Firefish Alumacraft

Thanks everyone, sorry for the thanks my computer was down and I couldn't get online. In the early morning I tried everything in my tackle box other than crank baits. fig why not! and look my new PB. Yeah that was some hot water from the discharge

On Friday my father and I went to Clinton Lake in Illinois, it was our first time there and we did some scouting. I launched on the hot side ( nuke power plant cooling lake) by the no wake zone. We got there around 9am and with the water temp being in the low 90s we traveled up river to colder water coolest we found was 85deg and with mid day coming fast we fished the shallows and shadows throwing crank baits/ warms/ plastics. I put on a Rapala Shadow rap #7 with a 7ft Abu Garcia Veritas rod and Revo STX reel with 30lb braid and a 6ft 10 floor leader with in 3 min of casting in 2-6ft of water in shadows I got this sucker 19.25"

Question is 2 stroke or 4 stroke??? Im a fan of 4 strokes, Mercury makes a good 4 stroke as a well as Nissan. If I remember correctly Nissan makes all powerheads for Mercury engines up to 60hp and up to recently Yamaha was making Mercury powerheads from 75-115 till 2013 when Merc created the 2.1L I have a 9.8 2 stroke Nissan kicker and its a great engine. It always starts

Scammer! I ran into something sim early this year when trying to sell my old boat. Guy said he would by the boat but he's in the military and over seas. he's willing to pay for the boat unseen and have a company pick it up. He wanted me to send my Paypal info to him so he can pay me. Before I did anything I search on google to find this is a common scam and they use a super program to break paypal and sell your account info. I also happen to find ( there not very smart) that they use the same name, I cam to a conclusion its a person working to get the info when a better programer pays them. Not worth it.

I would give both a test, then choose

Thanks for the video, watched it and practiced and it really helped.

my choice.. I like aluminum boats. so Alumacraft/Lowe/Lund/Ranger. Tracker makes nice boats but not my first choice

I would repair both set of holes with fiberglass resin before installing the new one. I would get a plastic transom plate to mount this way no more drilling into your boat for future mountings

got a short video of my father driving, he wasn't trimmed out well but 44mph with 1/2 tank two guys and gear.

Nope not this time, my wife said they're not coming home with us as long as I'm on the boat. She's fine eating them but not seeing the process. She's a city girl.

Ops lol it is a small, lol how embarrassing. Yep I C&R everything. I was very impressed with the smalls colors, the scales were very dark green with hint of yellow shade very nice looking fish

Went out on the Illinois River out of Morris again yesterday. It was my first time fishing off the new boat, I got 4 stripped bass from10-14" and 1 large mouth that was 12-13" Not to bad for being out for 2hrs. Got them using my Abu garcia 2.0 7ft MH rod and the Revo STX with 20b braid with 10b flo leader, crank bait was a Rapala Scatter Rap size 5 Caribbean shad. Also took the wife and daughter with, I let my daughter crank them in she's hooked........ + what fish doesn't love getting a kiss before they're thrown back in.

If you interested in a Merc, on Facebook there is a group of Merc fans that change engines often. I was in your boat last year, I wanted to upgrade my 98 40hp Merc/force to a 60 4stroke or 75 but I could not find one that I though was a great deal. I looked into new and found them from 6900-8000. Fig I could put that into a newer boat with the engine size I was looking for along with a nicer deck layout. Turns out Cabela's was having a year end sale on 2015 Alumacraft models and they cut me a deal on 2016 Mercury 115hp 4s

River was in great shape yesterday. water temp of 41 but muddy and lots of debris floating.

Ill load it to Vimeo

Took the 2016 115 Merc 4s yesterday on the Illinois River out of Morris. Took 2.5hrs to do the first part of the break in process for the engine. I have to say I will never go back to a 2 stroke for a fishing/family boat. At times I wasn't sure the engine was even running when at idle, but I have to say it put out a mean base sound around 1500-3k and around 4-6k it sounds like a indi car. I was very impressed with the low end torque and the high speed. Here is a video of me going WOT with a full tank, some fishing gear, empty live wells I was able to hit 46 @ 5900rpm and with two guys we could 44/45 @ 5900. https://www.facebook.com/cfabbi/videos/10206018955973548/ Im wondering about engine height on the transom, the transom is a 25" and the Merc is a 25" at the middle mount hole. The cavitation plate is even with the bottom of the boat, at 5900rpm at WOT and what feels to be a good trim angle and good water stream coming out of the tell tail at times the engine will jump in rpm to 6300 and i have to trim down to fall back. I believe its ventilation happening,

With the added weight and added construction to the boat you prob get away with a 15hp or 20...

What size outboard are you using?

I would look into a Alumacraft Classic or Competitor line. Classic run up to a 90hp and Competitor goes to 150hp, Both avail with Tiller/single console/ double Con or windshield. a 2015-2016 Classic would put u OTD right about 18-20k with a 75hp/ trolling motor

Since I got a nice casting reel/rod I've been practicing in the yard since I never had one

I just sold my 1998 Tracker Pro Angler with a 40hp Merc/Force ELPT. It was a great boat that didn't leak, carpet/ wood deck/ hinges/ paint held up extremely well. The Force with Mercury lower and a force powerhead with Merc upgraded electronics worked extremely well. The Force pushed my father and I fully loaded with gear at 30mph with no misfires, hick-ups or dogging. I Understand that the Force was not like very much but it was a solid built engine and very easy to work on. The only problem I had with the boat was the built in fuel tank, the pickup tube broke half way down so I couldn't get fuel past 1/2 tank. I installed a new bulkhead with a custom down tube with a filter and I did a fuel tune up and carb rebuild since I had a stick needle valve. (30min job) Started up with 1-2 cranks. Sold it for 4500 cash, I was asking 5k but for 4500 I took off all electronics. Any boat can be a POS if the owners never took care of it, I have a feeling that most owners that got the Force were newer boat owners and did not properly take care of it or realized that they didn't get a full merc and were upset. Go for a ride if you can and look over it really well and if it looks good. 4 is not a bad price.

Now. I would be stopping to pick up your marker thinking, " some jerk left his marker out here, its going to get sucked up in someones prop, or some jerk is littering." Now sweet I have an extra marker!

I prob would think a 13p or 15. Take off your prop and find out what you have, then check www.mercurymarine.com and use the prop selector and see what they suggest. If you know your current speed, weight, prop, RPM you can dial in what you're looking for. Im thinking off the top of my head prob 30-34mph, my 16ft tracker with a 2 cyl 40hp Merc with a 13p prop got me with a light load up to 28mph and heavy to 25.

Yep Illinois river, Hiedecke is close till april, Braidwood opens March 1 and LaSalle opens the 15 I believe.