great Job Fish Chris!!!! I really like what you have done, good looking rig.

Here are a couple of boats im looking at. They are the weight that im looking for and i think my 8hp will push this size boat well. The weld-craft already has a front deck in it. http://www.akmccallumco.com/weldcraft.htm But i dont know how stable it would be? :-/ The other boat im looking at is a 1436 alumacraft that a local dealer has made in to what they call a minor league fisherman. http://www.akmccallumco.com/pan-bass.htm I know that a larger boat would be more stable but would be more than i could get in and out of the river. Which boat would you choose or do you have anyother ideas?

I have resently took too spending almost all of my fishing time on a smaller river for bass and musky. Currently, I have a small 12' v-hull with an 8hp motor but have found that the v-hull is not the best for the sallow water and getting in and out of the river. The river does have a few boat ramps but they are not much so you end up pushing and pulling the boat in and out a lot. So i want to set up a 14' jon boat to bass fish out of but still be light enough to get in and out of the river. Any ideas or advise?

I think ethier boat would go well with your motor. It will plain ethier boat as long as you dont loud it down to much with tons of gear or people. As far as which boat to choose I would go with the weld craft because it has a little heavier aluminum and is all welded. I also like that it has the front deck already build in. That nice and the only company I know of that dose that in a boat this size. However, if you plan to fish larger lakes with more boat traffice the flat bottom may not be the way to go. You could always build a front deck on the lowe later on if you wanted. A lot of the guys on this site have done that to their jon boats and can give you a lot of pointer and ideas on how to do it.

I am looking into buying an alumacraft 1436 jon boat later this spring. I cant decide on a trailer to put it on. I will be pulling the boat a good bit but for the most part not on any long trips. How important to ya'll think a trailer for a jon boat is? Is it worth a little more money to get a better trailer for the boat? Anyone know of a good jon boat trailer that this boat will fit well on?