Lunker777

hahah hmm... interesting ! haha

Hey everyone Im going to have my second look at a boat in the area. I mentioned it before, its a 16' steel hull with a 20HP merc on the back. Im thinking I can pick up the package, boat, motor, trailer for about $1600. I know everyone said that it wasnt enough power, that the boat would be to heavy. But I was thinking about it, and I think that will be plenty of power for what I want to do with it, I know someone with a 19' steel hull, they are runnin a 20HP merc on it and Ive been in it with 2 other guys and it gets on plane. Its going to be used in the same water as the 19 ft boat so I think I will be ok. And the price is right. My question is, on an older 20 HP merc( probably late 80's to early 90's) is there anything I should be looking for in particular ? Such as problem spots or anything like that. Ive heard these motors are pretty well solid motors. Im going to do a quick compression test on it, and he will be firing it up before I hand him the money. As this is my first boat, Any help would be great... thanks !!!

So would the GPS I used in the car to get us to Florida be used in the boat ?

From what I gather, you change the boat registration at the post office ???? That is what I have been told, and the trailer registration at the MTO office, or where you would go to get the stickers for the car !

$500 really ????

So costs wise, what do you think i am looking at ? I have to get: - boat ownership switched to my name - licence on the trailer switched to my name - boat licence - saftey kit - I think thats all ? haha

Good call !! I used to work at the Depot selling BBQ's and the Ducane was the only one I felt comfortable selling to someone LOOKING for a stainless steel grill. Easy way to test is take a magnet and place it on the metal... If it sticks to the so called "stainless" then obviously, its NOT true stianless. I stold a Ducane to a friend of mines family about 4 yrs ago, and they love it . Being 23 yrs old, I dont have the $$$ to go out and buy a $1000 grill hahah so I just opted for my trusty John Deere BBQ I bought at the shop here ( where I work ). I bought the cheapo one as it was all I could afford. I bbq all year and next time around, I will be going for something with a little more heavy duty parts.... IE... Cast grills or stainless...

Hahah That pretty well proves the point that they can "usually" afford there own !

Hey everyone !!! Thanks for the great feedback !!! Thats unfortunate, we actually had this talk on the boat, he was tellin us some stories of the local " guides " in the area ! I guess you have to be pretty careful. Even Disney world has there own guides, They charge $250 for 2 hours !!!!!!!!!!!! If you dont do the re-search, it can be a pretty big waste of money ! Being as he was reffered to us by a buddy of mine, we lucked out pretty good. ITCHY ?!?!?!?!?!?!! I dont even think thats the word hahah its BRUTAL !!!! We were fishing some lakes in the Orlando area... Northeast if I remember correctly. Im sorry I didnt get the names of them, I was a little excited that day haha HAHAHA NO NO NO ..... I usually refer to her as the Wife, I dont know why I started with " girlfriend " We've been together for 6 yrs now, so bascily we're married without the paper work ! haha hahah HEY I would be more than happy to bring her along for a day of fishin if someone wants to throw an invite our way !!! She was a great sport on the water.... Her face lite up when she got her big bass... it was great ! And the boat was included for the $350, he runs a 20' Stratos with a 225 Merc on the back... it was a really nice boat. Like I said.... I was VERY happy with the deal we got... I was expecting at least a $450 bill before tip. His website www.josegarzafishing.com if anyone is interested. or you can type Jose Garza in google and I think he is the third link down !

Hey everyone, I was just looking for a quick answer. What is all needed LEGALLY for a 16' steel hull with a 20 HP tiller. and trailer to get it 100% ready for the water?? Also what would I need as far as insurance or paper work for the boat ? Would I need to get a boating license for a boat like this ? I have never owned a boat before, so I just want to know what I'm getting into with this venture. Thanks Tyler

Hey everyone, Well we made it home last night at about 11:30Pm after driving 2000KMS in 19hrs. haha it was a looooong day ! My girlfriend Megan and I went out with a bass guide on the Monday of our trip. His name was Jose Garza. He was a great guy. We were the same age so we got along quite well. We went out for about 10 Hrs, and he only charged us $350 ... INCLUDING 4 dozen shiners. The significant other, ain't she a beauty haha Myself So to start the day, we went to a chain of lake Jose knew was a good numbers lake. He wanted us to get some fish under our belt early, so the rest of the day we could spend tryin to catch a monster. Jose set the Wife up with a shiner rod for the morning and she was into the fish within a few minutes. She landed the first Bass of the day. I told Jose I wanted to try some artificials, so we spent the time on the first lake tossing poppers & spooks in the early morning and rattle traps and flukes later on. My first fish AWWWWWW The first time I tried to cast the fluke on a bait caster, I got a pretty good bird nest..... as I was trying to get that sorted, BOOM ! haha A bass hit the fluke that was just sitting in the water. I handed the rod off to Jose and pulled the fish in by hand. We tried that a few more time, but on purpose and caught about 6 more fish. You know you guide fishes a lot when... So the bite slowed down on the first set of lakes, so we loaded up and mad e arun for shore to move on to the next lake. The next lake is a size lake. Jose had a customer on the lake a week before we were there, and they pulled in a 8#2oz Bass ! 75MPH back to the dock !!! GEEEZ it was great haha the wife took a piece of seaweed off the face going full out, she wasn't impressed. We got to the second lake and launched. Jose set up 4 shiner rods, as that would be all we were going to use on this lake. No plastics. So with the beer in hand, sittin back and relaxin we started fishin. Within a few minutes the first fish was on. A kiss for good luck ! The lake was split in half by a major highway, we fished the first side for about an hour and then headed over to the other spot. Thats where he has had the best luck catchin HUGE fish. We trolled a weed bed for a while but seemed to be only catchin the fish in a little spot at the end of the weed bed, so we concentrated the energy there. It paid off !!! The view Jose's fish Megs fish My PB till that point of the day :) Put her on the scale and it was 3 lbs right on ! The Megs landed her PB of the trip !!! she was so happy !!! Another good size fish, we were thinking over 3lbs, but didn't put it on the scale And then it happened. The highlight of the day. I felt a little THUD on the line, so I opened the bail, and let some line out. Sure enough, all the slack in the line went away pretty quick so a closed the bail and set the hook !! Ill never forget that feeling, it was like settin the hook in a big log, NOTHING MOVED !!!! haha We knew it was big from that point. Well it put up a decent fight but came to the boat pretty easy. I let out a big YEEEEEAAAAAA. We put her on the scales and she came in at 4lbs 13ozs ..... Its not HUGE by Florida standards but I didnt think we were going to get any better then that as it was gettin pretty late in the day ! Its my personal best and was the big fish for our trip !! All in all, it was a GREAT day. I'm very happy with Jose and his service and I would DEFINITELY recommend him. He actually lived just outside of Detroit and fishes the local waters quite often, so I will be hooking up with him for sure over the summer. As we were talking about the day at the dock a looked to my left and kind of saw what I thought was a branch near the shore. Turned out to be about a 3.5 ft. Iguana !!!! haha It was a pretty neat find ! Since Jose was so good to us, We took him out for dinner at the Orlando Ale House to finish the day off and to recap ! Like I said... it was a great day and I would defiantly suggest a guide to anyone that is heading to Florida. Don't let the prices scare you. I'm sure there is plenty of opportunity to catch a fish double the size of mine ! Any questions and comments welcome ! Thanks for stoppin by !

Hey everyone, Just wondering what everyone is doing in the area ? Wheres the fishing happening right now ? Thanks

You must have been the one in a million that has a problem with the 3800 engine. The average warranty cost on a 3800 series engine is about .27 cent s a year. The engine is ABSOLUTLEY bullet proof, its so good that GM has decided to stop makin them in the next year or so, they arent making them money with repairs, because they last so long. Every person Ive ever talked to with a 3800 series loved them. I know a guy with about 400,000 KMS on his from 1989 and he hasnt done ANYTHING to the engine. Congrats on the new Van, nothing like drivin off the lot in a new ride !!!

hahah Im in Orlando right now gettin ready to head to Disney !!! You can never get away from OFC no matter where you are !!! My fishing report will come next week, I want to post pics and I cant from here !

hahah Well.... GREAT DAY !!!! no 10 pounder but I did get a 5 !!!! Its feels beautiful settin the hook on something that big. We caught about 25 fish all together with an average size being in the 2lbs range ! I dont have a way to get the pics off the camera so the ACTUALL report will be next week !!! Talk to everyone soon !

Hey everyone Well tomorrows the day, got the guide all booked and headed out tomorrow morning.... hittin the water around 8 Am. We will be hitting a couple lakes in the Orlando area. Not sure exactly which ones, but Ill be sure to mention them in the report. The wife and I are going together, Im hoping she catches a nice BIG one so it will give her the taste of what its like... hahah then she might be a little easier on me when I want to go out back home ! So its time for bed ( long day at Universal Studios ).... early rise tomorrow. WISH ME LUCK !!! The report will be here tomorrow night !!! Hopefully with a picture of my fist down a fishes mouth !!!!! Talk to you soon !

I would be in forsure !!!! Anything to help OFC...thats a great idea to help support the site.. would it be possible to get "clackin raps" ? The paypal idea is grea too !!!

Thanks for the help guys I still havent decided if I want to go out with a guide or just fish from shore. A guide is a little pricey for me... it would be.. go fishing, or to universal studios... and If the wife has anything to do with it, we wont be goin fishin haha

where abouts on erie are you guys goin out at ? Those are BIG perch ! Nice guys !

Hey everyone Well it wont be long now, We leave on Thursday down to Orlando. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to bring some fishing gear along with me and maybe hit a couple small lakes in the morning by myself or something ? What do you think would be the best tackle for pond fishing in Florida ? I'm thinking - spinning rod - bait cast - Spinners and buzzbaits - couple different worms... 10" power worm, senko etc. - Weights & necessary tackle items. Can anyone suggest some specific lures maybe ? or some tips ? Thanks !

Im more of a "Command and Conquer Generals" or " call of duty 4" kind of guy ! The computer is a great time killer, but if im back here to long she gets a little cranky hahah She doesn't think I'm looking at pictures of just FISH if ya know what I mean hahah

Yea, this has been covered already ! But Ill say it again because its so true, ............ IDIOT !!!!!!

"Im gunna find my baby Gunna hold her tight Gunna grab some afternooon DELIGHT" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UFaWIoVX3M...feature=related

Hey JP I would be interested in knowing the different lures and set ups that are best for walleye and SMB when it comes to river fishing. Maybe some techniques and tips on where to find the fish aswell ? I havent done much river fishing, so its all REALLY new to me !!! hahah Anything that you decide to cover is going to be valuable !! Pretty excited for the show guys !

I was i could get my Girlfriend into fishing. She likes fishing for bluegills and is content. Im trying to talk her into a boat so that we can get out on the water and catch something BIG... well bigger then a bluegill haha Congrats to the wife for the first fish through the ice ! It was a good one !!!