Fishing Forum

My son and I took the grand kids on my new to me boat up to E C yesterday.
The plan was to learn all the bells ans whistles on the boat and to try to bring home some trout for the smoker.
Good plan I guess.
We used down riggers and fished several different patterns.
We boated 4 nice Bows with 2 of then in the 16" to 17" range. Some soars [ringworm] on two of the fish. We lost twice as many as we let the kids bring in most of the fish.
Dodgers with squids was bets with a Brown Trout Rapala coming in second.

Now for the question. The boat came from Arizona.
It has a 115 horse Merc on it. The prop pitch is 17 and it felt like it could use a bit more thrust. Would I be correct in trying a 15 at EC elevations and higher?
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How many RPMs were you getting ?? Check you owner's manual or the manufacturer's specs to find out the RPM range, then find a prop that gives you max RPMs. there is a power range for your motor and you need to keep your RPMs in that range !!

I didn't watch for that. I will look next trip, Thanks.
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DK, I had a 17 foot Lund with a 115 HP Merc. When I first bought it had a 21 pitch prop and all it did was nose up and wallow and red line on my RPM (5500) The dealer changed it to a 19 pitch, and that helped at the lower elevation lakes, but would still not come up on plane at EC or Rockport. Then the dealer changed it again to a 17 pitch, and it worked very well. Have to keep the weight in the boat distributed a bit more toward the bow, and once the RPM's are up, trim out the motor til it planes where you want it. I think 17 pitch is right, depending on how big or heavy the boat is.
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