FishingFool34

My first two years doing this I ran two riggers and two dipsey divers and that was all. Caught a good amount of fish with that simple spread, since then I have added sliders, leadcore, weighted steel and planer boards to my spread. Get comfortable running riggers and divers, they are the backbone of every spread imo. Next easiest thing to add are free sliders to your downriggers. You don't need to have 12 rods out to catch fish, get a solid core spread you're comfortable with and focus on the basics of speed and temp and you will catch fish. Map cards are nice but it depends on what part of the lake you're fishing. If you're over here on the East end, there isn't much to see on maps you're just looking for depth and temp which can be done with out a map card. If you're out West there is more structure there and map card could be more beneficial.

2.2-2.4 has been working well for us recently.

You could PM "Fat Trout" he just switched to a Fishmaster 196 from a Starweld pro 20 if I remember right.

Hmm... we were out today too. Killed them in front of the plant. Ended up 19/20 3 kings the rest browns and they were big! Over half browns caught were over 10lbs biggest was 17lbs. We had a triple with 2 browns and a king as one point... don’t ask me how but we landed all 3. Had 7 rods out and they all took fish at one point. Best day I’ve ever had on lake O

If you end up buying new, check out northwoodsoutlet.com. They have the best prices on the X4 and X4d.

That's the new Garmin Reactor kicker AP, look into the previous model which is the TR-1 Gold. That one had a much larger compatibility list than the new reactor system. You can still find the TR-1 Gold systems new if you search around. Being a carb model would likely only impact the throttle control portion, which is a separate p/n on the TR-1 gold system and not even required to make the system work.

How old is your kicker? I have PA steering and use and EZ steer to my kicker with no problems? Also you could look into an autopilot for the main engine. Sitex makes a pretty simple AP setup that works with PA steering.

9.9hp will be fine on that boat, but a 15hp won't hurt either. Your more important choice is shaft length, at minimum you want a long shaft (20") but depending on how/where you plan to mount it you may want the XL shaft (25"). I honestly can't believe anyone trolls without a kicker personally, the fuel savings combined with less hours on the main engine. It's a no brainer decision imo.

I got out Sat picked up 5 in 8hrs of fishing. Started fishing shallow (8 fow) and slowly worked out deeper as shallow wasn't producing. Best was 25 fow where we got 3, got another in 30 fow and last one came in 12 fow. They were all decent size, smallest being 5lbs and biggest coming in at 11lbs. We fished all the way from Mexico launch to the plant and back. My buddy was out yesterday did same thing and picked up one... been pretty slow in Mexico from ppl I have talked to.

It is normal to wire a kicker to a battery if it has electric start or an alternator. I think most of the time kickers are wired to the house battery so it can recharge the main battery your accessories run on while trolling. Both batteries will drain with the switch on BOTH because you have essentially connected the two batteries into one large battery with the switch on this setting. Are you sure it is your kicker draining your batteries and not something else? Its possible that your alternator is bad on the kicker and it is not charging your batteries while running and your accessories are actually draining the batteries.

Pairing with your FF isn't 100% necessary to do what you want to do. I would look into a Minnkota Terrova with iPilot, preferably a 24v with a 60" shaft. Those are minimum requirements for a 18ft boat but you can go bigger/better if you want to spend the money (Ulterra 36v/72"). Talk to Yankee he will get you setup right.