matt05star

I have the Sea Chaser 19, and really love it. I bought it off a fellow LOU member. Of course, I moved up from an 18 foot Starcraft aluminum. The fishing room on the boat is impressive. I think you'd be hard pressed to find many 22 foot boats with more deck space. If you've done the research, I think you probably know the Sea Rangers in the same size have a little more room in the cuddy, and less aft. That, and perhaps the Sea Rangers all come in hard top. Don't know if I'm recalling that all correctly. It is good on gas, I've got a 130 HP Etec that doesn't use much at all when trolling. I think it's pretty topped out at around 35 mph with another couple fishermen and gear. I feel it handles the conditions I'm willing to fish in just fine, but I do feel the boat bobs quite a bit. Maybe going a little bigger would help. The only other thing I would mention is it seems to ride high to me in the bow. I'm 6'3" and I almost have trouble getting a good view out the windshield. Nothing a different chair or additional cushion wouldn't remedy, but I find that kind of odd at my height (maybe I just need to sit up straighter). I believe Iron Duke on this site either owns an Arima, or it may be a buddy's that he fishes out of regularly. You may want to PM him. There's a great Arima owner's forum, too. If you haven't checked that out, and are seriously considering the boat, you should. Lots of good info on there. Feel free to PM me with any other questions, and good luck. Oh, where are you in North Jersey? I'm in Hunterdon.

We went 6 for 7 in the same area, 8 lb. Laker, couple browns 5 and 6, and a bonus 8 lb. walleye ( my first, released). We only lasted about an hour this morning 4/19 before the waves built too much and scared us off.

Later start for my brother (yukiginger) and me this morning after the fireworks at the folks' house last night. Decided to go launch out of Hughes marina after our struggles out of Irondequoit bay yesterday. Set down in about 150 fow. Current unbelievably strong and the dipsy tangles lead us to abandoning them before too long. Before we did, though, did have one king about 10-12 lbs. On a flasher fly, but he decided to take a last run at the net and cut off in the prop. Caught one laker about 8 lbs. , small brown and a skippy king on spoons down 70-85 in 125-240 fow. Had a couple more decent fish get off after brief battles, so not happy with our 3 for 6 morning. Lake did settle down mid to late morning, though, and the fishing beat the alternative. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Put down in 75 fow straight out at 6, slow going in the chop. Not much doing, lots of bait down about 80 over 100, not many marks. Did have one fish on, but briefly. Pretty much as soon as I pulled the rod, cranked down and pulled back up, it broke off. We think it hit one of the wire lines. Lost those two spoons, nbk down 70 with a monkey puke cheated. Nasty current out there to the west. Stayed in 100-130 as the wind was coming up, and boat control got difficult. That was it, got to be a little rough by 9 with about 4 footers. Ran two flasher/flies on dipsies, but no hits. Seemed to be letting up just slightly when we headed in at 10. Only saw a couple other boats out, might try out of Hughes tomorrow. Surface temp about 69-70 for what it's worth. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

My brother (yukiginger) and I launched just after 5 and started in 75 fow. Continued north with the other boats and settled mostly in 145-165 feet of water. We ended about 8 for 9 with some skippy kings, a decent king and a nice steelie. A stingray hammer spoon took most fish off the riggers at 50 to 60 down, but we took a couple on a mountain dew spinny with fly. Came back in shallow and hit one in 75 feet on the way back in. Lots of boats out, so hopefully people were doing well. Beautiful day out there. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Had to make a quick trip this morning for just a couple hours. Again fished straight out just north of mud line in 55-70 fow. Didn't do as well as yesterday, but did manage a decent steelie and Skippy king. Same colors as yesterday, green and black nbk and blue and yellow stinger off diggers down 35-50. Saw other boats hooked up, so they're biting. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Shakedown cruise this morning with my twin brother (yu kiginger) out of Irondequoit. Launched about 6:30, put a flatlined stick straight back as we cleared the pier and had a cookie cutter brown in just a few minutes. we took another few small browns and one small king at 7 lbs. King hit a purple and white r&r spoon down just 6 ft. We fished in 15-30 ft of water all morning between the bay and Shipbuilders. Lots of small marks, but few decent marks. Had one other decent fish get off, ending 5 for 6. Slower than I had hoped based on reports, but I'm not capable of putting those numbers in the boat, I'm afraid. Nice to be out, but doesn't look promising tomorrow.

Got out the last two days with my brother out of Ibay. Mid afternoon yesterday started in about 100 fow, marked occasional fish, worked a waypoint or two in the 100-150 range, but couldn't get them to go. Pulled and motored out to 250 to check on things, but saw nothing. Went out again this morning, fishing around 6:30 and set down in about 90 fow. Again, only occasional marks, mainly in the top 50 fow. Worked all the way out to 300 feet without moving a rod. Saw a boat hook up twice with small to medium fish, didn't see anyone else getting into anything. Worked back into about 140, marked lakers on the bottom and dropped a dipsy with bloody death spin doctor and purple fly down, and caught two. One was a nice, fat 16 lb'er, and the other a 9 lb. fish. Picked up one more small laker a little while later on a cheated purple and white spoon, probably only down about 30'. Nice to put something on the deck. Disappointing that we couldn't many of the higher marks to go, but we'll give it another try in the morning. Good luck to all.