Deephaven

This is the tackle storage box: I also have the cooler full. I'd like the cooler back Part of it is I'd like to have this locker in the back for walleye and crappie stuff when I'd be by the tiller and then would like all the bass/muskie stuff up front. Having a place for a "co-angler" to bring 5-8 3700's as well is helpful. The off colored carpet is a casting extension. I am going to change it some so that 1) the carpet matches, lol, 2) it has a dry storage for 3700's....will be 44" of space which if they are all 2" ones means I can carry 22 up there. That will greatly open up the rear storage. As for the stereo, I am partly cheating. I have no night time lights in the boat. I will embed some LED's in the casting extension and the back battery access. Having 4 LED's inside speakers in the glass will greatly help as well. Plus, I will be using this to teach my kids how to waterski. They are scared to do it behind the Malibu and Tonka is a terrible place to learn as no matter when you go there are others making waves. So yes, I will be the guy in the tiller pulling watersports. My theory is anything that extends my day on the water with my little ones is a good thing.

Not a knock on the previous owner. Boat is in great shape, but here is what I found: -Starting battery was shot (disclosed at time of purchase, but I was hopeful) -No main battery shut off (I prefer to do this when charging) -Flow-rite valves don't hold water (big surprise, hate those things) -No interior lights. I don't understand Ranger??? Ok, there is a small one but that is nearly useless for night time fishing. I get migraines from bright lights so headlamps are a no go for anyone else on my boat. Ordered up some LED's to fix that -No stereo. I know, it's a fishing boat...don't need one. Well I've never owned a boat without and will put one in for times I find it appropriate or desirable. Plus LED speakers add light. -No ethernet network, just NMEA. -Engine idles rougher than I think it should. Can't say I've had my hands on a 2 stroke tiller this big before. Either way, Rock Auto just delivered a new set of plugs -Ship to shore radio won't turn on -One livewell pump (baitwell...of course I bought minnows since bass season is closed) is shot. To be fair, it is wired to switch A3 which means I think I left it running while the boat was out of the water. Not the previous owners fault. He also gave me 4 pumps so again I can't feel bad. -Needs more tackle storage. Boat came with a large casting platform...that I will have to modify to hold another 20 3700's. Everything else was stellar. Most of these are upgrades. I have a severe case of upgrade-itis and modify the hell out of everything I own so I consider the list above really small.

The snow sort of put a damper on my trips. Was too eager early in the year and went before the fish were moving, but am ready to try again this weekend as I have seen action now walking around the lake. That was actually a primary goal of my first two trips. A new boat brings new challenges. Have the boat torn apart right now, but can easily fish in a moments notice. Lots of parts on order to finish personalizing it.

I have a 6'8 MXF for baits requiring rod motion (twitch, walk, pop) and use a 7'10" MH for baits that are primarily reeled (buzz, plopper, jitterbug).

Where else would you have one?

Whichever ones I forgot at home

Don't buy the Ugly stick. Three things you need to balance assuming a quality build. Weight, Stiffness, and Length. A longer rod with the same weight & stiffness as a shorter is more sensitive. A lighter rod with the same stiffness & length as a heavier is more sensitive A stiffer rod with the same weight and length as a less stiff rod is more sensitive. The Ugly stick has a terrible ratio of these along with build quality concerns. The better rod won't have those problems. There is also a lot of misinformation utilizing the word vibrations in this thread. A vibration is expressed in cycles per second or multiples. What you feel when a fish bites is not a vibration, but a force that the fish puts on the rod through the line. Expressing it as a vibration confuses things and is completely incorrect. Rather easy to visualize what a force does, but much harder for most people to do that with vibrations.

Before I picked up my boat I was contemplating what it'd be. Lots of compromises and guesses in my numbers here, but the range puts things in perspective. 1725lb boat is over 4k on the trailer.

You missed the point of custom then. What you have is customized incorrectly. The real reason to run a custom is to make a rod in the way you want it. A factory rod is an engineer/marketing dept/builders vision of a custom rod to their specs. When your specs don't match their specs then custom is better. If you can't determine what specs to change then it is not better...but IMO that is easy as there are very few off the shelf rods that are built the way I would build them.

?? You mean take up room in the truck. You don't need them in the boat until your truck is backed into the water. Can leave them in the vehicle all day and put them on when you back in. Of course, the real mechanism to do all this the right way is to bring someone fishing. They can either drive the boat or the truck. In the case of incompetent ones *cough, wife, cough* you back 90% of the way down, get in the boat and have them dump you the last few inches. Do the same on the way back. That person holds the boat at the dock/shore and you back in, then trade places and they just have to pull you out far enough to not get wet.

I ripped half the electrical nonsense out of my boat today. Bought it with a fair number of hours, if the motor pops I'll build it. Not terribly concerned. Realistically if you are diligent one day in the spring and one in the fall and you can conquer all you need to do on your boat. There are always exceptions, but when well maintained there isn't all that much to do. Of course if you find changing the oil in your car difficult then it will cost you.

I just boat up to a restaurant and grab what sounds good. Can get to more than 30 so there are plenty of choices. When not on my home lake I regularly pack the camp stove and a cooler full of goodies. If the fishing is too good to stop then at least when I'm done I can eat a real meal right away.

If you can't describe and know how to make the rods you can buy off the shelf better a custom is premature in your life for now. If you can then custom all the way. All my rods but 3 are custom and all for a specific reason or reasons. For how I use them they outperform everything in their price range by a long shot

Instead of anchor, just tie your rope to the dock, power unload and go grab it. The loading on some ramps will make you want waterproof boots but unloading there is no need

Try that in a truck with a topper Getting out is easy, back can be a different story.

Pulled up an old picture. This vehicle is at nearly it's towing capacity. While owning it I also had a Chevy Silverado. The ML was WAY, WAY better at towing, stopping, and handling the trailer. In fact, the Silverado (2002) was downright dangerous in comparison. The brakes were complete crap, the 5.3 super anemic and it was way easy to have the trailer control the rig vs the way it is supposed to be. Obviously a longer wheel base would provide more stability, but it worked SUPER well. All of the "must use a 1/2 ton" truck bias is crazy. I have no experience with the Tacoma, but my half ton sucked compared to this wimpy little truck. My wives now Jeep rides on the same platform that the ML63 was on. It also does really well with the Ranger behind it. Brakes, curb weight, wheelbase length, and HP are physical factors, how you use your brain however the most important.

Keith, you don't need to keep two starters, just one. You can build your levain with whatever flour you want when you pull the mother from the fridge. I use 5grams of fridge starter, feed it 2x a day for 2 days and am good to go. That 5g of starter isn't really relevant what flour it is as the overall levain ends up being close to 200g when I am done and the flavor profile of whatever I want to add takes care of it. If you go to 2 months you may end up with lots of alcohol....but even at 2 I haven't killed a starter yet. Reinhardt is a good resource, but "recipes" for sourdough are all pointless IMO. Technique on the other hand huge. I mostly make 80-90% hydration loaves although occasionally go wetter if I use meatier grains.

I keep my starter in the fridge. It comes out once a month to get fed and sit on the counter for an hour and back in the fridge. I take out 5g of it a few days before I want bread and start feeding it. If I plan right I can get by with no waste other than my monthly feed/dump. That is baked at 475F with lots of stone/iron in the oven and lots of ice for steam.

I either grab the fish by my hand or paddle to shore.

Looks great, I love sourdough. You made me go start a levain so we can have a loaf on Monday. This one is from last week.

I used to tow my 521 Ranger with a 1968 Ford Galaxie XL. Traction couldn't be hairy on certain launches, but it had zero issues otherwise.

Nice loaf. Where is the crumb pic?

Repair costs are just one expense, depreciation the much bigger one. Buying a 10 year old boat means more repairs but nearly no depreciation, buying new the opposite. Repair costs are also directly proportional to hours used while depreciation is based on time owned. No one can make a recommendation for you without knowing a lot more about your use case.

Amusing that Tonka has so many as well as it is a terrible watersports lake. Sorry you had a crap experience due to some idiots. Curious what you use for carp fishing from shore as they are always cruising a block from my house and I've never used any bait other than a french fry...but that is only in a couple very particular spots

If you are smart, don't have tons of hills, and aren't doing big miles regularly there is zero reason to have something more capable than the Tacoma. I wouldn't be scared to use my wives Jeep GC to my 20' glass boat anywhere in MN. Will be quite often this summer in fact.