Hi-Powered Red Neck

I've never heard of it happening on a bass boat either. I was just saying.

Now on a side note. In my late 20 to mid 40's I was an avid scuba diver. I worked on a Golf Course and started diving to get golf balls for the driving range. That paid for my gear and classes plus a bunch of other stuff. I had a dive partner with a boat and spear fishing was our thing. We dove all the hot spots we could out of East Pass in Destin Fl. I grew up in Destin so a lot of my friends were charter fishermen. Well my partner and I decided to do a "lead" dive. So I modified a 5 gallon bucket and borrowed a 75lb lift bag from the local dive shop owner. We went straight to the Liberty Ship. As the name implies it was a WW2 Liberty Ship that was sunk as an artificial reef and it is a heavily fished. With in a few minutes we had more lead than the lift bag would float. Two trips to the bottom we had a little over 100 pounds of egg sinkers in the 12 to 16 oz size. We took them to the harbor and sold all of it for a buck a piece. If you've ever bought lead it that size range you know it was a smoking deal. It was all gone in less than an hour. We even took a few orders for more. Gas money was less of an issue after that. People say that scuba diving is an expensive sport. I beg to differ I made enough money to support my scuba habit. Now I was far from a commercial diver, just a guy with a side hustle to help make ends meet.

When I was young and fishing on my own dime. I had a 13' fiberglass river boat with a 1970 20hp Johnson. Lure hunting was a favorite pass time of mine. When the river was low was always the best time to find the good stuff. Now that I'm older it's still a bonus when I find something nice. Last lure I found was a Huddelston 8" swim bait. Hooked the line with a crank bait, dredging it off a point. It came right in like it was never hung up at all. Maybe it broke off with the dreaded backlash cast off. The hook was still sharp as new so It hadn't been there long. So if you're the guy that lost it in Lake Juniper. Just know it went to a good home.

Fishing dock as a co-angler is tough. The boater is focusing on boat position that suits his casting. Something different is a good choice, but if they are eating a black grape trick worm, why reinvent the wheel. The biggest problem for the guy in the back is boat position. Learning to cast at odd angles will serve you better as a non boater, than what you are throwing.

As you can tell from the amount of responses this is a subject that has two very distinct sides. The "you can't catch fish at 60 mph" side. And the "if your boat doesn't scare you a little, it's not fast enough" side. Personally I grew up on the back deck of a bass boat. I fall into the later group. There are reasons to have the fastest boat in the club if you tournament fish. If not, just wanting to go fast is reason enough. Over the years of playing with fast bass boats I've found my comfort zone is 80 and below. After 80 things really start to change and high speed blow out becomes a concern, not to mention blow over. Things happen very quickly at high speed and driver skill is a real factor. There are dues to be paid when considering going fast. The learning curve is steep and expensive. What the Big boys of go fast boats consider fast is warp speed to most everyone else. Those guys paid dearly to go that fast. Lots of seat time learning how, and tons of money in the proper set up to squeeze every mph out of their rig. Bottom line "Whats to fast", is a personal question you must ask yourself. Cause in reality, your's is the only opinion that matters.

The bigger the better, in most cases. Fishing style has a lot to do with the choice as well. As previously mentioned. If you're slinging crank baits with 7' plus rods a 17' boat is all but to small for two. The newer bass boat lay outs have huge casting decks that can accommodate two guy's easily. But those two guy's need to be familiar with each others style. Two on the front deck is a dance that requires the right partner. I have an older 19' Norris Craft that I have fished 3 in. It has an old school layout. Small casting decks and a big floor. I'm 6'3" and can lay down in the floor of the boat. The guy in the middle has to cast overhand, but it works. I'd vote 19' at an absolute minimum if we're talking bass boats used for bass fishing.

Thanks for all of your responses. I think I'm going to stay with Minn Kota.

I would have never thought about spot lock not working under bridges. At least until I was trying to do so. Then I'd be mad that my new toy wasn't working right.

All I've ever own is Minn Kota. I take that back I had a tin rig with a 108lb Motor Guide. But I locked up the big motor the first weekend I took it out. Sold it a month later as is. So I never really got much chance to form an opinion on it. Except the button is on the wrong side. lol

See thats what I was thinking and thanks for the feed back. Heck I've got a 36lb thrust that I've owned for 25 years at least. I had it on 4 boats the most recent is a Pelican 10e. I have a pond behind my house. My son took the boat out fishing and left the motor down. I got home 5 or 6 weeks later and it was still in the water. I figured for sure it was toast. Nope still going. It's sun faded and retired again, for now. But it still works as good as the day I bought it. Come to think of it, I remember buying it for my 25th birthday. I'm 52 now.

Hey gang I'm in the market for a new trolling motor. 24 volts is enough for my 19' Norris Craft but 36 is doable. These things are priced through the roof. So before I drop $3000+ on trolling motor lets hear your horror stories and your honest opinions on your investments. Lowrance seems to have the best reviews. Garmin is a close second, with complaints about the skeg breaking and the size of it. Minn Kota seems to have the worst reviews. Strange because I've always had good luck with Minn Kota and was leaning toward an ultrex. I have been running the same 65lb 24 volt Edge on my boats for the last 10 years or so. Thats far from their top of the line. I haven't bought new electronics yet but I'm leaning towards Garmin. However I was kinda holding out to decide on a trolling motor first. The current set up is working fine. But my new to me boat wants some better equipment than what was on the old battle wagon. It's a much nicer platform to fish from. Time to rig it right.

I've had good luck with the Walmart brand deep cycle batteries. I just replace a pair of group 27's that were purchased in 2012 and I have a group 29 that was purchased in 2014 that still holds a good charge. Not sure who make Walmart batteries but they seem to last and they are cheaper than bigger named brands.

I just replaced the Walmart brand batteries in my boat. They where date coded 9/12. I got my moneys worth outta those. In fact I bought some more. I've also got a group 29 on my Pelican 10e that I bought in 2014. Still going strong and holding a charge. Not sure who builds Walmart batteries but I've had great success with them. Waiting for them to release a lithium deep cycle battery. I'd love to cut at least 100 pounds outta my Bass boat. But the cost of lithium is outrageous right now.

Thats a beautiful car!!!!

I've seen a couple in pictures. Theres a Norris Craft owners group on Facebook. I actually called Norris Craft and talked to, or more to the point listen to one of the owners. He talked about my boat like he remembered it personally. Gave me the entire history of the model and said welcome to the Family. If it ever needs anything he would fix me right up. He also told me he could change up the interior lay out to something more modern but it would slow it down a bit. Seems the 19XLvee is a really fast boat with the right power. And that he built one years ago that he hung twin 260's on the back of. So my transom can hold what ever I want to put on it. He also said that the 280 promax was the best power for it. That would put in the mid 90's with out any problems. He also said the 280 was best engines Mercury ever built. It was at least a 30 minute conversation. lol