Further North

My favorite fish have teeth...and eat bass... If I have a choice and decent opportunity, I will chase pike and musky first, bass second...trout are a distant 3rd and walleye are waaaay down the chart. Panfish are fun on a fly rod, or an ultralight. I'd fish for them more if I could eat them. Because of where I live and the opportunities I have to fish, I probably wind up chasing bass as a primary target about 1/2 the time, if not a little more. I love fishing for them and woudn't dream of dropping them from my choices.

Cool...I often ponder the idea of doing something similar as a river rig.

You'll like the 360° ...but I predict you won't use it as much as you think... I love mine...and when you need it, there's nothing better...but I've found that I don't need it as much as I thought I would. Great for new water. Kind of a PITA to deploy and manage for water I already know. It would be better if I had bow mount...but that doesn't work with a Terrova/Ulterra.

A tip needs to be given if the guide works hard, is good to spend the day with, shares knowledge...not if they get you into fish...don't punish a guide for something they can't control. When I fish with a guide, and so far it's been fly fishing for musky and trout, I tell them I am far more interested in learning than catching fish...catching fish is an appreciated bonus, but for me, the least important part of the day. Were I to hire a guide in a situation where bait might be considered...I would let them know that I don't want to fish that way.

I tow a Crestliner CMV 1850 with the same vehicle. Zero problems, zero issues. Boat/full gas tank/trailer/gear maxes out around 2,800 lbs. Have towed it to Canada and back three times ~1,000 round trip. At least another 1,000 miles a year with local and regional trips. I live in NW WI, so while I'm certainly not in mountains, it's not flat around here either. Pulls fine @ 70 MPH on the highway, 60 MPH on state and county roads. Plenty of torque, stops just fine, has built in anti-sway int he factory trailering package. I tend towards being cautious - I never exceed 90% of a vehicle's tow rating. I'm well under that with my current set up

Good choice - enjoy!

Not a Triton...and quite a drive...but struck me as a bargain: https://eauclaire.craigslist.org/boa/5864553283.html

My neighbor had one, and you are spot on about the floors. When I got my CMV he started telling me I was going to have problems...I said, Jim, all aluminum. No wood." He said a bad word.

I looked pretty hard at a couple of those Rangers...and those hulls looked like twins to the Crestliner series that predated the CMV.

Good job...Your water temps are cooler than ours, by a good 10 degrees.

Ditto. It's interesting psychology...

It was 71° here at 5:45 PM when I pulled the boat off the lake. Water temps are still mid 50s. Fish are still biting.

Crestliner used to make a boat back in the early 2000s called the CMV. It will do everything you mentioned and it not one of the "Cookie Cutter" boats. Mine is an '05 and I love it - pics here: http://s189.photobucket.com/user/groznak/library/2005 Crestliner CMV?sort=3&page=1 Some are from the original owner before I bought, some are after my electronics install There's one for sale here: http://northernwi.craigslist.org/boa/5820221614.html ...and they pop up from time to time. With a 150, it'll get over 50MPH.

I have a 140 on my 18' tin boat...it is rated for 150.

If you are looking at Lund, check out Crestliner. Same factory, same people, great boats. I've had both, I'd buy either again. ...my Pro-V had just as much draft as my friend's Ranger. New ones have more. Way, way past ridiculous. I know it makes me sound old, but $72K for a boat is nuts...we paid $85K for our first house, brand new, including lot...in 1992.

This is what I'd do. I little inconvenience compared to all the work/money it'll take to fix what the mice will ruin is an easy choice fro me to make. I actually went one step further: Built a detached 24' x 36"garage for the boat. At least one and probably two or three will be in places you can't see...and worse, can't get to without taking the boat apart. But hey, if you don't mind Ou de Rotting Souris, no problem.

Carrier pigeon. Really...big...carrier pigeon.

Water temps here (90 miles west of the Twin Cities) was between 50° and 52°. Cloudy, little wind, rained off and on all day yesterday... Yeah, I know it's not a bass, but it was 40" long, and it did hit a bass bait...

That was the reason for my caveat. ....I do the same kinds of things for a lot of my bass gear as well. In the last couple weeks I picked up a brand new TFO GTS casting rod for $68 ($160 list) and a brand new Daiwa Tatula reel for $86.

OK, I get that...but we're talking about the difference between a full spool and a 1/2 full spool on the same reel, with the same retrieve ratio. I'm probably missing something obvious, but it's been a long day.

...that's what I thought. ...and I've found that most people don't like math much...

Anyone ever calculate the different in IPT between a half full spool and a full spool? To keep things simple, if we had a spool that was full at a diameter of 1", it would pick up line at the rate of 3.14" per revolution. ...if we had a partially full spool that was 3/4" in diameter, it would pick up line at the rate of 2.35" per revolution...a difference of .78" per revolution. Multiply that times the ratio of the reel...let's use a nice round number like 7, again to keep things simple...that's 5.46" per handle crank. Do we really think that makes much difference?

You're smallie has a twin in a lake near me...and I've caught it 3 times now. Twice off the same dock and once about 100 yards away in a shoreline deadfall.

'm with you - I buy buy most of rods and reels on E-Bay for pennies on the dollar (Each full rig costs about what a bass fishing rig costs, or less, and I don't own a cheap reel or rod...mostly Lamson, with a couple Nautilus and Orvis Reels, rods are TFO, Scott, St. Croix, Sage, Winston...). A lot of folks thnk they want to fly fish, buy expensive gear...then give up and you can buy it on E-Bay when they get tired of it cluttering their closets or basements. I buy little flies - they are cheap, less than $0.50 in bulk. I tie many of my own bass, pike and musky flies because it's fun and is way less than buying them. I have a rolling bench that is about 2 ft. x 2 ft. and I store all my materials under it when I'm not tying. I bought a really nice Renzetti rotary vise used for about $100. You can let any hobby be a financial burden, or you can be smart about what you buy. You can fly fish on a budget that is just as reasonable as bass fishing, if you want to.

Not sure I'd agree with that: Caught two more just a little smaller and four in 14" - 16" range. ...they do move out of the rivers and into the lakes when the water gets colder...but they are still in the lakes.