Further North

If I parked my boat in a lot full of identical boats, it's distinguishing identifiers is that it would look 10 years newer than the rest of them, as it was made new in '05, finally purchased in '08, run for about 3 hours...then stored in a garage until 2014. Other than that, nothing special. I want to stay "under the radar" most of the time. Bright shiny things and flashy graphics attract attention I don't want.

Yeah...but I don't buy their products... I wonder how many people bought VWs solely because of their claimed emissions? A wild guess is less than 1 in 1,000. I don't mean to sound even remotely anti-environment...I do a lot of work to preserve it... ...but I am generally in favor of anyone who thumbs their nose at the government.

I actually sorta like that they did what they did. If you give me a test and tell me what the questions are gonna be...you shouldn't be surprised if that's what I study for.

This guy's better. Way better: http://www.chonday.com/Videos/trailerghu4

MIke, It works...you won't through big double cowgirls all day with it, or 3 oz. hunks of plastic...but it'll throw plenty of lures big enough to get the job done. I'm not believer in the "bigger is better" school of musky fishing...I've had plenty of days/weeks where I've had just as much action as the guys chucking the big stuff and I finish the day in a lot better shape. They absolutely catch bigger fish sometimes...but I'm happy with a couple 40"+ fish in one day while they guys hunting 50"+ get nothing. Hell...I'll take all the 35" fish I can catch too...

I'd run a 4 or 5 wt. for bluegills, and I most often use a 7 or 8 wt. for bass. A 6 wt. will work for bass as long as there are no big poppers or streamers. Fly rods are different from our spinning/casting rods in that you make your decision on what rod to use based on the fly you are going to throw. Big, wind resistant poppers could be tough on a 6 wt. if there's any wind. I fish pike and muskies on 9 and 10 wt. fly rods...not because of the fish, but because of the flies.

Happy to share - shoot me a private message and I'll let you know off line. I don't want the lake to show up on a search engine and get clobbered by everyone and their brother.

I have a few trips a year where I might run into muskies...so I had a similar problem. Temple Forks Outfitters has a rod that I bought that resolved the problem nicely, the rod weighs 6.2 oz. It's the GTS P797-1: http://www.tforods.com/conventional-rods/gary-loomis-tactical-series/pitching-rods.html#.Vq7dcfhf1PY It works great the rest of the season for other things as well. I run it with 65# braid and a tieable stainless steel leader for muskie and pike, swap it out to lighter fluorocarbon leaders around home for bass. I have it paired with a Shimano Calais DC, which has worked fine up to 48" fish.

Pretty cool rig... I was intrigued by center consoles for a while...until someone mentioned that the console sticks up higher than a side console... The also seem to give up storage space to a conventional bass boat layout. My old Crestliner CMV 1850 is about the same size and has a ton more storage.

I'd feel good about it too.

I checked the price - not nearly as expensive as I would have thought.

That's really good, Way2slow, it should be in a boat wring primer somewhere.

Go heavy - I ran 4 gauge from front to back, but I run a 36 volt TM...and I'm nuts. Check the spec. for your trolling motor, go one size bigger.

Nice rig - I like the layout and storage, I suspect you'll like it.

Why couldn't you stop them as needed? I do that all the time.

I'll be interested to see how it works out. I'm likely to upgrade to an Ulterra this summer...so I was plotting about how to use my Terrova in the canoe...for the most part I'd be able to eliminate the foot control...but figuring out how to stash all the "stuff" for a 36 volt TM is daunting.

Have any of you ever considered a bow mount trolling motor for a canoe.kayak? One of the things that always drives me batty in a canoe with a TM on it is the front of the canoe getting pushed around by the wind...this would go away if the TM was up there (I hung a hand control TM off the bow of a little 14 ft. aluminum row boat once...and it worked like a champ...10x better than having it on the stern. I can see deploying it to be a PITA...but I'm curious if anyone has gone this route?

I run a Johnson 140 4 stroke (same motor as the Suzuki DF140 4 stroke) o n a Crestliner CMV 1850. My last boat had Suzuki DF140 The one before that - an early 90s Lund Pro-V 1800 - had a Johnson GT 150 on it. That old Johnson would eat a 20 gallon tank in a day of fishing on any lake where I needed to run it much. Canadian fishing trips needed to include about $550 for gas. Being able to run all week without filling up in Canada helps that a lot...we put in just over 20 gallons when we got home - about a half tank. I run at around 30 MPH and between 3500 - 4500 RPM up there. This last year's trip to Lake of the Woods, and about 165 miles on the water over 7 days, we used $55 worth of gas. The one year I ran the Suzuki up there I didn't keep track of miles, but I used $165 worth of gas at Canadian prices.

That sounds really cool...I hope you post info on those. There was a guy on one of the old SxS shotgun boards I used to frequent who'd post step-by-step restorations...really interesting to read.

I'd love to try one but understand they are not effective in our timber filled lakes Interesting...what is the reason why they are not supposed to be effective?

I did this for a while with my 55 lb. trolling motor. It definitely increases battery life and is a good step until a 24 or 36 volt system fits in the budget.

What I'd do in this situation: Meet the seller at the bank that holds the loan on the boat. Write them a check for the balance due the day of the sale, write the seller a 2nd check for the balance. Walk out with a signed over title and/or a notarized copy of the fulfilled loan agreement, get the seller to sign over the title and send it to whatever agency in your state that will get you a new, clean title with your name on it. I am a "Trust but verify" guy.

I got that, it's why I stuck the emoticon thingy at the end of my post. Sorry if that wasn't clear....my fault. I don't love vehicles...they are just tools...unless they are for going fast on a twisty road...that's a whole 'nother story. I got out of racing-tuning-building sports cars back in the early 80s when I figured it was going to get in the way of other things that were more important to me (fishing, hunting, raising a family)...but I still cling to enough of the tech that it makes it pretty quick to get back up to speed when I need a new truck...not sure when you were at it, but that's my background. We towed boats and campers all over to hunt and fish, and was hauling race trailers for a while too...and then work trailers a bit later for a side business. You've got a great rig there - I'm certain I'd love it and I'd have one like it if I needed it...but I don't for what I'm doing.

No, but I stick my finger in the eyes of folks who are trying to be jerks on a regular basis, just for fun.

Yeah...I like it a lot. Not sure why they didn't sell like crazy, but I found this one two years ago (it's an '05) with less than 4 hours on the motor, bought it on the spot.