BigBendFishing.Net

I have a 14' tracker grizzy with a 20hp johnson tiller on it and i have the worst problem tring to get anywhere on the flats with the grass. It catches on the foot of the motor and of course it just revs up then, then i had to stop get the grass off and try again, this happens very quickly. It is a flat bottom boat and i figure the grass just rides under the boat and catches on the motor. Does anyone please and suggestions or a poss solution to this problem, i love going out on the flats but it is a real pain, any help would be awesome, thanks

Ok stupid question here but you are running in deep enough water that your prop is not cutting up live bottom gras right?

Yeah I can be in 5-6 foot of water and it catches on the motor, it's the surface grass that gets me. I see other flat bottom Jon boats and they don't seem to have the same problem, my motor is very old but don't thing that has anything to do with it, it's a 69'

I sure cure.....get a mud motor!

Are you running a fin on it? If not try dropping your motor is possible.

Would love a mud motor but there is the cost issue, maybe in the future, no fin on it I can only adjust the tilt on it

I had the same problem with my 14 foot jon boat with a 9.9 hp Mercury. I just had to stop every so often and clear the grass from the motor. Sorry that I don't have any suggestions. But I do feel your pain....

Kenfly, sure plenty of us with outboards who struggle with the issue of grass floating in the water column, and not just with older designed models.

Closest fishing bud has a relatively modern yamaha & I have an e-tec I love but both regularly alarm / require pausing to clear when the grass is thick. Not sure that's what you want to hear, but true. Only can add that I have a bit better luck running unit deep as I can for the conditions versus running high.

have this problem all the time with my 90hp 2005 Yammy. Once the alarm goes I'm done for 15 minutes. Watch water pressure closely if you have a guage, play with JP and/or trim tilt to see which setting mitigate suffication the most. Also, watch wind forecasts and sometimes you can launch where wind has pushed grass out. Aside from overheating, it becomes very difficult to fish a topwater in places where grass is being pushed in.

Kenfly, Showboat's comment about watching water pressure made me think of one other trick... about 90% of the time I can hear the pitch of my etec go up when grass clogs the intake.

Don't bat 100%, but turning the engine from side to side DOES sometime clear the block. Just have to be REAL careful doing it. I'm not talking high-speed/throw-you-out-of-the-boat sweeping motion... just slight side to side shift at moderate speed... and again does NOT always work, but when it does it's a relief to keep running!

With a 20 hp Tiller drive you should be able to let off the throttle and lift the motor out of the water for a second or two and clear the grass (grass will fall off) it's tricky to do and you must not lift it too high or it will catch and not go back down and if it stays up too long you will burn up your motor. it' how we run the wacissa river because of the grass. takes some practice , just ease off the throttle lift motor grass falls off and return foot to water only takes a second or two and you won't even loose plane when done right.

One suggestion I have is to make sure your motor is mounted at the correct height on your transom. The flat plate right above your prop should be even with the bottom of your hull when the motor is down.

Other than that, there is not much you can do. Try to hit the thin spots in the grass mats perhaps.

Things could be worse - I have a jet foot motor so mine sucks it up like a giant vacuum cleaner. I just tolerate it for a month or two in the Summer.

- Steve Stinson
President
NFGFC

I have a G-3 , 14 ft. skiff, with a 9.9 Merc 4 Stroke and have this problem all the time. The aluminum rails under the hull gather and direct the floating grass onto the foot of the motor. Requires me to idle it down, shift into nuetral, then into reverse, and that usually kicks up a "wad" of grass. Then i'm good to go --how far (?) depends on the thickness of the grass.............. It is a pain !!

This an annual problem once the grass starts dying off,the storms tear it from the bottom and the scallopers dig it up. As Stinson said,check the motor position and avoid the grass mats.

Had to stop a dozen times today to clear off grass.
It can manifest itself many ways that will make you wonder about your motor/boat health.
But it's just the grass.