Boat set up

[scatmaster]

Have questions, i recently purchased a used boat. I think i got a pretty good deal. '92 Starcraft superfisherman 18'6" long with a 90 horse mercury. I love walleye fishing (although i am not the greatest) I would like to set it up to troll for walleye. my buddies and i go to canada every year and usually jig but would like to spend more time trolling. Would like some input as to how to set it up. It came with some older metal rod holders, and has a new 53 lb. bow mount trolling motor. When I purchased it it also came with 5 downriggers, and a dash mounted Lowrance fish finder (which i would like to replace) I sold my 14' boat for $3,500 and bought this for $1,000 so i have $2,500 to spend. The guy I bought it from bought it new in '92 used it for 4 years and then stored it in his pole barn for ten years (he got married and had twins). He made a joke one day that he would take $1,000 bucks if someone would get it out of his polebarn. This is when i pulled out the check book.

[bigrackmack]

Are the downriggers mounted on the boat? Are thier any rod holders on it know?.....Are you gonna run big boards or in-lines.....If it has rod holders on it already you might want to just do some trolling with it and see if you like were they are if not change things around....I too bought a boat last spring and fished out of it to see if I liked the way it was set up (which I didn't) and I will be rigging it a little different this winter.....Also check out some boats at the marina's and see how they are set up it might help you out...Charter boats are usally set up nice because most chater guys been doing it awhile and worked out the bugs......Good Luck and get the checkbook out again cause your gonna need it.....Mack

[Slick fishing]

You lucky dog you got a deal by the sound of it, I have a 2004 StarCraft Super fisherman 17'6' and I love it, I have 90hp 4 stroke Yammie on mine.. Well back to the subject at hand rigging your boat..

Alright here is a picture of mine and this is what I troll with in the lake or river so 4 rod holders are all you need if your fishing walleye with two guys in the boat because thats the most rods you can run at one time with two guys in the boat.. But if you fish for salmon your going to need more, I recomend buying your last rod holders first which would be Burts or pursuits the best on the market if you ask me.. Lets see some pictures of the back of your boat and we will go from there to see what you will need.. Cya Slick http://www.teclausa.com/bert/products.html http://www.teclausa.com/bert/products/rodholder.html

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/medium/Picture_0112.jpg

[kbkrause]

In addition to your rod holders if you're going to be on any big water get a VHF, and no matter what I would get a GPS.

Congrats on the boat!

[walleyeman2006]

id side mount the rod holders and make sure if there metal they have some sort of soft covering.....plainer boards work better then inlines for inland lakes imo....fish run smaller and if you use the right type of release they will release even with a perch on em i use a gator clip with heat shrink over the teeth with a shower curtin clip...........i got my 18ft star craft the same way mines a 76 but it was only 500 lol my uncle wanted room in his garage

[sock-em]

The only thing I'd add is make the channel (bert's or pursuit's) at least 2ft. I put two 2ftrs on my gunnel, both sides of the boat. I left a 4 inch gap between both channels so it would be easier to position rod holders. Like Slick's picture I have 2 Bert's racheting holders ( Their great for big dipsies salmon fishing) and 2 of tite-loks triple rod holders. The mast of the triple rod holder slides right in the same channel as the Bert's or Pursuit's rod holders. All these rod holders have rubber cups on top to protect your rods. I bought my tite-lok triple rod holders at the fishing show. You can usually get some pretty good deals. Some might say 4 rod holders on each side is too much, but theres been many a time you have more than one fish on and you need to move a rod over to the other side of the boat, or just get one out of the way and those extra rod holders come in handy. Like bigrackmack said check out some other boats. Get ready to spend some money, you just don't want to spend the money twice cause you were in to bigga hurry. Your way ahead of the game, you got one hell of a deal on that boat, congrats.

[scatmaster]

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/500/medium/dons_boat.jpg (http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=54151&size=big&cat=)

[Old Bill]

You got what I was looking for when I ended up paying the long dollar for a new one. I bought a new 19' Fishmaster in 1998 with a 115 Mariner, over $16,000.00 and I put several K more into it since.

The one thing you may want to consider is a kicker. I hung a 9.9 4stroke out back and love it to death, it is quiet, slow as you want to go and smooth with no stinkin smoke. You won't be able to troll slow enough with your big motor unless you put a plate on it, and then there will be all the speed between the plate down, and the plate up that you will have to idle up the motor, and it still won't be just what you want most of the time. It will work, but just not as good as a small kicker.

Good luck and have fun,
Old Bill

[baydog2]

That sure looks like a heck of a nice boat for a grand total. It looks like you already have a VHF by the size of the antena. Now some nice Ram 2000 rodholders and a good gps unit, along with some offshore inline boards and your ready to nail some walleyes I would say.

PS. If you need a $1000 back I would be happy to take it off of hands and get it out of your polebarn.;) :evil: ;) :lol:

[tubejig]

The one thing you may want to consider is a kicker. I hung a 9.9 4stroke out back and love it to death, it is quiet, slow as you want to go and smooth with no stinkin smoke. You won't be able to troll slow enough with your big motor unless you put a plate on it, and then there will be all the speed between the plate down, and the plate up that you will have to idle up the motor, and it still won't be just what you want most of the time. It will work, but just not as good as a small kicker.



Yes, Yes, and more Yes. Kicker was best thing I ever bought, 2nd best was the panther electric steering control. You can pick away at buying rods, reels, holders, etc but not engines.

[scatmaster]

It came with a VHF radio, Older Lowrance fishfinder on dash (I have an X-135 in front), four rod holders, five cannon hand operated downfiggers but only three were mounted on an aluminum bracket that went across the rear. It also came with a 72" Riviera planer board mast (no planer boards). I purchased the MInn-Kota 53lb trolling motor. Thanks for all the help, my first two major purchases were going to be a color GPS fishfinder to replace the one on the dash, then the Kicker motor, then the planer boards and rods. Oh yea, I did find two Church inline boards in the front compartment but am not quite sure how to use them. It'll be an interesting year.

[waterfoul]

well scatmaster, I'm not far away so if you need any help "using" your new boat you just let me know!!! LOL!!!

[scatmaster]

[quote=Waterfoul]well scatmaster, I'm not far away so if you need any help "using" your new boat you just let me know!!! LOL!!![/quot

When I become competant (incompetance hates a crowd). I am a fairly good fisherman but this is kinda new to me. but love to meet fellow outdoors persons...

[walleyeman2006]

those down riggers come in handy if you try fishing alone it makes things a lot easier ....and if your in more then 20 fow makes crawlers hallin easy,,,not that i recomend fishing alone at all

[Frozenfish]

Nice looking boat for a G!