(='_'=)

thanx!! the local lake i mostly fish is a 5-6 mile long, 400 yard wide lake, i unload the boat and begin fishing all the way to the dam, and then from there i come back... rarely do i ever go 3 times to the dam, so that would be 36 miles total.... when i find fish quickly, i dont even get to the dam... i will ask the owner about the year of the boat.... any more input?? EDIT: according to the owner, boat and motor are the same year... but i guess as somebody mentioned, its not the year, but the maintenance the otor received, what matters the most...

i keep my boat in my garage and even though i have a cat, i have never found evidence of the cat being in the boat.... maybe its because the stupid cat much rather sleep on the drivers seat of my topless jeep... so, i think the only solution would be to provide the cat with a better place to rest... besides... wont the cat prevent mice from coming in the boat and eating the electrical system?? i know i would prefer to remove cat´s hair from the deck, than rewire the boat..

well im guessing same as the boat, 1990...

hey, im trying to find info on this motor. is it reliable?? does it spends a lot of gas?? any issues i should be aware of?? i have the possibility of getting a 19´ boat with this 200 HP Mercury Black Max, so i want to make an informed decision... on my current 1977 Johnson, 85 HP, i can fish an entire day with about $20-$25... but this boat is very small, has mini casting decks, and wont allow me to go into bigger waters.... thats why im looking to upgrade...

well..... im about to make the desision, so i would like some more input on the Astro... does anybody here has one??how good/bad are them?? any special concerns or things i should note when i take her for a test ride?? and, whats the beam of the boat?? BTW i just noticed on the pics, the motor is a 200 HP Black Max... another thing to consider is i would be towing with an Xterra.... it currenty tows my small boat, a 77 King Fisher with an 85 HP, with no problems, but im guessing this 19´ boat would be considerably heavier...

i use one of these, one side has hooks in several sizes, the other side has the weights... http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_10051_12139_-1__?N=46883185+10001&Ntt=plano&Ntk=All

my thoughts exactly... my uncle has a fish and ski boat, and once, he lent it to another uncle who knows nothing about boats (dont ask me why he lent it)... anyways, on the way back, my other uncle left the 85 HP Johnson down... needless to say, after the 1/2 dirt road and 2 hour highway from the lake to the house, the transom needed some serious repair, it got cracked really bad from all the bouncing... after that i dont know how people even consider not using a transom SAVER....

when i began fishing, i began from a boat... i had never fished from the bank before... so, being in a boat, i wanted to cover as much water as fast as possible, thinking i would have more chances that way... we used to drift with the trolling motor along the shoreline, making casts at every piece of cover... of course, since i was moving fast, i could make one, maybe two casts per piece of cover, and i also missed some pieces because i was retrieving... we catched some bass this way, but then, we began noticing most of the other boats were fixed at one spot, sometimes even tied to the bank and making parallel casts to it... later, my local lake prohibited motor boats, so i began bank fishing... at first it was hard, as i wanted to walk along the shore and cast, pretty much as i did on the boat... later on, i realized it was better to completely cover a spot, so i would go to the bank and fish for 1/2 hour or so without moving... if i didnt get a fish, i would walk maybe 40 yards to the next spot, and repeat... now i have several spots identified when i almost always catch a fish... now, i took this same principle to the boat... it was hard to convince my partner, but now we drive to a spot, and completely cover it with casts... by doing this, we increased the number of fish, i would say we catch twice as much now than when we were always on the move... sometimes we even tie to the bank if the fishing is good there... this way we have been able to catch several fish out of the same spot, when before, we would get one and by the time we did the next cast, we would already be 20 or 30 yards away from the spot... im still learning, but i would say, fish as if you were in the bank, and see the boat as a vehicle to take you between bank spots instead of walking... thats mainly my approach, i fish as if i were on the bank, the advantage being that i can positiont the boat 5-10 yards off the bank and cast parallel to the shore, beginning right at the bank and each time casting a little bit farther from it until im casting completely parallel... this is how i have been doing it, but im also new at this so lets see what other people have to say...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA my thoughts exactly....

it looks nice but, doesnt it gets in the way too much?? for sending spinnerbaits under hanging branches i swing my rod as if i has hitting a baseball, i guess that mount wouldnt allow me to do that...

nice!!

thanx.... i now the 150 and 200 will usemore gas than my current 85... but they would also allow me to go to other waters with bigger bass.... besides, my 85 serves very good for fishing my local smaller lakes, but fishing season here goes from June 24 to March 10.... so from March to almost July i cannot fish, and i quickly found out the 85HP is not enough for siing or pulling a tub, and right now temperature is in the high 90s, so i would like to have aboat that i can use all year.... when i fixed the 85 i have, i guess i was lucky... its a 77 Johnson, which had been abandoned for about 5 years... after removing the spiderwebs from the inside, i took apart the throttle, cleaned everything, fixed some rods that were held with wire, and the thing started right away...the lwer unit ha to be replaced, and that was expensive, but other than that, i didnt spend mucho on the motor itself... i do most of the work so i would be spending almost exclusively on parts, but, you are correct, with something that old, be it a car or boat, im sure the initial investment is only part of the cost....

i found it. you can see pics of the process and the end result throughout the thread but specially on pages 7 and 9... http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/102050-my-restoration-thread/page-7

once i saw an equally expensive cast, when a man from another boat, i dont now if trying to impress us or something, tried to cast as far as he could.... but in the swing he hit the windshield with the handle (he was in some sort of cruise/ski boat), and he let go off the rod, which fell in the lake... goodbye to rod and reel... we past by them with the trolling motor as fast as i could, because i was trying hard not to laugh... maybe 1 hour later we came by the same spot, and they were still trying to fish for the rod, but according to my fish finder the depth there was around 30 feet...

we did it last year to our boat...it ended up costing maybe a little over $100, and i think the outcome was good enough for being the first time... the harder part was removing the old paint.... we even put small flake on the paint, you can do a search under "restoration" and it should come up.... unfortunately we didnt continue the restoration, we just painted and recarpeted the boat....

thanx!! well, sometimes i only put $20 on the boat, and that will last a full day on the 6 mile long lake, we dont move much when we find fish... so if the 200 would requiere $30, i think its a good tradeoff for a bigger boat, and i like knowing i can venture in the 45 mile lake easier and faster, as they say the best fishing is on the other end of the lake but i dont dare going there with my smaller boat...

thanx!! well, where i live, bass boats are not that common... remember im in Mexico, the lower unit of my 85HP Johnson i had to get it from the US... buying online in the US is not much of a problem for me... so, im pretty sure i will have a hard time getting spare parts for either motor or boat... now, about the difference in HP, how much more gas will the 200 consume againts the 150, at moderate speed (say 45 mph)?? is it significant?? with gas price going up every month, this is something i have to cnsider... however if the difference is not that much i would like to have the bigger motor for when i go to bigger lakes, twice a year maybe....

hey... im looking into purchasing a boat, and i have these two options right now (since they are the only local boats for sale): 1) 1989 Skeeter, 18 feet, 150 HP... has a cheap fishfinder, a hand controlled TM, up holstery and carpets look good (in pics). they are asking $4000 (my other post says 3300 but that was a mistake on my part) 2) 1991 Astro, 19 feet, 200 HP, has 2 fishfinders (dont know the brand or anything), foot controlled TM (dont know which one), and again, upholstery and carpets look good in pics... they are asking $4300... im thinking for $300 i should go with the bigger one, asuming both of the motors are in similar working conditions... however, i think i could lower the price of the Skeeter when i tell him for $300 i can get a bigger boat... maybe i could offer $3300 or so and see what he says... so, which one would be better?? i have not been able to find much information on the Astro... also, my local lake (the one 20 minutes from home) is really small, my current 85HP is more than enough... i fish about once a month in a bigger lake, but is also not that big, its only 6 miles long... and im trying to go at least twice a year to a big lake, 45 miles from end to end, and the ramp is located at one end... so there i could use the bigger motor, but im thinking 150 HP would be more than enough??? now, assuming the same moderate speed, would the 200 HP consume much more fuel than the 150 HP when fishing on the 2 smaller lakes?? i would like to have the bigger motor for when i fish big waters, but due to the fact that 90% of my fishing is in small lakes where i have been doing fine with 85 HP, im not sure if the 200 would be too big and a waste of money and fuel...

thanx TX, I would definitely have the motor tested properly... I have bought several used cars in the past, so I guess its more or less the same, the difference is that I have no idea of boats, the only bassboat I have ever seen is the one I have... browsing on a local sales page I found another prospect, a 1991 Astro, 19 feet, 200 HP Mercury... they are asking $4300 for this one, it only has one pic but it looks good, has 2 consoles (which I don't really like as im assuming it takes too much space), 2 fish finders (the one on the bow looks really small, I cant see the other one on the pic), trolling motor, the seats look to be in good condition, the add says its in excellent condition (as all adds do haha)... so what do you think?? maybe I could lower the price to about $4000 or so... for the lakes I locally fish, 200 HP is too much... it could be useful for skiing but I guess 150 HP is more than enough for that also.... however, I plan on going at least twice a year to a bigger lake where a big motor would be nice.... so besides the initial cost, how much more gas would the 200 HP burn against the 150 HP, assuming the same moderate speed??? my local lake is about 6 miles long, but very narrow and with a lot of curves, so you cannot really go very fast there....

well, there may have been 60,00 people killed in these past years... however, 95% of them, or more, are just drug dealers killing each other.... a more meaningful number would be how many innocent people got killed... except for bystanders that happen to be on the wrong place at the wrong time (IE a shooting in the street among gang members), not many innocent people got killed.... I live in Chihuahua, 3 hours south of what supposedly is one of the most dangerous cities in the world (Juarez, border with El Paso TX). and speaking about fishing, have you heard about Oviachic in Sonora?? my uncle just returned from there about a month ago, he went with another fisherman and a guy that didn't even know how to use a baitcaster, they fished for 3 days and he says they got more than 120 fish in the 4-7 pound range, so maybe not monsters but high numbers, and he says other boats reported 200+ fish in the same period of time...

than you Buck!! and triton, you are right, that would be a must no matter which boat it is... i just looked closer at the pic and it says SDI 125, but online i can only find SD 125 skeeters, and according to iboats, they are 17 feet and rated for 125 HP max...but the motor n this one says 150 HP,and the add says 18 feet... that got me wondering... also, the trolling motor is not pedal controlled, and the fish finder is a cheap Humminbird 525... so, i got some serious thinking to do...

thanx... we have alake 20 minutes from home so a test ride should not be difficult to make... fishing season starts in 2 months, so i wouldnt be able to fish out of it but i could definitely ride it and start/stop it several times... regarding the 150 HP Evinrude, is is a reliable motor?? any bad stories about it? i like doing most of the mechanical work myself, so a friendly and popular motor would be nice for when i need to ask for help over here....

thanx for your input!! the guy i co own the boat with is one of my best friends, in fact the boat is at my house and i use it much more than him, since he works mostly on weekends, so, even when we prefer to go fishing together, when he cant go i look for another partner and take the boat... but still, i would really like having my own boat, and i feel this is could be the right time, since im not married and have an above average job... because i know once i get married, my fishing budget will be greatly reduced.... so, how should i proceed with this one?? neither the add nor my friend told me anything about the trailer, so that would definitely be a point to consider...

hey.. i just found an add listing a 1989 skeeter,150 HP Evinrude motor, 18 feet, for $3300.... the pics show a trolling motor and an older fish finder, but the listing des not includes specs... also, the boat looks clean, at least on the pics, the seats dont look thorn or anything... i told about the boat to a friend, and he told me he actually had seen the add a couple months ago and went to check it out.. he didnt drove it but says it looks nice... it also has power trim, and according to the add,the boat starts very fast.... so, is $3300 about right?? currently i co-own an old 1977 King Fisher with an 85 HP motor... a friend and i began rebuilding it, painted it, upholstered, recarpeted, as well as fixed the motor... it serves our purpose for now, but, im not the only owner, and even though i can use the boat at my will, its not the same... so what do you think??

when i read the note, i wondered... how does somebody attempts to jump a waterfall on a bassboat?? anyone have pics or a video of that??