stk44

Well, after over a decade of investing and saving, I finally bought my dream bass boat this past May. I remember having my wife send boat magazines while I was overseas while I was trying to figure out what I wanted to buy. Back then I was saving for bass tracker pro 175. Things changed the longer I waited. Fast forward several years to 2017. I joined a bass club and all of a sudden my “needs” changed. After being a rider in club tournaments for 6ish years, I finally decided that I am seasoned enough to buy my first [powered] boat. The Z18 has checked every box for me and more. Awesome wholeshot, handles rough water particularly well for a boat of its size and design, and fits in my garage with 9” to spare. The single axle was needed for this arrangement as I use wheel jacks to get it as close to the garage wall as possible. With an ultrex, 2 helix 10s, and the 175 pro XS, I am BEYOND grateful to have this boat. Other than a deer hitting my boat, cracking the gel coat, and crushing my starboard side trailer fender on my second trip out, it’s definitely been an awesome time fishing with it this year and placed 4th overall in my club. Anyways, I thought I would share this to the ones that helped me through my annual “I plan to buy a boat next year” posts. P.S. you will have to do a head stand to after the 2nd picture. I’ll have to reread how to flip a picture around again. Take care, Steve

1. Ned my go to finesse technique 2. wacky- the only way to fish a senko under a dock 3. Drop shot - I tie this on every time I fish Lake Erie like I’m a professional. I usually catch way more fish on a Ned rig, and end up switching. I need to learn it better.

I feel like if it gets sucked up in the hose, it could potentially cause the engine to stall… with my luck, it will happen when I’m loading the boat or need to get away from something quickly. What was general consensus from your thread?

Hi All, I accidentally dropped the top seal off a star tron stabilizer bottle into my fuel tank. Is this something I should worry about at all? I can’t remember if the seal was paper or foil or more like a plastic. Either way, I suspect it is designed to not dissolve for a while, so it’s starting to worry me the more I think about it. I’ve already added gas and run about 6 gallons through the boat.

13 something. 1 smallmouth 3 large. Caught just inside the chutes.

Well I got 4th place. I stayed in misery bay the whole time. That was the only place I could find keepers and fish productively.

Thanks for the input. I was thinking of targeting misery bay and just outside of marina bay. I have only fished Erie a handful of times over the years so if you have any plan alterations or recommendations, that would be fine by me lol. Thank you. I’ll check it out tomorrow and see how it is. I have a couple other spots marked out of marina bay and misery that I’ll try first. I would like to get out on the lake if it’s manageable on Friday, but more just to see if I can catch some smallmouth( even though I know I won’t be going out in the lake on Saturday.)

Thanks! That’s definitely a good idea. Where are the lagoons? Is that the little bay just before misery bay?

Yeah…. Friday prefishing will be drastically different than Saturday. I’m really not looking forward to it.

Yeah, that’s why I was curious if smallmouth will be in the bay, but I’m guessing not. I’ll definitely be prepared for largemouth in the bay.

Hi All, I am fishing a tournament on Saturday and we launch out of PIB. The weather is supposed to be NASTY and so I likely will not go out in the main lake. Do smallmouth come into the bay in October? I’ve honestly never fished Erie this late in the year, so any help would be appreciated. I would really hate the long drive to not have a crack at a good smallie, but if it’s not safe on the main lake, I’m not taking me or my 18’ boat out in it. thanks, steve

Hi all, I have a pending email to navionics, but thought I would ask here as well— if I buy a navionics+ card for the east region, can I get sonar charts for lakes that are not listed on the “lake list”? The reason I ask is first and foremost because I see lakes that have sonar chart data on the Free chart viewer (online) that are not on the “list”. And secondly, would I be able to get sonar charts for Lake Erie with the east version?

I think I’ll just do it. The manual only states every 100 hours or once yearly

Hi, yes it is a 4 stroke. … and I just realized I double posted this topic. Whoops.

Thanks. It seems like at one time, some manufacturer recommended at lower unit oil change at 20 hours. I just want to make sure there isn’t that same recommendation/ unwritten rule for my motor. On the other hand, if changing the lower unit oil provides no benefit, I obviously don’t want to do any additional work lol.

Hi All, I just got my new boat on Saturday and it has a Mercury pro XS 175 on it. Other than engine break in and change oil after 10 hours, the dealer mentioned nothing about changing lower unit oil. Is that something that needs to be changed after 20 hours? I can’t seem to find any information on this for the newer motors and I read through my owners manual once and did not see anything. Any input would be greatly appreciated. thanks! Steve

Hi All, I just got my new boat on Saturday and it has a Mercury pro XS 175 on it. Other than engine break in and change oil after 10 hours, the dealer mentioned nothing about changing lower unit oil. Is that something that needs to be changed after 20 hours? I can’t seem to find any information on this for the newer motors and I read through my owners manual once and did not see anything. Any input would be greatly appreciated. thanks! Steve

@WIGuide Thanks! I’m pretty excited. I think I will probably go the rod locker route and try to research the best location. Thanks so much for the input!

@J Francho Good point. Do you think under the console would be any better as far as that is concerned? I have seen guys mount them up near the trolling motor, so I assume they can take some water, but I am going to research that as well.

@WIGuide I’m getting a Nitro Z18. Given that if I add more graphs I will likely put them at the bow, does it make more sense to go the rod locker route in your opinion? These are things that I will likely find out along the way, but I am getting this installed in a week or so when my boat ships to BPS. thanks, steve

Thanks! That is where I originally thought about putting it, but I wasn’t sure if there is any benefit of putting it there versus the rod locker like the dealer recommended? I would be interested to hear pros and cons of both if possible. thanks!

Hi all, After 10+ years of waiting I am finally getting my first bass boat. I will be running a helix 10 at the bow and console. I plan on adding another graph at the bow in the future, which leads me to my question— where is the best place to install the 5-port switch. The dealer recommended the port side rod locke, but I wanted to get some other perspectives as well. thanks in advance, steve

I usually take 2 rods with me. I have a shoulder bag that I carry around the pond with me and when I put that down, I lay my rod on it so I don’t step on it and the reel stays out of the mud. Anything more than two rods seems to be too cumbersome.

@J._Bricker Definitely a great reel. I did not get any Carbontex washers. After I found it wasn’t the ARB, I was thinking it was a spool tension issue. I inspected the the carbon washers and added some grease though so

We’ll keep this between us. Lol.