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I used a adjustable kicker bracket on my 18fter and needed a 20" shaft motor, the reason for the longer shaft was in order to keep the motor above the waves and to keep it up far enough so when you pull it up and tilt it forward so the lower unit and the prop isn't dragging in the water, I tried a 15" shaft and in order to keep the prop in the water I had to set the motor to deep in the water and on a choppy day the waves washed over the motor cover, so I went with a 20" shaft and problem solved.

It's not that I don't want to give you advise, I'm not familiar with the big blocks, I did my own, with a lot of help from my uncle who builds dirt modified engines, I went from a 305 to a 350 bored 30 which comes to 355 cid. with lots of new goodies, like Dart heads and a full roller cam and heads and of course a 4 bolt main. The heads were cut 60thos, to boost compression and with the roller heads and cam and a Baker carb 2 barrel carb that flows over 600cfm she pushes over 300hp on the dyno. I only use the main to get me to and from, and I can get off the water in a hurry should bad weather come upon us, I have a 21ft Sea Ray cuddy. I did a shake down run on a local lake with a 45mph speed limit and had no problem reaching that speed with throttle to go and around 4700 rpm which I found interesting, the rpms were about same as my speed, I don't foresee myself needing to go that speed to go fishing LOL but it's nice to know I can get off the water in a hurry should I need to.

Chas, my uncle put a solar charger for his trolling motor and is quite happy with it. Me They wouldn't work cause as soon as I mention lake O it clouds up and the wind starts blowing for as long as I'm there and the sun come out around 20 miles south on 81. On the way Home weather!!

Been there 5 times absolutely great walleye fishing all day long

Justin this year I'm switching over to suffix 832 and I'm going with the 30# which is 8# test. Ronnie Franks a good friend of mine who does very well on Ontario with the species I mostly target said he tried it and was very impressed with it and is switching a lot of his rods over to that, of coarse it's one of the most expensive line out there, but that's par for the case. OH he did mention you want the advanced super line!! You could drop down to 20# test that would be 6# dia. that would really get you down fast, I'm sticking with the 30#.

Electronic ignitions are very good these days and when I repowered my boat I went with the Pertronics also easy to install basically remove the rotor condenser and points and install the electronic plate which screws into the exact same spots the points and condenser were fastened. I didn't even pull the dist. and I purchased 2 right away and kept all the goodies that went into the dist. Just in case something fails out on the water, with a fully electronic dist. should fail your done. I feel with a points system, carrying a new condenser and a set of points I can make it back in, that's why I purchased two electronic plates, everything has a pro and a con. The new electronic Dist. definitely make for quicker starts and better engine performance, but when they fail your done unless you have another Dist. where with point and condenser there's always a way to make fire at the plugs. Maybe I'm just old school but I know I can make the motor run with a points set-up, and I carry a spare coil also. My uncles are always busting me about the weight I carry just in spare parts and tools, They call me the floating mechanic LOL

Please don't make the first Saturday in May, that's the pike & walleye opener !!, but I would like to see the show since I didn't get to any others due to the weather.

I hear ya there, we usually head out the 2nd of June to the Oak Orchard area, Turtle creek, and do very well with them. We usually get there at the transition from jigs to crawler harnesses. We rent a house out there for a week, unload our goods, launch our boats at Lamberjack's marina and head out to the Happy Hooker for the most update info, that guy that owns that bait shop is also a charter captain and isn't afraid to tell you what's working at the time. The folks out there aren't shy to fill you in on what the walleye's were hitting on and where they did the best, lots of shoals to fish and buoys to go by. Normally we are within 1-2 miles out to good fishing. One year it was a exceptionally warm spring and we had to run out to West Sister Isl. which is about a 5 to 7 mile run, but it was well worth the run, we got into a class of 2006 walleyes and they were all in the 4-6 lbs range. Didn't mean to Hyjack the thread but just can't resist talking about walleyes. PAP

we all give credit where credit is due, I've been walleye fishing for a long time, and I think Lake O is one of the hardest lakes to connect with these elusive critters!!

I was always a pinch pad guy also, just because of the simplicity of them, I used Cannon and Scotty's.I wanted to try a release type like the Blacks, just so happened to be at Cabelas in the Hamburg store here in PA. when they had a in store sale on them, and they had the Blacks with a extension on them. They claim you don't have to pull the ball out of the water to change things around, I haven't really looked at the hook up yet, with all the snow we are getting, but they sounded impressive and I thought if I don't like them I could put the on the rigger cable as stackers or for $20.00 put them in the cookie tin I have of not so good items. I think the release subject is a Chevy-Ford deal with mixed opinions of what works best for you.

Thank you orangediablo, when I saw it was you that posted back, I couldn't wait to read what you had to say!! from one hell of a good walleye fisherman's standpoint, meaning you, I will use your theory!!!

When you use a scale to measure the tension do you pull it out as if a fish would pull it or do you pull it upward as if you were loading a rigger pole. I bought 2 Blacks and I have a gun trigger pull scale I tried, but was uncertain as to what angle to pull to set tension, was going to ask same question also. Thanks PAP. PS. I don't mean to sound stupid but got very different readings doing it either way, strait out seemed like I really had to crank er' tight to get a 2.5 # release and the other way was just the opposite, that's why I'm asking the pro's thanks again PAP