Further North

No point. I was trying for humor. On a personal level...I'm not wired for trolling...or jigging like folks do for walleyes...As a life long hunter, I've never been able to have any fun with the forms of hunting that involve staying still. No ducks, geese, deer, turkey...any of that stuff. I envy the folks who can do it, but it's just not me. I need to be moving, doing something (even if that something is jst reading) It's a good technique, if you can do it. I tried to learn it and love it really, really hard when I thought I wanted to catch walleye...but I just can't. ...what I'd do, were I stuck "...searching an endless desert of lake to no avail." ...is go to another lake. But I can do that here, and some folks can't, in any practical way.

The thing about this is...when all is said and done...It's still...trolling. ?

Smokin' Rooster. T-Rigged with a weight. T-Rigged without a weight. Any depth, about any retrieve you want....

For smallie popper tiers/builders, new book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0989018091/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I ordered it Sunday, got here yesterday... My advice: Buy it. Detail on not just what to do, but why to do it, the author has clearly spent years on this, and it shows.

I like it! The only reason I don't have DI on my Ulterra is that it needs an external transducer and even the best ways to do that are clunky and ugly...so the DI transducer site in a box... It'd be cooler if it was offered as a retrofit.

Somewhere in there...and I don't have any idea where, it a place where a prop with y thrust maxes out on speed, regardless of boat weight...or close, anyway. I've been curious for a while what that might be with the MK 36 volt units.

My HB Helix units came with a protective plastic thing on the screens...I just left them on...if they impede clarity...I'm kinda scared, cuz I can see stuff I could never see with my x98 SI... I clean those now and then with about two drops of fish soap in about a half gallon of warm-up water that I then use to wipe up any other stuff that needs to cleaned.

Minn Kota Ulterra™, Terrova®, Ultrex™ or Fortrex®

External condition will be as good an indicator of internal condition as anything...If you were to look at one of my trolling motors after several years, you'd see that is had been well used. Finding one that had been a pull-off to replace with something else, then stashed in a corner for some reason would be your best case. I update and maintain my trolling motors, like everything else on my boat...and you'd get that by having a conversation with me...but even given that, neither of us knows what's going inside a four or five year old electric motor. I'd want to tell you, "It's been great for me, and should be good for you!", but that'd be a guess on my part. I will say that any 12 volt for a 17 foot boat will be underpowered and will likely start to run out of power by the end of a day on the water. If you can bump up to 24 volt you'll be much happier. Pulling new wires is easy: tie them to the old ones and pull through. Adding an additional battery (finding space) and a charger will be where will have an opportunity to learn some stuff.

All three good boats... I'd buy condition over "brand name" every time. NADA is generally worthless for used boats, taking a good look at what boats are going for in your area is better barometer. NADA is almost always low...and the only use it really seems to have is for buyers to try to use to get sellers to drop their price, for deallers to undervalue your trade (but funnything...the boats they sell won't be priced with NADA) or for insurance companies to under-pay on a loss claim...do your own digging, you'll find out pretty quickly where the market is. For a first boat, a dealer is not the worst idea you could have. You're more likely to get solid help and support if something goes TU shortly after purchase. They will stand behind those carburetor issues if they pop back up. Newer is generally better than older, everything else being sorta equal...but engine hours and visible wear and tear can quickly void that line of thinking. That Tracker motor is a Merc, BTW, if you haven't already discovered that. As far as boat size...that's up to you. I've settled in 18' - 19' as where I want to be, for a lot of reasons: The water I fish, towability with the vehicles I have, I like how they fish...other folks will vary on that. The thing here is with your first boat, what you don't know about what you like dwarfs what you do know...and what you think you know.

You wanna pull skiers? ...I'd be genuinely interested in how something like that worked out. My 112 Ulterra will see 3.5 MPH on an 18' foot aluminum boat...and last all day for two days in a row (never pushed it past that, but there was still battery left and I'd seen no performance reduction).

Good stuff. I still like this:

That's kinda where I was headed.

Hmmm...good luck getting a lot of help with replies like that. I had a couple ideas...but after that, I don't want to risk giving you info on things you may have already decided on and getting told to sit back down and shut up. Sometimes...every now and then...being quiet and not replying is a great idea. It may have, in fact, been what I should have done as well...but I figured that since the bar had already been lowered, it'd be OK...

Well...it's Humminbird, not Minn Kota...so...some kind of transducer. ...and it's pointed at us...some kind of replacement for TM nose cones that adds high definition, aim-able, forward looking scan...that's where my head wanders.

Scott's got it. In water that's got a lot of pike and musky, yeah, I run a leader on a lot of rigs. I don't on something cheap like a Senko.

This stuff is all bout leveling expectations up front. ...and the burden lies on the seller, and the manufacturer.

Irrelevant, here. The rod in question is not a spiral wrap, the buyer is dissatisfied, a full refund is in order. With no shipping costs incurred by the buyer. Gotta be blunt here: anyone who says otherwise does not understand taking care of the customer, particularly in the age of the internet where one bad review can impact thousands...possibly tens of thousands...of sales...if there's any detail offered... Just saying...yeah, the retailer, and even the maker can win the battle, but lose the war in ways that a lotta folks don't seem to be able to wrap their heads around... Gotta look about past the toes of our shoes if we want to understand long term impact. It's a cliche...and a joke, but Dr. Phil once said, "You wanna be right, or you wanna be alone?" There's some Texas wisdom, right there.

Thanks!

Nailed it. Even more important with a fly rod. That's a 3.95 ounce rod with a 3.7 ounce reel on it... I've never weighed the whole thing, but it's not 9 ounces with line and backing...can check if anyone cares... You can see it's a little butt heavy with the line on the reel...but move that 300 grain line head out 60 ft. and it changes the whole dynamic...feels perfect in my hand. Change any one component, and stuff starts feeling different...

Man...I think even my musky reel only weighs 10.4...OK, went and checked specs: 10.8. I do know that my whole BFS rig weighs 10.3...

You know...I can't remember ever doing that...but I can tell you without qualification it'll screw you up something fierce on a fly rod... I have a big two piece musky rod that I could try it out on for a baitcaster...

Not a challenge, but I'm curious: if not lubricating a knot tied with fluoro doesn't "burn" it (which to me means heats up the outer layer), why does it still curl up like a pig's tail if not lubed?

Just a thought: I saw on another topic where you said you'd bought a Tracker Pro Guide V-16 . If you haven't already plunked down your money...or taken delivery...of the 55# Terrova...you might want to consider going up to the 80#. I ran an 55# on a Tracker V-14 for a season or so...and I was frequently running out of battery power by the end of the day.

Oh...hey...on the above: I caught three more pike than he did. He had two on (at least we think they were pike, coulda been little muskies)...they popped his line, cost him two Rapalas and a spinner...