Quinte Fishing

Hey Biff, just wondering how your first season has gone so far with the new rig and how you like it? I followed your other post with the gunnel flex issues from the downriggers but sounded like you got that sorted out which is good. Anyways I was just curious if you were happy with your boat/motor purchase and all the accessories you went with.

hay Ginner, Boat and motor were great this year. i still have it outside, but its been to windy to get out fishing. I really put it through its paces this year, mostly out in the big lake on some pretty dicey days. It stayed alot drier than my ranger reatta was. The 2 issues i had were the motor weight on the transom which i had no problem with the 200 HO and 15 HO kicker. A tiny bit of listing to one side, but barely noticable. That 15 HO is a beast! but the 200 HO has some serious power behind it, the boat gets on plane in seconds.

The gunwale flex was another whole issue, but solved with the berts downrigger bar on cisco rails. nice clean install, easy to take on / off and 0 flex... but a bit pricey.

All-in-all really happy with things. Took a bit of getting used to the networked HDS-12 / HDS-9, i prefer the separate chips in each and non networked to be honest, but it works great. The ulterra 80# is also a great option, i hate getting up and down to pull the TM out... lazy

I had some minor issues with my mag 10's blowing fuses, but fixed that with 2 circuit breakers instead of fuses.

other than that, i am looking at a bigger pro V now

right on, glad to hear it. I think every angler gets the itch for a bigger boat every year. I now I do!

I like the Yamaha SHO idea. That's what I'd be doing today. Great performer and historically a very reliable brand. They're black now too which is nice...my F250 is that weird blue grey that doesn't seem to match my boat very well. But quite reliable.

I didnt mind the SHO's and was pretty close to getting those opposed to the evinrudes. I am not brand specific other than not much of a Merc guy due too some bad history with them. It came down to the ease of winterizing both kicker and main in my driveway opposed to driving the boat into the shop for winterization that did it for me. I have both motors winterized in 10 mins and have really never had issues with evinrudes on 2 other boats i have owned, so didn't have any reason to switch. Price is was a bit higher for the Evinrudes, but awesome motors

what would be the harder part about winterizing the 4 stroke? I'm doing mine this year. Seems reasonably straightforward but happy to learn if I am making a mistake

check out the new mercury line lightest and fastest on the water!!!!!!