Fisherman

some home insurance policies will automatically cover boats up to 16' with no more than a 25 hp on it with the basic theft liability coverage at no extra cost. Call your agent.

As long as you're both happy, that's all that counts, enjoy, lifes short and you never get a second chance. Now get some slimy critters in there and make it smell funky.

Periodic oil chanes, after the first 20 hours it goes to 200 hours or one year, oil filter every 2 years or 400 hours, retorque the heads, ha ha ha ha, that's a good one. Lower unit oil, once a year. So I am assuming then that the Etec takes less than 1.7qt(1.6l) of oil per year to inject with the gas ,cause that's all it takes for an engine oil change for the Honda. Soooo, I think you might be paddling a bit after your 1.7qt of oil run out in the oil reservoir in the Etec while the 4 strokes are still merrily motoring along. Go back to the dealer for periodic maintenance, jeez, mine must be coming soon I hope,,,13 years and not back yet, seems like a pretty good track record.

Would you kindly show us where and how much more a 4 stroke is in maintenance please. And for the great weight debate which is borderline Bull, my Honda 25 tiller electric long shaft weighs 152 pounds, the only E-tec 25 that weighs less at 149lbs is the 25 short shaft.

A Rage or whatever.. I would just say it works (period). It's about $11 or so for a 500ml can at Carquest. No, CTC or many others don't carry it, I don't know why. Honestly I was a bit sceptacle at first, I've got an Argo where the engine ran like a septic tank full of you know what. After one heathy dose of the Seafoam and letting it run for 20 minutes or so, (smoked & sputtered for a bit) finally cleared out whatever crud was in the carb, put in a new filter and since then it's been running fine. At first, it would never idle properly or die out at speed. None of that anymore. I've read many others on other sites dealing with lawnmowers, outboards, generators, etc, that swear by it. Talking with the good folks at CTC... , oookkkaaaayyyyy, I might let them check the air pressure on my wheelbarrow, but that's about it. If it didn't work for me, I would be the first to say otherwise, I hate seeing people waste money or getting sucked in on crud that doesn't work.

Well there's two ways of looking at the discrepency. 1. Your present F/F (H2OC) is out to lunch,(doubt it), you said after searching you were unable to find the depth you were looking that was shown on the GPS. 2. GPS can be miserably innacurate at times, so if your GPS is false you may have been out of the indicated area by more than what you thought. Like you indicated, Map chips can be out, sometimes by more than what's expected. Remember a while back some guy just about drove off a small cliff following GPS instructions. Eas way to checlk the F/F, take graduated lengths of rope or fishing line, measure the depth with your F/F and then use the line for compare accuracy. As for the GPS, do some land based exact locting to confirm its accuracy without the chip.

Judging by the water levels in G Bay, I would say it's up at least a foot from last year.

Very sad to loose a family member Wayne, you are right, we should all call more often.

Ya, had an encounter like that a year ago, you need a root canal, unfortunately, no longer in the service with heater in holster to even the level of intimidation, I asked what the option was, $800+ for root canal..$80 for the extraction and it better not hurt. About ten mintes later minus one tooth that I don't miss or have to brush anymore. More room to squirrel away some peanuts.

Ha, newbie at the launch, don't forget there'll always be someone newer than you after a while. The last disaster we saw last week was at Bluffers, a guy using a newer Caddy to trailer a LARGE boat, estimating 22-24 footer, did I say LARGE. The rear rims were squatting under the fenderwells, the muffler was about 1 inch off the pavement. I can just imagine the punishment the transmission must take going back up that hill leaving the park. If he ever had to do some collision avoidance, I'm sure it would make North America's ______ videos. Should have taken a few pics. Anyway, for a "newbie" Bluffers is pretty forgiving, launch the boat, putter out of the harbour, point directly offshore and a bit to the right, you'll see a skinny yellow marker, 50' depth, keep going, launch riggers and fish anywhere around that area. Good luck

Me, in everything unless the mfgr specifically indicates a higher octane requirement. Google what octane actually does in the combustion cycle of an engine and what kind of motors it is intended for.

What... take it to a marine mechanic for advice. Hate to see what happens if your zipper gets stuck. Read the manual, you can get it on line. For the manual go here, scroll down and read page 42. http://www.honda-marine.com/mar_pdf/31ZV7610.pdf

Again, how many walleral pickeleye polls do we need.

Ah, the owners manual, such a plethora of info when all else fails. And then there's the tool kit that comes with the motor, a little grey pouch with a couple wrenches, screwdrivers, plug wrench and oh ya, that long thing that looks like overgrown spagetti with a wooden handle and little plastic clip that attaches to the flywheel..called a pull cord. Instructions should be on the flywheel cover.

Seafoam! Should be able to get it at Carquest or NAPA. Sounds like a Stator coil, makes power..

I believe I have the same thing as you, just a smaller(25) engine. That last 1/4 of throtttle doesn't quite translate into 1/4 more speed, I think it's just the length of the throttle cable and how it's positioned on the linkage. If you check it with the engine off, in gear, and slow rotate the handle on a tiller or remote on a s/c, you'll see what I mean.

Nice fish and photo, you must have given the reel a bit of a workout with that one..

Well if you see the line then at least you know the unit is working. If I remember correctly, the 50hz setting is usually for the much deeper water to get a better signal return. If you're in less than a 100' deep I would stick with the 200hz setting and increase the sensitivity a bit. There's many days I've been out on the water, mark absolutely no fish, but still catching them. It only means the fish aren't in the area covered by the transducer signal.

Nothing like a bit of copy cat..

Okay, try this. First adjust the transducer so that the bottom is level with the bottom of the boat. You may have to adjust it a bit to compensate for the way the boat sits in the water, if the bow sits a bit high when anchored then your transducer will be pointing too far forward, point the transducer nose down a bit. Go anchor your boat somewhere, say 20 feet of water, tie on a 1/4 oz jig to your rod and lower down below the transducer, it should pick it up and you'll see a line across the graph, in calm water, you should be able to do that down to at least 100 feet deep. Again, a little adjustment makes a big difference. Good luck.

No problem, I can do that, give me a day or two and I'll grab some pictures for you.

Brass monkeys..nope, healthy respect for the water, 16 foot Princecraft Starfish, if there's the slightest hint of bad weather/water, I'll spend time elsewhere. Last year on Georgian Bay, weather looked good, water rather calm, I paid attention to the marine radio and AM radio, little bit of cracklin, about 10 guys went out, I didn't, 10 sorry dude's that admitted I was was the wise one after that ordeal. Anyway, had a great time.

And if anyones just a wonderin what the heck that last picture is, that little rainbow was just a bit camera shy and decided on an early release back to the depths...

There have been fish caught (bass that I remember) that had partially decomposed tube jigs in their stomach but far from complete digestion. Last weekend my son caught one that regurgitated a big rubber tube that looked pretty old but not broken down. I've seen artificials laying in the water, I don't think they break down all that quickly.

You're pretty close with your diagnosis of fish tasting..well.. fishy. I've always found fish from cold clear water have less of a pronounced taste, as the water warms, some species have more of that taste. Most panfish are very mild, walleye, rarely ever a bad taste, pike, for me, best left for winter fishing. Nothing wrong at all with bass, just make sure to clean them quick and get them into the cooler or fridge and eat them fresh. Salmon, trout, whitefish and any others that have the dark coloured lateral line under the skin must have that removed during filleting otherwise it will taste like rancid codliver oil..real bad. On lakers, don't forget to scrape out the body cavity with a spatula, and along the upper edge of the back, you'll be surprised how much fat there is. Mmmm..deep fried bass, a squirt of lemon & some home fries.