Live.2.Fish

WOW Great Work!

No slam here. I think I have just about the same boat as you. mine is a '83 17ft tournament tx with a 50hp. I also paid cash and I would NOT trade her for the world. Great boat! Also as far as gas goes, I barely have to fill the 6 gal tank. Seems like to last forever.

That is a very interesting theory. I might have to give it a shot.

I would have to agree. I have a '83 17ft Basstracker with a 50hp merc. It does ok on the power, but I definately would NOT go anything less than that. 75hp would be ideal but I guess I will just have to deal with the 50hp for now.

You would be able to get by with just about anything 30lb or over. I would reccommend getting the biggest 12 volt that you can afford (50lb+ would be ideal). You won't regret it later.

Posted by: basser89 This is really weird that this topic came up. I was fishing less than a week ago and the same exact thing happened to me. Caught a fish on a buzzbait and then it came off. Reeled it in a sure enough, no trailer hook. I used the method of putting the trailer hook on first and then putting the tubing on after to let it move freely. Well, it still managed to come off. I guess it like the 1 in 1000 odds type situation i've been told. That is why I thought it was weird when another member had the same problem. Just thought I would share my story, too.

Yes there is no doubt that you can get some great deals at the end of the boating season up north. I bought a 17ft Basstracker with a 50hp merc /trailer last year for $2,300. Granted it an '83 but ablsolutely love that thing. The guy I bought it from totally re-did the deck on the front and back of the boat. New carpet, bigger front deck, etc... And I don't have to make monthly payments on it! That is the best part about it. I bought mine on ebay. Its a great place to look and compare.

I'm From Northeast Nebraska. I have lived here all my life. I mainly fish sandpits that are about 20acres. They hold pretty good size largemouth bass (2-6lb) and really good numbers. I did get to fish West Lake Okoboji (northwest Iowa) this spring and had great sucess! I fish out of a lot of different boats: My Parents have 2 pontoon boat that we fish out of. One is a 15ft and the other one is a 12'x22' fishing/party deck that can hold about 18 ppl and fish 7 of them easily. This year I bought my own boat: its a 17ft Basstracker with a 50hp merc with 30lb foot controled trolling motor and Garmin electronics.

17' Bass Tracker with a custom front deck and a 50hp merc.

We have E85 (85% Ethenol / 15% Gas) here in Nebraska. I wonder what that would do to my outboard? :-? Scary thought because in that article it said that 25 hrs of light use with E20 would cause problems. I would not like to see the bill from the repair shop with my brand new motor!

Gans Lake (j/k its a 15 acre lake by my house) El Salto for me too! ;D

Posted by: ben23 Posted on: Yesterday at 5:56pm Going to college "free" through basketball doesn't sound like a bad idea. I too went that route. I played college basketball and was given a free ride. But there are many drawbacks to getting a "free" ride. 1. College is a LOT different than high school ball. You are pretty much just a number when your there. Since you were given the scholarship that means that you were the best in your school/area. That means everyone in college was the all-star in their school/area. 2. You WILL put in many hours (4-8 each day) devoted to just basketball stuff, i.e. watching film, bb practice, weights, conditioning. Don't forget homework that is usually done with the team as well for about 2 hrs per night. 3. It's almost impossible to have a job while in athletics. (self explainitory) 4. When the season actually starts, road trips are the norm. Get used to teaching yourself due to missing a lot of class. It seems like you live on the bus/plane. I was in college sports for the wrong reason, MONEY. I thought by taking the scholarship, I would be going to school for free. It would have been a better to get a job and work those hours and get paid (money) for them. If you think about the time you put into sports it will never pay well. Almost better off getting a job during school. IMO, this is all true unless you get a full ride to a Division I school where a degree is worth about $30k-$80k,and (don't take this the wrong way) by the sound of it, your not getting recruited by a D-1 school. If you were you would be getting about 30 letters per week minimum. All i'm saying is that don't go into it thinking that your saving tons of money by playing basketball. Get a job make, lots of money and still go to school, and have time to fish. Just my $.02

Bassguy, The kl 120 is not a bad boat. My uncle has one and it works pretty well for smaller lakes. I like it because it has the "feel" of a bigger bass boat (i.e. storage, livewells). But a major draw back is that it is plastic. Sure, if you take great care of it will last a long time (7-10yrs max?), but what I have experienced is that aluminium jon boats stand the test of time. I have a 12ft jon at our 10 acre sand pit and its over 45 yrs old. We drag it accross rocks and sand into the water and beat it. It stays uncovered outside year round (in Nebraska, cold and snowy winters) That thing is a tank! I know that Low_budget_hookers has a jon boat that is in the 1960's or something. The seem to last a long time and hold their value. So my $.02 is that you should wait for a jon boat in the classifieds and buy one that way. Try and get a 14ft one if you can, you can always use the extra room. Keep us posted on what you decided.

Posted by: DELee36 Posted on: Today at 7:49am Was that because you go so mad at it because it wouldn't work right or did it just go in by accident? :-? I know that if something was working right (especially tech. stuff) its going in the lake!

Welcome to the best bass site on the planet!!! Be prepared to become a better angler, But I would suggest staying away from the Bait Monkey, He can be down right vicious & relentless

I have a '82 bass tracker tournament tx 17'. I absolutely love it. Although i will agree that it is kinda a wet ride when its just me. I have no complaints except that I need a bigger tolling motor on it. But i'm working on that

Thanks for all the input. That is probably what i'm going to go with.

When I got my first boat 2 years ago I never unplugged my lights and after two different times that both my taillights went out someone told me to unplug my lights and I won't have anyproblems with lights burning out. Sure enough I have always unplugged my lights and I have never have any bulb problems since. I have and probably will always unplug them now on. Just paranoid I guess.

Has anyone ever purchased a reconditioned trolling motor from Minn Kota? I came acrossed them at cabelas and it looks like you can save a lot of money going that route. They still come with a 1 year warranty. Just wonding if anyone has one and what they think about it.

2004 Ford F-150 5.4l with tow package.

With shutting the lights off of a Chevy, I was once told that the "dome override" switch next to the headlight switch will shut them off. Just have to push it in and out five or six times. This is just what I have heard. As I am also a Ford man.

Thanks for the great response! That really cleared things up for me!

What does everybody run when come to fuel that you run in your boats? I only use 87 unleaded. I have heard that if you run premium (i.e. 91 octane) it can actually hurt the motor by gumming up the plugs and other things. I always though it would be better to use premium. I am just wondering what your experiences are with using premium gas. Also does it add any power or is it just an extra waste of money?

Logger, I too have recently purchased my bass boat on ebay. I my experience with it has been nothing but A+! Drove 16hrs round trip in one day to go and get it. I had e-mailed the seller a lot before bidding to make sure everything was as decribed and nothing was left out. Worked out great for me and a very easy was to shop for a new boat!

Thanks for the help. I will have to give that a shot when I go out next.