Chris186

Have not handled a Denali, but I had a 7'3 Heavy Ghost. I liked it until it snapped setting the hook, that was about a year and a half after I bought it.

Here is my setup http:// My phone is giving me trouble, I'll post more pics when I get home.

Last I heard, last year he only fished 4 of the clubs tourneys, and they usually have about 12-13 a year. My cousin still fishes that club part time, and even he says its not what it once was.

Club politics suck, as do all politics. I dont fish clubs anymore, just some local opens. I was actually banned from a small jon boat club, let me tell you the story. My cousin got me into the club back in 2001. I fished the club for a year alone, then got my father to join with me. Now, there was a guy who has been in the club for about 15 years, never won the championship, and once I started doing better than him, for some reason he didn't seem to like that. Well the next year we were fishing a tournament, and he beat me to where I wanted to go. No big deal, I started fishing a spot probably 75 yards or so away from him. my boat was facing the other direction so I wasn't even looking at him, and we started to catch fish. there was no wind so I just stopped the boat and sat in that one spot. he must have seen us catching fish, I glanced over and he had moved closer to us. I kept fishing, and I noticed he had moved closer yet again. He got within about 25 yards and started screaming, "Hey give me some room here! Im trying to fish you are crowding me!" I looked at my father like what the ****? So I said to him, you came towards me, I haven't moved, What the hell are you talking about?! The guy then started to move back away, and after that day we had a couple more run ins like that on the water. He would cut me off and always say I was crowding him. We ended up winning the team championship that year, I won the individual championship and lunker for the year. It was really a great fishing year. We didn't fish the club full time after that, just a handful of tournaments the next couple years before we got out. I then sold my boat and moved on to a bigger one. A couple years later I decide to jet another jon boat, and I wanted to fish that club again. I asked my cousin who was still int he club if there was room to fish. He said I'm pretty sure, just show up at the first tourney. Now, I haven't heard anything or seen anyone from that club in probably 7 years by this point. So I show up, and my cousin is there and a couple guys I was friendly with. But everyone else was new, no idea who they were. So we go to sign up, and the guy doing the sign ups asks for our names. We tell him, and he was like ooohhhh, you guys, we will have to wait for the president so we can vote on it. I was like what the ****? The that guy comes around the boat and was like oh, you guys can't fish! The he goes around the parking lot yelling they shouldn't be allowed to fish, they never did anything for the club, they were talking **** about us all over the internet etc etc. None of that is true, but this went on for probably 10 minutes, then the president showed up, who was an old member and was friendly with me. So the president says I'm gonna talk to him, and about 4 or 5 guys go behind a truck and start talking. Now I'm standing at my boat waiting, but can't really hear what they have to say. The rest of the members including my cousin are at the ramp just hanging out. So the president makes his way over there, then comes back over to me and was like oh, yeah there is too many hard feelings so you aren't going to be able to fish. I said, i dont know what the hell his problem is, and the president was like me either, nobody else cares if you fish or not just him. He has some kind of issue with you fishing so we can't let you fish with us. Whatever then, I packed up and went home. Takled to my cousin later on, he told me that the president never came over and asked anyone else if it was ok, just came over and said they aren't fishing. He also told me that that guy with the problem did the same thing to someone else on the water that day and there was a big blowout between them. Its too bad cause it was a fun club to fish, most of the people were friendly with the obvious exception of that D-bag who got me banned.

One of these years I'm going to make one of these trips! Unfortunately its just not in the budget this year

I try to be, but for me, not the brand. I like Lews reels and Megabass rods, but I'm actually going to try a Hammer rod and see what happens. I need to replace 3 rods this year, and at $285 a pop, I'm Looking for a less pricey alternative to the Orochi XX rods I have.

Im heading up to Cayuga Lake in a couple of weeks for vacation, rented a house on the water just north of the state park on the west bank. i have a map that shows the channel, is there anything else I should be looking out for? Looks to be only 6-8 ft deep until you get to the channel. Thanks in advance

I have Geico for my boat, they cover a lot including loss of equipment and such. That's on the water, trailering my car insurance covers. It doesn't matter what I'm pulling, if it's hooked up to my car it's covered. I have Amica for car insurance.

Thanks, the livewell is under the rear deck with pump in/out and recirc, I don't have any pics of that though. Where are you from in Mass? If you are close enough you are welcome to stop by and check it out in person

Love the jigs, I usually get some type of watermelon/red and I really like the Bream. I don't think you can go wrong with any of his colors!

I have a 1542 as well, with no issues at all. Bought it in 2011 and still going strong. It's a good boat, but that said if I had the money to do it over again I would get something bigger. I think my next boat, if there is one, may be a 16ft skiff.

Supposedly caught in Johnsons Pond

I would agree with a mod v or v hull for bigger lakes, say over 2000 acres, but I have been fishing out of a 1542 for 5 years now and while it is a little rougher running in the wind, it doesn't pound that bad and I have no stability issues with it on windy or calm days.

My first boat I got outdoor carpet from Home Depot. It was good stuff, had it on there for 10 years until I sold the boat. My next boat I got Outdoor carpet from lowes, and the first time it rained it was like a skating rink. After that it wasn't bad. I replaced some of it with carpet from cabelas which is much better. For me, it's worth the extra for marine carpet, thats my experience anyway.

How does the flat bottom limit you to calm days?

I kind of have that arrangement, only I just donate my stuff to my father

I like Duckett rods, but not so much the Ghost. I had a 7'3 heavy that snapped on a hookset with a 3/8oz jig. I would get the rage, actually just bought one myself. There was a place i saw last week that had the old Duckett Macro Magics with the 20yr warranty for $100

I have decided to just buy a new motor, not sure if I'm in going to go with the 20hp or the 9.9 high thrust. With the Suzuki they are the same block, seems like the mapping gives the 9.9 less power though since its EFI. The other motor I was considering is the 20hp Tohatsu.

Yeah I was curious about what yours does with the 15, right now with the 9.9, 2 guys and gear plus battery and decks im getting 16 on the gps. I was also looking at the 20 to save weight over the 25. A new Suzuki 20hp weighs 97lbs, my 9.9 now weighs 87.

Right now I have a 1987 Yamaha 9.9 on the back of my jon boat. It really runs good, but it could use a couple of things. The mid section housing has seen better days, and the tilt mechanisms don't work very well. The handle is broke off which makes it more difficult to carry around if I have to. I found a used mid section for it which looks to be in really good shape. I would also buy the 15hp carb for it, I already have all the other parts needed to convert it. However, I'm not sure if it's worth sinking another $500-600 into a 29 year old motor. If I were to buy a new one, I would upgrade to a 20hp, but that would cost around $2500. So I guess my question is, which way should I go? I wouldn't buy the new motor until next season if that's the way I go.

Any idea what you are getting for mph with that 15 on the back?

Are they still made in Mexico?

Well right now im actually looking at the Helix 7 DI/GPS, Hook 7 and now the Garmin 7sv. I wasnt going o get both DI and GPS, mostly because I didnt want to go to the top of my budget. The biggest lake I fish is 1500 acres, the majority of the lakes I fish are between 400-600 acres.The only problem with the Garmin is that there is no mapping, but the helix and hook only have DI where the Garmin has both. I suppose the title of the thread should have been SI or mapping. Who knew it would be this difficult to pick out a fish finder?