PECo

They might, but since the boat appears to sit tail-heavy in the water, it looks fine to me: It’s strange to me that none of the photos I’ve been able to find show the most unique feature of the boats, which is the shape of the aluminum hull. I’ve often thought, “Why doesn’t anyone make an aluminum hull in the same shape as a fiberglass hull?” And, yes, I’m aware of the Tracker Avalanche.

I have a three-bank MK 345PC that had problems recognizing and charging all three batteries. I read on a forum, somewhere, that Minn Kota’s Precision Chargers are unusually sensitive to inadequate line voltage. Yeap, I didn’t really believe this, either. However, I bought the heaviest gauge extension cord of the shortest length necessary to connect the charger to the wall socket. It worked, for the most part, although I still sometimes have to unplug the charger and plug it back in before it will properly recognize and charge all three batteries. Luckily, that happens only very rarely, now. If you have flooded lead-acid batteries, another potential issue is poor equalization between the cells within the battery, although that’s unlikely, since your batteries are new. The charger has an Equalization Mode to fix that: Finally, you should make sure there is no active draw on the batteries when you plug in the charger. The user manual indicates this is a potential problem.

In addition to jerkbaits and small jigs, you could try a slowly fished drop shot with a 2-1/2 inch Gulp! Minnow on it. If you use a 1/4 ounce weight, you'll be able to cast it a mile away to deeper water.

Try targeting panfish, instead. Cold-water largemouth bass feed slowly and on small prey. here in Connecticut, I've been catching them in 40 to 42 degree water with a white two-inch curlytail grub on a 1/8 ounce ball jighead. A couple of weeks ago, while I was fishing for yellow perch, I DID catch 14 yellows, but I also caught 12 largemouth bass and four chain pickerel. It was a really strange day.

Last year, I bought a Triton 179 TrX and two of my buddies bought Nitro Z18s. One got a single-axle trailer and the other got a double-axle trailer. For about the same money, my boat came with a Mercury 115 Pro XS four-stroke, while theirs both came with a Mercury 150 four-stroke. Both of my buddies say that the weakest part of the Nitro package is the low quality of the trailer. The buddy with the double-axle trailer is afraid to step on the flimsy fenders. Another weakness that I’ve noticed on the Nitros is the lower quality of the components used on the boat. For example, the rod straps are those silicone things that ALWAYS fail. If you look at the rigging in the Ranger and the Nitro, the Ranger is light years better than the Nitro. I love the Ranger battery selector switch that lets you jump your motor with one of the trolling motor batteries; I wish that my Triton had come with that. However, none of that affects the fishability of Nitro boats, which is excellent. Nitro is a value brand and definitely provides terrific value for the money. If I had a bigger garage and my local Connecticut waters weren’t almost all speed-restricted to 45 miles per hour or much, much less, I might have gone with the Nitro, too.

A buddy and I each have a Humminbird Helix 10 G2 and 24 volt Minn Kota Ultrex on the bow, and a second Helix 10 G2 on the console of our boat. We both had interference problems from Day 1. After weeks of back and forth with Humminbird Customer Support, including installing a humongous ferrite core provided by Humminbird, he solved his by installing a second ground on the head of his trolling motor, just like Weedwhacker said. I’m lazy and still living with it.

Sharpie doesn’t work well on soft plastics. Spike-It does, though. I think it’s a dye. I use it to add detail to soft plastic craws. The claw arms and antennae on these craws are orange, like the legs, so I color them with a blue Spike-It marker:

Do not underestimate the importance of comfort. For $1,000, you should be able to get a kayak that has a raised, stadium-style seat, which the Tarpon 120 doesn’t have.

Never did. But at least I got to buy more fishing stuff!

So, whom did you kill? Seriously, though, nice fish.

All I can tell you is that a $600 setup will sink WITHOUT one. And I’ve tested that twice!

Well, March is here, so I gave it a shot, today. I wet a line from the fishing dock at the Frank A. Vincent Marina, across the river from Newark in Kearny. I threw a white four inch fluke on a 3/8 ounce jighead and a white two inch curly tail grub on a 1/8 ounce ball jighead for about an hour. There was no sign of life in the water, none at all, either animal OR plant. Go figure.

You got me searching for a new PFD, Jig Man. I don’t care much for the lime green accents, but I just ordered a Mustang MD5183 KF: http://www.mustangsurvival.com/en_US/products/flotation/inflatable-pfds/elite-28k-inflatable-pfd-auto-hydrostatic-MD5183KF.html Mustang intends this PFD for paddlers, but it’s the same as the non-paddling version, except that it has molle webbing and other equipment lash points on it. AND it only comes in black or gray with the ugly lime green accents. It has a low-profile manual inflation handle, so it doesn’t have a dangling yellow “Jerk Here” handle on the right side. Plus, it has a D-ring on the right side, dual waist-strap cinch buckles AND a whistle! If only it were available in orange. . . .

Seat comfort is critical. An uncomfortable kayak doesn’t get used. Weight is important. A too heavy kayak doesn’t get used.

I keep a couple of Cabela’s auto-inflatables on my boat for guests and use an Onyx A-33 Insight myself, but you won’t find a better auto-inflatable than a Mustang. A buddy just bought a Mustang MIT-100. I tried it on and will probably buy one. The thing I like most about the MIT-100 is how flat it lays. Less bulk is more comfortable and less obtrusive, for sure. The things I don’t like about the MIT-100 are: 1) it doesn’t include a whistle; 2) it doesn’t have a D-ring on the right side, where you can attach a kill-switch lanyard; and 3) there’s only one buckle on the right side to adjust the length of the waist strap. My A-33 doesn’t include a whistle, but it has a D-ring. It’s on the wrong (i.e., left) side, but at least it’s there and it works okay. The A-33 also has buckles on both sides to adjust the length of the waist strap, which is less awkward to use than a single buckle on only one side. My ideal auto-inflatable PFD would lay flat, include a whistle, have the inflation mechanism and manual pull tab on the left side, have a D-ring on the right side and have buckles on both sides to adjust the length of the waist strap. Sometimes, I wonder whether the people who design these things ever actually use them.

Have you ever seen any of those YouTube videos of people taking big dents out of their plastic car bumpers with a heat gun? That might be worth a shot.

It looks fine, to me.

In what part of the country are you? I caught my first Connecticut largemouth bass of the year, yesterday, but the surface water temperature was only 42 degrees and your fish could have eaten mine: I have an Omniheat jacket that I use as a base layer. It’s the orange one in my photo. It works terrifically.

A buddy once mounted a stadium seat he bought at Dick’s Sporting Goods in his kayak. He said it was very comfortable. I don’t recall which seat he used or which one might fit in your kayak, but this one looks comfy:

I had read about some recent model Tritons having electrical problems before I bought my 2017 179 TrX. The forum posts made them sound like Jaguar cars. However, Triton changed the electrical components it uses and, so far, so good, for me, at least. However, I think that the ignition switch is a component from Mercury. I can’t imagine that a new one would be very expensive or hard to swap out.

That would be my concern. A kayak with a stadium seat would probably be much more comfortable.

If your issue is storage, Hobie makes a line of inflatable sit-on-tops with its Mirage Drive. They work pretty well.

When I listed my first boat for sale on Craigslist, I priced it at just below what I thought it was really worth. In the fall and winter, I got a lot of lowball offers, including one from a buyer from who said, “You’d let a sale walk away over a measly $1,000?” My thought was, “You’d walk away from a purchase over a measly $1,000? If you can’t afford a boat, don’t buy one.” Craigslist buyers always seem to expect a big price break. In the spring, I had two buyers look at the boat in two days and both wanted it for what I listed it. I let the second buyer take it, because he had contacted me first. I probably could have played the two buyers against each other and gotten more money, but believe that a deal is a deal. 12 years? I have a buddy who financed his with Bass Pro for 20. He pays next to nothing each month.

There's a lot that you have to consider. Do you already have a Safe Boating Certificate? Do you have a tow vehicle? Do you have a place to store a boat? Can you afford a boater's liability insurance policy? If your minimum goal is to get off the shore or bank, I'd suggest getting a kayak, first.

I understand that New Jersey does NOT require a license for recreational marine fishing, although it requires recreational marine fishermen to register on its Saltwater Registry every year at SaltwaterRegistry.nj.gov. I’ve registered, but need some clarification regarding New Jersey’s recreational marine fishing regulations. I plan to fish for striped bass from the banks of the Passaic River in downtown Newark. Yes, I know that it’s a Superfund Site. And, no, I don’t intend to keep ANYTHING that I catch. Hopefully, that includes illnesses. Attached is New Jersey’s 2017 Recreational Marine Fishing Regulations Summary Sheet: I know that the Passaic River in downtown Newark is tidal, but is it open to recreational fishing year-round? In other words, is it considered to be within three miles of the Atlantic Ocean or part of the “All other marine waters” that are closed in January and February every year?