Jack

These motors run very lean. I removed the small plug on the carb that covered the needle valve and richen it up . Because these do run so lean it doesn’t take much dirt or fuel deposits to restrict the gas flow and make them run poorly. Good luck

Kind of autopilot. Have a 19’ stripper with 150 hp and 8t hp Yamaha. I also have a Minnkota Ulterra with ipilot I use for autopilot. The 8 hp pushes the boat and the minnkota steers the boat with a remote or through my Humminbird helix. Can pick a heading , follow depth contours or select waypoints and off we go. Works great plus it has an anchor feature too. just depends how big your boat is , but they did just come out with a 87” shaft for larger boats.

May have nothing to do with your problem but my neighbor had the same issue . Gas in the oil. Turns out he bought a new fuel tank which are now sealed they have a vent to let air in but not out. So the sun would heat up the tank and force the gas into the motor. I also believe Yamaha's have a sensor that won’t let them run if there is to much oil (and gas) in the crankcase. He had to add a pressure relief valve to his fuel line.

Probably going to be the nicest day for fishing til next summer. Good luck!

How deep are you fishing for the pearch thanks

I use the wire knot on my prob cable. Scrap the coating off and tie it to a heavy duty swivel ,works great.