fishnkamp

If you go the 170 route with a 25 hp outboard, make sure you have trim and tilt. If the engine does not have trim & tilt install a T&H PT35 trim tilt plate. It really helps to have trim when running a heavy boat and a small engine. I set up a Lowe Stinger 170 ( a 1000 pound hull) with a PT 35, played with props and then added a Stingray Junior and had a boat that ran 18 mph and came out level on take off. I set it up so I could use it on some limited HP lakes near home. If you send me an email at fishnkamp@gmail.com I can send you some pictures of my setup. I have since moved and repowered the boat with a Merc 75 hp engine, but I used that boat/25 hp engine combo in many different lakes including some big ones in Tennessee.

NO! There is a reason it has been repaired and reappeared. There are other boats out there. That is just me. If you do, I would call Highway Marine and see if they still do fiberglass work. They used to be really good at it. I would just continue my search for another boat.

That is going to be a nice rig congrats.

Very nice boat. Could you do me a favor. Would you measure the dimensions of the step going up to the front deck. I know it is cut at an angle so it is longer in the rear than the front. What I need is the measurements for both lengths, the width and how high the step is above the carpet. Also how high the deck is. My front deck is 12 inches above the cockpit floor, so I think I want a step that is 6 or 7 inches high total I am interested simply because I am about to have my fabricator build me one and install it on my Lowe. It will be the same width front and back because I do not have dual consoles, so I do not need to conserve space there. He will build an aluminum framed box with a cut out on top. Then mount it, to the floor. We are going to install a deck hatch and liner from Tempress. They are designed to be walked or stood on, gasketed to keep your stuff dry and lockable.

I would suggest you check out the Irods Genesis II rods. Back in the day, a friend of mine ran another fishing website. He became friends with the owner of Irod rods. A lot of guys liked two of those rods for jigs and big worms. One was the IRG744C and the other was the IRG754 Fred's Magic stick. I personally fish two different models of their rods and love them. They were light, sensitive and cost $150. Check out their website. You can order them from Tackle warehouse or any of their other dealers.

Well if you check their website for new rigs they have a half dozen Ranger 198Ps,RT188s and RT175s, as well as some Triton 17 and 18 TXs. There must be about that many Trackers in stock too. Yea you got that fiberglass addiction. Check out the 2017 Triton 189 with the Merc 150 4 stroke for $31,995 or the 2013 Ranger Z118 with the Evinrude Etec 150 HO for$28,995. They also have a 2007 Triton VT19 with an Evinrude Etec 90 for $13,995 Well at least that is some eye candy

I checked you are about 5 1/2 hours from Harriman TN depending on the way you go. It might be worth a call to Bunch marine to see about the Xpress X19. They are located several minutes from Watts Bar lake. They could demo the boat for you if you call ahead and arrange it. I know a few guys in sales there. They are a top notch dealership. It is a fair distance, but it could make a nice two or three day weekend trip. Go run the boat and if you like it stay and fish Watts Bar for a few hours. Just a thought. They also carry Tracker, Triton and Ranger boats. They could dema any of them depending on what you liked. Probably your best opportunity to check out some new Rangers, Tritons, and the used Xpress.

Congrats to you being in the condition you are. You are starting from a good foundation financially and responsibly. Now lets look at your waters specifically. By the way I have had 11 boats over 40+ years, including canoes, jons and both aluminum and glass bass boats. Each fit a definite set of waters best. You said you are not interested in the 9.9 lakes. If you do want to fish them some your yak will handle them anyway. Looking at your river and lakes situation as well as your budget I would suggest you consider a well equipped aluminum rig. Forget the boats like my Lowe Stinger , Alumacrafts, G3s etc( they are good boats but not in the same world as a glass boat). Since you are in WV you are not too far a ride into Tennessee. Call Bunch Marine ( located not too far from Knoxville TN) and go look seriously at the 2015 Xpress x19 the have for sale. That is a serious boat. That is a good choice for your larger lakes and unless those rivers are full of rocks like our Susquehanna you should be fine. you can run this boat mosty anywhere a fiberglass rig can go and a few places a fiberglas rig should not go. I watched a few videos of people fishing Kanawha river and it looked safe for glass to me bit I could be wrong. That boat already has a 24 volt trolling motor and good electronics on it and it is only a couple of years old. They want $24,995 for it and a new one equally set up is closer to $38,00 or more. Don't misunderstand me I am not insulting the Ranger or my Lowe, they are not in the same class of boat,and that is just fact. Lund, Xpress, Chrestliner, and Gatortrax are just the top of the line rigs.

No Aluminum boats in salt water? I guess we better tell all the dealers here in MD to stop selling aluminum jons and bass boats because fish tidal Chesapeake Bay rivers! LOL There is not one dealer around here that does not sell a line of aluminum skiffs, bass boats and jons. Heck our Bass Pro sells more aluminum then fiberglass. That is why the Lund Pro V Bass I sat on last Saturday was ordered without a trailer and the dealer had put a ShoreLand'r galvanized trailer under it instead. Amazing.

iabass8 how much different is the action of a Savvy rod than say the Fury or Champion XP? I know the Sierra is a slower blank. Dobyns has a Savvy series SS703SF (not the micro series) refurb trade in no repairs for $100. They also have a brand new "rep sample" Savvy Series Micro SSM703SF rod for $100. Both sounded like pretty good deals. The refurb rods can be found on the Dobyns rods by opening the menu item "store" in the upper menu across the top of the page.

Exactly correct J Francho. The reasons to go with a 4000 or larger reel is to balance a 7 or 7 1/2 HVY power rod as well as to have a better drag and line capacity is just icing on the cake. An angler will get fatigued quickly using an unbalanced outfit. The OP did not ask about bass fishing with finesse baits. All the manufacturers make great spinning rods that will handle a shakey head or a senco. If the OP was looking for a spinning rod that will fish a frog or a one ounce jig with a big bulky trailer than he needs to have a rod with the backbone that our typical baitcasting frog rod does. Picture the rod Scot Martin calls his "meat stick", it is a 7'11 flipping stick. Heavy carolina rigs, or alabama rigs and big swimbaits require a rod most often produced in baitcasting only, since that is what the bass guys regularly use. On the other hand, if you watch many of the saltwater fishing shows you will see lots of anglers chasing reds, snook, stripers and, even some of the big fish you would see caught in the gulf off an oil rig, being caught using large spinning reels. Penn makes a lot of this type gear as well. Several of us have suggested looking into this type of gear because that that fit his needs.

All you need or want is a 6.3-1 standard Tatula CT or Tatula CT Type R (depends on how much bling you want) if you are throwing wake baits, rattle traps, shallow and mid depth crankbaits that run less than 15 feet. The only reason to go to a 5,x to 1 reel is to aid in fishing big deep diving crankbaits like DD22, stuff that digs the bottom in 18 to 25 feet of water. Thed SV is a great tool but only in certain circumstances. Lets say you were going to set up a baitcasting combo to fish light weight jerkbait for sluggish wintertime bass. Many guys will fish a bait like the original Rapala floating diving minnow or a Lucky Craft Pointer 78SP and use spinning. The rod aI use for that is a 7 foot ML Bass Pro Extreme rod and then the SV spool would aid me in that light bait. But that is not my normal crankbait setup by any means. All of my normal jerkbait and crankbait rods fish perfectly well with a Tatula or Tatula CT 6.3-1 reel

Mu wife only fishes spinning rods and it does present a bit of a challenge to find rods with the perfect action for some of the heavier bait techniques. I have found several options for her. She fishes an Irod Genesis II IRG 713S for baits like texas rigged worms and jigs up to 5/8. It has a nice quick tip and plenty of backbone to get a good hookset. Her heavier duty rod is a Dobyns Sierra SA 705SF. That rod has a super tip and lots of muscle. She uses it for bigger heavier jigs, carolina rigs, and frogs. That specs for baits from 3/8 to 1 1/4. If you are serious about a heavier bait than that I believe your best bet is to follow the lead of the saltwater inshore guys. Check out what they use for big baits with lots of weight. Check out Inshore rods from companies like Okuma, G Loomis, ST Croix etc. Lots of those guys also throw big heavy jigs as well as large topwater stuff and they go with spinning gear most of the time. As for reels just upsize to 40 series reels instead of 25 and 30 ( 2500- 3000) size reels. Walleye and musky guys sometimes use some heavier gear like that to.

I own and love that rod. I was fortunate to talk to Gary himself while choosing that rod. I wanted it for a frog rod as well as a jig rod. His best choice for a frog rod was the Champ XP 735C, but once I explained I can not fit a rod over 7 foot in my rod locker he was all in on the 705C. It has a ton of backbone with but a really nice tip. So if you go that way you will find it fits your needs and gives you an extra benefit as a frog rod. It will handle a heavier caroplina rig as well. My wife only fishes spinning rods which makes it tough for me to find a rod to really fit some of the heavier duty techniques like frogs and jigs. She fishes a Dobyns Sierra 705SF for her frogs and heavier jigs and it works really well for that to. She has an Irod she fishes her lighter jigs and worms on so both work well together. I am about to add my fourth Dobyns to our arsenal. I intend to pick up a Champion 683 spinning for finesse baits. You know the trend today is to use really long rods for everything but I still like top fish some 6', 6'6" and 7 footers for a lot of my fishing. In close quarters ( docks, boat house, etc) I find the shorter rods work better.

Right now you could go to Cabelas and choose between a Lews Mach 1 Speed Stick, a Fenwick HMG, or an Abu Garcia Vendetta rod, all of which cost $79. All of them would pair up nicely with that Diawa. Their Cabelas Fish Eagle is a bit cheaper in price and their Cabelas Tournament Z is $99.00 So you could easily find something there to fit your needs. If you have a Dicks Sporting Goods near you, they have rod called a Quantum Escalade. It is a Quantum rod built and sold only by Dicks. I fish one and they fish very well. You can get a 7 foot medium heavy that regularly lists for $99, but is almost always on sale for $49.00. That rod will fit your needs and budget. It specs as an IM8 rod blank and list 1/4 to 1 1/2 oz lures. It fishes as well as many of my much more expensive rods. Check it out online or in your store. Dink Whisperer has hooked you up. I love those reels. I fish several of them along with my fleet of Tatulas. That was a $100 reel just a couple of years ago. Mine fishes just as good as my Tatulas. I use it for bass and stripers. With that reel and a Quantum EScalade you could use the rest of your budget and gift certificate to get some tackle. Go catch some fish and relax. Good luck in school. I just returned to college after 35 years so I understand the demands.

First take a look at my response to your first post on using that spinning reel as a cat, striper, wiper rod combo. I suggested matching it up with an inshore series rod only because of the lures and bait techniques you could use and how well it would match up with that reel. The fish do not know that reel is not on a catfish rod or it is on an inshore model rod. As for a reasonable finesse combo take a look at Pflueger President XT in a 30 size. It will run you $80 at Tackle Warehouse but available for around $70 new off of Amazon. That leaves you around $100 for a good rod. The Dobyns Fury 703 is a good choice. So is a Diawa Tatula XT, or perhaps a lews Mach 1 speed stick. I guess you could fit in a Lews TP1 as well. Maybe a Powell Inferno. QAll good options in your budget.

You can always order a Dobyns from either Dobyns or Tackle Warehouse. I know of several guys I have helped that lived around Toronto. They ordered rods from Tackle Warehouse and TW ships into Canada often. One call to Dobyns directly and you can fin out from them who and where they have dealers up in Canada. You will find no more customer oriented bunch then Dobyns. That goes for Gary himself, to his son Richard, as well as the lady that answers the phone and the employees out in the warehouse.

Personally I would look for a good used Kayak. i would outfit it to fish the way I like to fish and have that to fish out of in your private area. There are tons of guys on here that fish from a yak and really prefer it. keep the jon for use where it is better to have that style boat. Things like electronics can be shared so no need for a new one. Rig it as easy to fish out of as possible and go enjoy the serenity of the more quiet are. There has been many times in my 40 years of fishing when I have owned either a jon boat and a canoe or a bass boat and a small electric only boat.

Check this out: Take notice towards the end they show the seats being raised and there is a cooler located in the middle. tat is part of several packages. It upgrades to better bucket seats and no middle seat, instead it has a step lid. It is a nice touch.

Be aware those Veita 2.0 fro $60 are refurbed. Probably had a guide issue repaired. Nothing wrong just be aware of it. I have fished several of the original Veritas and they are good rods. The Veritas 2 replaced them and were a bit stronger.

Its reviewed pretty highly. I have never touched one. I suggested it because it is suggested for fish like snook and reds, well cats and stripers fall in that same category lure weight and power, in my mind. I would check them out more closely.

Well let me first tell you I fish with more than a dozen rods in my rod box. Many of the rods alone cost more than $200 each. So that being said, I fish for bass most of the time, however in the fall I fish for stripers. At that time I need 4 rigged combos with different rattle trap baits. In order to do so I add 2 Berkley Lightning Shock rods, with Daiwa Tatula reels, into my arsenal on the boat. My wife on the other hand uses a 6'6' medium action Lightning Shock rod for all her treble hook baits. Those rods work great and do not break the bank. They perform just as good as my much more expensive crankbait rods. They are just not as lightweight as a $200 G Loomis rod. So hands down I would go Berkley Lightning Shock rod on combo 3. Combo 1 I would go with the Lews Mach 1. If you can swing it you will be happier with the Mach 2 combo. It is only about $30 more. For combo 4 I can tell you the Pflueger President is a nice reel. My wife and I have 6 or 7 total and we have fished some of them HARD for over 2 decades. Several others are less than 3 years old. I would suggest a getting a better rod for this application. Perhaps a Powell Inferno, or even a Lews Mach 2 Speed Stick. Another really good one is a Fenwick HMX rod. Check online at places like Gander Mountain and Dicks Sporting goods for your best price. Fishing Factory Outlet sometimes has great deals too. The abu Vengeance rod is okay but jigs is a feel technique. Try and find a deal on at least a Vendetta rod. Sensitivity is a priority for these baits. At around $75 there are a lot of better choices.

Your two combos are fine and will serve you well. I asked those questions in order to figure out how that reel could serve you best. I appreciate the picture into your fishing world. Many bass only guys they would have picked a smaller version of that reel just to balance it with a typical "finesse rod" for bass. Now the guys that fish for things in a saltier world would go for that size reel as fast as they could. I like craww's idea but you could also go for a little more stout 7 foot MH fast action rod and chase catfish, stripers, wipers and walleye with it. If it were me I would spool the reel 1/2 way with something like 14 pound or 17 pound Stren mono. I like this line for use as backing and in the event you hang a big one it is quality line to fight a fish on. I would fill the rest of the spool up with 50 pound braid. Another good option would be 17 pound Big Game mono. Now you could go with one of the stouter 'catfish specific" rods and depending on your budget Bass Pro has several. I have a friend that fishes for cats a lot and she likes the BPS catmaxx rods. Of course there is always an Ugly stick catfish series. If you have a larger budget then a MojoCat from St Croix is a great choice. If you want a more all around combo that can still catch a cat but also a striper, wiper etc then I would look at a rod like a Cabelas Salt Striker Inshore rod. Look at the ISS-706-2FB 7 foot 2 piece Heavy or an Ugly stick striper series rod. Ifd you use lighter lures or weight/bait combos for the stripers,and wipers then go with a more medium specced rod.

The double uni is my go to line to line connection. I use a lot of braid to leader setups especially on my spinning gear. Every one of my reels is loaded with 14 pound Stren Mono first. I load half the reel with it, then use a uni to uni knot and fill the reel up with whatever my main line will be. That allows me to cut the cost of filling a reel up with braid or Fluorocarbon line. Most of my reels hold 150 yards of line and you never cast that far so the 75 yards of mainline is plenty. Pay attention when tying the double uni that each time you wrap around the other line, be careful not to wrap over the previous wrap. If you are careful then when you cinch it down it will pull down nice and smooth. It will go through the guides better that way.

Most likely that was a shot against Tracker