2005 Starcraft Islander 191

[Pusher]

I grew up in Sequim by the way. On very rare occassions you'll get some calm waters, but most days you choose to go fishing on it blows you out ;-)

 

[Furrylittleotter]

Black mouths are a species of salmon and jacks are immature or stunted salmon. The washigton fishing regs have a side by side with somewhat vague explanations of how to tell them apart on page 96 and 97. The fish & wildlife don't cut us much slack but it's really hard to tell them apart.



By the way, don't feel bad about taking the halibut they look to be flounder. Page 113 of the regs have a good picture. They love 30-40 feet of water off sandy shores with clams or shrimp.

Have you thought about using an ez steer rod? It helps a LITTLE bit with the response (due to the kickers help).

You ain't kidding man. We looked at every book and guide we had with us and couldn't figure out what the hell they were. You saying they mighta been catch and release only?!

Damn.

And yea, I knew those were flounder, but they are fair game aren't they? Damn things are so toxic they were glowing but they were the first I caught on the boat so I ate them anyway.

I though of an easy steer but honestly even using the tiller sitting on the transom it's a ***** to steer. It needs something to cut a straight line.

Neil

 

[Furrylittleotter]

I grew up in Sequim by the way. On very rare occassions you'll get some calm waters, but most days you choose to go fishing on it blows you out ;-)

Of course it was smooth as glass on the way back in. Rain stopped too.
I don't really mind as long as the fish are biting. The weather here is more pesky than anything. It's not like fricken Lake Erie or something so I hate to complain too much.

 

[Furrylittleotter]

Not surprisingly, I am not the only person to notice this.

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...tdrives/361876-won-t-go-straight-at-low-speed


Neil

 

[Pusher]

Well, they call them black mouths because they have black gums (usually) this is a pink year (also called humpy) so they might have been that... Could have been trout too though... I probably still couldn't tell you even if I had the book out and the fish in front of me.

My grandpa hated flounder but I don't have anything against them. A little pancake mix & Johnny's and they taste great

The ez steer is nice because the two motors aren't fighting eachother, but rather join forces kind of. Maybe one of your buddies could steer the main while you did the kicker to see if it tracked better. There's probably a better solution out there.

 

[laurentide]

I have this hydraulic steerer on the kicker that runs off a toggle switch switch you can see sitting on the doghouse. Is that what you mean by an "autopilot" because if it is, they need to rename it. It takes constant adjustment with that switch to go straight. It's unbelievable.

Neil

An autopilot does the steering for you. Most boats where I live have either a fully integrated AP that ties into the hydraulic steering on the main engine (which can then be tied to the kicker with a rod from outdrive to kicker) or a kicker autopilot. A popular kicker AP is the Garmin TR-1. The third option is a bow mount trolling motor that you use just for steering with the kicker running and locked straight. This is what I use.

Unless you're going to have someone steering all the time, you'll want one of these if you plan on doing a lot of trolling in any wind or waves. These boats are light and have a lot of "sail" for the wind to push. The site http://www.ifish.net/board/ has a lot of this info specific to the PNW.

 

[Furrylittleotter]

An autopilot does the steering for you. Most boats where I live have either a fully integrated AP that ties into the hydraulic steering on the main engine (which can then be tied to the kicker with a rod from outdrive to kicker) or a kicker autopilot. A popular kicker AP is the Garmin TR-1. The third option is a bow mount trolling motor that you use just for steering with the kicker running and locked straight. This is what I use.

Unless you're going to have someone steering all the time, you'll want one of these if you plan on doing a lot of trolling in any wind or waves. These boats are light and have a lot of "sail" for the wind to push. The site http://www.ifish.net/board/ has a lot of this info specific to the PNW.

I hadn't to look that up. Pretty neat! I have the hydraulic steerer part and ez troll throttle control, I just need to see if I can integrate them into an electronic control (eventually, I'm broke right now!).



I might see if I can mount a board on the kicker bracket to move it more towards center for now, and possible mount a dagger board on the kicker bracket as well.

I had a Snark sunfish sailboat with removable daggerboard as a kid and I can speak from experience, boats go straight with a daggerboard !

Neil

 

[Watermann]

You guys gave me a lot of ideas. First off: what the heck is a black mouthed jack? I know nothing about these fish. I'm from VA! Second, the boat just "wollows" unless it's on plane, steering is pure mush, a little is too much and it takes constant adjustment, regardless of wind. I would kill for a keel. The bigger the better. I'm trying to avoid bags and tabs. I have enough lines and props to deal with already, and it's always choppy round here. Has anyone ever strapped a keel on or used daggerboards? I bet I could make sidemount daggerboards work. any more thoughts or suggestions are welcome. I really love to just "Cruise" even when not trolling and it's damn near impossible as is.

Neil

Avoid tabs but want to strap a board to the boat? Okay

 

[Furrylittleotter]

Avoid tabs but want to strap a board to the boat? Okay

Feel free to bust my balls if you want. I'm a big boy I can take it but yes, install a board somehow.

Believe me you aren't the first to question my tactics.

Just putting ideas out there, it never hurts.

Would you have removed the seat? No.
Wod you have moved the batteries? No
Would you have made a seat of a cooler?no
Would you have made the tackle cubbies?no.
All things I did and I love so far. To each their own.
Neil

 

[Watermann]

I'm not trying to bust anything, sorry you took it that way. I was however struck by the outright dismissal of the cure I suggested for your wander issue. Most boat owners where tabs are suggested don't want to add tabs because they're afraid of making holes in their boat so they want to put a fin thing on their under powered motor's LU. In your instance bow wander can be cured or close to it by the addition of trim tabs not too mention better boat control in choppy water, faster plane and lift to stern heavy craft. All the things I have first hand experience with on my Chief.

I was taking the time to offer my advice on your issue that's based on experience having tabs on a very similar SC. I learn quick though and won't make that mistake again. I should've figured it out over the reaction to my joking comment about the helm rated cooler.