newbiedmv

But a darn big shock of you are not ready for it. I wasn't. I would love to fish there but it was rough, seemed like youd better know your way around. It didn't seem like a cake walk.

Wow man thanks. I never considered small chop which is always there. It's a crappie boat 2 inches will send it away and over the dam.Guess I'll just put 1 foot of bunks boards in the water. Thanks again.

Oh I've limited my use now down to two by myself. One Ramp has a detached dock 20 yds down, gental slope, in a creek off the Potomac with an old acqaduct (canal) over it. It's angled 45 degrees to the bank pointing downstream. Nothing big can launch there as they need to get under the acqaduct. The slope is so shallow that I just pull on and grab the top of the winch with my boat hook then clip on. It called Rileys Lock C&O canal Darnstown MD. The other is an electric only lake that everybody ends up swimming in. High fixed docks Yep saw that once last year I was amazed. I drove to the Potomac o.ly to find it high in the red. I sat drinking coffee when I saw the guy come in. He laid that boat down like a child in a cradle

Some do Some don't. Some have jettys of rip rap, some are in creeks and coves others in open water for a 1/2 mile. Some docks are great others a major pain. Some have a gentle slope others you need 4X4 in low to pull out of(upper Potomac river). Most of the are in the Appalachians where the weather changes fast particularly the wind. I saw a freaking expert last year. He backed the trailer in then just sat out 200 feet for awhile, gunned it and put it on the trailer perfect in red zone water( don't know if that's a entire US thing, ramps are marked here green yellow red, red is a dangerous level and current). I'm no where near that skill level. Oh launching is a piece of cake now. Loading is the nightmare. I've seen dozens of videos and only 3 or 4 have the typical conditions I see. I also rarely see anyone else load by themselves. I get help if it's around.

in the late 80's kinda yep sort of. Put junk exxon oil in the tank. 20 min later it was locked up. Oil was the reason. Since then no but i run the carbs dry every year and drain the bowls.

Below are two pics the first is the prep when I'm coming in the second is the loading/ fighting position( it's loose as it's on the trailer all the way up). If anyone sees any issues please comment. Right now I have a short rope with half hitches on the other side to do this as I have the time not to need the stretching and holding. They are super low res photos to fit. Thanks

I was considering that kinda stuff yesterday. I have hundreds of black bungee cords. Just drill them out and tie a rope to each end with a half hitch knot on the outer loops. I need some stretch as right know I have three points to hook onto. The guide pole first (at end of trailer) another hook a foot forward and another *** feet forward of it (I'm in the right middle of a 17') On rough days I'll come it at an angle fighting the wind and current(generally don't have the room to.take advantage of the wind and current, I'd need 50 feet off to the sides to get washed up.on it straight and a lot of skill) The bow of the boat goes up but hits the down wind/current guide post and ***** at a 45° angle. If I don't play it right one of the bunk boards flip up 90° then I have to push off and try again. This happens real fast and I have maybe a second to get a line on and tight with one hand before the flip. There is a video on YouTube for that autoloader that shows it just about perfect (although this guy was loading on the wrong side of the ramp, guess he didn't want to get slammed into the dock). In any case I'll see how it works out. Remember I'm doing this completely alone, there generally isn't a soul within a mile. I've already cracked my ribs trying to keep that boat on and steady to hook up the bow hook or pull it in with the bow line. It's 50/50 sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. I've put guide bunks on to help with the flip, and it does greatly, but it still slides off as fast as it came on. I'll play around with leaving it in gear also. I'm benched for a month now anyway from the ribs. Oh, forgot once the initial right side it anchored I'll move over to the left side and work it up to the front hook. Eventually I will get it. Oh I like those straps can you message me a link to them, I've never seen them before. My goal is to keep it 1/3 on straight with some give to reset the bunk boards if needed. Then I'll get off and hook up taking my bow line with me. I have no idea if this contraption will work, so far it looks like it will but it might crash and burn. A retired EE, 90% of my stuff crashed on the first try anyway,even after months of thinking what can go wrong and planing for it, that's life I'm used to it. Takes 3 tries usually. The Autoloader looks like about a week of adjustments to the various parts of the trailer. Nothing is welded so just a lot of tinkering at the boat ramp. My apologies for being long winded, boredom and pain meds Please excuse the auto edits. They have this site set very tight for that. It was three feet forward And the boats moves to a 45 degree angle.

I'd kinda stay away from Lake Fontanna. Unless you have a boat, a guide, and a camper. I went there to fish about the same time as you are. Called before and they said they weren't going to lower the lake for a month. I get there and it's 60 feet down, they drained it due to an expected hurricane was the reason I got ( the guys working the dam said the gates got stuck open). I stayed in Cherokee and I heard good fishing thing mostly on trout. But I did see with the lake 60 feet down you really need a guide due to all the submerged houses and such. It is the most remote lake Ive been to so far about 1.5 hours from Cherokee and a hard drive, the bears use the road more than cars. The only place to stay and be able to get food is the Lake Fontanna marina. At the time I was there it was a playground for the ultra rich car clubs. Gas was $4.50/gallon a coke was $4.00 the staff that were still there were less than helpfull. I saw many fishing the creek coming into cherokee from the park, looked like trout fishing to me. be advised you might be hitting the fall leaf people time. Oh the one city near there Bryston I think has many campgrounds but no hotels that I saw. I only saw one on the road and I wasn't sure it was still open. I think all of this was fall of 2017 before the fire. Oh Cherokee is a casino town, DO NOT USE THE WIFI ANYWHERE. If you go and have good luck let me know, I like the area a lot and have been down there 3 times so far and plan to stop through that area in late september headed to AL.

Yeah I agree, I'll have a 100' bow backup line thrown in the back of the truck. I just need it to hold on for 5 minutes or so I'll put the autoloader system on this winter. It's relatively cheap in price. I don't think I'm allowed to write the name There are videos on YouTube for it. I'll try it out when I can get back out.

Yep, it's still kinda the same. You look up the local number and get India. My new phone has a good version of Google earth on it, so far its been great. I won't even ask or tell from now on. I'll just check in and park. They have a problem, it will be gone in the morning. I'm sure the night shift won't care.

I knew there had to a a reason for no metal and all ropes. Thanks didn't think of it

Yep I have one. I'm not sure yet on that one. A little long and too easily stretchy. I tried rigging it up shorter but I don't know yet. One thing is it's super easy to slip on the hook and the rubber pads I like a lot. I guess I can double a piece up and put 4 to 5 zip ties on it. It's one of the combos I'll try. Oh I store the other end on the motor lever, pulls it back down if over 3k rpm. Kinda like that little feature. Thanks

What do you think? I have my boat setup with a bungee on the back right/ left cleat and I put semi retainer hooks on the top of the guide bunks, left and right. Specifically to keep the boat from slipping off during loading(all they have to do is hold it on the trailer straight for 5 minutes).Hook the right in, then left ,then shut down the outboard get out hook up and winch. It works in the garage and I'll find out this week it if works in real life. I don't really like having to get dock lines out and hook them up before coming in, I'm to old. Was thinking two heavy duty black bungees drilled out to fit carabiners might be better. I have a lot of them all sizes and I'm sure I'll have to play around a bit to find the right ones to keep the boat on straight . For loading,, I'm still looking for a flush mount retaining hook as this has to be done by feel and done fast when coming up on the trailer. Kinda like a small tow hook with a spring retainer( an indoor "coat" hook doesn't have the strength if I have to pull in against it, tried it, bent like a coat hanger). If anyone has tried this dumb idea let me know. I'm 50/50 now for loading and keeping the boat on the trailer on river and power loads by myself. Sometimes it's easy Sometimes I get soaked and busted up. That's life I guess

I'll keep Oconee in mind. Looks like a long one day drive from Huntsville AL.

It's fixed for a year or so. Or until I get a auto latch system. 1) rigged a quick connect/disconnect on the base of the trolling motor. 2)mounted snap hooks on top of guide bunks. With a kinda fancy dock bungee on the back cleat. I ran the trailer jack up as high as it would go and tried it out. Yep the boat slid off (I had 2 foot loose straps on the back to stop it and wheels chocked) The "new bow strap" pulled in fine and easy, didn't seem to bother the mount or motor at all. The bungee cord did also at a slower rate first on the back hook then then front(It's a heavy duty black truck/farm cord). The bungee type dock strap held it in place but wouldn't pull up, didn't expect it to.

It's like parallel parking....I'll get it sooner or later.

Yep....live and learn..oh well. When I put it on they were so "stickey" it took me on the winch and two others pulling on lines attached to the rear cleats to get it on. Also three of us pushing to get it off on a waterfall ramp. IT STUNK REAL BAD. Again I should have just wiped them down with vegetable oil, but didn't think of it at the time. I saw a video on that latching system that's dead on to my loads. Heavy surf, cross winds, nasty current and the boat handled the same. It got it with one person on the second try. Hopefully next week my ribs will have healed (rookie mistake I'm still mad about)and I'll take it to a reservoir and readjust the bunks and guides. They got off centered a bit when one flipped 90 deg. I have no clue if it will help. My neighbor used that ramp for his pontoon last week, to load it he had a guy holding the stern steady 30 feet up river. I don't think it's appropriate to post the video link. But on the good side, man it does winch in super easy once your hooked up and straight. It's nice in electric only lakes.. It very different going from a boat I could lift up to center, v bottom, 13 foot, roller trailer. To a flat bottom, to heavy to even think about lifting, 17' no keel, bunk boards. I could turn that 13' on a dime, not this thing. But at least I haven't pulled in forward on a ramp. Yep seen it twice now. I couldn't help as they were to far "gone" so to speak(20 somethings with attitudes).

Really, cool. I have a POS trailer and I have to go launch in a local lake and readjust the bunk boards as there lopsided/off center. If that's it I'll keep a bottle with me and clean about a foot at a time until the boat will stay on the trailer until I can hook it up. Junger sent me a link to an automatic latching system I might invest in this winter.

I had a post on this awhile back. Anyway someone recommended this silicon spray off of Amazon. I used it and man does it work . A year later it still works, TOO WELL. If I release my back tie downs and have the boat on just a tiny incline (5° maybe) it will slide off as you let off the winch. This is super for launching but is becoming a real pain loading. I've gotten suggestions that I'll try but those bunk boards are still like wet ice. I'm thinking I should have used vegetable oil instead. I'd like to remove it, the silicon, from the top 3 feet.

Thanks I will check them all out. Hopefully I can find them local. Won't buy mail order shoes, my dad bought them when I was a kid and I still have bad vibes on that.

Thanks to all. Just got a aha moment. A line on the bottom of trolling motor and believe it or not a pair of crocs. Just tried them at a slippery ramp and they held very well. I changed my trolling motor and now it can handle a line tugging on it easy. Thanks. Maybe someday I'll stop with the dumb questions.

Just a dumb FYI update. I used this old 2005 minn kota power drive 80lb in Raystown Lake in PA this week. It WAS FREAKING GREAT. I set it at 1 on constant, pointed it on a course hit autopilot and in 2 miles never touched the motor. To me that was heaven. The new ones with GPS and position lock must really be super nice. I'll wait until a bit of my fishing MOJO returns, 15 years is a long time.

Again thanks a ton. I just did my first 4 day trip and it went very smooth. I have a few minor things to fix, then another trip in August and I think I'm ready for Scottsboro AL in late September.

I called a few guides today...it's strictly a striper lake. I don't have a clue how to fish for them.

Yep. I added 30lbs to the back (replacement battery). Now it's hard to get on plane. I learned this week for my boat start with trim all the way down, Rev up to about 2800 then raise the trim until the bow comes up about a foot. It feels like a rocket just ignited and the tone changes dramatically. A 17' 1200 lbs with a 50hp 2 stoke topped out at 45mph and it was a tiny bit scary. I found out later at the ramp I smoked an open header boat. I only ran it for a minute or so as the chop was making me nervous (I've dolphined before and it can get rough if your reactions are to slow). Man I had no idea the learning curve on this would be so steep and long, and there is only one way to learn....mess up. But WOW when you get it right, you have a blast.