Further North

Tracker builds a decent boat...if I had the budget for either and was already planning on upgrading...I'd go with the 195 for the increased size and the bigger motor. Most of the price difference is in the motor.

There's a lot of truth to this. Most of the "bad" out there with well deserved reputations are already junk.

So...I put the new rig through its paces on the water today. Did fine with the floating Rapala. Did fine with #3 Mepps Did fine with Ned Rig Threw a Texas rigged Senko about a mile I'm going to call the experiment a success...

OK...use a magenta marker. Magenta + yellow = red.

I forgot Honda. Another good one.

Any of the new major brands will be fine. Mercury, Evinrude, Yamaha, Suzuki...doesn't really matter. I'd go 4 stroke because I like them. I"d base my decision more on the dealer than the brand.

I run a 60" on a Crestliner CMV. It'll be OK.

That is really great "vintage" equipment - thanks for the info and the story with it. I really appreciate the detail on the equipment. I love learning things. I've got an old Ambassador reel in the garage from the late 70s - early 80s...it was either mine or my Dad's (we each had one) and it was in the garage at their house. I should go dig it out, take a better look at it. I'm not sure I'm willing to call stuff from the 70s vintage...I'm a 1962 model myself....

Here's a decent rig, about two hours south of me: http://lacrosse.craigslist.org/boa/5500001717.html Here's another: http://lacrosse.craigslist.org/boa/5500001717.html This time of year, good stuff goes fast.

Looks like the TXW is about 9" wider...that'll make a difference in fishability. The 190 is spec'd out with a 115, HP 2 stroke Optimax (great motor), the 195 with a 150 4 stroke (also a great motor); that's a huge difference in motors...probably most of the $5K, right there. Both are way under-powered for trolling motors - the 190 has a 12 volt 45 lb. thrust Minn Kota Edge, the 195 bumps that up to a 55 lb. thrust...neither is enough for those boats, IMO. Both offer cheap, entry level ($100) fish finders...You're going to want to replace them with bow and console units with screens bigger than a deck of cards. If you think the slightly smaller size of the 190 will work for you, I'd grab that and throw any extra money at a 24 volt trolling motor and decent electronics...depending on where and how you fish, even consider a shallow water anchor like a Talon.

I went down that path with old English and American SxS shotguns...they have to make the parts when they break. Makes boats look cheap. I still shoot SxS shotguns...but modern ones. Same with boats...the advice above to try to avoid other people's problems is spot on.

I saw a guy yank a 30" pike out of a pool right at the base of the falls one year...it was pretty clearly just hanging out eating bait fish that got swept over. PM me for some ideas on lakes - I live between Chippewa and Bloomer.

10 seconds with a black marker...no more yellow stripes.

Brett's Daddy...I've forgotten; what's your upper price limit? On those boats, I agree with most of the above and will add the following comment: "Spongy" means replace this year or next, not 2-3 years from now. If you do it yourself, it'll take the boat off the water for a couple of weeks unless you can really dedicate a lot of time to it. I've never understood that...I've found that if I buy smart and take care of things, that's not true. If I do that' I've found that boat maintenance/repair costs are usually as predictable and manageable as they are for cars and trucks.

Yeah, it would have...but there was no room in it for rods, tackle...much of anything. It was a good starter boat, learned some good things with it.

I wouldn't trust that...a replacement transducer is expensive. I've never had a hole in a transom leak, but I'm kind of a nut on detail with stuff like that...and sort of a belt and suspenders guy when it comes to the equipment on my boat.

I could fish out of that...nice rig!

Here's a couple pictures from when I bought it: If I'd known then what I know now, I probably could have fixed the problem. Woulda been some work, but I could have done it. There are days when I wish I would have kept it, converted it to a jet motor and used it in the rivers.

It was a 14 ft. boat with a 40 on it...it came out of the water like an ICBM...

I've got a musky reel that weighs about that much too... Heck...I've got lures that weigh more than this rig... ...I Just looked up the 2500...7 ounces...

So...just for giggles, I weighed the whole rig...reel, rod and line...10.3 oz. ...that's pretty cool. Messed around with a floating Rapala tonight. 60 ft. was easy.

I had a 1998 Tracker Super Guide V-14: ...with a Merc 40 on it...the only way that boat didn't porpoise at speed was with the trim all the way down. I didn't know diddly about raising or lowering it on the transom, don't know if it would have helped or not.

I'm sure you have...I get around... I'm kind of a hybrid...I love small water...but not exclusively. There's something to be said for big water - think Lake of the Woods and other massive Canadian shield lakes, think lakes in WI that are several hundred to a few thousand acres...I like those as well. There's a lot to be said about wading a stream for trout, or a small river for smallies and muskies...and there's also something about getting out on a lake and working structure and finding fish. What I love about where we live is we can do either almost any day we want. ...But wait...you sold a drift boat? that's just crazy... There's a lot of water around here that's un-reachable with a powered boat and that you can't really wade to in a reasonable day unless you have access between bridges. I'm not a fan of fishing from a canoe...I like to stand up...so I've been sorta playing withthe idea of a drift boat for a while now...but since I fish by myself a lot...I'd want it powered somehow...and that complicates things a little...

His lousy attitude cost him a customer...likely forever...and anyone else you tell the story to. I wouldn't be shy about sharing the experience, or about using his name. We have a little shop here in town that makes custom rods on St. Croix blanks...does decent work, great prices...they also repair reels. I recommended them to a friend who stopped by with a couple reels that needed repair...and gave him a load of crap and told him they don't work on reels they don't sell...and no, my friend didn't bring it on himself, he's one of the most polite people I know. I haven't been back...it's cost him a fair amount of business...I probably bought 2 or three rods a year there along with some other stuff. ...the best story I have about an *ssclown like that dealer is a guy in SE WI that I sent an e-mail to about a boat he had on the lot. I asked for info, then hit the internet and did some homework on comparable boats. I found several, provided links, and suggested a price a coule thousand less than his listed number, but higher than the others based on condition. This jerk wrote me a long, rambling e-mail telling me I knew nothing about the boat business, knew nothing about boat prices or the market and that he would get his list price. A simple "No" would have been more than sufficient, but this dingleball needed to make a federal case out of it. He actually emailed me a few days later to brag that he'd sold the boat at his asking price...I wrote back to him to let him know I'd found one in better condition, with fewer hours and a year newer for less money...never heard back. A little digging around uncovered the doofus was the son of the owner...I hope Daddy understood what kind of a horse's *ss his son was after I printed the whole mess out and mailed it to him....that I never heard back probably says no...

Like a lot of folks on this topic...I'm not a big believer in line spooking bass. I use leaders for two reasons: I fish a lot of cover that'll beat up braid on the end...I've seen a difference in the number of lost ures since going to a leader. We have nasty, toothy fish around here in abundance. A leader gives me a better chance of getting them to the boat. If I'm in a lake with a lot of pike or musky, my leader is often a 2 ft. piece of tieable stainless. ...The only fish I've seen spooked by line were trout - that doesn't mean it doesn't happen, only that I've not seen it. I tend towards fluro and hybrid for my leaders.