meangreencj7

spending overtime, cheak out the polarkrafts also, very comparable to tracker as far as price but better quality. 

I have had trackers, starcrafts, grummans, a boston whaler, and polarkrafts. If you are looking at new and don't want to break the bank, look at the polarkrafts, I got one and for the same comparable models of starcraft, lund, and crestliner I got a slightly longer and wide boat with a yamaha 4 stroke motor for 5-10 grand less. I have had it now for three years I fish perch, walleye, salmon, and bass out of it, tow the kids on the tube and skis. and have had no problems. best boat I have owned.

walleyes do taste better.

I use my downriggers in onida lake fishing for walleye in 15ft of water, I use stick baits that only dive 5 ft so I put the downrigger at 7 ft to get 12ft and I usally catch my limit. I also use blacks releases. 

it dose affects launching your boat , I was down in niagria for the loc. and every dock at most of the launches are at least a foot underwater. some are closed all along the ontario shore line.

It also depends on what type of fishing you are doing, salmon really aren't affected, but bass are (last year conesus was 5ft low), I wouldn't think that walleyes are affected.

I live in Spencerport, glad to see another person from Rochester on the board. Welcome.

my dad fishes pa and ohio all the time with harnesses, plugs and spoons. everything has a time and a place, I fish ny with all three depending on the time of year and what they are hitting at that time. 

I used to do it is a 13ft tri hull, just pick your days like eveyone else said, (my 13ft tri hull was safer than my 18ft boat I have now, can't fill it to the top with water and have it float, but my 13ft boston whaler would.)

I have a minn kota ulterra that has i pilot and what I do it turn my motor on and set up the auto pilot but I leave the motor off (0 power), when I hook up with a fish I put my trolling motor(main motor) to idle and turn the motor in the front to 8 power and set the direction, when I get the fish in and the rods reset. I shut the trolling motor off and reset my main motor to it trolling speed. I tried to run it where it was running all the time but it ran out of power 3 hours in. During the loc I will fish up to 10 hours at a time. and doing my way you can do it for 20+ hours without having to charge it. I works great up to 3 foot waves, then as long as you are not going directly into them you are still good (may need to turn up the power to 10) also do not use the advanced auto pilot, use the standard one. 

I had the same problem this winter in deciding on a temp probe, but with the fact that the smart troll was $$$$ and the fish hawk has been around a long time I went with the fish hawk. I don't like the idea of having a expensive proble on my line I would rather have it on my downrigger cable that is more reliable. I also found a deal for them at Northwoods Wholesale Outlet Inc. but it dose not look like they carry them anymore. 

plasti dip in spray can form, works great.

you should be fine using the feathering. just start small and work you way out, make sure you get a self ecching primer or it will just peel off after a year or so.

anything is better than what you have now. You can also have them make up a can of regular paint and one can that is more thinner in it and less paint, it makes the feathering easier

I know, can't find anyone to plow out 2ft of snow from the boat launch, not to mention the ice.  :-D

Its crazy that they even let them on the water after dark. ( iv'e seen the sheriffs boat pull over skiers when its starting to get to dark on conesus) of course I think their crazy to be out on Ontario or Erie on one of these things to begin with. 

12 hours ago, monkeyman14554 said:

nice boat

Yes, The year before I bought it I drove my wife nuts, I went to all the boat shows and looked at everything. (happened to see one at the niagra fishing show) When the Syaracuse boat show came up I was already looking towards a Starcraft superfisherman, a Crestliner super fish hawk, or a Polar Kraft frontier. after doing a lot of research and priceing with the dealers no one even came close to the price I got on the Polar Kraft with the 115 motor I wanted. and it had many of the features that I wanted, great all around boat. I bass fish with it, troll for walleyes and salmon on Erie and Ontario. it can handle up to 4ft wave with out a problem. (i don't but it can) and I can perch fish up to 5 people out of it as well. also has a lifetime warrenty on the hull (and they fix them not try to blame you like tracker does).

2015 Polar Kraft 179 frontier wt, I have owned 7 boats in the past but this is my favorite.

Just got my fish hawk in the mail and looking to see what temp you guys look for when fishing for walleyes and salmon?

I like my hummingbird helix, easy to use and has lots of features and can see the same stuff as my lowrance, I also have a lowrance chirp 7 that is nice, just not to feature friendly (has lot of features but they are hard to get to if you don't memerize the entire instuction book 

you can also look at a PolarKraft 189 frontier or a Kodiak 200, the frontier is 18ft 11in and the 200 is 19ft 10in both have 99 inch beams and are great for multi species fishing, I use mine (frontier 179) for bass, walleye, salmon, and perch they are great boats with a lot lower price tag. I did a lot of research before buying mine, and my final 3 were Starcraft, Crestliner, and PolarKraft. Starcrafts were great but 7000-10000 more than the other two, and the crestliner was welded and 2-3000 more that the PolarKraft. I do not regret buying mine, best boat I have owned,and i have owned 7.

I built it because I was told that the gps unit is in the head and its not good for it to bounce around to much, never heard of one deploying while moving.......ouch!  I have forgot to unlock it from the motor once or twice and it will not deploy at all ( once I was sure that the battery in my remote was dead) Keep hitting the depoly button and my buddy goes why is it making that noise? what nosie? OH S@#% !!!!

a few more of the mods I have done,

The first one is adding shelves to the underside of the console (do not know why the manufacuter didn't) I also added a  cargo net afterwards and that's were all of the life vest go, easy access, and they stay dry.

The next two are a drain for the hatch plates, keep getting the items in my compartments wet. my starcraft had something simular but it had to be at least 1/4 inch of water before it would drain. 

The next one is may favorte mod, my smooth move seats, my back used to hurt everytime I would go out in anything above 1-2 foot waves, now 4fters aren't a problem

then my side doors would slam on me while fishing in rough water, now they don't

Next is my trolling motor mount, I did not like the way it jumped around while we were under way in waves or the way it bounced during trailering, now it dosen't

wife and daughter like it ride on the tube but don't like to get splashed by the tow rope, so I got a kit for a ski pole, works great, with some modifications ;-)

next one is my mounting block for the transducers (there is acually three on there now)

the last four are of my kicker mount, I needed another inch on the side of the transom so it was not touching the deck so i added a block of starboard to the top rail, and since I take the motor off when bass fishing, I made some stainless plates on the front and back of the transom to keep from scratching up the boat.

I am still in the process of doing a few more mods and improvements to my boat, always tinkering during the winter months but it is almost there as far as what i want (until the next new thing comes out)

There is a few closings. My dad cleared out one in ohio somewhere, when it was closing just a week ago. most stuff was %50 off or higher he got torpedo divers for under $8.

x2

Ebay, Its 1/2" thick by 6" wide for the down rigger bracket, and 1/2" thick by 2" for the rod holder track. I use my tablesaw to cut it all. just need a special saw blade ( TENRYU AC-25560DN 10" Carbide Tipped Saw Blade ) is the one I use, cuts like nothing. also u will want to make a cross cut sled to do it. Its a easy thing to do.