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Posts: 612
| Hi just curious. I fish with a 14.5' runabout with a basic trolling motor and fish finder. It's powered by a 20 HP Honda. Simple yet I've pulled some big fish out of the water in this boat. Sure it's not the best in high waves, etc but for my finances it works fine. Anyone else fish from such a humble craft?
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Posts: 163
| I'm sure there are some fisherman that would look at your boat with envy! I fish with a 17.5 ft Bass Tracker, basic fish finder, and a terrova 80 for a trolling motor. I consider my boat an economical fishing rig. With only a 50 hp outboard its not so hard on the wallet. But I feel pretty small an dinky among the general crowd!  |
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Posts: 797
Location: North Central IL USA | Did that for many years. Rented 14 or 16 foot boats. Slapped on my 9.9 merc. Loaded up all the other gear and away I went. Big PITA to be honest. No more! Got a Skeeter MX 1825 loaded to the gills! |
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Posts: 247
Location: Grand Marais, MN | I am and will be for the rest of my life. I fish a lot out of canoes and kayaks and 14' aluminums with 8 horse yamahas. Caught plenty of fish this way and enjoy it, and having been in full time university for the last 6 years that's all I can afford anyway. |
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Posts: 441
| It's not the boat, it's the fisherman in it!
Just like it's not the gun, it's the person using it!
Fished a lot of tournaments in a 14 foot tin boat, with a lot of " Ranger guys" cutting me off, and laughing at me, until the weigh-ins! |
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Posts: 20281
Location: oswego, il | My small boat is a 142 prince craft with a 25hp Johnson. It does have a floor and a deck. She has seen around 750 muskies in the net. I still use it alot, prefer it when alone. |
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Posts: 786
| 16ft. Crestliner Angler sc, 50hp. Merc 4 stroke, luv the boat. I fish smaller lakes so it works for me. I get boat envy often, watching high priced rigs going by at 60-70 mph, but then I remind myself that the boat DOES NOT make the fisherman. kDAWG |
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Posts: 1209
| If it's any consolation I bought an expensive rig and has only been a jinx this year.
Edited by Fishysam 7/16/2016 5:47 PM
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| What's "basic" is relative...
I have 16-ft Tracker deep-v; not exactly a high-end boat. Once I politely asked a guy who had parked his rowboat fishing 2-ft from shore and 2-ft from the one-ramp dock, if he could move a little so I could pull my boat out. I ended up listening to him *itching about us "rich *astards" in our expensive fancy boats acting like we owned the lake. It was all I could do to keep from laughing at him about my expensive fancy boat. To him, it WAS fancy. Things can always be worse; be thankful for what you have. |
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Posts: 243
Location: South Central Wisconsin | I think the same can be said as far as tackle and other equipment as well. New reels that crank in double 10's with ease, $90 cranks, $30 bucktails, ect.... This generation has been spoiled with products to make musky fishing easier. Some of the old farts on here, myself included, remember how chasing skis used to be. Some of us, haven't changed much, nor ever will.... As far as boats, I like the shiny ones... |
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Posts: 1660
Location: central Wisconsin | ToddM - 7/16/2016 2:36 PM
My small boat is a 142 prince craft with a 25hp Johnson. It does have a floor and a deck. She has seen around 750 muskies in the net. I still use it alot, prefer it when alone.
^^^^^^^ Me too, minus the big number. |
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Posts: 4269
Location: Ashland WI | Jeff78 - 7/16/2016 6:55 PM
ToddM - 7/16/2016 2:36 PM
My small boat is a 142 prince craft with a 25hp Johnson. It does have a floor and a deck. She has seen around 750 muskies in the net. I still use it alot, prefer it when alone.
^^^^^^^ Me too, minus the big number.
Ur running a 5 horse??? |
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Posts: 88
| 16 foot old smoker craft with a 30hp evinrude 2 stroke, 55lb trolling motor and we still manage to catch quite a few fish each year |
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Posts: 1638
Location: Minnesota | Basic is a relative word . I'm not married have no kids. I have a small house built in 52 nothing fancy. I fish in a skeeter boat it's no Ranger but it's what I can afford. I fish when I can hut when I can work the rest of the time |
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Posts: 35
| 15 smokercraft 40hp,55# power drive. It floats and can fit the family for a boat ride here and there. It's my first boat...but not my last |
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Posts: 1168
| A good friend has a 30 year old Ranger tiller with the carpeting rotted out. His GPS is lining up landmarks on shore. He rarely puts his trolling motor in the water opting to simply drift with the wind. Has some newer reels but ends up using a 25 year old Penn saltwater reel quite often and throws baits that he acquired in the 60's and 70's. He does very, very well.
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Posts: 2332
Location: SE, WI. | BUcknuts has it right. NOt the boat that catches fish. REmember back in the day when I fished league night bass out of a 14' smokercraft. Came in with 4-5 lb largies for about 4 weeks straight at the scales...and the next 4 weeks, had high powered Rangers, tuffy's ,skeeters, champions and such,,,, they had to go slow to follow me where I was fishing...too funny;)
FIsh out of what u can afford, and enjoy the ride!!!
JD |
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Posts: 1405
Location: Detroit River | I fish out of an '86 Sea Nymph FM145 (14' 5") with a 25 HP Merc tiller & I fish on LSC, SCR & the DR. & have put several musky in the 50's as well as lake sturgeon pushing 70". I'd love to have a nice glass boat but with the wife's medical bills & kids in private school I doubt I'll ever get a bigger boat. I'll probably need to get rid of my boat in a few years because my old body can't take getting beat up much longer unless I quit musky fishing & take up bluegill fishing on the small inland lakes.
Hell yesterday I made a 10 mile run offshore on LSC & no sooner did I get to the area I wanted to fish the wind picked up & it got rough. Took a few waves over the bow, Thankfully the wind calmed down but the weather man was way off in his wind forecast. |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | I thought having a '94 Ranger was roughing it! |
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Posts: 229
Location: Tinley Park, IL | I learned how to fish in a 14' rowboat, 9.9 outboard, with a front casting platform, and a 17 lb thrust trolling motor. Caught a lot of fish out of that boat. I like my 19' fiberglass boat a lot more. |
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Posts: 253
Location: On the water | 14.5 Northwoods, 25hp Mercury, 55# power drive, has floor, deck, swivel seats.
I can move it around with ease by hand. Top end around 25 mph on calm water.
Perfect for two people on small lakes. |
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Posts: 1425
Location: St. Lawrence River | My rig is basic. 16.5' Lund tiller with a 25hp Merc. Basic electronics(for now) and a 55lb bow mount.. its very deep though and over 81" wide. It's a blast to fish out of. |
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Posts: 393
| 87 16' sylvan. Gets the job done but I can't claim nearly as many muskies in the net as many of you. Not going to lie, I want bigger. I'm relatively close to Mille Lacs but can only fish it if the wind is less than 5 or 10 mph. 10 is when I'm feeling cocky, but boy do I feel small when I'm a mile or more from shore. I had motor issues a few miles from the access a couple years back so I get butterflies every time I turn the key out there still. |
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Posts: 400
Location: Metro | I have a little 14 footer that I used my whole life (24 now) until I recently picked up a 98 skeeter fish and ski this past year. I still use that little boat a lot. I love it when I am by myself and looking to hit smaller lakes. The issue I found was (1) it doesn't have a floor (2) I get blown really hard in any direction and its hard to correct my boat position when using a tiller trolling motor. (3) the boat makes a lot of noise when I go into my figure 8.
I still put many many hours in that boat before starting to musky fish. Worked great and I can still rely on it if I need to. Its also great when I want to go to a lake that has a not so good access. If I really wanted too me and a buddy could lift it to the water. |
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Posts: 705
Location: Alex or Alek? | Got my first rig this year! 14' duck boat that was sitting out back at my old mans place, 6.5 motor(not sure of the brand it was spray painted camo many years ago) with a free trolling motor (bow mount) from a friend that is probably as old as I am (25). Oh and I almost forgot, the good ole trusty FL-8 vexliar hanging over the side!! Haven't landed one in it this year but it gets me and the dog out on the water.
Edited by MOJOcandy101 7/18/2016 4:02 PM
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Posts: 1000
| NPike - 7/16/2016 11:52 AM
Hi just curious. I fish with a 14.5' runabout with a basic trolling motor and fish finder. It's powered by a 20 HP Honda. Simple yet I've pulled some big fish out of the water in this boat. Sure it's not the best in high waves, etc but for my finances it works fine. Anyone else fish from such a humble craft?
a 14' w/ a 20hp tiller is the rig of envy for those fishing the canadian shield lakes near the bwca. even the 18' aluminums drool over those rigs up there |
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Posts: 34
Location: Illinois | I have a 1983 Tuffy Marauder that I bought at an auction and remodeled. I have a 50hp mercury tiller, minn kota 65lbs thrust foot controlled power drive that I bought from a guy who took it off his pontoon (I can fish from anywhere in the boat since the controller cable is long from being off a pontoon). I have a Lowrance elite 5ti depth finder. I also have a 14' flat bottom john boat for small lakes around here that only allow trolling motors. |
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Posts: 1763
Location: Mt. Zion, IL | I have a 99 Alumacraft Lunker 165 Mag Tiller and a 25 hp 2 stroke Johnson motor. Dad and I spend a lot of days spoonplugging and relying on our shoreline "gps" as listed above. Just recently we both upgraded to HDS units and networked the two. I pulled the trigger on an 80 lb terrova so we could take it to LOTW and not get blown off the water from not having enough thrust.
Dad has a Lund 1625 Classic with a 25 hp Suzi 4 stroke. It is basically the same boat as mine but with a rear casting deck and a LOT nicer trailer. |
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Posts: 55
| I have a 20 center console that I run on the larger lakes and I kept my 1976 14' Lund fisherman that I rejuvenated which I find I use way more than the bigger boat even on some of the larger lakes. I like the way I can work into the tighter areas with the 14 fotter and not have to spend as much on gas. It has a 1976 25hp tiller Johnson and a transom mount 40lb trolling motor. It is also way easier to launch and retrieve by myself especially in the wind. |
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Posts: 5874
| jdsplasher - 7/16/2016 10:43 PM
BUcknuts has it right. NOt the boat that catches fish. REmember back in the day when I fished league night bass out of a 14' smokercraft. Came in with 4-5 lb largies for about 4 weeks straight at the scales...and the next 4 weeks, had high powered Rangers, tuffy's ,skeeters, champions and such,,,, they had to go slow to follow me where I was fishing...too funny;)
FIsh out of what u can afford, and enjoy the ride!!!
JD
Now I know who's Smokercraft was following me in my high powered 25HP 15' Tuffy Walleye Rampage that year! HA! |
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Posts: 105
Location: Jane Lew, WV | I've a '95 14' Sea Nymph with a 9.9 Merc and a 40# thrust. It gets the job done for what I fish, may take me a bit longer to get there but I get there and that's what counts I reckon. |
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Posts: 167
Location: Tomahawk, WI | Ive seen the big rigs put to shame over and over with guys fishing out of basic or economy boats. Its all about the fisherman!!! |
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Posts: 1283
| Fished out of 12-14ft tin boats for most of my life. Current boat is a 95 17ft Nitro with a 60 merc 2smoke, 55# Terrova and a Elite 5 on the console and a Helix 5 on the bow. Its a cool boat and runs mid 30s on a avg day. This is nothing like the bass boats of today but it gets the job done and I love it. |
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any basic fisherman left?