I stayed at Pike Bay last summer and liked it a lot. It’s a little bit of a run to get out onto the main lake, but I think it was worth it.

I guess we better get the WSU fishing club out to partol the lakes. Haha.

On a serious note though – that really sucks to see. I’m sure its about the same way I feel when I see a dead musky floating around. Its hard to know that there’s nothing you can really do.

Hopefully those kids and their mom learned something today, so this won’t be repeated again in the future.

Hey, maybe we’ll have to go take her for a little spin when the weather warms up. I was thinking about towing my boat down towards the end of the semester, but if you already have one here I might just have to mooch off of you!

Oh – I’m probably going to try and get out on the ice sometime next week if you’re interested.

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You really think my rig only weighs 800 lbs.?? I figured the boat had to weigh a lot more than that because of all the wood flooring in it. Plus two batteries and its a console drive. I figured it has to be over 1000 lbs.

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What kind of boat is this exactly?
For reference – the hull on my 1650 fishhawk weighs 880 lbs. I’m assuming yours is a bit lighter, but probably not by that much.

If you’re just making short trips around town with it then those numbers don’t really surprise me. I just filled up yesterday and realized that I was getting around 10 with my 98 explorer 5.0. Thats purely driving to and from work in town.

My truck doesn’t really warm up all the way until I get to work, so you’ve gotta figure that its running as inefficiently as its ever going to when its cold like that.

Letting it idle to warm up doesn’t help much either. Those V8’s can slurp down a decent bit of gas if you’re doing that every time you drive it.

As far as highway driving goes, I usually can get 18-20 in the summer, and in the winter it drops off to 16-17.

I bet a v6 ranger would pull that boat no problem. I have a 1650 Fishhawk with a 90hp and a v6 blazer pulled mine decently. It wasn’t great, but it did the job.

I assume your boat is a bit lighter than mine, plus Ive heard that the v6 rangers pull quite a bit better than the blazers do. Who knows, maybe thats the ticket?

I’d probably just keep the F150 for a while if I were in your shoes. I bet your mileage will improve a bit in the summer. If its still pretty bad then maybe its time to switch to a ranger or explorer. My roommate has the 4.0 v6 in his ranger and says he gets 22 highway in the summer. I love my exploder. I usually get around 14 mpg pulling my boat. Plus the 5.0 V8 has plenty of power for what I’m towing. The 18-20 mpg highway isn’t the greatest, but its not too terrible either.

If I had the money I’d be all over one of these. I’m thinking power pole plus inside weed edge = awesome!

x5? Sure, why not…

I made the mistake of putting a 50 lb, 50″ Powerdrive on my 1650 Fishhawk. That was an expensive one.

$1k later, it was remedied with an 80 lb, 60″ Max Pro.

Now its much better!

Just wanted to second what Jon said.

Get the MN permit first. My class instructor did a great job of going over the in’s and out’s of what it takes to get a multi-state permit.

Wow… depressing indeed.

Wow, what a shame.

I hit Tonka today with a few suckers…

Here’s a 43 that my buddy, Bob got.

I had to show him up with a 51

Not bad for 3 hours on the water.

Haha, thanks for the input Dan.

I think my team will get a kick out of this one.

Survey – “walk the dog” style topwater bait.

1. Walk us through a typical session using the product.

2. What do you like about the existing products?

3. What do you dislike about the existing products?

4. What issues do you consider when purchasing the product?

5. What improvements would you make to the product?

6. How many hooks/what size of hooks would you like to see on the product?

7. What colors/patterns would you like to see available?

8. What size should this product be (length)?

9. What is the highest amount that you would pay for such a product?

For each of the following, please indicate on a scale f 1 to 5 how important the feature is to you. Please use the following scale:

1. Feature is undesirable. I would not consider a product with this feature.
2. Feature is not important, but I would not mind having it.
3. Feature would be nice to have, but is not necessary.
4. Feature is highly desirable, but I would consider a product without it.
5. Feature is critical; I would not consider a product without this feature.

1. Bait is durable (survives impacts with objects (rocks, dock, etc), musky bites.

2. Bait is good at hooking Muskies.

3. Bait is available in a wide variety of colors.

4. Bait is easy to work/has a good action.

5. Bait casts far.

6. Bait is guaranteed for life.

7. The bait’s finish to remains looking new after extended use.

8. The bait has internal rattles.

I fixed one for the gf’s little brother once. It’s pretty easy to do.

There are some youtube videos that show how to do it.

These ones are pretty decent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wa05IgHr2s&feature=channel_page

I’ve always had good luck staying at the Bayview.

http://www.bayviewlakeofthewoods.com/index.html

There should be a warranty on the blank. I had a similar situation with a different brand, and I got a new blank out of the deal.

Talk to the guys at Thorne Brothers. They’ll set you straight.

I have a 2000 90 hp. That thing has been a pain to own. Its gone through 3 VRO pumps and 2 thermostats.

The dealer told me that the VRO pump has been redesigned 7 times. Supposedly the newest design hasn’t been altered in 2 years, so hopefully its a winner.

Anyways, when its not broken, the thing runs pretty well

Check out Thorne Brothers in Fridley. They’ll get that thing fixed up as good as new.

Grey’s bay on lake minnetonka – busiest launch in the state.

Prayers. I hope everything turns out alright.

I run Calcutta TE’s. They’re pricey, but worth it. Once you fish with one, you’ll never want to use anything else.

-Al

Well, I dropped it off in the morning and had it back by the afternoon. Just in time to slip out for a little fishing before dark.

And the problem… the VRO pump! Which is funny because this is the THIRD time that the thing has been replaced.

Only difference is that the first two times the motor just ran really rough and smoky instead of doing this bogging/no oil business.

Regardless, getting the thing fixed was darn expensive. It better last for a long time.

I’m kind of doubtful that it will though. According to the guy at the shop, the VRO pump design has been modified 8 times! Geez! How many times does it take to get it right??

If this happens again I am definitely going to just start adding oil to the tank.

-Al

I’ll be out on Minnetonka all weekend and probably monday and tuesday as well.

Hopefully the cool weather will keep some of the pleasure boats off the lake.

Either way, I’m pumped and ready to get that first ski of the year.

Check the fenders on your trailer. I had the same thing happen to mine.

Turns out that the bolts were in the wrong holes on the fenders. This positioned them too close to the tires, so they would rub.

I didn’t realize this until a buddy heard a high pitched whining sound coming from wet tires on plastic when I was pulling out of a launch.

That only took me 8 years to figure out For the longest time I just thought that it was a boat weight issue like Eric said.

Hope that helps.

-Al

I’ve been running chrome pretty much since it came out. At first I wasn’t a huge fan… now I wouldn’t think of using anything else.

For me it runs WAY faster than IE, so I’m assuming it’s just a cache thing.

-Al