burleytog

Hunting buddy. We went on a catfishing trip and I was looking at his boat when we got back. His nephew told me that I should buy it, so I asked how much? I thought about it for a month, then bought it. Had it out on the water Saturday, took me quite a while to figure out where I needed the motor in order to keep the bow from flopping up and down. Finally got it figured out and ran about 10 miles that day. Went out with a friend to an electric-only lake yesterday, fished about 4 hours, no bites, so we took out and headed down to the big lake. Ran about 12 miles or so yesterday. Motor runs good.

I'd need a new seat, underwear, and a water hose if I was running like that.

It lists for $12,295 with a 50 4 stroke. I don't know if 2 strokes run a little higher in price than 4's or not.

I think Bass Pro is running the Tracker Pro Team 170TX for around $10,900 with a 50 HP Mercury 2 stroke. Or at least the last two advertisements I've gotten from them have said that.

I found a con to MG this evening when installing my transducer. I think all of the MK motors I've seen have had the skeg far enough forward on the lower unit so as to allow one to place the transducer behind the skeg. My MG doesn't. So if I hit something or run my TM aground, could possibly trash the transducer.

Ben Stiller would be perfect in the role of Ike. ;D

I always have a ruler with me. Mainly because I take a silver metallic Sharpie and mark my rods every inch starting just ahead of the handle. I don't even own a scale, although I've been thinking about buying one.

This has probably been hashed and rehashed to death here. But I was wondering what makes you choose one or the other? I always liked the Minn Kota (never having used one). Tried the one on my friend's boat a couple of weeks ago and I didn't care for the on/off switch on the foot control. Seemed hard to keep the motor running. My new boat has a Motor Guide on it and I have to say I like the switch placement on their foot control a lot better. I do wish MG would get rid of the steel shaft (I know they make at least one model that has a composite shaft). I guess each brand has their pro's and con's.

Sitting here watching an old (prob. made around 86 or 87) episode of Martin's show. Funny to see a pro fisherman fishing out of an aluminum Bass Tracker. Anywho, I wish they still made those old square sunglasses. I've looked everywhere for the last several years without success. I remember two of my uncles had those glasses and I loved the way they looked and felt. Anyone know of any places that still sell these? Not listed on his website, so I'm probably out of luck.

The call of nature and the need for sleep. Fishing in the mornings after work sucks when it comes to spending a lot of time on the water.

Chlorox (or any chlorine based product) will do a good job of disinfecting the livewell. Just make sure to rinse it well as it does deplete oxygen (and in high enough concentrations, will kill fish). Just off the top of my head, I would recommend using some dish detergent (Dawn, Joy, etc.) to scrub everything down with, then throw in about 1/2 cup of bleach, rinse well.

Decided on the Eagle 320. Should be here today. Hope I'll be able to get it mounted before Saturday. Mounting the 320 on the TM and going to mount my PMax10 at the console once I get a mounting bracket from Humminbird next week.

If I may interject with a suggestion.... I would go with a portable finder like the Humminbird PirahnaMax10 or the Eagle 168 portable. Comes with a suction cup transducer, runs off AA batteries. Easy to take in and out of the boat. The difference between the 128 and 168 is the amount of resolution.

Tell me about it, I've already got at least three trips, maybe four, in the works for the next week. Thankfully (for my wallet), two of those are to electric only lakes.

And be sure it has a coast gaurd label on it, they are required by law in all (I think) states. I wouldn't worry about a bilge unless you have a sub floor in the boat (or it just leaks a lot) then it will be required, as will a fire extinguisher... which may be required in your state anyway if you have a gas tank. One other thing... in Taxas, if you were born after a certain date (I believe 1974) you have to take a boater's safety course offered by the coast gaurd to legally operate a boat on public water. Check your state's DNR for a list of requirements for you and the boat.... all that info will be online. I think only states who's boating regs mirror the USCG's boating regs require a throwable PFD. VA only recently (last 3 or 4 years) did that. I know quite a few people who got a ticket for not having one in their boat. In VA you are required to have a Type I, II, III, V for each person, as well as one throwable floation device. Here is a link to Arizona's boating regs. Be sure to read them and know them. http://www.gf.state.az.us/outdoor_recreation/boating_rules.shtml According to the info there, if a boat is less than 16' in AZ, you are not required to have a throwable PFD. Even so, it is a good idea to have one.

Throwable PFD (cushion type)

Forget about running the motor onsite, you need to take it out on a lake for a couple of hours.

Here's one of the photos my wife took last week. The guy had cleaned it up pretty well, but it still needs a good scrubbing and wax job.

Last two digits of the hull ID number denotes model year.

20 ton tree Oh yeah, almost forgot about another. Growing up, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents in central WV. They lived on a hill about 25 yards off the road in an old coal camp. I would often stand on the porch and cast an old hookless plug over a telephone line and retrieve it. The things we do as children, eh? So one day I have no plug, so I'm throwing a 3/4 oz. bell sinker. I think the rig was an old Zebco spincast reel & rod. So I get brave and start throwing the sinker into the road. Note that the road is about 30' below me. See where this is going? ;D I'm not really paying attention to the traffic and sling the sinker out. At that exact moment, a fully loaded tandem coal truck went by. Yep, I snagged a 60 ton coal truck. Spooled the reel and almost broke off the spool. I didn't do that anymore. ;D

That boat is virtually identical to my Fisher. What model year is it? Mine is a 78. As for decking the boat, I would recommend 1/2" or 3/4" CDX or marine plywood. One sheet should almost fill your needs.

I don't know about the maximizer, but I've been on the water for 8 or 9 hours, windy conditions, with my 30 lb. thrust TM. Battery was depleted to 72% capacity. That is with a light boat and load. I'm doubt I'll be able to get the same performance out of my new boat and motor (also 30 lb. thrust).

As long as you can get the JB's Weld to adhere to the aluminum, you should be fine. Keep an eye on it though, as I've seen the stuff just lose it's stick and fall right off. As for the seats bolted to the hull, get some good underwater sealant and seal both sides.

Bilge pump is pretty new. I'd say 5 or 6 years old. When I do replace it, it will be with an auto pump.

Launched it solo for the first time this morning at 0:Dark30. Pitch black ramp, ended up using (and draining) a 1 million CP spotlight to light up the way (had to unplug the trailer lights as I haven't gotten a chance to move the LED tailights from my other trailer to this one). Fished it for 4 hours, it is certainly different than fishing out of my old jon. Took a while to get used to using a foot control TM (did it for the first time just last week on a friend's boat). Loading was a helluva lot easier today than it was last week on the test drive. After fishing it for a while this morning, I know I'm going to have to have new seats. They still look decent, but the padding is shot.