gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
I have seen perch full of crayfish

Lots of fish eat crayfish. Stomach content studies have shown that up to 80% of a smallmouth bass’s diet consists of crayfish out of inland freshwater lakes/rivers.

In the Great Lakes, gobies are the main food source now.

I’m skeptical that any species of freshwater fish can frequently consume and digest zebra mussels though.

I was catching whitefish (not tullibees) on a north central lake and everyone of them was loaded with zebra mussels. I think eventually any fish that typically feeds on mollusks will eventually add them to their diet.

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Make sure to wet your line when you cinch down the knot. I think a lot of failures on those light lines come from heat from friction when you’re tightening it down. It weakens the line quite a bit.

I do a lot of camping and actually prefer tent camping. That said, I think there are tons of great options out there from different tent makers, you’ll just have to decide on what you’re looking for. MSR, Marmot and Big Agnes make excellent tents and you will pay for them. Kelty and Eureka make great tents at a more modest price. I would avoid any of the cheaper tents you find like the plague as I value staying dry and being able to sleep well.

Here are some must haves that I look for:
– Definitely get a tent with aluminum poles, not fiberglass. You’ll save a ton of weight just on these plus they are way more durable.
– Full rain fly. I don’t trust the tent body to keep me dry on any tent.
– Sizable vestibules on each door. Gives you somewhere dry to put on and take off your shoes, rain gear, etc. Plus leave that muddy and wet stuff outside the tent. Some tents have add on “porches” but I prefer one with just the vestibules built into the fly.
– Plenty of guy out points for securing your tent in the wind, don’t just rely on the four staked down corners.

Cw wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Benny wrote:</div>
Less is definitely more up there. Canoe fishing is all about getting back to basics.

I am the opposite, livescope and a ten fin net get put in the canoe before the tent lol.

I know Livescope is a controversial subject, but if you need it to catch fish in the BW, you’re doing it wrong

Less is definitely more up there. Canoe fishing is all about getting back to basics. I mostly target walleyes but definitely catch my fair share of bass and pike as well. 80% of my fish are probably caught on slip bobbers or an 1/8oz jig and a twister tail. Tip either with a leech and you’re in business. I also bring some crank baits and stick baits for trolling and casting.

More important than lures is boat control. As you can imagine, almost any amount of wind will make canoe fishing more challenging. Bring some rope to rig up an anchor with a rock (an old basketball net filled with small rocks works great). I also started bringing a small drift sock with about 7 years ago and it’s been game changing.

Joe’s is pretty good and if they have what you want, they do some winter clearances early enough in the season that you still get a month or so of use out of them. I find that they’re ski shop is more into alpine skiing though (they are my go to for downhill skis).

Pioneer Midwest in Osseo is phenomenal. They are all about XC skis and will cater all the way from beginners to the top Birkie skiers. I’ve bought a few sets of skis from them. Finn Sisu in Lauderdale also has a really good shop as well.

I have a Canvas Craft cover as well, full snap down. My boat sits outside all season, except for winter storage. No issues, no puddles of water, tight as a drum. Doesn’t flap in the wind going down the freeway. Even has held up to some of this spring snow we’ve been seeing. Even had them build it over my trolling motor.

They are not cheap at all but you definitely get what you pay for. I was able to make an appointment, drop my boat off on a Saturday, and it was done before the end of the following week.

One other thing that hasn’t been mentioned regarding waves, wave period is just as important as wave height. 2′ chop with breaking waves sucks to fish in while 4′ rollers are a piece of cake.

phoyem wrote:

I ordered a 20 ft Lund Alaskan last May (2021) and it arrived end of August 2021. Went through Nelson Marine and have only good things to say about them! I’m guessing my 3 month turn around time wasn’t typical though; even Nelson Marine was surprised when it arrived; they first told me early December.

I had this same experience with Nelson’s as well. I ordered my boat in early Dec (2020) and received it by the second week of March, over a month ahead of my original estimate. They also fixed a couple warranty issues for me within a day.
Nothing but good things to say about working with them.

I think you’re wiring is sufficient, you likely just need a bigger battery. A group 24 is pretty small. I used #12 to wire my bow unit (Helix 9) and I have no issues with voltage. I wired both my Helix 9s to the fuse panel but I have a #8 wire feeding that from the battery.

If it makes you feel better, my dealer also dropped a Group 24 in my Tyee when I bought it. I took that thing out right away and replaced with a dual purpose marine Group 31. I can spend days up in Voyageurs with no access to plug in the charger and haven’t had a problem with it getting low on me (includes some buzzing around, motor has a good sized alternator).

I’d be looking at a trolling reel, more specifically a low profile trolling reel, for the applications you’re talking about. You’ll get a line counter and bait clicker which will both be useful. I have a Daiwa Lexa trolling reel which I picked up late last year. Haven’t had a ton of use with it but really like it so far, might be worth looking at.

If I remember correctly, the first generations of Mega had limited range at the Mega frequency (1.2 MHz). I seem to recall it didn’t go much beyond 40′ or so. The Mega+ can utilize the Mega frequency out to 100′ or something like that.

So I think the generation of the unit may affect your results, so the year will be pertinent even if it is a Mega unit.

I purchased my 1875 Tyee (you’re going to like the boat by the way) last spring from a different Twin Cities dealer. They should walk you through everything before you take possession, mine did at least.

I don’t believe Lund installs any of the trolling motors or electronics in the factory, that’s usually done by the dealer. The only thing I had the dealer install on my boat was the trolling motor mount. Everything else I did myself (two Helixes, chargers, batteries, tracks and rod holders). If you have any basic electrical knowledge, it’s a piece of cake. The real benefit is that you know how everything is put together, so when you have an issue, you know how to troubleshoot it.

I’m not sure I’d pay anyone to do electronics install on my boat. It’s not that hard, and honestly I kind of enjoy it. Nothing like sitting out in the boat in the driveway with a cold beer, playing with your new toys

I have one year under my belt with a 1875 Tyee and 200 Pro XS. I was a little nervous about the noise when I first ordered it but I was really looking for the hole shot improvement over the V6. As far as noise goes, yes, she really growls on start up. It’s enough to wake you up (and everyone else) at the boat launch early morning. However, after that initial growl, it’s very quiet. I would compare the sound of the idle to my truck at idle (i.e. you don’t notice it unless you’re listening for it, but it does have a nice, subtle tone ). Once you open up the throttle it’s as loud (or quiet) as any other 200 hp four stroke.

Now I can’t compare to the V6 as I haven’t used one, but I can tell you the hole shot is fantastic for a four stroke motor. My previous boat was a Pro V with a Yamaha HPDI (great motor, incredible hole shot) and this motor doesn’t make me miss it a bit. The mid range acceleration is outstanding as well. Fuel economy is as good as you can expect with a motor that size. If you lay off the throttle, a tank of gas will go for days.

I haven’t read any of the horror stories yet, I’d be interested to know the issues and how those boats were used. But so far, mine has been nothing but a pleasure to use.

As others said, there should be an adapter to use US2 with a Lowrance, that’s what makes it Universal.

As for down scan up front, I do like it but I wouldn’t call it necessary. I’m a walleye guy so take it for what its worth. I like using my DI in late summer when fish are schooled up on deep rocks or deep weed lines. I can switch over from 2D to DI to see if I’m looking at fish or rocks/weeds and how many individual fish there are. SI transducer on the trolling motor I find completely unnecessary, but like I said I’m a walleye guy.

I have an 1875 Tyee, and to me the jump seats are the best thing since sliced bread. I can comfortably cruise with 8 people using all four pedestals, jump seats and the bow conversion. I typically don’t like casting, jigging or rigging with more than 2-3 people so it’s not much help in those situations. Where I really like it is when I’m trolling, I’ll fish with up to 4 guys. It’s nice to have them sit in the jump seats and leave that extra space where the pedestal seats go in the back for fighting fish.

However, the design is different than the Pro V if I’m not mistaken. On the Tyee, they are integrated into the rear casting deck, whereas on the Pro V I think the whole seat assembly flips over to either use the seat or extend the casting deck. You’ll just have to be honest with yourself how much you will use them compared to how much they get in the way when you want to access your live well and storage back there. Just like everything in these boats, it’s all a trade off.

Randy Wieland wrote:

Olivia took that as a heck of an insult. Happened to her plenty of times. I get harassment a boy gets from other boys if they lose to a girl. Kids can be extremely brutal with that.
We got to see the actions though of some great coaches that were teaching these young kids. One that impressed me the most was a coach that pulled his boy aside and had a discussion that I partly over-heard. The boy’s excuse was he didn’t want to hurt Olivia and didn’t want to wrestle her. Coach told him to get his crap together and under stand that girl has worked 100 times harder than any guy to get where she was at. She knew she had to be tougher, work harder, and had nothing to lose and everything to gain – she was hungry. That boy ended up wrestling her and won by a few points. But, it went the distance and they both fought like hell to win. That boy came up to Olivia following and made sure she knew that was one of the hardest matches he had all year. All I remember was he had some state ranking, no clue what that was.

Worst I ever saw was a parent. Olivia won her match and the father walked right up to his son and started cussing him out in front of EVERYONE. I truly felt for that kid, so sad to see he had a pathetic parent.

It’s interesting to hear it from that point of view. I’m about 20 years removed from high school and wrestled a my senior year. Coach needed a few more guys to fill out the team so I figured I’d try it out. I wasn’t particularly good, but I hung in most matches.

Even though it wasn’t as common as today, we even had a few girls wrestling back then. They were almost always in the lightest two weight classes. I wrestled at 152 and one match the opposing school had a girl in my weight class. Coach asked me if I wanted to wrestle against her, otherwise he could bump me up to 160 for that match (didn’t have a guy in that class). I thought about it hard, but it was a lose lose in my mind at the time. I proceeded to get waxed by the guy a weight class above me, and probably let down that gal by taking away an opportunity from her. Didn’t think about it that way until now 20 years later. As a father of two girls now, that situation sits a lot differently for me today.

That Helix 5 should show fish in 2D just as well as the larger model Helixes. I have a 9 and it will mark anything and everything. Have you played around with sensitivity?? Another thing to try is turning CHIRP off. I’m not sure that the US2 83/200 supports it anyway, but I’ve found I see better results without it on sometimes.

If you can swing it in you budget, get yourself a Mega+ unit. As far as what units to get and where to put them, it really depends on your style of fishing and what transducer you put on your trolling motor. I mounted a SI unit on my console and a DI on my bow. I have built in DI on my trolling motor so I needed the DI unit on the bow to use it. I can view SI on the bow unit from the transom mounted transducer as I have the two units networked. I walleye fish so I don’t have the need for SI transducer on my trolling motor in my opinion. I like to be able to use the SI to scout for structure and fish before putting the trolling motor down.

Just like Matt’s suggestion, I fit my third battery under one of the jumpseats next to the cranking battery. Both are 31s. This is on a Tyee but maybe it will work on the impact too.

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That boat should meet your needs just fine. I assume when you want to put 6 people in the boat you’re just burning gas and cruising?? If so that set up will work well. I don’t think there are many boats that would fish 6 comfortably unless you’re throwing a bunch of slip bobbers. Even then that would be tight.

I wouldn’t say the Impact is the best big water boat Lund makes, but most days it should be fine. It’s a fairly light compared to the Pro V and Tyee. Like Big Werm said, the Pro V would be a better choice, but if you pick your days and drive smart, the Impact will be fine.

Get all Group 31 batteries for sure. Are you planning on a kicker?? I found on my old Pro V, the 80 lb would be fine, especially if I dropped the kicker down and just put it in gear. Usually the wind would kick up waves big enough to pop out the trolling motor before the trolling motor was overworked. The kicker really helps with this. You mentioned the St. Lawrence, that river has a ton of current, so a 36 V would really help if you had room for the 3rd battery.

Easy to overthink it when fishing in the BW. A leech on a 1/8 or 1/4 oz jig or a slip bobber rig have probably accounted for 90% of the fish I’ve caught up there. A #7 Shad Rap has probably taken the rest (gold is especially good on stained water lakes). As already mentioned, old fashioned twister tails do work well up there as well. Always have at least one bobber cast out from camp.

I use a leech locker to keep my leeches alive. I try to stick to 1/2 lb per locker to keep them from getting over crowded. I like the style that twists to lock, way less chance of it opening up unexpectedly.

About 10 years ago, I started lashing my rods to the canoe with Bungee Dealee Bobs. No more carrying rods across portages in your hands. I also take the reels off on big travel days to make loading and unloading packs easier. I’ve decided I’d rather not fish while traveling and get where I’m going faster. Your call though.

From my experience over the past couple years, expect to see plenty of people. Try to make camp by early afternoon at the latest.

My old boat had a kicker with the remote control at the console. I think for the most part it worked well, but I felt like I really didn’t have great throttle control. My new boat I picked up this spring has a tiller, I guess I haven’t done a ton of trolling in it yet to come to a solid conclusion but I think I’m liking it a bit more. As mentioned above, worst part is going to the back to trim down and start.

Right, as long as you’re networked to a DI/SI unit you can see those on the standard unit. The transducers need to be plugged into the DI/SI unit though.

Disclaimer: I have this set up on my boat based on what I read off Humminbirds website and forums, however I haven’t tried it yet. I have a SI on the console and DI on the bow, but I have a DI transducer on my Terrova. I haven’t tested viewing SI on that DI unit at the bow yet. Everything I’ve read, including from the manufacturer, says it should work though.

I will be testing it out this weekend though

I believe in your situation, you can save even more money and just get the Sonar/GPS combo. The only reason you’d need the MDI is if you had the MDI transducer on your trolling motor and wanted to use that. Otherwise, you should be able to share those transducers on the back of the boat through the ethernet network.

Each unit will operate independently, they don’t “share” screens. You can look at SI on one and 2D on the other, or whatever.

I just purchased a 2021 Tyee this spring and had a similar plan to you for my electronics and network. When I got the boat, I noticed that they used 8 AWG wire for power to the fuse block and had labeled circuits for depth finder and bow depth finder. In addition to that I had 4 ACC circuits to utilize. Based on all that, I decided to just power everything off that fuse block and see what happens. I have two Helix 9s with the ethernet switch and it has worked flawlessly. Even on the maiden voyage where I almost drained my battery completely (blew the fusible link in the motor), I had both Humminbirds running, the radio on and even when starting the motor at the end of the day (with low battery voltage) the Humminbirds didn’t shut off.

Anyway, just letting you know to just check into if the factory wiring may be sufficient to take care of your needs without the extra work. On my old Pro V, the factory wiring was woefully insufficient, but it seems like Lund may have stepped up their game there.

You could go through the effort of tracking it down, but I’m not sure it’s worth it. I have a MSI+ transducer attached to the standard 3/4″ board and that thing isn’t going anywhere. If you have it mounted properly, there really is very little force imposed on the bigger side imaging tranducers. Mine is positioned so it’s not even in the water on plane.

Like I said, up to you if it gives you piece of mind, but I don’t think it’s necessary.

Sounds like the wires go through your fuse block if the main power switch turns it off. I’d start pulling fuses on the fuse block until you find which one kills the power to the feed, then you’ll know what circuit it’s on. On my old Pro V, those accessory wires were jumpered off the courtesy lights. If they are on their own fuse, you could always replace the fuse with a 3 amp instead of putting in an inline.

I’m sure it can handle the weight, but it looks like a snug fit on your transom to fit another motor. Is there enough beam to accommodate a kicker?? Will the motors be banging into each other??

I’m betting you can go to any canvas shop and they’d make one up for you real quick.