OperationEagle

It is angled so it wouldn't move straight back. Have had mine for a couple of months and it hasn't moved. When it arrived in the mail I was surprised at how sturdy and strong it felt. After installing it, I was confident it would do the job. I am in no way associated w the company. It does a great job and is super affordable.

First off, welcome to bassresource. I use this...I like it a lot and at less than half the price...it's a steal. http://www.***.com/Innovative_Angler_Transducer_Protector/descpage-ITP.html

Great little story...you might not feel you deserved it but now it will keep you coming back for more. Thanks for sharing.

Friday Saturday and Sunday (today) were all slow on the water. Hit Tonka and other south metro lakes. Fished jigs, jig worms, and senkos. Tried deep, mid, and shallow. I couldn't find them. Each day landed an average of three to four....all on the smaller side. Mostly on senkos. Water temp today around 75-78. Weather was stunning beautiful, just wish the d**n fish would bite!

Hey Ben. Welcome to BR. I have fished this lake for a couple of years off and on. I was out on it on Sunday. I'm with you. I find this lake to be a bit tougher. Don't ask me why. Water is a bit stained. Not a ton of structure. Areas I have had consistent success is the flatter area in the coves. They seem to be in the weeds and lily pads. I seemed to get skunked on crystal more than any other. All other people coming off the lake were frustrated as well. The unstable weather pattern this weekend I think was mostly to blame this time. Ive caught some nice bass there...just seems that it is inconsistent. I have always caught them on soft plastics. Anyways give those coves a try. Good luck.

Was out yesterday evening. Deep bite was nonexistent. I tried to jig at 15-22 feet off of points. A few light strikes but caught nothing Went shallow near the weeds. Seemed to have a tight line with every cast for about 30 minutes. All were smaller. Largest was 14 inches. They were hitting a weighted watermelon red baby brush hog. What would be effective for the big girls down deep in hot conditions? I tried to slow down my jig presentation but to no avail. Water temp at 83-85

I understand his interest in getting top dollar. All of us do. However, its important he understand that time is not on his side. He says in his CL post " The boat is paid for and I do not have to sell it " . That's good and all as long as he understands that with each passing year, his asset value drops. You can use NADA to see what kind of year over year depreciation he can expect to see. Also he is paying for insurance and possible storage costs in the winter. This starts to add up. And...from his location in MSP (and from the pics) he does NOT likely have a garage large enough to store 2 boats. So if he takes care of his stuff (like it appears that he does) he has to find additional storage. Expect to pay a little higher than NADA if it truly is pristine and the motor checks out as such. But use this rational approach to break through his emotional attachment to the boat and his pride of great ownership. Time and $$ is on YOUR side on this one. Good luck!

That whole chain up there...Big Marine, Chisago, Demontreville, Jane, others are full of big bass. Catch and release restrictions have really bolstered the population of LMB in these lakes. Pick one or two and start to learn the lake. Look for and study a topo map to get yourself oriented. Take your time...you will find em and will do great. OE

Just sold my Jackson cuda on Craigslist. Include good pics in your ad and price it reasonably. Be honest and helpful. Remember that you are targeting a small segment (people looking for a $1000+ kayak). Look at the other listings as consideration on price. Also the shape it is in. I think timing is also key. If you don't sell it this season list it in the spring when people are out shopping for something before the local opener. Be willing to sell the accessories separately. You might need to use that online auction site for those. Be patient. You will sell it. A little luck is involved too. I was able to sell mine at 95% of what I bought it for even after 3 seasons of use. Jackson has been raising prices on new kayaks which preserves the pricing on used. Not sure about wilderness. Good luck! OE

I agree they are not competing for the majority of the Tracker crowd. They are defining that top of the pyramid. There will be people, however, that move from the Tracker segment into this top segment as their disposable income increases....or their taste for boats increase in sophistication. To be fair, there might be a few tracker owners that have their boats because nothing like what you (and A-Jay) show was really available. Also, I love seeing the quality of these boats...it forces the other players to stay on their toes. Hopefully making "similar" features at a different price point. Consumers win in the end. Thanks for sharing those pics and for A-Jays vid. This info "feeds the machine". That is, the more people start requesting these kinds of features the more consideration they will place in putting it into their designs. I was hoping not to upgrade...for a VERY long time...but these designs are really interesting.

Seems as if Lund is really making a run for the top shelf aluminum bass boats. Good for them. I wonder how or if Ranger will respond now that they are under tracker boats. That open seating area is prime...wow. These aluminum boats have come a long long way.

Man, love that boat. Nicely done A-Jay!

Yes I have seen your complaints about the noise. Do I wish it was quieter? It would be nice. However, I personally would prioritize the more accurate/smaller radius spot lock over this if forced to make a choice on things to fix. BTW, glad you like your xi5. Competition is a very good thing. I went w the Ulterra as the auto stow and deploy was just too much for me to overlook.

Do believe the groove is used by the tension belt so it is not available to be filled by a transducer cable.

Holy cow A-Jay. That is one heckuva ride. And just in time for the season. They did a nice job with that flush mounted Helix. I think you just defined "Do it once do it right."

I got the dark charcoal/black. Mine's a 2015 as well. 60hp Merc. Just re propped as I already got into some shallow water and prop got chipped up. I matched the number from the old prop but this new one seems to have noticeably better hole shot and I gained 3 mph on top end. Mishap gave way to a silver lining!

Was on Tonka this past Saturday. Caught 7 LMB's w largest being 18 inches. All caught shallow on weighted soft plastics. Bass were still bedding but some hanging under docks. First year in a boat as well (Ranger RT178). I hit Tonka because I can now that I'm in a bass boat. That is, I tried it once on my kayak and it was a failure due to all of the boats around me....and its such a great fishery. I am really appreciative of the extensive shoreline of that lake. Tons of inlets, etc. I am looking forward to learning it more. I will also try to target Muskie there in Tonka. Some big ones in there. But punch is right...there are so many lakes around us. Guys we are so lucky. Metro and MN in general is a fishing HAVEN! At least for 5 months out of the year! People ask me where I want to retire and I always give them a quizzical look...MN is it...at least for the fishing months. Maybe I will get away for the winter who knows...retirement seems years away but also will be here before you know it. I am also appreciative of the Minnesotan's who are on here willing to share where and what is working on the water. Dsidle welcome to the Twin Cities. I am also a transplant of 21 years. Hope you will be here to stay. Here's to a great season guys!

Have the Ulterra iPilot 80 lb trolling motor and wanted to share my early experience. I really like its features. As I guessed, so far 80% of the time Ive used 20% of the features. Spotlock, gps lock cruising, power trim, and of course, stow and deploy. Firstly Spotlock is extremely useful. However you also probably have read that it stays locked on a radius of the selected area...and that's its biggest downside. This issue creates a problem in a very common and plausible scenario that happened to me this weekend. I was dock fishing and hooked into a nice one. I motored the boat using the TM to what I thought was a safe distance away from the dock and boats. As I leaned over to retrieve the bass my outboard prop hit a docked boat that apparently was inside of the drifting radius of the spot lock. NOT GOOD!! Big lesson for me is that I'm going to have to motor much further away to prevent any possible contact with any surrounding objects. This is tough as this increases the risk of losing the fish while managing the margin of safety. I hope Minn Kota is reading these forums and updates the software to tighten this radius up. So guys heads up and be aware. Lucky that there was no damage to my lower unit. Ive read that motorguide's execution of this is much tighter so it can be done. Gps lock cruising is nice but it still required some adjustments as you traveled in the intended direction. Stow and deploy is awesome. This is a feat of engineering in itself. Love it. Similarly power trip...up and with a touch of a button...fantastic. Noise. I read a lot of negative posts about how noisy this unit is. I paid particular attention to see how the bass reacted. They seemed to tolerate it very well. They did not seem to be spooked by the motor. Also note however, that I have the "eliminator" damper nut to help reduce vibrations. So ymmv on this one. I also use a quick release bracket for what that's worth in terms of vibration or noise absorption. One thing that has me a bit befuddled is the need to DIY a transducer cable attachment if you use a TM puck style transducer....which I assume most of us would/will be using. I used the spring attached near the head and to the cable method of managing the cable. It works really well and is not an issue but it took me a while to try different methods to finally land on this one, costing me time and extra money. A few of the other bass boat boards have pics of this method and it's worth a look. Save time and money and get the $6.50 or so spring from Home Depot, attach w zip ties and be done with it. The coiled hose method doesn't work for many reasons. The retractable pulley is a trip wire ready to happen but I could see that working. Hope this helps at least one person understand just a few of the pros and cons of the Ulterra. Will post more as I explore more of its functionality.....if I ever use them.

I used a car wax I had on hand and waxed all surfaces. Made it super easy to do the wipe down once out of the water. Keeps it simple.

I would say my fish finder set up: ff itself, diy waterproof battery box, transducer arm. Really helped me learn structure fishing, knowing depth for jig fishing...probably the one tool I can point to that helped me improve and broaden my skill as a fisherman....that is besides the kayak itself.

I have a ranger rt178 and just mounted a helix 10 at essentially right below the spot marked "1" in wiguide's pic above. It is a nice size display for sure. I made sure it was close enough for optimal viewing and far enough to not kick it. One other consideration is that landing spot next to your trolling motor. If you use that as an access point onto and off of your boat you will want to make sure the unit is placed in a lower traffic spot to prevent tripping or damage to the unit.

Yes I saw it but also wondered how sure I would be on the water that its a fish and not some other object or surface irregularity. Perhaps with time I will get there. Also I have been thinking about my set up. I have DI at the bow and SI only on the transom (SI FF unit on console). Interestingly I can see myself at times controlling the electric steer from my remote while I remain at the console scouting with SI. When I find a fishy area then spot lock the TM and fish the area. We'll see how easy it is...

Good topic. Suspect only two camps...yes love it ...or nope no idea what I am seeing. I love technology and am looking forward to learning what si has to offer this season. Always seems a work in progress for me. Learned that DI is really only useful for me if split screened with sonar. Now I suspect and my goal is to use it more with a helix 10 vs a 4 in screen. In a similar fashion I suspect it takes time to learn the best hardware and settings to maximize si's potential. That being said, I'm always looking at the screen shots shared on forums and am only able to identify obvious objects like a bridge or a large tree. I doubt if I will ever be able to see the small specks posters are identifying as a fish while on the water and take real action on the information....and maybe that's not the point anyways...as its a tool to find fishy areas not to find fish to hunt down? Nonetheless I appreciate the screenshots so I can maximize my learning off the water. One other worry I have is the limited usefulness of si once weeds start to grow. If this renders si far less useful, then I assume then it is still useful for identifying weed lines?

Similar to A Jay I suited my boat up with new electronics this past winter. I took a slightly different path. I spent a ton of time deliberating over this due to the amount of money involved. I recognized the value of a larger and clearer display at the bow since I will be fishing from that location 99% of the time and the viewing distance is at its max...so the 10 made sense. I also just limited it to the 10di at the bow as I just couldn't justify over $500 more for si. The console is where I will be doing most of my scouting, investigating, evaluating areas for maximum fishing potential. This is where I am placing a si unit. I chose the helix 7 as the reading distance to the dash is workable. I always try to make my dollars stretch at the same time not short change myself. One mans smart is always another mans dumb decisions however...but these are the decisions and trade offs I made. Good luck!

Lightweight is awesome! Looking at the cockpit, hope there is room for a fishfinder if you want one? I don't see a logical flat location to place a small battery pack and to ram mount a transducer arm? Would love to see how you will be modding this up.