Waiting for open water….

So I went and bought a brand spanking new Warrior 2090 this winter! So stoked to get it on the water. I have been thinking about hitting pool 4 alot but with the motor being brand new I want to have some open water to break her in proper and just cruise. My birthday is the end of April so I am thinking about maybe renting a place to stay down by Pepin and do the full ten hour break in, plus get some fishing in. What are your guys thoughts? Is Pepin pretty much wide open and done with ice flows by then? I know I could just run up and down the river to do my break in now, but with ice flows and logs and what not floating around I would prefer the mindless 10 hours of cruising to be in big open water. I am located in the northern suburbs, is there any other water that you think might be open around the end of April to do the break in other than Pepin? Maybe Big Stone? (I mean I would also like to catch an eye or two so border waters that have season open is always a plus)

Let me know what you guys think. If anything this just gives me more of an outlet to talk about the boat I have been thinking about since I bought it. Sitting in it in the garage tweaking the graphs and drinking beer is fun, but it will be way more fun on the water

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I do not think there is ever a time when you should drive river or Pepin and not be paying high attention. Ever.

Next warm day go dump it in the river and get that new rig ready!
Congrats

A brand new 2090 Warrior tiller, you are the luckiest man alive!!!! Congrats on the new boat!

Hard to tell, is that a 175 Susi on the back?

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

I do not think there is ever a time when you should drive river or Pepin and not be paying high attention. Ever.

Next warm day go dump it in the river and get that new rig ready!
Congrats

Thanks! I didn’t know if Pepin would get as much crap in the middle of it as the river. I agree with always paying attention, heck even landlocked lakes have bogs floating around in the early Spring, but I have had some weird run ins on the river… My old boat I chopped the head off of a paddlefish.. Didn’t see him, jut had the engine shake in my hands on plane and went back to see a massive stump of a fish floating. Logs, ice chunks, paddle fish haha. I am just a bit gun shy with the new boat but that will wear off.

sticker wrote:

A brand new 2090 Warrior tiller, you are the luckiest man alive!!!! Congrats on the new boat!

Hard to tell, is that a 175 Susi on the back?

Thanks! I feel like the luckiest man alive when I go out to the garage and hang out with the new toy. It is a 175 Yamaha SHO. I test drove one last fall and I really liked the mid range power, easy to just hang on plane even at low speeds.

So, I broke in my F200 last spring in P2 and the guys at BC suggested running at approx. 2500 RPM making a nice big wake for the first 5 hours. I did this March 10th before the river rose from the melt off and it takes right about 2 hours round trip from the 494 access to the MN/Miss confluence.

Open water can’t come soon enough. I’ve organized and re-organized tackle bags a few times. Remember the old Mervyn’s commercials where the woman was standing at the door before the sale starts chanting, “Open, open, open”? I feel like that!

Holy cow, Dustin. You must be chomping at the bit for some open water. I know the feeling. Hopefully we will not have a repeat of last spring (historic April blizzard with record late ice outs).

Y’aint breaking it in sitting in the garage….go hit the river right now, plenty of open water

Any interest on the old one? I’ve seen your ad and see her still sitting behind you.

Killer pants by the way

B-man wrote:

Y’aint breaking it in sitting in the garage….go hit the river right now, plenty of open water

Any interest on the old one? I’ve seen your ad and see her still sitting behind you.

Killer pants by the way

I know I know.. Just need to talk the boss into getting it on the river.. She is the one really against it right now with the previous track record on the river.. But once the weather warms up a bit more I am sure I will eventually talk her into it.

The old white boat is gone. Had a guy get a hold of me that saw it here and on Walleye boats for sale on FB. I hope him and his family really get alot of good times in it, it was a great boat. The picture is from December I think before the boat sold.

Thanks! My wife got me the Zubaz for Christmas, so comfy!

come on Dustin ! you cant leave us with just one pic !!
give all of us the fifty cent tour!!
let us know why you chose the electronics you did,the engine,etc.we want the works !

I will never be able to swing a rig like that but it doesnt keep me from looking and drooling over it.
congrats on a great rig sir !!

If that were me I’d be booking a trip in the Ozarks or some other big reservoir south enough where there is open water. What a great weekend that would make.

BoatsHateMe wrote:

If that were me I’d be booking a trip in the Ozarks or some other big reservoir south enough where there is open water. What a great weekend that would make.

Really! If you’re worried about junk in the water you should begin considering just how much snow we have and how long the Mississippi will be high and heavily logged this spring. Personally I think this year is going to be a bad one for flooding up in this area.

I would come to P4 right now before the high water, ice, and floating debris. Unload at the back channel ramp and break ‘er in. Might even catch something.

After looking at that pic, the only advice I have is KEEP IT UP. Seeing you sitting in a new rig, beer in hand, with boats cluttering he background, you obviously are doing something right!!

Congrats.

Iowaboy1 wrote:

come on Dustin ! you cant leave us with just one pic !!
give all of us the fifty cent tour!!
let us know why you chose the electronics you did,the engine,etc.we want the works !

I will never be able to swing a rig like that but it doesnt keep me from looking and drooling over it.
congrats on a great rig sir !!

I will try to get some more pics down the road and get them up. My previous boat, the white one in the first picture, is a 1998 2090. I liked the boat so much that I bought a brand new one. I had a Lowrance HDS 12 touch gen 2 on my old boat and decided to go with two separate Elite Ti2 9″ graphs on the new one. So far the graph seems to have a very similar layout and interface. I like how the two are wireless and I can move one up front without needing a ethernet cable. I have the motorguide Xi5 on the bow and the minnkota vantage on the stern. My previous boat I only had the vantage and used it alot. I am looking forward to having the motorguide controlled with my graphs, I can see myself using it quite a bit when I want to anchor or follow pre-set trajectories. I hope it has enough pull to troll with crankbaits, that would be pretty sweet. I am sure being I was so used to my vantage that I will still use that for vertical jigging and slow precise boat control areas. The boat I test drove had the same motor I ended up with and I really liked how it seemed to have loads of mid range torque. My old boat had a 125 two stroke motor where at low speeds it ran on two cylinders and would turn on the other two cylinders at higher rpms. This made it great to jump out of the hole easy and in a hurry, but somewhat difficult to slow down and hang on plane at low speeds. The new motor can hang on plane very well at low speeds and I also had trim tabs installed to help with this and for boat balancing in rough/ quartered conditions. I don’t think I ever opened up the boat that I test drove, but I hear it will do mid 40 mph runs. That is plenty fast for me as I will be wearing sunglasses most of the time but I am not going to put on goggles or welding masks like some people. At night if I forget safety glasses and have to run across a lake during a bug hatch I will go even slower, those bugs in the eyes are not fun. To me, jumping up to a larger motor wasn’t worth the money, weight or slight increase in speed. The 175 is the same motor as the 150, with slight tweaks. No increased weight. Even though the warrior boats are the best riding boats on the water (In my opinion) my wife and I decided to spend the extra dollars on wave pro seats. My old boat seats didn’t have any give and we are really looking forward to the cushy ride of our new toy.

Well that is the most I have ever rambled on online.. What else do you want to see or hear about on the new boat? I am sure I didn’t cover everything. I am super excited to get it out and start fishing this spring.

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BoatsHateMe wrote:

If that were me I’d be booking a trip in the Ozarks or some other big reservoir south enough where there is open water. What a great weekend that would make.

I’ve personally never heard about the Ozarks. I looked into it after your post, looks like alot of open water! It would be a great trip, but I don’t think something I can do now on just a weekend. 9.5-10 hour drive both ways wouldn’t give me alot of fishing time and I don’t have the spare vacation time now to do a week long vacation.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>BoatsHateMe wrote:</div>
If that were me I’d be booking a trip in the Ozarks or some other big reservoir south enough where there is open water. What a great weekend that would make.

Really! If you’re worried about junk in the water you should begin considering just how much snow we have and how long the Mississippi will be high and heavily logged this spring. Personally I think this year is going to be a bad one for flooding up in this area.

Good point! I am not a regular river fisherman and I didn’t think ahead that all this snow is going to melt and cause some havoc on the river.

I agree wkw, now would probably be the time before all the high water and junk floating downstream

Thanks Timmy! I owe it all to my wife. She is the one that is good at money. I was in a world of debt when I met her. I definitely would not have the ability to get this new boat without her

I think im more jealous of your garage than I am the boat Dustin!

Haha, thanks crappie! I just built the garage. 30×50 with 11 foot side walls. Two 12×10 doors on the gable and one 10×8 on the side. Planning on insulating and getting heat in it for next winter.

I’ve spent many hours sipping suds whilst sitting in my garaged boat, cursing winter!

I am sad to say that I won’t be on Pepin or the main channel anytime soon this spring. I had my aluminum prop fixed twice last year. First time was on Pepin in 35 fow & 15mph I hit a log that was not visible on the surface……. second was down on pool 5……

That’ll give me plenty of time to rig up the new helix 7 mega si/di w navionics.

Still waiting on the open water.. What are your guys thoughts?
When are we going to see open water around the metro area or greater Minnesota?
I am being extremely optimistic and hoping to be breaking the new motor in on Big Lake on April 10th. I am actually doubting this myself but I have to have a number and I am hoping it is sooner than later.. What do you guys think? Any guesses? I am surprised there isn’t an active post about guessing Ice out.

By the River Forecast it’s looking like April 29 or possibly the week of 4/27 things will be back to “normal” whatever that is on the river.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

By the River Forecast it’s looking like April 29 or possibly the week of 4/27 things will be back to “normal” whatever that is on the river.

I like the reference to normal on the river I will try to make it down that way later in the year and play in some current. Looking forward to just playing with the new electronics and getting used to the new rig in a lake to start out with.