Have you looked at an Arima yet? They are made in Seattle, but there is a dealer in Dracut. They are closest to a Grady White, but I like them because they get on plane faster allowing water skiing and tubing with a 90 HP Honda 4 stroke. Plus, I have never needed trolling plates to keep my speed in the 1.5-2.0 range (although I do turn the idle down slightly below the recommended level). The boats are very stable and plenty of room in the back for fishing activity.
Fishing is still pretty good - not quite as hot as Saturday, but this morning I was able to catch five and lose three with two rods from 6-7:30. Had to quit at 7:30 when the salmon practically swallowed my fly, making a healthy release unlikely, so he joined his cousin in the box. Both fish were in the 18-19 inch range.
i installed one this year, 115 2 stroke merc on a 19 foot hull. worked great (i dont have a 4 stroke but they probably idle better than the 2 stroke and may go slow enough as is). my boat is a lobster style cabin top and catches the wind, so i still have a drift sock to throw overboard when i change direction into the wind. i also run a smaller prop which slows the boat down. the older 2 strokes are not smooth on the low rpms but a 4 stroke should be much better for this.
hi Tim
we use to run a trolling plate for years they work good but this year we went to the trolling bags and they seem better. If you get a fairly windy day with the plate it is tough to control the boat in a stright line and to recover you almost have to speed up to get straightened out. we picked them up at paugus bay sports. we use 2 of them because you can leave the steering wheel for short time to tend rods We have a 22 foot starcraft Islander with the swim platform on it it works great.If you set them up right they dont interfear with the down riggers
tim,
what i do is use 1 bag off the stern, i use a ski harness and clip it to the hull loops on the transom.
you can tend lines and bring in fish with the boat staying on course unattended. i would prefer a kicker and have checked into it w/ a couple of places but can't seem to get anyone to follow through or even call me back. frustrating
Hey Ilucas Give Rick@BBW a call Great Guy i would be willing to bet he could do something for ya, you can find his email on the message board usually under a message about Sunapee, How'd ya do out there today? I was out on Squan with Big John but we didn't hook into any monsters just some baby monsters LOL Take Care God Bless and Tight Lines LOL Dave From up North
