Fat Trout

I put a p66 on a helix 10 last year and like it. I never ran the stock transducer.  I came from a lowrance hds

6 hours ago, Scalloper 1 said:

$37,000 total kept by the so called angler not a dime to the other three on board.

terrible scenario.  you don't need to name names but it wouldn't be inappropriate to name the derby / contest this happened in.  Im sure said derby is aware of it, they don't want issues anymore than the rest of us.  They want to promote the inclusivity of having he whole boat be registered....they have a vested interest in reasonable consideration.  Speaking in reality of concern helps all parties (us / them) to consider how best to run these things.  

3 hours ago, Gill-T said:

My suggestion is you need to find better friends. 

very true but at a minimum if its not sorted before the catch or not trustworthy with friends it better damn well be discussed on the way to the weigh station.   Catch doesn't mean **** without an agreeable witness.

47 minutes ago, HB2 said:

I think some people are just oblivious to what is going on around them.

 

Did you ever drive on the thruway and have someone in the passing lane for miles backing up traffic ?  

this is true and here's something to consider for all....especially knowlegeable private boat captains.  I had 3 guys on my boat for the last 2 days. Normally I'm solo /+1 knowledgeable.   If you have more  guys, you run more stuff and try to be the good guy and teach and "try" to reliquish some control to not be a dick.  more explanations, more rigging while you or someone is driving.  Tough conditions the last few days in Mexico and I was pushing to get fish.   I had zero problems...BUT  i approached a few and that was with minimal traffic so my guard was down. **** was deep so "I knew" how long people were running lines.....but my guys didn't understand it despite how much I explained.   I have a good sized but smaller boat, my fuel burn is low which i appreciate.    This years weather perhaps I don't appreciate so much lol.  I know a lot of private boat guys with bigger boats who have a greater (soooo understandable) need for folks to come and help and help with fuel etc. I totally get that and its hard to keep the "good" guys always coming with you.    I had no problems, fixed it all and a few times I had to jump in and correct abruptly (a few times) after stating the need clearly (I thought) but your head is on a swivel.  In heavy traffic I would have dropped my rod count and type accordingly.  Not all think that way and need to do so ....burden especially on knowledgeable captains.  Safety is #1 for me and I hope for all but its easy to get distracted.  my guys all are good with my super curt and abrupt commands  and I warn them in advance but it can be hard to give your buddys both some level of control some level of learning and not be a total dick.  Autopilot only makes that more challenging (easy to think all is well).  keep teaching...keep correcting....and keep learning as the responsible captains we want us all to be.  Oh and its still OK to be pissed at BS when it happens...even if its you....no excuses here.   Told my guys a couple times....can't go where we want...have to spin and circle back if we want to go there now.  

5 hours ago, Almostthere said:

Fished today out of Mexico. Fished 5am to 1. Went 8 for 12.  Best water was 110-130 down 85 for us.  Weather man was definitely wrong. 

I ran west to the radio tower but didn't love the seas with my wife.  Had 2 quick hits and 1 fish on (dropped) in 230 and trolled with it back given the conditions.  Lost a big one that strung me out and missed another late in the  range you spoke of....guess I should have focused inside but you never know and by that time (and perhaps earlier) I wouldn't have liked having to cycle back into it enough in my boat with my wife but oh well....thats the game.

10 hours ago, codybuehler said:

Spoons were 50’ back. Flasher, around 20’. 
 

I also use light leaders. I was running 15lb test. Up’d it to 20lb for spoons and 25lb for flashers this year. Haven’t noticed a decline in hits yet. All flouro carbon.

for salmon I've been running 20 for spoons and 30 for flashers for quite a while for salmon with no issues.  

47 minutes ago, risackila said:

Thank you very much. 

I've been doing this a while but that never means you can't learn.  I tend to run things back a ways.  I saw comments that made sense on flasher flies on fish I couldn't get to hit but some were.   It was to run the flasher fly really close....like 3 to 5 feet from the ball.  reasoning was that it makes it turn faster....how much I don't know and I have not tried it....but it was "different" than others were doing.  The comment was on staging fish and coho's more specifically.  I'm not saying to believe it but its just something I picked up that I thought was different than my usual approach.  Just more data to make you nuts lol.  

7 hours ago, Logger Gen II said:

Thanks a lot for the info guy’s really appreciate it 👍 I guess best thing to do is just fish 😂 go figure 

True, but anything you hear helps.  That and if you know nothing start at lets say 125 in your guessed area (north or west) and troll out to 200+ looking for marks of interest and circle that a time or 2 and keep going.  If you have a spoon line down on a rigger drop a free slider with 6 ft of lead.  I get steelhead and salmon on that free slider a lot.    One day I got a nice steelhead on a meat rig deep and a really nice salmon on the free slider with a spoon with color intended for a steelhead so you never know.   If winds seem to bring in / up temperature don't be afraid to stop at 100.  I've stopped short, observed high cold temp and picked up kings this way the last few years in early july.

Typically west as in off of the plant or west of the plant (ie radio tower).  Seems to be what Im hearing (currently) although its always variable and in summer (generally) scattered when out of mexico....sometimes good sometimes not.   Sometimes more north off of the south/north pond can be good....but when its not its a wasteland when not good (for salmon).  Regardless out of mexico can be a crap shoot in june/july just depending on unknowns and winds.  Sorry to be vauge, I'm a long time Mexico guy and it just is what it is.   Generally guys out of oswego do better in this time fishing a little east of there or having ability to go a bit west. 

I have an 80 terrova on mine. I agree with everyone said so far.  I'll only ad that when trolling... if its calm you can fine adjust speed with the the terrova. Since i run solo a lot its my most important item other than the boat itself 

I ended up getting the Smartroll II.  I ran it this weekend  with great sucess.  Its an entirely different experience than with the first version.  It just works right away without issue so far.  The transducer is mounted right near my other transducers.

Heres a pic of mine from a couple years ago that i had on my phone.  Looks about the same

19 hours ago, Netbender aka-Superhawk18 said:

Sent videos to dealership. Changed the position of the trim tab anode to all possible positions. There was little to no improvement in the lean issue. Ran the boat in several different directions and varied rpm. Turning to the left seems to have more resistance than turning to the right when on plane.
Pulled of the steering rod to the 9.9 and made sure the 9.9 was trimmed up full. Still has severe lean to port side above 2500 rpm to plane. Bow raises rather quickly when given throttle. Here is the anode position from the dealership.

 

Thanks, Dave

A few things for you as I have a 196 with 150 main and 9.9 on the port side, both yamaha and have been running it for 4 years.

Its still a small light boat and will be sensitive to weight distribution.   driver and passenger, batteries on both sides, kicker on one side....she leans.  Clockwise rotation of the prop provides torque that I think doesn't help but I've never gotten into that.  Regarding ease of turning right or left, if you mean at speed, thats prop torque, I'd suggest not to sweat it.  If she wants to steer and not go straight when you let go of the wheel, thats what that annode tab you have pictured above is for (vs solving lean) 

 Great boat, great platform,  No doubt Starcraft  mailed in in on some things which I felt were entirely stupid or under done.  I made changes that make me happy.  I don't know how much they could do to prevent leaning but they definitely didn't do anything other than hope the overall width was enough (I think).  They have users who don't use kickers too so short of them putting tabs on not sure what they could do that would be universal.  I definitely could see why folks would put tabs on.  

Here's what I see running my boat.

As I am now, when I run the boat by myself (solo).  No leaning.  When my buddy is with me....im 175, he's 220....it leans a bit and yeah I don't love that but as it is now its tolerable.     When I have a 3rd person I have them behind me driving....no lean.   For record I have (2) Size 27 batteries up front. a size 29 on the port rear and a 27 on the starboard rear.   I run by myself a lot, when my wife is with me I have her lift the arm rest and sit more toward centerline.

Things I have done

1) I put a tube sand under the driver dash in that forward storage compartment and shoved it as far Starboard as it will go.  I feel that helped.

2) I store my spare downrigger sharks on top of the above tube tube sand

3) I trim up (as mentioned earlier) as that  helps.  

Things I am thinking of doing

1) when the size 29 port side battery needs to be replaced I may go Lithium on that one battery.  In retrospect I wish I had shifted the battery box toward centerline originally but I did so much wiring work before season 1 that I really didn't want to mess with it again for a while.  

2) I may pull the washdown pump and shift that battery as far toward centerline as possible.  I don't use the washdown and never will.  

I have not gone down the road of tabs because I hate any more holes in boats than necessary.   That and I'll be pissed forever if I ever cut a fish off on the edge of a tab. Also, theres this stupid frigging emergency fold down foot hold to climb back aboard that they put on the port size right about where I'd want to put a tab.  They put that in an area that can't be accessed from the bilge / back side (separate compartment) so I'm hesitant to mess with that.  BTW, I pulled the backwall plate in the back of the splashwall floor storage and cut in in half and put it back in there like that so I can away get into my bilge in some way at any time via the storage opening.  I like having that option vs only via the black screw lids in the actual splash well.   

I saw right away with mine that tilting the 9.9 up all the way created stresses on cables etc so i just dont do it. I have a similar if not same setup.  Although the linksge doestlnt hit the splashwell tilted full up.   I tilt it just enough to keep it out of the water running and thats it.  When ttrailering i have it nearly all the way down since clearance is fine and thats the least stress on the transom regardless of the linkage.  

I got a 9 lb walleye trolling cut bait last year out of mexico.  you never know lol

ive used lemon pledge....works really good.  I feel like the older stuff was better. it kept the "brown" away.   I have plexus now.  it cleans the windows really well.   and lemon pledge old or new is good as well.  using either seems to keep the "brown" away. I cant speak to removing the brown but either is a good thing to try and im sure it will improve what you have. 

2 minutes ago, Fat Trout said:

 

On 3/26/2023 at 9:49 AM, Netbender aka-Superhawk18 said:

Thanks guys for the responses. B&B no need for pics as yours is a Crestliner. The head support is a must. 

Regarding the head support.  For what its worth ive got 8 seasons on mine on two boats and i dont bother.  I did at first for long trailering with a simple wood block and bungee.  It just doesnt bounce much in a concerning way  in the lake or moderate trailering.  Ive rebuilt the motor once even and probably have 7 or 800 hours on mine total but head weight and bouncing isnt an issue.

20 minutes ago, maketheturn said:

I think I have 3 of them. Give me a ay or 2 to check

Gen 1 probe picture for reference if it helps.

8 hours ago, mudflat said:

Thanks Rick, have you used the paddle wheel for speed?

Do you have any info about Fish Hawk that you would be willing to share?  

 

I have the original Smart Troll and I agree with you 100%.  When it worked the info was very valuable but the reliability of the system wasn't very good.  One by one my probes quit working, probably related to the batteries.  When my last probe died this year I really missed the info, especially on my divers.  I am thinking about upgrading to the new version but haven't found many reviews on it out there.  I'm still concerned about the reliability and the batteries holding up.  I am surprised Darrell doesn't offer a "smart charger" or replaceable batteries.

Gen 1 guy here.  9 times out of 10 I had problems.  When it worked it was great but I can't play IT guy for 20 minutes and ignore my whole spread.  I can't go Gen II and spend that money as a result.    I'll add its been a couple of years since I got it to actually work.  Interesting about the probe battery thing.  The app was always problematic.  I had to delete and reload it multiple times the first year to get it to work.  Every time trying was a new adventure.  last year I tried again....late morning when the bite was done and I was all by myself.  I fought and fought and it never worked.  Crap....I really want the data but after wasting nearly $700 at the time how could I justify a second "experiment".    By comparison.  I'd sell my boat before Id give up my Fishawk X4D.

5 hours ago, woody 184 said:

    Maybe the administrator can toss this individual, also for someone with 8 posts seems like he’s a taker and someone we probably know which is even sadder…. Woody

Yeah so Im going to challenge you on that a little.  We all want free speech right?  Its a topic these days in the news at a larger level.  Hell I agree with the guy you are arguing against......perhaps not his approach.  However I also agree the OP has the right to post.  You don't like the flack.  Don't post.  You don't like the posts.....look away.  either way deal with it.  If you want to shut someone down because they have a (strong) opinion.....well consider how far that can go.

@Low BallerIf you still want info on a 2 battery system I can send you a pic of my wiring diagram. I researched the heck out of it and it was a pain in the ass to fully sort out.  I'm 4 seasons into using it and all seems well.  I have a 2 battery system with ON/OFF/ALL switch.  ACR (Automatic Charging Relay).  I run 2 DRs, fishhawk, house power, radio etc.  My 9.9 has is a T model Yamaha so it has a good alternator for charging. I have the main going to one battery, the 9.9 going to the other and the ACR balances the charging of the 2.    To your question on DRs and other stuff.  I have one DR on each battery and no interference that I can identify with DR use.   I also have a few pics.  When you have this much stuff I found that using a buss bar is better than gang piling too many things on the battery terminals.  Even then I still added a lug for the post of the battery so I could use the screwed post and the other one.  My interconnect wires are large and sealed at the ends and all connection terminals were sprayed with battery terminal connector spray.  

2 hours ago, TyeeTanic said:

Not that it's funny, but it's at least strange ... we have this enormous lake (Lake O), and people feel the need to come within 100 ft of another boat ... like WHY??

If you want traffic, get in your friggin car and join the rest of Ontario on the QEW.  It's just plain stupidity ... so much water, and they got to get on your butt. Makes no sense at all.

Its like driving on open highway and someone feels the need to hang out in your blind spot.  Speed up  / slow down and they do the same.  On the lake, too few people practice avoidance still others play chicken.  

Last week I had a full spread out and had a guy on plane drop down  sort of along side and on my back corner perhaps 150 yards away no big deal.  Bad move by him IMO because it limits where he can go once he sets up.  It wasn't crowded no problem.  The problem was when he started heading slowly toward me.  I'm dealing with wind and some choppy conditions and keeping my heading as I was fishing a given depth and wind had me crabbing out and didn't want to turn out and spin back (yet).   He was just setting lines and got to within 25 feet of me when I yelled over "Hey, any chance you can get off my ass".    It took a good minute or two and he finally angled away.  There were 2 guys setting lines and one on the wheel.    I also didn't want to spin a loop behind him (which I often do in scenarios like that) because he was just setting up and dammit I was there first.   I did angle out twice but he used that and kept pushing to me.   Just unnecessary.    I always try to avoid and I'm the first one to pick up a long line if It looks sketchy but some folks just want to turn it into a game of chicken.

I caught 3 of those out of mexico this summer. First time ive caught them.

Sent from my SM-G990U using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Mexico Launch this morning a pair of morons bump away from the floating docks into the channel and float there engine running not in gear while they pull out rods.  Those of us coming from up river had to go around which was increasingly sketchy as it was right at the inlet with the rocks on both sides. There was sort of room but I had to skirt really close to them dang WTF.    I hate to say it but the boat was a POS and the guys in the boat matched up well to the boat.     Scary thing is that it wasn't super early and the docks weren't that busy.  Stay at the dock in that case or go just out side the inlet and do that crap.