WIGuide

It depends up here. On the majority of lakes around me 15 lbs usually is top 3 in a club tournament. Sometimes winner will be a little more or a little less. However we have the Mississippi River not to far away and that can give up some big numbers in the upper teens. A few hours the other way is Sturgeon Bay/Green Bay/ Lake Michigan and from what I've heard you have to be pushing mid 20's out there to be in the money.

Yep there's days like that!

Sounds like something is off if you're snapping off on a hook set. The only times I've snapped on a hook set have been on a northern or musky and that's because they have razor sharp teeth. I have snapped a few times when I've forgotten to check my line and it gets nicked but it's usually some pretty tough stuff.

I'm usually getting the itch to go again when I'm loading up the boat from being out on the water. Panic sets in after more than a day or two, so you can just imagine what 5 1/2-6 1/2 months of winter does to me...

They're ticking time bombs. Their parts have poor tolerances. They are severely under powered for their hp rating. Overall, they are just a poorly put together engine. The ones on the Tracker/Nitro's were slightly better since that was after Mercury bought them out, but you still couldn't pay me to use one. In the long run, you'll be much happier with virtually anything else. Most of the time boats with those on them retail for very slightly more than what they would without a motor.

Are you fishing the same spots or same type of water?

I've got a few go to baits for drop shotting. The Berkley Havoc Bottom Hopper Jr. is a decent bait along with a Missle Baits Fuse, Strike King Dream shot and Mag Dream Shot as well as the Strike King Baby Rodent. It's hard for me to pic a favorite since they each produce well in different situations.

This already happened a few years ago....

It really helps out in heavy cover as you can put all the pressure you want on them to get them out. The heavier lb tests don't dig into the spool either. In the veggies, it seems to cut through better than other lines as well.

6'6" or 7' MH/F St. Croix Mojo's work great for spinnerbaits.

Interesting, never thought of that. I haven't had that issue when it's cold though.

If the Nitro has a motor that looks like that then skip it because it's a Force. It'll make you wish you never bought it haha. If it's a Mercury it'll usually be labeled as a "Pro Series" where if it's a Force it'll be the "Power Series"

Too cold to drain oil?

Nice one man!

It looks like a leaking water jacket cover. I've heard of this happening when the engine gets a little too warm usually caused by an impeller that no longer provides sufficient volume of water. You'll have to remove the water jacket, replace seal, and install a new impeller. Shouldn't be too much of an issue.

You will most likely have to build a bit of a platform as a mounting plate for the tm. However, the front is set up for a clamp on tm right in the middle. You can buy a hand controlled one, or if you want a foot control, Motorguide makes what's called the bulldog which has foot controlled tm with the clamp on bracket.

Did the whole strip come off or just the top of the seal?

^^ This

Welcome to the forums man!

Nope not saying that at all, because that was one of the few I've seen (non fuel injected) that wasn't a pain in the rear end to get started. I've got a friend who's got a 25 Merc from the late 90's they bought new and from day one they have to choke and fast idle it and crank like crazy at EVERY start warm or not. Another friend of mine has a 2005 50 hp Mercury that is a pain to get started the first time every trip and can be fussy when warm as well. A guy in our bass club has a 150 that's in the early 2000's that he has to choke & fast idle and crank for a least a minute of actual cranking time if not more to get it going every morning. I'm sure there are plenty of people who have no problems with them, or their starting, but I'm not a fan. Coincidentally, the Mercury of mine that started so well was tearing itself apart from the inside out. Every so often metal shavings would melt on one of the spark plugs killing once cylinder completely.

I keep it simple and use 12 lb Berkley 100% FC for all 3.

I used to use a 6'6" MH/F and didn't have any issues with it.Only reason I went longer is because the MH/F didn't have quite enough backbone for a lot of the stuff I fish so I went to a 7'1" H/F. For light cover MH/F will do great!

I uses a 7.1:1 with my square bills. I can slow them down if I want, but in my experience anyway, a faster retrieve equals more bites. The only time I've experienced different is when the water is very cold.

It seems like the older carbureted 2 strokes have their own signature unique to that specific motor. For example from the motors I've had 88 Johnson 8 Horse - half choke & fast idle 83 Mercury 70 - turn key 96 Johnson 88spl - fast idle & tap choke 97 Evinrude 130 - tap choke only dislikes fast idle with a passion For all of those listed, this is for the first start of the day. Once they've been ran, they all started with just a turn of the key.

Congrats on your new rig. A 55 should be fine. If you can swing it, get the one with variable speed vs just 5. It'll help save some battery life. In the end get what you can afford.