MacP

I wire up a 12v cigarette lighter - it's a lot cheaper and easier in the long run to have proper corded lights opposed to the Marine LEDs.

Nice one. I foul hooked a 28" stripe last year in my Hobie. It turned me around fully 3 times before I landed it. I never saw it until it was near the kayak. I thought I had a HUGE brown trout. NOPE. There was a couple fishing from a canoe about 20 yards from me they thought I was hilarious cussin' up a storm about the dang stripe I caught. I thought for sure it was a trout! What made me even more mad was I dropped a rod in the water right after that fish. Had to go swimmin' in the tailwater. COLD!

Thanks so much! I'm hoping to have enough money to get a new trolling motor at the same time. I've got a 15 year old MG 43lb thrust that's just mediocre - doesn't pull the boat around very fast.

Thanks for the help, Wayne. I got a Ram Mount, Extra Ball, Power Cord and TM Transducer. I should have it all this week. Oh, and I got a Transducer Plate to mount it too - cleaning up the old holes as well. Next question is where should I mount the Transducer? My boat is getting some more TLC done, otherwise I'd take it's picture. My boat is identical to this save I've got a beige boat and white motor. The current trandsucer location is the same where this guy had his. To the right of the motor roughly 17" between the strakes. Does this look correct?

^^^ What he said. Just because it can, doesn't mean it should!

Lots of people around here like them really well. I picked up one of their new ghost rods, and while light, the guids are terrible. I'm not a micro guide fisher. Castaway's new rods are what impress me most.

Uh, No. They make pretty decent rods. All of Pure's stuff is fine. At over $100 bucks, I'd be looking at St. Croix Premier or Mojo, Shimano's offerings, Okuma's offerings, ***'s ***. Personally, I'd buy whatever has the best warranty locally. I can get over the counter warranty on Shimano and Okuma. Guess which rods I have the most of?

I think my boat is due for a new trolling motor. Thanks for the comments everyone. FWIW my 98 Sea Ark has the original 45lb thrust motor on it. Only thing that ever broke was the plug and that was from stepping on it while plugged in. I'll probably go with Minn Kota just to give them a go. I need a 65lb thrust. Won't like having to buy two new batteries, but I think it's time.

Look for a 80s or 90s Evinrude Johnson. They are your best bet. (I seem to give this advice often)

I have a 98 Johnson 115 SPL. I've never heard any bad things about 80-90s Evinrude/Johnsons.

I made one a last year sometime. I like it.

They are my go to for bigger baits. They've got most everything. Great prices too.

My SeaArk ZX180 weighs 950ish dry hull weight - with gear inside, nearly full tank of gas and my 2 Stroke 115, I get low 50s. Biggest thing though is the economical cruising speed. I can cruise at low to mid 30s and run all day on 7-8 gallons. I'd guess a 90 would use plenty more gas and go a little slower.

Buy a used Evinrude/Johnson. From Late 80s Early to Mid 90s. They are bulletproof. Get a 9.9HP. If you feel limited on it's speed, you can add a 15HP carburetor making it a 15HP. It's really simple.

Check out Sea Arks too! I like Alumacraft though. Quality boats.

I don't fish anything but the minnow and shad scatter rap. I had no luck with the crank. I don't fish countdowns, so yeah.

Trick and Finesse worms. I use Roboworms sometimes too, but they are gone sometimes before a fish even gets to them!

That's worlds difference in price.

Thanks Wayne. That's what I'm going to do. Transducer at Amazon for 120, PC11 for 15, Mount for another 15. So, for $150 I can have it up front. I thought the cost would be greater. How low speed will the SI and Down Scan work. I was under the impression you'd have to be moving for them to work properly.

I sold my smaller boat last weekend and I'm going to use that money to spruce up my other boat. I found, on a local website, a Hummingbird 598ci HD SI for $350. It was out of the box, but never used. It's brand new. I'm stoked to get such a nice graph! I'm planning on putting this unit at the console as I don't see much use for the SI at the bow. I wish I had the ethernet capable unit so I could connect the two units, but I can't complain with the unit at the price I got it for. Would I be better served getting a trolling motor transducer and mount then using this unit at the bow as well as the console? I'm not sure of the transducer cost versus getting a sonar/DS unit at the bow separately. I realize the trouble of switch isn't likely worth it, so I'm leaning towards just getting a new unit. I've also thought of just getting a double hinged RAM mount to turn the console unit around to the bow while fishing.

I got in on a sale at Dick's like this one last year. Everything was buy one get one 50% off. Their normal fluke price is about 2.50, I got all flukes, trick worms, finnesse worms, brush hogs I'd need for a few years.

i'm not sure what those are but you need to unretire those kwikfish and send em my way!

Next order I'll probably get a Glide Swimmer as well. I like Savage Gear too much to not give it a try.

Buy a used Aluminum Semi-V and a small HP tiller. Easy to work on and will start without hassle for years and years. An early 90s Evinrude/Johnson motor below 35HP should last ages - with minimal maintenance that anyone can perform. An aluminum boat doesn't care if it's in the sun or gets rained on. You can be rough with them.

Fish with soft plastics and crappie jigs if you're worried about losing them.