PECo

I used to fish from a Hobie Pro Angler, but now only paddle. Pedaling is definitely an advantage over paddling in most kayak fishing tournaments. However, a kayak fishing tournament is won by fishing better, not kayaking better, so while it's an advantage, I wouldn't call it unfair.

Go flexible. A piece of tractor-trailer mudflap will bend when hit, not break.

For $200 or less, the Shimano Stradic FK is the best spinning reel available. Shimano put a lot of the best technologies from its higher end reels into it. In a way, Shimano shot itself in the foot with it, because there's no need to spend more.

A week and a half ago, I caught a couple of small largemouth bass with a wacky-rigged Senko in 38 degree water. Both were suspending directly underneath logs in a dead end canal off of the Connecticut River. One hit the Senko dragged off of the log and the other hit the Senko thrown up against the log. I threw the Senko as a last resort, after striking out all day with a chatterbait and a drop shot. Sometimes, a Senko is all that they'll eat.

If the animal you saw was smaller than you think an otter would be, it's possible that you saw an American mink. They often have white fur on their chins. They're fairly common up here in Connecticut and are much better fishers than men.

My dealer mounted the heading sensor on the front deck, away from all of the metal on the trolling motor. I have a couple of buddies with new Nitro Z18s. Their dealers mounted the heading sensor underneath the deck in a recess under a cupholder. Supposedly, the recess was designed to accomodate sensor pucks.

I owned a 2006 G3 Eagle 165 for a couple of years. Mine was powered with a Yamaha 60 hp four-stroke. It's a terrific little boat. Yes, the deck is plywood, but the hull and transom are welded 0.100 aluminum. It's also full of foam for flotation. I still miss that boat because it was EASY; easy to store, easy to maintain, easy to trailer and easy to run. The guy to whom I sold it recently told me, "No, you're not getting it back." Don't be scared of the plywood. Just make sure that the motor is in good shape and has been well maintained.

Yes, I have a VesselView Mobile. I posted about it in another thread:

I have a VesselView Mobile. The advantages include cost (only $275) and ease of installation (plug and play). Nothing else other than a bluetooth enabled display that can run the app is required. I use my iPhone. The bits of data it gives me that I appreciate the most are RPM, Coolant Temperature, Engine Hours and Observed Faults, including the codes. It also gives Speed, but I keep an eye on that on my fish finder. So far, I'm up to 5.6 Engine Hours and my engine has thrown codes for High Voltage (when I turned on the ignition in my garage with the battery charger still plugged in) and Emergency Stop (when I accidentally pulled the kill switch while running).

I recently bought a 2017 Triton 179 TrX with a Mercury 115 Pro XS that has the standard gearcase, NOT the Command Thrust gearcase. The motor came with a 20 pitch Laser II three-blade prop. The boat felt bogged down when coming out of the hole and the motor never got close to 6,000 rpm, let alone the 6,300 for which it's rated at WOT. I swapped out the Laser II for a 19 pitch Spitfire X7 four-blade prop. I think that the Spitfire X7 should have been the OEM prop. The boat comes out of the hole much quicker and acceleration is much more linear. A couple of days ago, I found some smooth water on the Connecticut River and, fully loaded with 450 pounds of fishermen and 20 gallons of fuel, the boat ran at 50.4 miles per hour GPS. The river was running high and there was a lot of floating debris, so I failed to take note of the rpm at top speed, but I glanced at the tach and it looked closer to 6,000 rpm than I had previously seen it. I have only 5.6 hours on the motor, so I figure that I'll get more out of it as it breaks in, and the air and water warm up. As far as tournament readiness goes, there's plenty of storage, although the port rod rack restricts the number of rods I can carry, because I use spinning gear. A couple of my buddies just bought Nitro Z18s, and, while their boats can go faster and run smoother with their Mercury 150 four-strokes, I hear a lot less hull slap from light chop on my hull when fishing. The more radical hull design of the Nitro seems to trap chop underneath it, which causes it to slap on the hull. Also, while I haven't been able to compare the weather tightness of our boats (I garage mine), mine has gasketed compartments on the front deck that should, theoretically at least, keep water out better. And as far as fit, finish and fittings go, my boat is much nicer, like a GMC compared to a Chevy. My desire to garage the boat was a big factor in my choice of boats. My garage door opening is 104 inches wide. A Nitro Z18 on the trailer is 102 inches wide. Mine's only 98, so I can back the boat into the garage with my Jeep. I hope this helps.