rolmops

I bought my X-4 for $549 from the net,but the suggested retail price is around $620

Most boats produced these days are ready for use in salt water.I/Os and salt water do not like each other at all.The only way to use an I/O in salt water is by adding a heat exchanger preferably in the hull so the salt does not get in the engine cooling ducts. Outboards are much more salt tolerant and can be very easily cleaned. Most companies will therefore sell boats with outboards.

In case all else fails. You can get a $40 Shakespeare that works just fine.

The wood duck looks like a hybrid. Mallards and wood ducks can and will interbreed. Google "wood duck mallard interbreed" and you will see the results.

I am not sure that adding the third rod will greatly improve my success.As a single boater,I have a hard time to keep 2 rods in the water and steering the boat at the same time. In order to set up a program I use a trick I learned tuna and blue fish fishing.I use an umbrella rig on a wire line.This gives me ten lures in the water with only one ,which looks wounded, with a treble hook business end. This enables the single fisherman to have a "complete program" and stay within the current laws. I like to think that I catch more fish that way. Just google "umbrella rig" to see what I mean.

I just bought a new X4 fish hawk and I am very impressed so far.The only thing that sort of bugs me is that there seems to be a few seconds delay between the signal being sent and the screen changing accordingly.

The rule of fist for an outboard when run at WOT (wide open throttle) is 10% of the horse power rating per hour.So one 200 HP engine will burn 20 gallon per hour at WOT. 2 200s will burn 40 gallons per hour,but running a second outboard will only give you an additional 30% push. My guess is that your I/O does a lot better than that. You may want to look into buying a 10 hp kicker with your I/O

I launched at Mayer's Marina on the Webster side of the outlet just last Saturday with my 19 footer.His ramp is a bit steeper and if you get stuck he has the gear to lift up the trailer from behind.(he sees it as his responsibility to get your trailer in and out without damage). I guess that the trick is rolling down fast and then braking hard so the boat continues by itself off the trailer.

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s):04-25 Time on Water:07.00-11.00 Weather/Temp:lousy/high forties Wind Speed/Direction:E.N.E. Waves: started out with 2 footers,towards 11.00 the wind picked up and the waves became 4 footers Surface Temp: 47/48 Location:in front of the Genny LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 3 Total Boated:2 Species Breakdown:coho/snagged big goby Hot Lure:dream weaver SS water melon Trolling Speed: 2.2/2.5 Down Speed: 2.2 Boat Depth: 9 to 22 fow Lure Depth: 5/10/14/17 ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS The morning started out very nice with light winds and light rain.Once we hit the Genny plume going west in front of the river, the screen lit up with lots of bait and lots of big fish between 8 and 20 fow.We threw stick baits at them from the planers and dream weavers from the down riggers.We started out with greens but later we changed over to reds.The red worked a bit better and in quick succession we had three hits.First a big fat snagged gobi and a bit later a nice Coho.The one that got away felt like another Coho. Today there were no diving birds and most of the bait was fairly deep down. Around 11.00 the wind picked up so we decided to go back to Ibay and got ourselves a good soaking from the waves coming in sideways. Having the new X4 speed and temperature probe is a mixed blessing. On the one hand it is a kick to have all that extra information, but at the same time I find myself worrying all the time about $250 hanging from a thin piece of wire...I'll have to get used to it ====================

I have had 10 colors out at 1.2 mph and hitting ground at 90 feet down,but this was trolling live bait .

That is what happens when the winter is too short or not cold enough.More of them survive, even in the north country

Thank you Ray, From your mouth to God's ears...

The prices of X4 Fish Hawks are coming down. I just bought one for $549 online from a guy in Illinois Seeing the serial #1953 made me realize how few of them are out there. It is good to know that there is some competition on the market. There are more gadgets on my boat now than I ever thought I would own.Now if it would only help me to catch some fish......

Somehow I do not think that you would have picked that up if you had ever seen napalm or phosphor rounds in action.

Most of my fishing has been either leadcore in the finger lakes,or Deep Sea out of Gloucester. For the leadcore my preference is the Daiwa 57 LC which easily takes 18 colors, but for anything bigger than lake trout there is at least in my mind the Penn 330 GTI levelwind and for the copper and stainless The Penn Senators 112 and 113. A meat pole really should have nothing less than a Senator.

That is exactly how I catch them in front of the college in the Eastern arm of the Y. Gander Mountain also sells the 200 yard spools.

I often use live shad in the 4 to 6 inch range in the Finger Lakes.I buy them at the "Beverage Baron" in Penn Yan. The way I rig them is very simple.I set a small single hook through the lower and upper jaw. This one tows the bait.The second hook (a treble)goes right behind the tail fin.It does not penetrate the bait fish,instead it is held in place by a rubber band that holds the line.The band is placed just ahead of the tail fin. Now the hooks are placed so the fish will get hooked in the same way it gets hooked by a lure and there is no hook swallowing like you would have with hooks that are buried in meat or cut bait.

Before you do any cutting,you should check very carefully whether there any nuts bolts or staples that hold the sides in place (probably under the cover carpeting). I think that you should be able to take this thing apart without having to cut it up.

Not exactly on top. Here is a website which very precisely describes how to attach the kicker bracket to the transom. In my case as in yours the #10 picture shows very clearly what it looks like. The website will show you step by step how to install the bracket for your kicker. http://www.garelick.com/files/12.185.pdf Getting inside those walls is simple.you should be able to get to them from inside the boat from the side of the tank.If you have plastic fuel tanks,just pull them over to the side. Hope this helps.

This steelhead stuff is very good news. Thanks.

My 1984 Sylvan has a very similar transom. The way I solved the problem was by using a Garelick transom bracket installed on the higher left side.(The left side because the remote cables of the kicker come out the kicker's right side).The kicker ended up about 12 inches away from the transom when lowered.I had to use a long shaft because the movement of the waves will often lift the lower unit out of the waves.With a long shaft that problem is solved. Steering should be done using an EZ steering bracket The result of my kicker experiment is that I now have what is probably the only long shaft remote controlled 1964 9.5 horse Evinrude on this side of the Mississippi.

Don't forget the Champagne bottle when you name your boat. May she bring you fish,happiness and joy.

Bruce is right. To read about it is nice but going out with with a guy like Bruce, will teach you a great deal more. I went out on his charter and I had a blast.

Fishing Report Your Name / Boat Name: ============== TRIP OVERVIEW ============== Date(s):4/4 Time on Water:08.00-11.30 Weather/Temp:nice,high sixties Wind Speed/Direction:very light winds Waves: less than a foot Surface Temp:40/41 Location:Ship Builders LAT/LONG (GPS Cords): =============== FISHING RESULTS =============== Total Hits: 5 Total Boated:3 Species Breakdown:browns Hot Lure: rapala 9/orange dream weaver super slim Trolling Speed: 1.8 Down Speed: Boat Depth: 12/35 feet Lure Depth: ==================== SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS It was a very nice day to try out my new home built planer boards and tower. the fish were stacked around the creek outlet between 12 and 20 feet. So all I did was experiment with the new boards.This time using lead core. The first hit came at 25 feet outside of the bay outlet on a dreamweaver .It taught me that six pound test leader is not strong enough for what is out there.The second hit was in the same area on the other line within a minute of the first one with the same result. I feel bad about fish with lures hanging out of their mouth because of my poor decisions. Out at ship builders I had changed everything over to 17 pound test and, after going back and forth, three decent but by no means big browns were caught and released. All in all a very pleasant morning in T shirt weather on the lake. It seems that the water level is about 2 feet lower than it was last year at this time. ====================

This new law has nothing to do with drunken summer boaters. It is in our own interest because it enables us to survive in very cold water for better than 2 hours,while without a PFD your chances of surviving in very cold water for better than 15 minutes are slim. It may sound strange,but this law is good for you.