Further North

On 99% of the fish I catch, I neither weigh, nor measure...they just go into a filing system in my head: Little Fish Medium Fish Bigger Fish If I'm curious, I might measure one out of 100, just to see what it is to satisfy my curiosity. I'm not even sure where the scale I bought years ago is...or if it's even in the boat. I'm really impressed by the folks who weigh and measure everything...then do something with their data...that's just cool...but I do enough of that at work, don't wanna mess up free time with it. I don't fish tournaments, BTW. No issue with them, just not my thing.

I tow a Crestliner CMV 1850 with a 2014 Ford Escape with the 2.0 liter motor and the factory tow package. It gets up to about 2,800 lbs. with a full load and a full tank of gas. Works fine, a few thousand miles a year including at least one trip to Canada. The Escape...with the factory tow package...is rated at 3,500 lbs...I'd not try my boat with a vehicle rated for 2,000 lbs. Adding a hitch to an Escape without the factory tow package will not get you the same tow rating.

I can't catch bass worth a darn here: ...but I can catch some trout that'll stop your heart... a

A long time ago...early 80s...I foul hooked a king salmon on Lake Michigan that went about 18 1/2 lbs...about dead center in its side...it was a better fight than a 50" musky, or a 15 pound bass...or about anything we can imagine...it was a solid 40 minute battle (I was on shore, not in a charter boat)...that ran me down to seeing my spool on a saltwater spinning rig twice....and with 30 years perspective...I'd have rather had a short fight where I let it go... ...but it sure was tasty smoked...

Nailed it... Are you my brotha-from-another-mother?

You're lucky a giant cat didn't follow you to the boat ramp.

You'd have to learn to steer opposite of where you wanted to go. Left would be right and right would be left...I think... It'd be easier for the OP to just buy a Predator with the motor already in it...probably cheaper, too.

Lots and lots of people..tens and tens of thousands. Do you know how many Pro-Vs and Tyees Lund sells in a year? Most of them go for well north of $50K... Crestliner sells a ton of Raptors and such too....Lotta lakes in the northern part of the country that are full of walleye and toothy fish that get chased a lot... Correction: Lots of us. Can't beat it for fishing up here in the land of rocks. Canada makes it even better. Don't get me wrong at all: I love glass boats...I just like aluminum better for what I do. Some folks see it the other way around, and that's great for them. Gotta buy what you like, what's important to you.

This is what I use. Never wrecked a transducer since I put one on.

Great advice here...I strongly dislike it when I have to tilt my big motor up so far that it can't act as a rudder for my trolling motor. Back end swings all over the darned place.

You need to re-title this topic, "Caption this picture". "I knew I shouldn't have had that last tequila." "I'm tellin' you, she was HOT!" "Newest member of the flying Wallendas" "That's what I get for thinkin' with the little frog." "How am I gonna explain this one to the wife?"

I dumped a week old iPhone in the surf on Kauai trying to land a bonefish on a fly rod... Killed the phone, lost the fish, PO'd my boss...all at the same time. Silver lining: it was the 2nd day of a 10 day vacation...no one from work could bug me the rest of the trip...

There's another stage, after that last one...it's a lot like the first stage...but includes relaxing and having a good time while catching fish.

I'm 100% C&R...but it's because I'm allergic to fish...not because I think eating them is some kid of sin. ...actually...I lied. If someone is with me who eats fish, they are welcome to what I catch....but the big ones go back in the water on my boat...you don't want to eat those anyway...

OK...this is funny...but if your tackle boxes fit in the front seat, you clearly don't have enough.

...interesting follow-up: a big, slow moving storm system is moving though here...the river we fished yesterday at 160 CFS is now running at almost 700 CFS...with more rain on the way. Looks like we picked a good day to fish.

A friend and spent about 6 hours on a stretch of River east and a little north of here...I was throwing flies (Mostly poppers), he was throwing topwater lures on spinning gear...he caught way more fish...that's how it is some days. We don't count fish...but we caught a lot of smallies, nothing with teeth which was kind of a bummer. Saw no one else all day.

I see deer a lot around here...A lot of our lakes have undeveloped shoreline and they're pretty common. October of '14 I was about 2 hours north of here on a small river chasing muskies and saw two different groups of elk at the edge of the water. Seeing moose out on the water in Canada is cool too.

I was fishing a channel between two larger lakes up in Canada, came around a corner and was about 15 feet away from a beaver...surprised both of us...sounded like a rifle shot when his tail hit the water. ...more beaver weirdness...this June up on Lake of the Woods every night about 8:00 - 8:15 PM there'd be beavers all over the place. One spot we were in we could see 5 all at the same time within a hundred yards of the boat...

I also become a real fan of pro football in September, October and November...it gets more people off the water and out of the woods on Sunday afternoons.

I had heard that about the new 2017 Minn Kota models...I'm looking forward to them...but having just coughed up the cash for a 36 volt Ulterra...it'll be a while before I buy another trolling motor. I'm with you on the remotes...I know I like Minn Kota remotes better than Motor Guide remotes...but others don't...that's why I always suggest folks go look at both.

On more than one occasion on a lake in Arkansas that will remain nameless, we had water moccasins follow a lure thrown near shore out towards the boat. Seems they are aggressive in the spring... Also on more than one occasion, my grandfather then let the swimming snake have both barrels from his .410 shotgun...this was in the late 60s, early 70s and Grandpa is long gone...

Yep. Live ones, too...

I don't care for the pedal on the PowerDrive Minn Kota units...hard to use for me. Liked the one on my Terrova just fine and the Ulterra is an improvement on that. Make sure you at a least look at the Motor Guide...quality and performance are about the same with both brands (very good) but you might find you like one better than the other. Buy that one....