JbroBass

I completely get that sentiment. I'm trying to rig mine so that even with the rigging that I'm doing, I can easily still take the boat out bare bones if I want to. And when I do choose to go out with "the works" it's as clean and simple as possible. As an example, the way it's rigged right now if I want to use the bow mount motor, I simply drop the motor onto the quick release plate, slide in the keeper pin, and plug it in. Then I need to drop the battery box into the back of the boat, thread one strap through the keepers on top of the box and over to the other strap keeper, pull it snug, and then plug in the battery. These steps take less than one minute and everything is mounted and powered up. But I get that it still adds complexity, costs, and new ways for things to go wrong. I will be adding a tackle crate of some sort with rod holders -- just haven't figured out which one yet.

I'm leaning toward a 10 ah lithium. I think I should get roughly 7 or 8 hours use for my fish finder if that's all I'm drawing against it?

I picked up the kayak at the outfitter today and it seems awesome. It's also tough, as my wife managed to drop it when helping my take it off the CRV, but luckily it was undamaged and I managed to bite my tongue. Dropped on the first day, arghhh! So now I have the boat, the Motorguide bow mount kayak motor with remote control and spot lock, a 100 amp hour lithium battery with box and plugs and wiring installed on the boat so the motor and battery plug right in but can be easily removed and all the wiring is out of the way inside the boat. Then I also grabbed the Gear Pod, (which was an on the spot splurge purchase at the outfitter that I should have waited on), and a handful of track mount fittings that I wanted, such as one with a retractable cord and then some for easy tie downs. I also have a nice paddle and the scupper hole retractable transducer mount on the way. Hopefully the fish finder I want will be on sale on black Friday, and then I need to grab the YakAttack CellBlock and a 10 amp hour lithium battery to run with that and my electronics set up will be complete. Next up is a nice PFD. And then I think this is what I will start with in the springtime and fish a while before deciding what if anything else I'll do with it.

NuCanoe just released the scupper hole retractable transducer mount for the Unlimited, so I think I'm going to give that a shot with the fish finder mounted on a CellBlock (with battery inside) on the front deck center track. That should keep the fish finder components organized, in a good spot, and close together while keeping the gunwales clear. I think I'm going to get a Hummingbird Helix 7 Mega SI/DI but still working through that decision, mostly to understand the map options which I have no experience with. I've found this unit with the Navionics card (US inland lakes) included, but cannot seem to find it with a LakeMaster card.

I stopped keeping bass for eating (LM/SM) when I was a kid, but I did enjoy the taste of bass caught in northern waters. Now striped bass, that is some seriously good eating and I always kept any that met the required length. (Thankfully for the striped bass, it was only a few as the limit was 36" when I did most of my fishing for them.)

I'm pretty terrible at DIY anything, and will most likely purchase all my solutions except for the deployment and retraction of the trolling motor, which doesn't seem to have a commercial solution available that I can find. (And even that I wanted the outfitter to do, but they don't want to do it and insist I don't need it lol.)

I've just ended up irritated when going to my local BPS recently, because they're usually out of stock or do not carry half the things I'm looking for. I suspect that some are better than others though.

@Koz How many hours do you get with that 7 Ah battery? I will probably also use it only for the fishfinder, so your results should be roughly transferable to me. I hope to fish between 6 to 10 hours at a time, max.

I do have the option of the scupper transducer port as well, once NuCanoe releases the retractable gizmo, which is supposed to be soon. For some reason the outfitter I'm working with doesn't think that's a good option, and strongly recommends the CellBlock on the gunwale with the battery inside and the display unit and transducer arm mounted on top. And this is what he uses on his personal boat, which is also a NuCanoe Unlimited. I still may try the scupper transducer port anyway, as the idea of a centrally mounted system is more appealing to me than the gunwale mount. My only worry is damaging the transducer by accidently forgetting to retract it before beaching. And also a little bit of concern that it could be damaged when beaching even if it is retracted.

I plan on getting a 10 Ah lithium battery. In poking around researching, there seem to be several that fit inside the CellBlock.

@Koz I was considering the YakAttack Black Pac, but that Tuff Krate looks good and is less than half the cost. How strong are the hinges which hold the top section to the bottom section? Just from looking at the picture, it seems that those hinges could be key to how well the box works.

Are people really getting rich making fishing videos on YouTube? I mean I watch a few guys that I think are popular, but are they really raking in the cash? Is the cash from views or from sponsors/product placements?

Yes, I have seen the NuCanoe dashboard, but I'm trying to avoid it until I decide if I'm going to use a stand-up casting bar, because it interferes with the ability to collapse the bar forward and out of the way when it's not in use. I'm probably going to use the YakAttack cellblock, either on the gunwale as shown in the picture below, with the battery inside and the display unit and transducer arm attached to it. Or on the center track with the battery inside, the display unit attached, and the transducer through the center transducer scupper hole.

@flyfisher What did you hate about having a transducer arm? Was it strictly related to fly casting? Or did other things about having the arm bother you? The transducer scupper is fairly close to the seat, but as you mentioned, that doesn't really matter. If I do use that transducer scupper, my unit will be straight in front of me but further away than the scupper hole. (Everything will be mounted somewhere on the 15" topload track in the front center, close enough to reach it but hopefully not right in my lap. @OldManLure Thank you for the ideas. I'm terrible making things with my hands, so will be seeking a commercial solution. But there are many good commercial options available. The primary decision I'm trying to make is to mount in front of me, or mount on the side. And whether to utilize the transducer scupper hole, or mount the transducer over the side with an arm. It might be tough to know for sure until I get experience in the boat, but I do want to try and make the best decision I can now to try to avoid spending a bunch of money trying things two or three different ways. I guess some of that may be inevitable though.

I just bought a NuCanoe Unlimited Kayak for bass fishing, and I want to carefully choose how I outfit it. This boat is 12'6" long and 41" wide and weighs 84 pounds, so it's not exactly a nimble kayak. But I do plan to eventually trailer it and also to mostly use it under power. So far, I've purchased the Motorguide Xi3 GPS Kayak electric motor (the one that spot/anchor locks) with a 12v 100 Ah lithium battery, which I'm told should power me all day. The outfitter is installing the wiring and quick disconnect components so that the battery will be in the back of the boat just in front of the deck plate in the photo below. Other than the motor, battery, and associated plates and wiring required, I haven't purchased anything else. Where to Mount Electronics Package? The next decision I want to make is where to mount the electronics package. The boat comes with a scupper hole transducer port in the middle of the boat directly in front of the seat. This can also be seen in the photo below. There is a cutout under the boat that is supposed to be large enough for side/front imaging transducers. The manufacturer is supposed to soon release a transducer mount that will allow for the transducer to be dropped down when in use (for side/front imaging) and retracted when not in use. One choice is to use this scupper hole transducer port for the transducer, and then mount a YakAttack CellBlok to the 15" track in the front middle of the boat, with the battery inside the CellBlock, and the electronics display unit on top. This will allow me to easily remove everything except for the transducer. (I'm assuming I can just unplug the transducer cord from the electronics unit, while leaving the transducer in the retracted position at the bottom of the boat.) The other choice is to also use a CellBlock, but mount it on one of the tracks on either the left or right front gunwale, and also mount the transducer mount arm on top of the CellBlock. This is the method that the outfitter is recommending. Their main reason for this is that I can easily remove the entire unit (display unit, battery, and transducer arm) for transport and charging and also reduces the chance of theft. They also feel like this keeps all the cords nicely out of the way. However, I'm wondering if having the CellBlock with the electronics and transducer arm up on the gunwale won't interfere with fishing, and occasionally, paddling? It seems like having the electronics mounted dead front center might be a better choice, as this will keep the gunwales clear. I'm not sure yet if I intend to fish often while standing, or to fish mostly from a seated position. It seems like the unit up on the gunwale would definitely interfere more with fishing while seated than while standing, but I have no experience to draw on. I would love to hear from some experienced kayak fisherman regarding this choice. Sorry for the duplicate image. Not sure how I did that and cannot find the edit post button.

I'm not surprised. I was able to use the ramp a few times before they restricted it, and then I was stuck putting in a canoe at a little electric utility spot (or something like that) on the roadside north of the amusement park.

Thanks all for the nice welcome. @deaknh03 I grew up in Methuen so I'm somewhat familiar with your favorite lake as well as a few others in the area like Big Island and Canobie. Don't have any idea how it is now, but Canobie was amazing 30 years ago, even if it was always a pain to launch due to off and on restrictions at the boat ramp.

I recently bought 8-10 packs of Zoom flukes because I wasn't aware of the bending issue. I guess I'll need to inspect them and try the hot water trick if necessary. Does anybody know if the hot water trick recommended above damages the salt impregnation?

As a kid and into my early twenties fishing was my thing. I fished for most local species both fresh and saltwater, but bass fishing (LM. SM, stripers) was always my favorite. Eventually I got into rock and ice climbing and only fished sporadically over the last 25 years, certainly less than once per year on average. I recently took my dad out on a few short trips to Maine while he can still do it physically, met a bunch of nice guys that had some beautiful bass boats and were caught up on all the latest techniques, and seem to have caught the fishing bug again myself. I was very close to purchasing a bass boat, but since this would also require purchasing a new tow vehicle, I decided to step back and make sure I'm really into it again before making such a large financial commitment. So instead of the bass boat I just purchased a NuCanoe Unlimited kayak. I have at least some experience in whitewater and ocean kayaks, so I think kayaking will be a good choice for me. I plan to spend the winter outfitting the boat, getting in shape and working on flexibility, and then really start the kayak fishing learning process next year. I'm also going to spend a few bucks going out locally with a bass guide to accelerate the learning process, particularly with electronics and breaking down lakes. And I'll probably take at least one fishing vacation, most likely for smallies somewhere to the north. I've signed up to the forum because I have a ton of questions about gear, sonar, techniques, outfitting, etc. So many things have changed that I was unaware of that it's crazy. I've only recently even heard of soft frogs, swim jigs, paddletails, flukes, senko worms, chatterbaits, etc. plus all the various new rigging techniques. Braid and fluoro lines are also new to me and the spot lock feature on trolling motors is mind blowing too. Hopefully I won't ask too many stupid questions in the coming months, and I'll certainly appreciate any help and advice over the coming years.