TNReb

I sold the Lowrance along with the boat. I simply used the transducer that came with the unit, and used the included trolling motor mount. I suppose it could have been the wrong transducer, but I gotta think there's more to gain with side/down view instead of the standard 2d sonar.

For the last 3 years, I have been fishing in a 10' Pelican Bass Raider with a trolling motor. I had a Lowrance Elite 4-x fish finder with the transducer mounted to the trolling motor. It was the first fish finder I ever owned. Maybe I just wasn't using it properly, but I really had a hard time with it. In 3 years, I rarely ever saw arcs that seemed like fish to me. I played with all of the settings and really spent time trying to figure it out, but I just couldn't make it work the way I thought it should. I'm generally pretty savvy with tech gadgets, but that one just about drove me nuts. I'm not sure if mounting the transducer to the trolling motor was part of the problem or not. I've recently sold the Pelican and moved to a 1448 jon with a bow mounted trollng motor and a 6hp Johnson. I plan to mount 2 fish finders - a cheap one on one end just for monitoring depth, and a little it nicer one on the other end. Most of my fishing is done on larger lakes around Middle TN (Old Hickory, Percy Priest, etc). I only bass fish, but would like to get in to crappie also. I don't need GPS, but it would be neat to be able to load maps for a lake and see the different depths/top/etc. Can anyone offer some suggestions? My budget on the "nicer" one is $500. I could go as high as $700 if there was something that made a huge difference, but I would rather be at $500 or less - preferably even around $300. Just because I have the higher budget doesn't mean I want to spend that much.

I was in your situation a few weeks ago also. I couldn't find anything on Craigslist either so I gave up and purchased a new boat at Academy for $550. Everyone on Craigslist seems to think that if they paid $500 for their boat and $100 for their trolling motor 3 years ago, then you'll pay them $750 for it today.

Is your bluetooth speaker rechargeable or battery operated? What make/model is it? I have one, but it only lasts about 3 hours. I've had it go dead plenty of times.

My biggest this year.... Not sure of the weight. Didn't have scales in the boat with me and I tossed him back. Not as big as the lunkers that some of you have here...

That looks great. Any details you care to share? Do you use your boat for regular fishing? Just leave the lights/mounts on and remove the front deck?

Thanks Jig Man.. that's all I was wondering.

I'm completely new to using fish finders. Before buying one last month, I had never used one in my life. I understand their value is more in depth/bottoms/temp, etc ... I have a Pelican 10E (10ft plastic boat) with a 55lb trolling motor. I bought a cheaper unit - a Lowrance Elite-4x. I've used it about 10 times so far. I run it at 200kHz and I'm typically in 5-20ft of water, but occasionally cross the river channel where its 50-70ft. However, I've never seen a fish "arc" - not one single time. Not even anything that remotely resembles an arc. All I see are random blobs. I have no clue if they're fish, trees, etc. Question 1: Is this normal for boats that only use a trolling motor? I read somewhere that the "arc" is a result of passing over the fish at high speed. Is this true? Did I just buy a crappy unit or is mine defective? Or am I expecting too much from it? I have my transducer mounted to the bottom of the trolling motor using the bracket & zip that came with it. However, when I turn the trolling motor on, my sonar display seems to display a lot of interference. Question 2: Is the prop interfering with the ping? Do I have this mounted like an idiot? Thanks for any feedback...

I found out the hard way that the fuse that comes with the Pelican 10E isn't big enough for a Minn Kota Endura Max 55. I was trolling back to the boat ramp when I suddenly lost all power. Fuse blew and melted the wires right in half. Luckily I was only about a hundred yards from the ramp and had no problems padding the rest of the way.

Just curious.. what sort of tackle boxes/bags does everyone use? I have a Plano Guide Serios 1444 that I've had for several years. I like it, but it just doesn't have enough space for all of my crankbaits, jigs, etc. I'm considering going with two separate boxes/bags - one for hard baits and one for plastics.

I had been putting it off - because I am just not good at making stuff like that. It really couldn't have been any easier. If I can do it - anyone can. It's just a matter of setting aside an hour in a day to make yourself do it.

I took my boat out yesterday evening for the first time since putting the rudder on it. Wow - what a difference. The boat never tried to spin - it was soooo much easier to control.

1/4" plywood. Carpet is glued and stapled on the underside.

I think I'm going to make one for my dad out of PVC. Seems like it'd do just as well, and cheap to replace if it happens to hit something and break.

Finally got around to making a rudder. Pretty simple really. Cut the ends off an old trolling motor that didn't work. Cut a piece of sheet metal to size, and bolted it in to the shaft.

I've ran my boat about a dozen times, and still don't have a rudder for it. It will blow your tail end around, but when I'm fishing alone, it's manageable.

I admittedly have a short drive to the areas I fish (10 miles), but I leave the seats on. I replaced mine with regular (cushioned) boat seats, so they're slightly heavier... but on the roads I take I can't go faster than 45 anyway - they won't blow out. Consider getting a bungee just to run across them (or through the rails) so they can't blow out. I keep my rolling motor on the front and prefer it that way.

Nice job on the rudder Trackercal. I'm sure I could rig something up if I can find an old paddle - but what'd you use to attach the paddle to the PVC?

Yep.. it's next on my to-do list. Definitely needs one. Not sure how I'm going to do it yet. I have an old, broken trolling motor. I may cut the controls off that and screw something in to the shaft. I haven't found anything laying around that I could make the rudder part out of. Still tossing around ideas. My dad has a bracket screwed in to the back of his that he just slips one of the collapsible paddles in to. It works great, but I don't really want to screw anything in to the hull on the outside like that.

Mine is 1/4". The weight is negligible.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread. I've been tossing around the idea of a "plastic boat" for a while and read all 79 pages of this thread over the course of the last week. I've decided on a Pelican 10E with a MK Endura Max 50. Hope to pull the trigger and get it within the next week... unless I change my mind on the motor before then.