Lake Jackson 8-30-2015

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CoastalPirate
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Joined: June 17th, 2011, 3:38 pm
Location: Tallahassee

Lake Jackson 8-30-2015

Post by CoastalPirate »

Hit Rhoden Cove at 6:45 am with Rastus. Unknown air temp and water temp, but with the small breeze and the rain from yesterday the air felt like the low 80's and water was really cool! Felt like Fall is on its way! Cloudy until about 10:30 am. We trolled the right side of Jackson until the last dock and then sped into the lily pad jungle. I'm glad we did because from 9am-10am we caught 9 bass! The largest weighing 3 pounds 3 oz. Rastus total = 7, My total =2. Rastus caught one bass on a lipless crankbait (gold and black) and the rest on a fluke (baby bass weightless Texas rigged). My two bass were caught on a zoom horny toad (black and yellow hopped and swam on the surface). As we made our way in a crappie fisherman told us that a lady in a kayak also caught 7 bass. What an awesome day of fishing! Sadly, in an attempt to push the new boat to its top speed I ended up losing my hat. Bman I will be hitting you up soon for a new bigbend hat.
Rastus and his 3. 03 oz
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My 2.02 oz and RIP hat.
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Ted in Tallahassee
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Re: Lake Jackson 8-30-2015

Post by Ted in Tallahassee »

Well dang I need to put my weed motor on & hit the lake again. I live 9 minutes away from Miller landing, driveway to boat in water. I have the Yamaha 25 on the Tin Can now as I have been concentrating on St. Marks gulf trips lately but 9 bass in one day let alone a couple of hours? Dang!

Also, you are driving me nuts with the pics of your Mako skiff. Is that the 17? I have been obsessing for months about that very boat. It seems perfect for what I want to do. The Tin Can (my 15' Lowe jonboat) is just a little too small with any more than two people and it can't take anything more than a light to medium chop at speed without banging all the occupants to death. Anyways how do you like your skiff? Pros, cons? What engine do you have?
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CoastalPirate
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Re: Lake Jackson 8-30-2015

Post by CoastalPirate »

Ted, it is the Mako 17' Pro Skiff. Came with a Mercury 60 HP and man she is a beaut. Now I've been fishing out of a 10' pelican for almost 5 years now so anything bigger than that is a pro and which all comparisons are drawn from!
Pros:
(1) Enough space to fit 2 fisherman very comfortably. 3 fishermen is doable but there will be a lot of over head casting from the man in the middle of the boat. The boat's first trip out to Ochlockonee Bay held 4 adults and 2 kids and that was a tad uncomfortable, BUT doable. It really depends on the fishing you will be doing.
(2) Balance. While fishing I felt very little rocking from my co-angler. None of that set the hook and hold on for dear life feeling.
(3) Smooth/ Dry ride
Cons:
(1) Storage: There is one hatch for dry storage on the front deck of the boat. That is it. Everything else is wide open. The angle of the dry storage compartment is odd as there is a mound in the middle of it that prevents you from putting anything on a flat surface..like a battery. So I end up putting a lot of my dry storage items in the ice cooler when I plan on a catch and release only day.
(2) Salt water and my mercury do not seem to get a long - The motor seems to sputter or choke while getting on plane in saltwater, but in freshwater it works perfectly. I do not know the reason for this and meant to ask on the forum.
The hunt for the notorious green whale never ends.
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Ted in Tallahassee
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Re: Lake Jackson 8-30-2015

Post by Ted in Tallahassee »

I've tromped around the 17 at Bass Pro plenty of times and know what you mean about the front deck compartment. I figure I could stash the anchor in there and shove life preservers in the skinny areas towards the bow. I also figured I'd use the live well/front seat compartment as dry storage--is that not dry? I also figured I could stash some of the essentials inside the console. Compared to the limited space I have to work with in the Tin Can, the 17 skiff has a warehouse of storage space! And I kind of like the big wide open deck spaces, so you can put stuff, people, gear etc. where you want. It needs more rod holders but that's easily remedied.

My main impediment to my plan of getting the 17 skiff--other than money!--is that the Tin Can is too close in concept to what the 17 skiff is. If I had no boat, or a much smaller boat, no brainer, I'd get the skiff with a 60 hp and trick it out how I wanted. But the Tin Can DOES get me & as many as a couple of people/kids out to the gulf and the lake, and it works fine enough, really. The cons are not intolerable. And it's paid for, and it's set up the way I want it. I even have a mud motor for it in addition to the Yami 25 so I can swap motors and blast through expanses of solid lily pads on lake days. It's small & light enough that I can move it around pretty easily (even when you don't pay attention and get it nearly land bound from a falling tide), and to top it off its green all over (even the engine) and I duck hunt in it too. It's just too dang versatile to get rid of or exchange for a boat just 2 feet longer and about $10,000 extra. It's aggravating because I really like the 17 skiff. Maybe the wife unit will buy me one for Christmas. Yeah right.

Anyways maybe one day I'll see you on the lake or gulf and see the skiff in action and that will push me over the edge.
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