Home Forums Fishing Freshwater My new (to me) fishing machine!

After making do for several years with a very old 14' Lonestar boat that my wife's grandpa gave her/us, I have finally happened onto a deal that got me what I consider pretty near the perfect boat for my type of fishing.

The old 1960-something Lonestar had a failing transom full of corrosion pinholes and just wasn't going to be seaworthy much longer, so when an opportunity came up over the weekend to swap into this boat, I jumped on it. It's a 2001 Sea Nymph/Lowe with a 25 hp Johnson long shaft, front mount electric troller, Lowrance LCD graph that will probably get moved to the front with the transducer mounted on the electric and my new Lowrance with GPS and downscan mounted in it's place, 2 batteries, life jackets, pedestal seats and a nice trailer, all in very good condition.

It's about perfect for the type of fishing I do and I can't wait to get it out on the lake. It's going to be a busy week, but I'm hoping to steal an evening and take it out on a shakedown cruise.

I've waiting 20+ years to be able to get my hands on a boat set up like this. It's pretty puny compared to most of the boats I see here, but I'm tickled with it and for the inland lakes I fish for walleye, pike and panfish, It's going to be ideal.

Here are some pics the previous owner shared with me. I've yet to have a moment to take some better ones that reflect just how clean this thing is. There's scarcely a scratch on this thing.

looks great. Nice and open, economical to run, easy to tow. Deep enough for most lakes and inland waters. I think it's a perfect boat.

Nice.

Took it out for a spin this evening. Runs good, but I think it would benefit from moving some weight forward as she's a little heavy in the rear. It's a little slow to get on plane and shows some porpoising in calm water. With just me in it, it was able to top 25 mph and showed 26 once, measured by GPS. I'm going to look into moving one of the batteries forward into a storage bay under the bow platform to help out.

On the other end of the speedo, it trolls a bit fast, so I need to come up with a plate of some sort to slow it down just a bit.

All in all, I really like it.

Great looking little boat. I'm looking for something very similar but a smidge bigger, 17-19' that can handle some rollers but is still small and light enough to be economical to run and tow.

I know you probably know this and it's a little redneck, but a 5 gallon bucket with 8 one inch holes drilled in the bottom works great to slow your trolling speed. It only costs about $5 too. I and some buds use that method for trout trolling where we need to get down to 1-2mph.

With a lot of those plates you loose the low speed boat control because of choking off the thrust from the prop.
I'd use a drift bag, or a bucket off the back as stated above.


You can't say c h o k i n g !!!
I didn't even mention Linda Lovelace

BGunn, I've experienced that loss of control with plates and may just decide to go with a sock or like TheKid mentioned, drag a bucket with holes in it. I used to have a couple buckets just for that purpose when I had a 16.5' foot boat with a 75 on it. Just tied one to each side cleat and voila, good trolling speed.

Thanks for the kind comments about the boat and the suggestions, gents.

I like it, nice boat. You're going to like it. Only thing that would get me is the lack of a steering wheel, but I've gotten spoiled.

Now put everything else you have going aside and go troll up some walleyes for us to look at!

Seriously that is an outstanding looking package. If the price were right I could see myself doing all of my lake fishing and trot lining with one just like it. I have a 15 horse Evinrude of about the same vintage as your Johnson and it has been a fantastic motor, easy starting and quiet for a 2 stroke. I think you're going to be very happy.

I'd love to, but I'll be putting new brakes on the front of the truck and rotating the tires tonight in preparation for pulling the camper this weekend. We're going to take a long weekend and go visit some family for a couple days.

I'm hoping to get out early next week and drag some crawlers and minnows around for Mr. Wally. Pictures to follow, I hope.

I agree with you about the motor. I had a 1990 20 HP Johnson that I bought new for a late 70's vintage 14' Starcraft deep V. It was nearly identical to this newer 25 and was a darned good motor.

Bruin:

The 25 should troll down slow enough. I have a similar vintage 35 that trolls down to 0.6mph gps. If yours is still too fast, consider backtrolling. Better boat control, just watch the big waves! Good luck with the boat and the walleyes. . I see fillets in your future!

Those old OMC motors are bulletproof. Just in case the motor has a sticker on it that says mix 100:1 DON'T! They changed that mixture after motors started showing up fried for warrenty work. It changed to 50:1 and the factory told the dealers to peel the stickers off. You probably already know that but I just wanted to say it anyways just to be sure.

Love the open floor plan. Killer little rig!

seal billy

I was just typing the same thing about the 100:1.

bruinruin

That is a great outfit.

Yeah it would be a shame to fry such a good little motor because of a sticker.

Not to worry. I was planning on mixing 50:1. This'll be about the 6th 2 cycle outboard I've owned and all of them have gotten the same mix with only one change over the years - the change to synthetic 2 cycle oil for less fouling.

forpest - by my gps, the slowest it'll get down to is 2.1 mph. My previous boat, the above mentioned Lonestar, would get down to about 1.7 mph while being pushed by a Yamaha built 9.9 HP Mariner.

Veddy nice.
Enjoy.

Bruin:

I should have added that my speeds were also gps. . That said, with CLEAN plugs I can get that trolling speed. Have to run wide open a few minutes every hour or so to supposedly burn out carbon. (relieve boredom??) All boats have a different profile and loads. Check plugs, and your rpms if you have the technology. When a motor is out of tune people have been known to crank up the rpm to make it stay running.

Not sure on the 25, but you may have an adjustable low speed mixture/jet. That also must be clean to run the motor slowly.

I have a 4 hp Evinrude mid-70's that trolls so slowly I can watch the propeller go around! Just wish the big ones can.

Bruin:

Too much time on my hands. My 14' Lund with 35hp tops out at 24mph, but trolls slow. Your 25 goes 26mph but won't troll. . I don't think anyone suggested the prop; it could be that your prop is built more for speed (more aggressive?) and mine is built for trolling (less aggressive - lower pitch?) Something else to think about - hopefully while you are trolling!

Nice rig.

I would change the prop (different pitch) to get to your preferred trolling speed.

I highly recommend only to use rec gas in it, with Amsoil.

Good Luck trolling, Maybe see ya on "the bay" someday I just bought a lightly used 2000 Alumacraft 18 footer (needed different prop), and I am smoking the 'eyes right now.

Sounds like sweet setup, Cooperfan. You're referring to Saginaw Bay, right?