We had a few weeks of outstanding local fall fishing this year. My dad and I drove 5 hours for mediocre fishing in early October. We came back and had much better results 7 minutes from my house. I was only fishing a couple hours at a time and found lots of rainbows from 14 to 20" every trip.
Nice fish! The big one is a real fattie. Does the dog usually back the trailer in for you? Sure hope he doesn't suddenly see a squirrel while backing!
That T1oo is a beauty blacktail. You don’t see them much around here anymore due to corrosion from all the road salt.
View attachment 372169 View attachment 372169 No idea where some of these photos loaded from? Funny In the Keys boating and fishing… And roasting Can't edit correctly? Anyway you see Yellowtail, Porgie, Black fin Tuna, Grouper. The netting at night pic is for shimp.
Correct. Quick pic and released. Punch mark in the Mangroves was made by a 25’ CC just ahead of us. Looked to be 3 lengths in! Ouch. Nobody was injured. Somehow? Pic of a Jack caught off Islamarada on the Humps at 300 foot. 2 pics fore and aft of putting through a shallow channel near Snake Creek. We ran aground shortly after flipping for Mahi next to the grass. Cuban coffee that will light you up.
That’s why there are 2! do you have many problems? My buddy has the same motor on his 23’ cuddy other than the bottom fuel injector getting clogged with junk it’s been flawless.
They are really good motors. Occasional sensor issues. Both lower ends replaced 2 years ago due to saltwater corrosion issues. Had the port motor external trim switch corrode/fail last week while we were 13 miles offshore doing a drift with the motors off. Suddenly both motors trimmed up completely and would not respond to the controls Thankfully it was an unusually calm day. Gymnastics/yoga at sea is real when you're hanging off the arse end of the boat pulling covers off the motors to unplug the remote trim switch! This boat gets used daily for 4 months a year in saltwater. Fishing all day. Touring guests/friends/family in the late afternoon for dinner and sunset tours. Lobstering/shrimping at night. Honestly, I don't know how many hrs. they have now. Plenty. This boat is getting retired from saltwater use in a few months. Its retirement life will be on Lake Superior. It's getting a well-deserved freshwater life extension.
Anybody here have outboard jet experience? Really getting the itch to put together a Jon with an outboard jet. Looking at getting a 14,16 or 18 footer and open to suggestion on the power unit. This will be a shallow water beater boat with a good motor. No more prop/lower unit issues thank you!!! Please advise if you have an opinion. Thanks
Not sure what you’re specifically looking for, here’s what’s common here. Cheap end $30k and 100k+ on the big end. The Merc 80hp jet is incredible, it was designed ap a jet vs putting a jet foot on a prop motor. Honda is a great prop motor, the way they come on power when it a jet foot takes longer to plane. In no particular order you want a Merc, Yamaha or Suzuki. These are the 3 used here, you will see 75-100 of one of these to every single Honda. Usually the Hondas are more of a prop boat that they got a jet to give some options. If you need a jet make sure your Jon is welded not a rivet boat, Alweld is probably 30-45 :1 . What are the temps you’re going to be fishing in? A full windshield-right hand steer is by far the most popular for our weather. As usable as an open deck center console is, if you have much travel the windshield wins. Having a soft convertible top is hard to beat and extents season spring and fall a bunch. If you get one of those diesel heaters Amazon.com : diesel heater it’s year round if the water stays liquid in your area. YouTube has lost of examples in boats.
Thanks for adding some dialog. My season will be from ice out to freeze up. 2 additional fisherman (max) with me operating. One fore and one aft. Mostly flyfishing. The real reason I want to put this rig together is that I've pre-fished a couple of these rivers a few times in the last couple years (drift boat and raft) and there is virtually zero fishing pressure. The access is extremely limited, and the drift boat/raft option is agonizingly slow between put ins and take outs. Really looking to cover much more territory in a nutshell. Anywho. My first stab at this is likely to not resemble your local boats closely. This is going to be closer to a shade tree mechanic project! I am leaning strongly towards a center console in a 14-16 foot flat jon boat with a Merc 60/40 (or smaller) or something similiar. I have a Merc dealer a half mile from my place. Suzuki would be fine with me also. Yamaha is a outlier for no particular reason as I've had zero issues. Still in the research mode but hoping to get something rolling soon.
Picked up this starcraft yesterday from a friend who needed it gone for cheap. We sold our 20' CC a few years ago and bought a camper but we're starting to miss being on the water. This is 99' starfire 160 with a 50 merc 2 stroke and 9.9 kicker. The previous owner (before my friend) went crazy with 5200 all over the transom and parts of the hull so I'm assuming it may have some leaks and possibly a rotted transom. The transom still sounds solid but I'll know when I pull a few pieces of the 5200 off to see what he was trying to cover up. Both motors run but the 50 keeps flooding so I'm assuming one or all the carbs have some issues from sitting. I plan on selling the 9.9 which should get me back about half of what I paid for the boat. I'll give the hull a good go over and determine if I'm just going to pull the 50 and find another hull. Either way the kids are excited and I've got another project on my hands .
