Daniel Blakeman

I posted this in another forum, thought I'd drop it here. 2021 Tracker 190 Pro Tournament Ed. Since this picture, I've put a single power pole on it as the dealer refused to put a second one on it. Said it would make the back end sit to low in the water. I'd always intended to put two poles on it and to find it out it won't take two is a let down.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement. I would not be nearly so worried if it were just me out there but when I have my wife & son with me, my protective instincts just go into overdrive and I become hyper cautious. I don't know anyone around me that would be able to provide any experienced guidance other than maybe hiring a guided fishing trip for a day. The Facebook video of the guy buzzing around in thick weeds with his tm helped. The lake I am near (Orange lake) is loaded with hydrilla so thick in some places its all you see. I think I will plan a morning by myself on the water and just burn through some hydrilla and see how it goes.

Maybe to clarify - I think I'm more afraid of getting stuck in a weed bed and unable to propel out of it or otherwise disabling the boat and stranding me and/or my family in some random corner of a 12,000 acre lake. I know the boat will get dinged up, I expect that. It's a largely irrational fear, but did anyone else experience this?

To preface this, I have been wanting / saving on and off for nearly two decades to finally reward myself with a bass boat of my own. I was raised fishing on a small canoe, then a 12" aluminum deep V by my older brother who I lost a few years ago to a car accident. Thousands of hours at all hours of the night and day fishing largemouth. To honor his memory, I bought a boat two weeks ago, named it in his memory, and have made a few trips out onto the central Florida lakes (Newnans, Orange). I have spent more time trying to manage the boat and being afraid of it drifting into weeds that I can't get out of than fishing. I took my wife and son out with me and helped them try to fish and the whole thing was miserable. I'm now on my 5th outing, multiple hours, and not a fish in the boat. I am starting to feel disinterested in even taking it out. I'm more afraid of damaging the boat or making a rookie mistake like those posted here and on Youtube and becoming the brunt of someone else's humor. I'm not made of money and the boat represents a monster investment for me but the dream and hope of getting one is feeling smashed and I'm starting to feel like a completely fraudulent bass fisherman. I post this to hope that someone has some encouragement or something else to share to help me want to go back out.