sherman brown

not only the oil but it helps keep the batteries charged if running riggers and electronics.

yes, you can use it because in my older motors I just used auto gear oil for years. but I wouldn't use it now except in an emergency. outboard oil has cleaners and anti-foam additive in it auto oils don't have. which means better contact with moving parts. but you can use it in a pinch but i would plan on changing it back to lower unit oil by the end of the season.

yeah, i tried 15# test on Erie's central basin a few yrs ago when large fish was the norm. the 1st day out we had 3 break offs. when we went in i went to Karren's shop in Geneva Ohio and bought seaguar premier leader in 20# just to be safe. and the breaks stopped and after yrs. of using it I haven't lost a fish because the leader broke. i have even had hooks (bad batch of hooks) on harnesses break and have the line on harnesses break after long use of them.

as said by the others after thinking about snubbers for kings a guess with the much bigger hooks and their mouth being so much tougher than walleye there would be no need for snubbers. but i would still use a leader that wasn't as strong as the main line but i think their is just no reason to drop all the way to 20#. the seaguar premier fluro is much smaller than most if not all; other flouro leaders. i use 20# and the diameter is the same as 15#. so you can use 30# and probably be close to 20# diameter line. and with this new formula of fluro has the best knot strength on the market.

if all else fails and you decide to do a repair on your own you can get a thin sheet of fiberglass to work as a patch. you can do a Bing or google search online for fiberglass sheeting and get a piece a little larger than the bad spot. then just get enough resin to do the job. mix up enough to do the job. just don't add to much hardener or it may start setting up too soon. after the area has been cleaned very good mix your resin and hardener then take a paint brush and coat the floor going out at least a couple of inches past the patch area. then place the patch on and take the brush and apply a thick coating on top going out past the patch. your best bet would probably be a 1/8" and 24x24 piece to do the job. another way I have patched a boat was to cut up into small pieces of the cloth in my resin. then just use sheets of cheese cloth to cover the area plus about 4" or 5" past the soft area. I used 2 pieces of cheese cloth cut to size. then I would mix my resin with the small pieces of cut up cheese cloth then add the hardener and mix everything up together. I would then coat the area with resin then apply the first sheet of cheese cloth then coat the top of it letting the resin soak in the apply the second piece and coat it good with the resin going out a few inches past the edges of the cloth on every coating. and if it would make you feel better you can always add more cheese cloth layers. give it 24 hrs to set up then you can just use one of the cheap hand sanders that can usually find at pawn shops for less money. never give the asking price but ask them what is the least they would tale. now get you some paper or cloth masks and sand off the rough places. it's best to do the sanding outside so it's well ventilated

I use snubbers for walleye with braid and with the way kings act if I was still fishing for kings, I wouldn't fish without them. and I would use 40# premier seaguar Fluro leader for the line going to the lure.

yes, if you want to troll with the 4.3 it should be good. how slow will the boat go while idling? you say you have an inboard. but is it a true inboard with shaft drive or is it an i/0 which uses an outdrive? i trolled for many yrs. with a MerCruiser 350 Vortech with 315 hp. on calm days with the motor idled down to 600 rpms we didn't need to use our bags. but if you can't get it to slow enough people have been using bags forever it seems. if you have the right size bags you should need to bump it up just a little to get up to trolling speeds. my suggestion is to contact omishoutfitters.com and give them all the info on speed now and speeds you want with motor size and boat being used and they will give you recommendations on size bags you need. and like said above trolling bags and drift bags are much different bags. trolling bags will stand up much better and longer than drift bags. plus, trolling bags are made to tie off the rear of the bag giving you much better boat control while trolling. most drift bags are made much lighter and may tear if using them for trolling. also, all the drift bags I've seen didn't have a way to tie the bags off at the back. but a kicker is by far a better option for trolling. if it's a 4 stroke you will save a small fortune on gas, you have much better throttle speeds. what we have on our boat now is a 9.9 bigfoot 4 stroke without tilt and trim. but we got a good used panther tilt and trim unit that I got off face book marketplace. it also has panther spacers which moves the motor a little farther out from the boat for tilting up. these lifts come in two sizes one is a model 35 which mill lift 135# and the other is a model 55 which lifts up to 155# i believe. i have the 35. plus, another big advantage of a kicker is you can use it to get back to the dock if your big motor breaks down like ours did a few weeks ago on Erie.

I started with the dipsy, but the rings kept coming off and was a pain. then came the deeper diver with no rings and the same size as the dipsy and I switched. but later I read about the lite bite slide diver and loved the way the lite bite arm could be set loose to release even if the front release was set a little tight. so, I switched again, and it was the best decision a have made regarding walleye fishing. now I very seldom drag even a small white perch around. but I don't use the slide part but use an o ring and tie a short piece of heavy braid about 10" long to the o ring and lace the line through the little block in front of the lite bite arm then put it in the lite bite arm. and tie it to my snubber then use a 6' or 7' 20# Fluro leader and add my lure on it. if i were getting divers other than the lite bites it would be the deeper divers from fishusa.com hands down.

the Coldwater is supposed to be a couple of steps above the madga reels. I bought 4 new 203 reels and one of them was Doa. I bought them last fall but didn't set them up until July. we use them for walleye on Erie. the other 3 worked flawlessly for us. but only time on the water will tell the story. the convector is another good reel from Okuma. but you can get the daiwa sealine 27lc3b or 47lc3b reels for not much more money. and they have been tested as an old lca that has been upgraded to the lc3b. I used the old lca for many yrs. and got great service from them. daiwa has a couple of line counter reels that's around 200.00. it's just like picking your own poison.

google it and see what is available.

I had 3 yr old ethanol gas in my boat and didn't want to try it on Erie. I went to Lowes and bought clear plastic line and bought a cheap electric fuel pump off eBay. then i pumped as much fuel out as i could. filled it up with new gas and thought i was good. but got to Erie and took off. on the way out it was running good then it would take short spells of missing badly. after the 4th tank it ran like it always has. just pump it out and get new gas and add as much gas dry for the gas you have.

you can still gut and gill the fish.

I guess the best way would be to tilt the motor all the way up or at least high enough that it won't hit the ground and then attach a good transom saver and lower motor tight against it. but that's the right way. but i have been boating for about 45 yrs. now and never used one yet. but I have a brand new one i bought for my last boat and never used it. but I may use it with the boat I just bought if it will work on it. I just tilt them up and put the travel blocks in place and lower the motor down tight. on some of my older boats that didn't have power trim I used a 2x4 under the motor.

I used manual riggers for about 30+ yrs. then i was on eBay and had a little money. but 2 sellers of big jon was having a price war and I got 2 of the tournament models with auto stop. but with the 13# weights the auto stops didn't last long. rather than fighting getting then working i just do it by hand for 500.00. then they went back up some. so, I contacted one of them and got 2 more for 525.00. but I sold them and just use 2. i use the 12# pancake weights now. but this last week i used what i think was only 8# fish weights and they didn't blow back much farther than the heavier pancake weights. after i switched to electric i kicked my behind for not trying them sooner. if you keep your eyes open you can find a pair of good electrics for 500.00 or less.