Chas0218

I bought a few of the yo-zuri 3d holographs, they are outrageous! I bought some a few years ago for half their current price and that wasn't on sale. At $18 a pop they have to be up there with lucky craft lures. I have been shopping around and looking at all my go to lures they have all gone up in price. Man I want to add a couple copper setups this year but that isn't going to happen if I can't find lures on the cheap.

Like yankee said if it is slow we have the max out otherwise it is 8ish. haha My boat is also 8' wide 23' long with the big boards, and mast. It all depends on how froggy you're feeling.

Bob going to be there?!?! I need some new spoons to wash.

My boat is a 23 footer, I have a lot in the back of the boat already but even with 2 people in the back with the 25 gallon livewell full, 2 batteries, 2 riggers, main motor, and kicker she still has quite a bit of free board. I have self bailing floors which is a plus. So when I take a wave over the back it goes right back out. I have considered tying them together but once I get to my location I usually don't leave/run the main motor until I leave at the end of the day. I might do the perko switch idea or buy another single bank charger. Decisions, decisions Do any of you guys have an idea of what your hydraulic pumps pull for amperage?

I see what you are saying, I keep my boat on a rail system that allows me to use an onboard charger. Sent from my thinking car!

no electric riggers only the autopilot and accessories. I am running 2 batteries already just the one is only used for my main engine and the other for my accessories. If I am understanding you guys you're saying 2 for just the accessories and still utilize the third one for my main engine? Sent from my thinking chair...

Make sure the connections on everything are tight. See if you can move the transducer cable away from the positive and negative leads. Sent from my thinking chair...

Make sure the transducer is not mounted near a rib in the hull, that will cause turbulence and not allow the transducer to work correctly. Also is it rpm induced? For example if you put the boat in gear but raise the motor rpms does the interference get worse?

Ok so a new kicker with 12v charging isn't in the budget. So I need to figure out how many batteries I need to sustain my boat for 8 hours of trolling. I only have 3 things that will be running off the batteries. I have 1 battery dedicated as my cranking battery, but I am unsure whether I need 2 deep cycle batteries or if my 1 deep cycle will be enough. I will be running the EV-100 auto pilot with a hydraulic pump, my 5" depth finder, and my elite 4 gps. The ma/hour rating on all of the units combined (not including the pump) are 850ma/hour or .85amps/hour. My deep cycle battery is rated for 125amp/hours, I was thinking even if my hydraulic pump pulled 11 amps/hour it should still last about 10 hours. Does this make sense?

I think raymarine still offers a wheel drive so hydraulic steering isn't a must. Sent from my thinking chair...

Cheapest thing you can do is get your uncle out there an keep on him about when and where to turn/point the boat. I have found setting lines directly into the waves or straight down wind is easiest for novice trollers. Just this year I bought an autopilot because I fish alone a lot and is tough with a cross wind to set a manual rigger stacked. I started with just dipsys and they were easy by myself but manual riggers make it tough.

I was just kind of shocked that someone would feel that way about the tohatsu/nissan motors. Everyone has there favorites but they are a great motors. I don't personally own one but unless I can find another model cheaper with the ability to charge my batteries I will buy it.

Have your kid go or you're neighbor's kid and buy them an ice cream on the way home. Newer ones run off a fluxgate electronic style compass and use a computer to send adjustments to the drive motor. Sent from my thinking chair...

Where did you read tohatsu motors are un-reliable? I have never seen one with an issue if correctly maintained. Nissan makes 3/4 of the motors on the market that are under 15hp. Just like anything there is always one or two out of a thousand that have issues but the Nissans I have seen run like a top for years without requiring anything more than general maintenance.

Palomar knot to the swivel that attaches to paddle. Sent from my thinking chair...

What these guys said. Also plan on a lot of boat traffic and a rough ride. You won't get waves from the lake just mostly from other boats and maybe a tanker. Lots of chop. Sent from my thinking chair...

Generally when I fish smaller water I use individual boards like off shore or church. Then when I need to turn I just reel in the boards on the inside of the turn so it is tighter to the boat then make my turn and let the boards back out. When pulling lines in the spring on a big boards I dont worry about depths too much because most my stickbaits are the same depth with 100' of line out and I generally just stagger them and if 1 releases just put back out to length that produced the strike. Sent from my thinking car!

Didn't do Crap on our boat either. Same case as Yankee, my buddy brought them in various colors because they worked back home for him. We had them on riggers, boards, and down the chute not a single fish on it. My other lures outperformed them 3 to 1 easy. We tried them on browns and walleye. FWIW Sent from my thinking chair...

When I start to set up I get my gps speed set around 2mph once I get a couple dipsys out and my outside riggers then I will deploy my inner riggers with the probe then go off the probe. I keep the probe speed right around 2.5mph but it depends on the bite. I have gone a season without the probe and did better than having the probe and kept my GPS speed around 2.2.

Really? I have a Humminbird 717 unit with dual beam transducer that is going on its 9th season. I regularly mark fish in over 100' of water. Next year I will be upgrading to a newer Humminbird unit but for now this one hasn't steered me wrong. Sent from my thinking chair...

They say this is the coldest winter on record. I bet those fish will stay in the shallows longer this year if the lake warms gradually. Most likely I will be wrong and we will have 70* days starting the middle of March.