Zachb6

See this was more what i was thinking because it sounds pretty stressful and difficult to get the pack of numbers and letters then level and place them perfectly on the boat. I could be wrong but thats just my mentality, correct me if im over thinking it!

I was wondering what the best way to put these numbers on with them being straight and level, this is my first boat thats going to be brand new and I dont quite know if the DMV gives me those numbers or if I have to go and get the package of stickers from the sporting goods store and stick them all on individually? Thanks, Zach

Thanks for that input i kind figured the manual would be the best bet but this is my first brand new boat so its all new to me

A week from this Friday I get to go pick up my brand new 2017 Ranger Rt188 with a mercury 115 pro XS and bring it home with me. Now that my money situation for the boat and the date to pick it up is all done i have time to think about other things I must do to the boat to get it ready for its maiden voyage. Aside from registering the boat and trailer and getting a water stamp i thought about the engine and how i have to break it in which i never had to do on my old used boat i just sold. Ive YouTube a couple videos and they do an ok job at explaining them but i want some good quality help from the people on this website. So what recommendations do you have to get a proper break in on this new motor? I have a few questions ive already thought of asking when i actually get the boat but im a planner and wont rest easy till i get some feedback on good engine break in. Thanks, Zach

Believe it or not I actually just dropped my one month old iPhone 7 in a lake this past Saturday too. I dropped it in like 15ft deep water and it was 33 degrees air temp when i dropped it so swimming really wasnt appealing to me. I went in to my verison store and lucky had insurance on the phone so they said if i paid $200 they would send me a new phone in the mail. Much better of a deal than buying a brand new iPhone at msrp price. Maybe try this if you still have the chance but if you have a different carrier that doesnt allow this best of luck getting it back!

Well that's a bummer to hear but hopefully soon you'll be able to get it out and I would love to hear how everything goes it's just eye candy looking at this boat and it gets me all excited for the day I hopefully can bring one home. Also have been considering the charcoal color it looks sleek!

How are you liking the 188? Im currently saving up my money to get this boat too but i was gonna get the 90hp evinrude e-tec. What color is your boat and why did you go with the Yamaha? Also ive heard that the step hinge goes bad quickly and i dont know if i want to spend the money on the step. Thanks, Zach

Sorry for giving a vague description and taking so long to reply, ive been dealing with a brutal sinus infection,, anyways ill add some more stuff about the lake. To start from here in nebraska 2ft water visibility is considered really clean, at least eastern nebraska where i am. From what i can tell from dragging jigs and texas rigs theres not much to the bottom. What i mean by this is theres tons of grass, and the main bottom is just silty mud. There are a few downed trees but they are a foot from the bank and in 6" of water...:/ I do hopefully plan on going out later this week after a nice warm front comes in and ill measure water temp and report back. And onto the other forage or fish in the lake. Like i said before its a stocked trout lake but besides trout and smallies ive heard of some crappie in there and as far as i know there are not any lmb's. But after walking the banks this past weekend i did find 2 dead gizzard shad which were about 4" long. And another that was half eaten. Oh and ive seen some massive goldfish swimming around in there. Hope this helps! -Zach

Ive heard some rumors floating around that smallies love gobbling down bright chartruse swimbaits, would this be worth a try or would i be wasting my money?

Ive mostly tried green pumpkin and natural colors, i do have a 4" trout swimbait ive thought about using but im really not confident in throwing swimbaits

Here's the topomap i promised! And the water clairity is pretty well, id say 2 feet of visibility on a good day

To start things off ive been fishing this local lake that is the only one around that has stocked smallies in it. Its used as a stocked trout pond for a few months but people go and catch most of the trout leaving some survivors and then just the smallies, (that im aware of). I know there are smallies in there because ive caught 2 but after talking to a game warden at that lake he said they've shocked the lake and wouldnt be surprised if the next state record comes out of there. Not saying im gonna hunt and try for that state record but ive been fishing there a little over a year and only managed 2 fish caught. Im a lmb fisherman but i like a challenge every so often so i try to catch these smallies. I am just asking for some more pointers on where to catch these fish because they are just such beautiful animals and i really enjoyed the two ive caught. Ive tried tons of baits hitting all of the water colemns, shakes heads, texas rigs, wacky senkos, Ned rigs, deep divers, medium divers, jigs, squarebills, spinnerbaits , chatterbaits, topwater, basically everything you can think ive tried. Ill add the actual topo map later but thought i would ask for some pointers now. Thank , Zach

What reel is that??

I've been looking around for one of these reels for months now and I just don't know what websites to trust or where to get one that's not super expensive like the antares. Anyone out there that has had good experience with a company selling these reels?

I have been watching the fishing youtubers lately and saw that they were trying out a company of rods that I haven't heard of before called favorite rods so I looked them up and saw they had a rod for only $50 so I thought I should try one out for that price so I bought the cheapest casting rod they had and got it in the mail yesterday. First impressions are it's very very light and it's a good looking rod too. I'm planning on fishing tomorrow so It will really put it to the test but I was wondering if anyone else have gotten these rods and how they like them?