AKRISONER

It’s a mepps

As much as guys will tell you “I catch fish on an ugly stick!” there’s just something about a beautiful set up that’s almost like a big diamond ring to me, except it’s functional as well. I’ve got a MB destroyer with a FX68 that you’d think were literally sold as a combo they pair and balance up so beautifully. enjoy the rod and make sure you post pics the first time you test out the flex on it!

I messaged the admin about this same problem. No solution yet

I have no idea where to connect a tac into a motor that doesn’t already have one. Other than that if it has a feed it’s as simple as plugging it in. maybe next winter if I get bored I’ll reconfigure my connects and do that nice clean grounding bar set up in my boat. Right now I’m using two distribution blocks, same idea of having raw power but no shut off for the units specifically. Garmin does an excellent job tbh of getting the units to get everything powered up and shut off. You turn a unit on and you see the network hub and panoptix black box fire right up. I basically rewire every winter anyways because my panoptix comes out of the boat for ice fishing. For now I’m running with what I’ve got.

Last year March 25th we had a bit of a warm kick that lined up with a Friday I believe. this year I’m sitting and waiting patiently, and I’m dying cause I’ve reconfigured the boat set up and want to test it out. Unfortunately obligations this time of year trump the boat. a good quote I heard once is the off-season is when I save my marriage 😂 Originally the forecast for this week looked super promising, and it still kinda is for down here but up north it really “cooled off” especially for this weekend the forecast is now +1 and snowing for Saturday. looks like the boats not getting out until the 23rd ish at the earliest me thinks, may even be the may 1 weekend!

Yup, let me know if you need even any advice, I just finished a crisp install myself. If you want some really good ideas, watch that video I posted above with the caymas. In hindsight there’s even a couple of nice little details that I wish I did in my own. Maybe for another day though. a lot of the stuff can be done relatively cheap too, it’s just the wiring that costs money. The idea of using a grounding bar to clean up the terminals for the electronics is a sweet idea that I hadn’t thought of. I also really like how they handled the in line fuses at the shut off. I opted to go the distribution block route myself but that idea is so clean how could you not like it.

Yup, no issue the minkotta plug is the same across all models. Depending on the age of the Fortrex you may need to switch the plug on your terrova to your old foretrex plug or swap receptacles. It’s really up to you what you want to do either way you can use that plug on your new trolling motor or vice versa etc. totally cross compatibility without concern for voltage or amperage.

My god, the smartest thing I ever did was start writing all over my wires in marker to tell me what the hell was what. I remember trying tape a few times and all that happened was the tape got caught while running the wire lol. Ive learned as stated, If you have a job to do, just plan for an entirely new install and rip everything out that you possible can. Non marine wire, non tinned copper terminal ends, merrets, electrical tape, wrong sized fuses (this one is scary) I’ve seen it all and it’s not like I do this professionally. to date scariest thing that’s happened to me and I had a whole thread about it a few years back was the crappy stock minkotta plug receptacle vibrating my wire and cutting it to the point that it down guaged built resistance and lit on fire without me knowing it. to this day I still have no clue why a fuse didn’t blow or my boat didn’t light on fire. So lucky. unrelated and on a terrifying note, went to the car wash today and was taking off the bib off my truck and found a whole mouse nest on top of my friggin battery! My truck was a friggin tinder box and I didn’t even know it. Blew out the nest and sprayed pesticide all over the battery cover, hopefully that will deter the little bugger from returning!

Merely directing this gentleman OMC to a professional. His job seems far more serious. i will add once again, please do not take this as anything more than I’m presenting it as. You need a hand, shoot me a DM. If you are looking for a business, that is not something I am running I already am employed full time.

having ripped apart a 98 skeeter and a 2006 stratos that were both outfitted with aftermarket electronics installed by the previous owner to install my own, people really love canadian tire spools of wire, merretts and electrical tape 😆 In some ways I wish the guys had never installed a thing, finding the mess they made and getting it out of the boat was half of the battle! as we speak, ive got an ancient lowrance transducer cable fed into my console area that I cannot find the other end to to get rid of it. If i attempt to pull it to the console it doesnt budge, I cant seemingly find the other end of it anywhere else in the boat...so there it will stay i guess lol Ive got a decent spool of used marine 8 guage wire now that I have no clue what I am going to do with lol. Maybe a friend one day will be in need and not mind using dirty wire.

I just saw this youtube video where they go over an electronics install in the guys new caymas. This is exactly the kind of attention of detail and proper wiring I am describing. You can go from this level all of the way down to simply getting things to work but making sure that you wont have issues with corrosion, bad wire, overheating and resistance ever. I am also capable of assembling wiring harnesses that will allow you to DYI the installation yourself but will allow for you to essentially plug and play your boats electronics by stringing the wire through your boat! No electrical tape jobs here! Heres photos of my total re-do, Garmin Force trolling motor, two garmin sv's, panoptix livescope and all networked to through a GMS 10.

are you rewiring your controls and console as well? Or just the electronics?

Would totally be dependent on the specifics of the job/do you also need materials included and to what extent you want to go with your installation. Even I havent gone to the "full extent" simply because of budget reasons in my own boat. I have no certifications just a decent amount of experience doing DC wiring since I was 17 years old? (I am 34 now) Started with stereo equipment in cars and then moved specifically into wiring boat electronics which is a very Niche thing that if you hired an electrician/mechanic to do the job, they probably will get it to work but not optimize the application. If this is something you are going to need an invoice for I am definitely not your guy you will want a pro (not sure there are any in Ontario at the moment? There are definitely a few shops in the southern states.). I'm not so certain there are any actual electricians working in this field at all at the moment? Seeking Proof of concept, I can show you my boat which I also just rewired. If you are looking engine work/controls, I am not your guy for sure. Feel free to send me a DM or reply here with what you are considering doing/need done and I would be more than happy to talk through everything with you at no cost, I love to talk about this stuff anyways. Ill tell you everything that should be done for free and you can tell someone certified exactly what you want done if it gives you peace of mind. I love to help fellow members out in the same manner that they have helped me!

Will pay for itself in no time with dem bugs

You can, however it does not have the same “bonding” qualities or the water resistance of proper reel or gun oil. Those specific oils contain additives to make them “stickier” and are designed to combat water and corrosion. It will do in a pinch but there are better options! A quick google will tell you guys use it but they find that it washes away after a good fish in the rain.

You can’t see the prop, you’ll be blown away by how fast they spin once in the water, it’s almost ultra sonic, even the sound of them, you can hear them when they get near the boat. The bait actually looks exactly like a shiner but the shiner is sending off high pitched TINNNGGG sound.

absolutely Dan, this is not me attempting to start a full time business doing this either, moreso a helping hand to a fellow board member that is maybe intimidated by the prospect of upgrading their electronics or as I have already been reached out to about, one guy having issues with his trolling motor and not feeling the confidence to attempt to tackle it himself. in no ways am I putting myself out to the “public” but If a long time board member needs their boat cleaned or a trolling motor rewired and obviously cannot afford to take it to a shop and spend thousands I can probably help them out. primarily though I see a lot of companies now selling these plug and play harnesses out of the states and the pricing is absolutely astronomical, surely I can at minimum assemble a harness for someone for less than half of that cost. I looked up yesterday a harness for my boat for example these American companies are charging $700+ which to me is no different than a lot of things in the marine industry, overpriced just for the sake of it. i really appreciate your heads up, I believe you can appreciate what I am getting at. This is in no way a full time gig, I’ve got a good job, I just could use a bit of money to pay for my pets surgery last week and maybe someone around here needed a hand.

Be patient…it’s a really boring way to fish, at least imo but when the presentation is correct they will outfish a heck of a lot of stuff. Also just a ridiculously versatile bait. our last NGTA meeting we actually got to listen to a live seminar with the owner of DUO Japan. I learned more than I could have ever imagined about spy baiting lol. coming directly from the owner, don’t throw it on anything heavier than 8lb test. And make sure the line you are using is of a high quality, he has his reasoning and you gotta believe the guy, he basically is single handedly responsible for making these baits hit the main stream again. i watched chonger throwing a spy bait up in 4 feet of water last year and it was just something I had never even considered, go figure they’d eat the spy bait but wouldn’t eat a ned rig.

Back when the boys all had to use the same boats 😂

You clearly haven’t seen the crowds at the classic 😲 literally in the hundreds of thousands

Different formats but MLF is struggling to catch up with BASS. Of course not livewelling fish is better for them, but at the same time there is something to be said for "weigh ins" especially at the highest level. The entire buzz around a weigh in is lost with the MLF Format. Even more lame was when they made the format about overall weight rather than best 5. Theyve adjusted a lot of tournaments back from that format because seriously catching 60 dinks is nowhere near as impressive as bringing in a 20lb best 5. The BASS events in texas are an interesting hybrid of these two formats due to the share lunker regulations in texas. You are able to bring one large fish to weigh in, but anything in that "slot" has to be released after weighing. I dont personally see too many tournaments moving to this format too quick simply due to the scrutineer requirement places a heck of a lot of burden for additional resources on hosting a bass tournament. No one wants to go for a boat ride with me to watch me catch bass lol. I know tournaments catch flak from a lot of non-tournament anglers, but in truth tournament anglers are keeping smaller numbers of fish in their livewell and releasing them then your standard meat fisherman. furthermore with dead fish penalties we are incentivized to do everything in our power to take care of the fish in our livewells. Its kind of comical to place blame on guys that release all of their fish while live welling a lower than limit total number of fish vs the guys that eat everything they catch. Even funnier is the aura around bass...if its a 4lb smallie you better release it immediately, but if its a 4lb whitey that pickle is hitting the frying pan immediately lol.

i literally googled to make sure I wasnt crazy lmaoooo Snidley if i was in town I was 100% going to go to the tackle swap, alas, i am up north making a last ditch attempt to catch 1 last lake trout through the ice.

Bump to add that I’m also offering mobile or drop off boat detailing. See original post for details!

Jesus where are you even getting norries gear from. That’s hard to come by

funny bill, im spilling my beans here a bit, but to be fair I havent spent enough time in the near area yet, nor have I bothered to explore the outer reaches into the bay yet as you can imagine I had more than enough water to cover closer to home last year. I still have areas that I havent really picked apart yet, a new bigger boat though will give me some more confidence to go through those big water sections and explore. My experience fishing the bay now for a decade though has taught me one thing is that there is a sweet spot, not too far out, but not too far in is where the biggest fish are. Not that there are not big fish to be caught thats for sure. But if im out trying to catch 5 4lbers, at least in my experience there is a sweet spot. This speaks larger volumes to the concept of finding "transitional areas". its really been something ive narrowed down while tournament fishing too, not surprisingly big fish like options, and the way G bay is naturally structured is that its two different lakes, one inside and one outside...to me the fish think why not have both.