Chas0218

Thanks, he was loving it. I was taking the rod leaning back going big fish and he tried to reel like mad. He was still a little uncoordinated for it though.

That's a beauty of a fish.

Slow weekend 5/20/17 & 5/21/17 Fished this past weekend, it was a little on the slow side. I managed 3 for the whole weekend and 2 big jack perch. Eyes were 4lbs. and 6lbs. perch were 13" and 10". Bay rat, and Thunderstick Jr. were the hot baits. Water level is super high still, front was coming through so I would imagine that is what contributed to the slow bite. Had a couple buddies out there that got skunked so I didn't feel too bad with the low numbers. Had a few nice runs then off. All in all it was nice to be out on the water again first time since last September so I was due for some fish! The bit wasn't really consistent caught 1 around 4pm on Saturday, and the other 2 between 9am and 12pm. Heading back up on Friday to get at her again for the long weekend, hoping I can get my son out there with me and get him on a fish or 2. He almost has the reeling down just needs some help with the the rod.

I would probably do the opposite if he doesn't have 10% the trailer weight on the tongue. If he adds tongue weight it will reduce the amount of stress added to the axle. It's like supporting the weight at 2 points vs 3 points. I would also make sure the trailer is level while towing. The way trailer tows will be completely different when setup correctly.

My weight numbers for your motor were a little light still. So taking that into consideration you are right at the limit of that axle.

Torsion axles work great but they put a lot of stress on the mounting plates and frame compared to the leaf spring style. I would replace the axle then take the old one to a machine shop and have them straighten it and weld it back together and strengthen it. I would keep it for a spare so if this happens again. Take the boat and trailer to a weight station you might be surprised on how much your setup weighs. I have an older boat with dry foam dry weight is 3100lbs. I figured with all my gear it was around 4200lbs. I went and weighed it she was 5100lbs. a lot more than I thought the trailer itself was a lot more than I figured. I'm not trying to tell you you're wrong but you might be surprised. I'm betting you are closer 3000lbs than you think. BTW the motor is over 500 fully dressed I would say right around 700lbs full of fluids. If your fuel tank is full your probably looking at a little more than 50 gallons either way that's 315lbs. minimum. That right there is 2465lbs. no gear no trailer. trailer is probably around another 400lbs. that puts you at right around 2900lbs. Add another 200lbs. for the lower unit and hardware puts you at ~3100 with no gear. I'm guessing you are pretty close to the max weight of that axle.

Yup I'm jealous.

Nice! You are right I'm one of those trolling guys. I like to cover a lot of water especially if the bite is slow.

Was That trolling in brb? Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

I have 4 riggers on my boat (8' beam) but only run 3. I don't bother stacking rods, cheaters are much easier and work great. I have ran up to 2 cheaters on 1 rod without much of a mess. I run the 2 outside straight away from the boat then the rear one towards the middle of the boat. That one also has my temp sensor on it so it usually has a little more blow back anyway.

That is a torsion axle for you. They are great if they aren't overloaded or near their max. I would highly recommend looking into a heavier torsion axle to replace it or add another. They are easy to add as you can see they are just U bolted on. EDIT: Just saw the specs for that axle I would be adding another if it were possible.