fishnkamp

Call Skeeter for the weight. Check your trucks "max combined weight rating". It should be found on the sticker on your truck door or jam. This is the same sticker that tells you the tire sizes ans air pressure. If it is not there then you should find out that info in the owners manual that came with your truck. To tow that boat I would recommend you check with the dealer and find out what Ford offered as a trailer package. If you do not have it on your truck I would find out what it would cost to add it. In my case I have a Chevy S-10 V6 ZR2. That included a factory wire harness for towing with, a frame hitch, external engine oil cooler and a bigger transmission cooler. Lastly, your truck will benefit greatly from having brakes on your trailer. Many times I rely on the surge brakes to help when going down a steep grade, the trailer brakes will help slow down the truck enough I can barely use the truck brakes. I have a friend that tows a 19 foot Ranger bass boat with a Toyota Tacoma, one of the older smaller ones, nott he big ones they make now. He has no real problems.

I do not think he means he has a "bent shaft " as in damaged. I think he was using the term "bent shaft" as a description. I did own 2 of those models and they were great trolling motors. If it functions well then enjoy it. I think they were like 30 pound thrust at most.

I posted on your other post but I will do it again. Go look at a Dobyns Sierra SA 692 SF, It is a 6'9 rod perfect for your drop shot, ned rig stuff. Try mounting your current reel on it and see if it balances well, it should balance right around he threads on the reel seat. If not I would upgrade both of your reels to a 30 or 35 size Pflueger President, or maybe an Okuma RTX30. I wold use your current rod to throw baits like 7 inch Kalin Grubs, tubes , shakey heads and other plastics.

Well my first choice is going to surprise you but it is a 6'8" Powell Max3D 683 CEF/ I fish with 12 baitcasting setups and the most all purpose rig I have is my Powell Max 683CEF (it is the older model). Please go read the Tackletour review on it. They threw everything from a 1/8 bait to a 2 1/2 ounce swimbait and it handled it perfectly, something a Medium Heavy Extra Fast tipped rod is not expected to do, especially since it is rated for baits weighing from 1/4 to 3/4. This is my main swim jig rod. I like to throw Dirty Jigs swimjigs in 3/8 and 1/2 ounce, sometimes with a creature trailer but more often with a 5 inch Kalin Lunker Grub, or a bait like a Keitech swimbait. Here is the link to the 683 review. http://www.tackletour.com/reviewpowell683cxfast.html If you want a similar action but require a 7 footer than a Powell Max 732CEF would be my choice. They suggest using it for jigs,spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. A Hollow bodied frog bite is not that much different than a buzzbait bite.

Gary Dobyns has said many times the 734 is the most all purpose and best selling rod in all of his rod lines. Those two rods will perform really nicely for your intended use. Give us an update after you catch your first fish in each. My friend Kris ( a member on here) has sold off a ot of gear and replaced 4 of his rods with Dobyns Fury rods. He loves them. One is a 734 and one is his 765 Flip. The one other I know is a FR 703SF. He has come to love these rods.

I love the old Classic Spin Jig Series. My wife and I have some going all the way back to the 98% graphite days, the days of IM6, GL2 and GL3. I own 2 that are IMX. I have never been disappointed with the sensitivity of their blanks. If I could get a good price on it I would consider the 6'6 or 7 foot versions. We still love and fish with a pair of 721s and 722s each. If i were doing it today they would be the 6'6" versions.

Here is how I would go. I would look at a repurposing the 7 mXF for use to throw things like 5 inch kalin grubs fished on a jig head ( I love BPS Perfect Finesse Worm Jig heads). These tx riggs are fantastic for grubs, small finesse worms and creature baits. I would also throw baits like Reaction Innovation Little Dippers and Skinny Dippers. ANother good bait like those is the Keitechs. Throw these on belly weighted swimbait hooks. I like the Gamakatsu ones the most. Now I would look at the Dobyns Sierra SA 692 SF . I would try and see how that smaller rel feels on it. If it balances close to the thread for the reel seat then fine. If not I would upgrade both of my reels to something like a Pflueger President, one would be a 6930 for the 693 and a 35 for the current rod. Another great reliable lightweight option is an Okuma RTX30. The Dobyns are terrific rods and I love fishing with them. That is my replacement going forward but my previous solution to fishing plastics with a very sensitive rod has always been a G Loomis Classic series SJR721 and SJR722s. We still fish these 6 footers, but if I were to replace them I would replace them with the 6'6" version of the same rod.

My 15 rods are in my rod locker. When we travel my wife's rods are stored in the back of my truck under a hard tonneau covered that is locked. All of her rods are stored in one of these rod carry type bags. I have one of the older ones and have never had a problem transporting them using ours. http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-Extreme-Combo-Caddy-Rod-and-Reel-Carrier/product/15114/

DVT is one of our great board sponsors. He is Delaware valley Tackle. He just jumped in here, If you did disassemble it, clean it and properly lube it, then may a second set of eyes will notice something weak or not working correctly.

My personal opinion is that combo will work if all you are going to do is throw a bobber and chase panfish. My wife and I fish for bass, catfish, stripers and ;pts more. Periodically we pull out a pair of 5 1/2 foot ultralight spinning combos and chase crappie, bluegill, perch and other panfish There is nothing wrong with that at all. We enjoy some easy worm and minnow dunkin sometimes. We also fill the freezer doing it often. That spincast could easily work for this. However, if you want to fish for bass seriously, than forget that setup. Instead buy her a Dobyns Fury 663SF or 703SF. Match it up with a Pflueger 6935 or 6930 spinning reel. Spool it half way with Stren 12 pound mono. Fill the rest with Berkley FireLine in 14 pound test. This line is the same size diameter as 6 pound mono. I like a 4 foot leader made of either Stren 8 or10 pound test mono. I also use a lot of P Line CXX in the 8 pound test,. I use the moss green colored line, it breaks way above 8 pounds. This is the setup my wife regularly uses on 4 of her 6 reels. We fish 30 Pound Power Pro Spectra on her heavy frog combo and also the same on her 7 ft MH combo she uses for bottom contact baits, like carolina rigs and jigs. She has much less issues when fishing grubs, tubes, Ned rigs, and many other standard finesse baits while fishing with the FireLine. It is very rare that she gets a tangle or a birds nest coming off the reel, Several good habits help control this as well. Make sure she ALWAYS stops the line, after a cast, using her finger. Make sure she ALWAYS flips the bail by hand and it help to sorta lift the rod as you do i, just to help tighten the line a bit just before you start to reel. This helps to eliminate that first loose line coil and also the twist you can get. Lastly, never let her reel when a larger fish is pulling line off under the control of the drag.

Awesome i truly like those boats, they were made well and ride well. Of course I liked the newer WIDE bodied boats better, but that is another bunch of money. It is nice when you know how a boat has been treated. You were right though, your area is not that easy to find a boat in that middle price range. Lots of newer much more expensive ones available and plenty of old ones that I would consider to be project boats. Keep us posted. BY the way what is your favorite body of water down there.I have spent some time on Gaston, which I found nice. My wife is addicted to smallies so we have fished Erie and lots of lakes in PA, MD, VA,TN,KY and MO. I guess if you asked her she would say Dale Hollow first and Table Rock second, although Center Hill and the Susquehanna River are right up there.

WRB I do not disagree the 19 foot Triton was a decent boat but it was a 1999 and the op was concerned about spending that much money on a boat that old. If you notice, I found him a couple of other boats worth at least looking at. I have personally seen the 2006 Stratos 285 ProXL. That is a more expensive boat but many years newer. It was in nice shape and I have had good personal experience with the dealership in the past. I agree, the Skeeter is only an 17 1/2 footer with a 115. The op had brought up a Bass Tracker nX750. If I was looking at that i would rather have a Skeeter hull especially with the larger 115. The price of it would allow the op to add any extras he wished to do aand stay within his budget.

Personally if I liked the reel enough, then I would send it to DVT or find someone local that does a lot of reel repairs. A total cleaning and reassembly with proper lube could fix it.

What I suggest is for you to spend some time reading all of the previous threads on kayaks. There are hundreds of them on here, get a good consensus of the ones that keep surfacing and what people think of them. I have personally read at least a dozen on more on the topic of Kayaks just in the last few months. Next I suggest you research what outfitters and big box stores carry kayaks, and who has demo days. Go demo some. Nothing teaches you more about fishing or boating then seat time. Something that I may love may drive you crazy. Lastly, do some research and see if you can find a fishing guide that offers Kayak fishing trips. I have one here in MD. He supplies the yak, and gear needed to use it and you can fish with your gear or some of his. He offers 4 and 8 hour trips. If I wanted to figure out things that I like and things that I did not then I would try some of these options.

If you tie the uni knot correctly and clip it tight you should have no problem, I use it very successfully with 30 pound braid and a 10 pound leader and that is even with micro guides. Regardless of what works for me, it is not working for you. SO check out the guides on an Abu Garcia Veritas 2 rods as well as the Penn Battle IIs.Be aware the Veritas will throw what is says and quite a bit more, they are stiffer than what they advertise, like a medium is a cross between a typical medium but closer to a MH. That 7 foot medium is a nice rod.

Please explain to me why it needs to be an "inshore" rod. I fish tidal Chesapeake Bay rivers for bass, stripers, big cats etc all the time. I use my standard tackle. perhaps you would need to just hose it off after use. I do se many guys go with the Penn Battle series equipment around here though. It has a good reputation with the Salt water guys. Perhaps a Penn Battle Ii 7 foot medium rod and a 4000 reel * that is their combo) for around $120. Check out West Marine for ths. i still believe a rod like an Abu Garcia Veritas 2,0 7 foot medium would cover you well for about $80.

For a good but reasonably priced rod take a look at an Irod Genesis II IRG7104AB “Bama Rig Special” It runs $150 and was designed for fishing any A rigs. Dobyns offers the Fury FR795SB and that is a 7'9" rod that can handle the a rigs and big swimbaits. It runs $120. Line capacity is important when throwing the A rig because it is a toss a mile and retrieve bait, so sme anglers choose the traditional round reels rather than low profile baitcasters or a low profile reel that has a bit larger capacity.

I would check this one out 2002 SKEETER SX 180 - $8900 https://eastnc.craigslist.org/boa/6062112193.html Skeeter has always had a good reputation for building a solid boat. It has a 2009 aluminum trailer under it as well. You will even save some cash. I would call this guy as well. This is a very clean looking 2006 Stratos 19 footer with a 200. https://raleigh.craigslist.org/boa/6086050526.html

I have been equally lucky. Back in the Nineties there was a fishing school run by Indiana University. My wife and I attended it and really enjoyed it. It was a two day event held at different locations, mine was held at Hershey PA. One of those days my wife and I went to lunch at a big long table. Billy and Bobby Murphy, Rick Clunn, Larry Nixon, Ray Scott, Gerry McKinis and Larry Columbo ended up sitting with us for lunch. Way cool for sure. I had a chance to speak with some of them over the years and remind them about that event, and each time it was fun to get their reaction. Of all the first group of pros I always respected Nixon, Clunn, the Murphy bros. I also liked meeting Paul Elias ( although I kinda lump him in with the next generation of pros like Hank Parker and Shaw Grigsby). Shaw is another guy I could sit and listen to for hours. One of this sports best qualities is the accessibility to its stars. For an hour I had the privilege to sit and talk Tennessee and Alabama lakes with Larry Nixon, during a late afternoon part of a Richmond Outdoor Show. He finished a presentation up on the Hawg Trough and was to hang out in the Ranger booth for a MD Ranger dealer. It was dinner time and most of the crowd had gone home. What a great gentleman and a great wealth of knowledge. I have been to one big tournament that the FLW was hosting on the Potomac. It was the final day, so many of the pros were in booths instead of out fishing, bad for them good for me. I used to fish Guido bugs on a custom slider head back in the 90s when they were not too popular and today's "finesse or shakey head " craze had not happened yet. There was a special color I found to be a killer on the Potomac. I got to meet Guido and his son that day. I mentioned that color to Guido and his eyes exploded. It was a long discontinued color and he acted like it was a huge secret like I was not supposed to know about it. He really lit up when I said I was sitting on 20 packs of them and how much trouble I had to find them. He made a lot of money fishing those bugs!

Congrats on your first boat and that is like jumping off a bicycle and jumping into a Ferrari. The proper oils and maintenance info is easy to get. Go to your local Merc dealer with the engine serial number and purchase the original operators manual. I also recommend, if this boat is coming from an individual, then ask him to take it out for a ride. Ask to watch him as he prepares the boat, launches it and when he recovers it back on the trailer. Go enjoy the ride. Have him point out how he gets it up on plane, how he uses its jackplate and trim ( if there is one). Now there are some things to look at since you are just buying it. Have the batteries tested and replaced, right up front if needed. That boat will have a 24 or 36 volt trolling motor. It may have an on board battery charger. This means 2 or 3 trolling motor batteries. The outboard motor will recharge the separate "starting" battery which is also used to run livewell, light etc. If the boat does not have an onboard charger, you may want to add it, it probably does though. Here is a part of my routine. You will want to wipe down the boat after use, I do mine right in the ramps parking lot. I like to remove the plug and get out any water that may be in the bilge ( mostly from waves) and I store the plug in the same location every time. I also empty any water in the livewells. This is important too Once home my trolling motor is unplugged or turned off and the batteries are immediately recharged. This will give the batteries their longest life. My batteries are group 30 AGM batteries that cost close to $200 each, but I am on year 7 on them. This recharging immediately is important. Engine maintenance annually includes a new water pump impeller and a change of the lower unit oil. The impeller change is more important to me, since I fish salty brackish water and that can cause it to harden. When I ran freshwater lakes I only did it maybe every 3 years. I will grease every fitting once a year and do a total under hood inspection as well. I do not have one, but your engine has a fuel filter. Replace it. There is one more thing I would do before I ran the boat much. I would replace the entire fuel line and primer bulb, from tank to engine. This is a cheap solution to avoid a much more expensive repair later. The ethanol fuels we are forced to run these days are tearing up the inside of fuel lines. If yours goes bad enough to cause a performance problem, then the entire fuel system including electric fuel pump, float, and even injectors can be compromised. I just did this on my 2010 boat this past summer. I did not have a problem yet. It only cost about $60 to avoid potentially a several thousand dollar bill. I saw a few that this happened to and the entire line just disintegrated. Trailer maintenance could include a wash down after use, if you run salty brackish water. Regular maintenance should include an occasional recheck of the tire pressures, and a quick torque check of on the lug nuts, bolts for the springs, any bolts up on the trailer tongue, like for a swing away tongue and the coupler. Check brake fluid level occasionally. You need to find out what type of hubs and axle you have, The old system was a solid axle and Bearing Buddies, this required only an occasional pump of fresh grease. The next upgrade includes a drilled axle where you pump the grease into the fitting, it goes through the axle and fills from the back to the front. With this design all one has to do is pump in a tube full of grease and all of the old is replaced by the new. Lastly, the latest is an oil filled hub and that I am not sure how you maintain. Check with your dealer. There are lots of other things to learn and you will over time. If you run into new questions you are welcome to pm me and I will try to help you more. Enjoy the new boat! Triton made a nice rig!

The Fury will cost $110.

Why not check with a local group of Wounded Warriors. Where are you located?

Define break the bank. I like the Dobyns Fury also, but if your budget goes up to $160, then I would add the Sierra SA 692SF and SA 702SF. I like shorter rods for better casting control sometimes, but if you are fishing really deep, open water than the 702 is your better choice. ai really like the sensitivity of the Sierra rods. Either way there is no wrong choice here.

Would a boat like this interest you https://eastnc.craigslist.org/boa/6091094060.html He is in NC and is asking $11,500 or best offer.. I am sure it is worth a look at least.

Today the rods and reels that cost between $100 and $200 are some of the highest quality and that is the most competitive part of the market. The quality and performance is equal to much of what was being sold for twice that just a few years ago. There is still a difference in s $200 reel and a $400 reel, but not as much as there has been in the past. It is easy to pick a mid priced reel, like a Tatula CT, Curado I, Lews Speed Spool( pick a version) and match it to a light weight, sensitive, well balanced rod for around $300. It will perform terrific and catch a lot of fish for you.