Fishing Forum

After much anticipation, today was the day that Wanda and I launched the new boat for its trial run. It went almost without a hitch. I had to call on EricM whom we ran into up at the nuke plant to assist us with the trolling motor a little bit. He tried to help us with the butt seat, but neither one of us could get that adjusted down. So, I just ran the trolling motor from the back with the I-Pilot. That is nice. Works great in open water, but it isn't going to work for dock shooting, I have already made that determination. <br /><br />We ran the boat much more than we fished as the boat had been sitting for about 4.5 months or longer. It started instantly, idled smooth as a happy kitten, and ran just fine. I ran it about 4400 rpms most of the time. That translates into 24 to 25 mph with 2 people and a full tank of gasoline. <br /><br />We did stop to fish 3 deep places and caught a few fish at each place. This was more to try out the stop lock on the Minn Kota Terrova with I-Pilot. Wanda caught the biggest crappie (13.5) and she was hoping so much that it was a TARP, but was 1/2 inch shy. We each caught 5 crappie, but I caught the smallest fish. I told her that it took great skill to catch a crappie that little. emoBig <br /><br />We fished one dock briefly to see how the I-Pilot worked on docks and I caught one fish there, but found out that the spot lock (anchor) on this isn't conducive to good dock shooting. I will have to run the TM in manual when I fish docks. <br /><br />We stayed out long enough to burn 1/4 tank of gasoline and the distances that we covered is very satisfying to me. Thanks, Norman (Labman) for selling me such a fine boat that has lots of experience. You can ride or drive with me anytime that you wish. We love you, Brother. I can't think of a single thing that I need for the boat other than to learn how to operate everything smoothly without having to think very much. emoBig emoGeezer<br /><br />We saw 6 deer at the entrance to the boat launch.