jekyll

Mike's East. Share a dock with Trout One. Penn Yan, 275 Sea Stalker

That must be why the center motors are set lower.

I'm thinking about buying this boat for fishing tournements. I might improve my odds by getting to the deep water faster. Any thoughts on how I might best rig it for fishing?

Kinda depends on what you have for a boat and how you use it. Start battery is OK if you troll off the main motor or use a kicker that charges the battery. If your start battery is not being recharged while trolling, you risk a restart by taking too much juice out of it. If you have a kicker with pull start, not a problem but, be preparred for long return trips at 7-8 mph. I have an 18 footer with a minn kota. I wired my DRs to the trolling batteries versus my start battery. I killed my start battery once due to all the other electronics running off it. My kicker doesn't recharge the system. I'm more careful now. Jekyll

Coup: Do you need GPS with your FF or is that covered? For sure get DF. The 50khz is very handy. Never a bad idea to pass up redundency when it is cheap. If your down speed probe/system fails, you will like seeing your balls to confirm depths. I suggest you get the speed and temp sensors as well. As stated above, redundency is great and cheap when upgrading a system. It is always expensive and dear when you find you need it later. Also, you will not want to be using your down probe when fishing the shallows for browns. 10 feet of water is no place to drop your probe. You'll be crushing mollusks before you know what's happening. Also, the speed and temp at 10 feet will be close enough to surface conditions. You'll be looking for surface temp breaks. Also, late summer and fall when targeting salmon in the shallower water, the probe is at risk when following close to the bottom. Lots of fish taken several feet above bottom in 75 FOW. The bottom can rise up and smite thy balls with a mighty and swift vengence. I bought a Lowrance LMS-527C DF with internal GPS last year. All the probes included for about $675 from Hodges Marine Electronics. I like it very much. I just upgraded to a larger boat (keeping the 18 footer) and just bought all the sensors and harnesses to plumb the 527 into the new boat (28 footer). I looked at the FCV 620 for the new boat but when push came to shove, the 527 works so well that I couldn't justify spending more money for another FF. $330 for all the sensors, harnesses and brackets allows me to swap out my control head to which ever boat I'm using. (This also lets me learn and stay current on 1 system versus 2 which becomes more important with age (I'm sure glad we don't need to program VCRs to catch fish)). More importantly, if this is a new-to-you boat, think about your electronics as a system. All the major and good brands have thier electronics worked into networked systems. My new-to-me boat has a menagerie of different manufacturers (SITEX, Northstar, Raymarine, Cannon and now Lowrance). not much networking abilty there. I frequently think of ripping it all out and going with 1 brand so I can multifunction the control heads. Maybe I'll do that if I add RADAR. Just some thoughts to consider. Jekyll Dapper Dan Mexico

If price is the same, then think about wieght and maintenance. Both favor the Optimax.

Downriggers are not necessary. You can effectively troll with dipsies. That said, downriggers are a very good thing to have because of the whacky structure. If the bottom is level for more than 20 feet you must be trolling at the launch Downriggers are much better than dipsies when trying to hug a changing bottom. On Seneca, you can go from 100 feet to 25 feet in less than 30 seconds of trolling. Electric riggers are invaluable because 1 person can run up 2 or more at the same time which can save balls and tackle when the bottom races up on you. Trolling Seneca can be like trolling over a giant egg crate. I use light collored spoons and flashers with flies; colors usually have some chartruse or white. I don't see much of a difference between downriggers and dipsies when run through productive water at comparable depths. On the first pass you may double on the dipsies and the next, double on the riggers or vice versa. The bottom line, you can catch A LOT OF FISH on Seneca. I've heard of boats having 90 fish days (3-4 fishermen). On a guiet day when wind and current allow, I stow the motors and jig in 50-100 feet with white or green plastics. Jekyll

Welcome Nick. Please tell all your Canadian fishing buddies about this site. The more of you guys North of the border reading this site the better. It will put a noticeable dent in Canadian productivity and help return the US/Canadian exchange rate to more traditional levels

I just ordered my first 2 wire dipsey rigs. I ordered 1000 feet of camo 30# per rod but I have several questions about spooling up the reels: Do I need a backing or just spool it directly to the reel. Do I need to tape the reel spool to grab the wire? Any other considerations? I assume most knots would be OK for tying to the spool. I do understand the line needs to be kept in tension when loading so I'm at least 1-step there. I bought Daiwa SG47LCA and Heartland 9.5 combos. Jekyll

Of course I do. I break in aircraft engines, chain saw engines, car/truck/motorcycle engines, boat engines etc. per the manufacturers recommendations. I've never had an engine of any type prematurely fail or use excessive oil in any equipment. Maybe I'm lucky or blessed or maybe proper break in does help to ensure better service. Why not follow the manufacturers' recommended proceedures. After all, they are the designers, manufacterers and testers. They have a vested interest in their engines providing good service to thier customers.

Gulp. My favorite method is with a rod, reel, line and hook. Any way to entice the peanut size brain to strike. Most favorite though is on a nice drift from the bank when I can't see the fish in the water. All that tension is released in a mighty wham as that brute notices you are on the other end of that line. Drift fishing is active and you have all your attention on the rod tip as you drift through the holes. I had a great season on the tributaries-landed several hundred and lost many more. Oh, sorry, that wasn't one of the options. Jekyll

Now that's just good TV!

try: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/store ... 0_100-10-7 Google up additional sources. Jekyll

I'll answer on this thread also. Luhr Jensen Side Planer. Cabelas has them. They work like gang busters. I used them with GREAT success on Washington ST. steelhead and salmon rivers. I could go into a hole where fishin men had been thrashing the water all day without success and pull out several fish. I usually left after 2 so as to not get accosted by angry anglers. Can't use them in an active drift because they will greatly impede the drift and fly fishin men. They will intentionally snare your "troll". Find a quite section of the stream and have fun catching fish. Jekyll