Rigging my new fishing boat

[fishing addict]

I just finalized the purchase of my first fishing boat. i am just a beginner and would really like to rig the boat to give me a good chance at catching some walleyes. I will fish mostly mille lacs and the metro lakes as well. the boat is a lund fisherman 1700 with a 140hp suzuki 4stroke. What else should I consider getting? a trolling motor or will this engine troll down slow enough? which sonar unit? I am looking at the pinpoint 7520 or lowrance X15. I already have a handheld gps with mapping so thats not important. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also who do you guys suggest as a place I can have my boat rigged up with this equipment?

[setterguy]

I would get few things : trolling motor, drift sock, nice anchor and some marker bouys. That is one nice boat/motor package you got. Good luck with the new toy.

[iffwalleyes]

For locators is you have a GPS already you could look cheaper than the units you metioned and get a nice one. Look at Lowrance X87, Eagle Fishmark 320, Garmin 240 all of these are good units and much cheaper than you mentioned. If you plan to anchor and do some vertical jigging even a vexilar would be nice to have in there. The units you metioned are very good but there are some less expensive options that will do nicely for you. I would get all of what setterguy mentioned as well I have all of it but the drift sock and I have ran into times where it would have been nice to have one.

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Grip it and Rip it

IFFWALLEYES

[Kevin Turner]

Jack @ Action's Fishing Electronics in Anoka Or Jim Wentworth in the Brainerd Area.

[Guest]

The first thing is a set of slash gaurds this is a must if you are going to be on big water. If you do alot of trolling some good rods holders are nice(saves on the wrists)but are not top priority. Get a bow mount trolling motor and put a vex on it. If you do any lindying a bow mount will give you excellent control along with your drift sock.

It all depends on what kind of fishing you are going to do. If you got the money go for the works, you wont be dissapointed. Congrats on the new Lund excellent choice.

[fishing addict]

Kevin,

do you have the number to Jack's in anoka.
Thanks everyone for the responses I think I will stick to the lowrance x87. i can't wait to get on the water.

[Kevin Turner]

Fishing Addict, If you like, please post or forward you e-mail to [email protected], I'll shoot you a PM

[Guest]

wow, looks like we have the same handle... AND the same boat... no, not quite, but close... I picked up a 1700 Angler with a 115 suzuki last year. That has been a great boat, I'm sure you'll be happy with your choice... We did have a problem with the suzuki just after the break-in period. They basically had to rebuild the power-head. They handled it well and we had it back in less than 2 weeks. It was a bummer though, because it went out on our trip to Canada and we ended up having to rent a boat...

We put a Pinpoint TM and graph up front and an X-15 on the console. I plan to add my LX-3 flasher to the rear for this season. The X-15 is nice if you need the GPS capabilities, but the PinPoint graph is much better unit in my opinion. If I had it to do over again I'd have bought a separate GPS unit and Pinpoints on the front and console for locators. The 115 trolls down slow enough to troll plugs, but not for live bait fishing. I feel the trolling motor is a necessity for most types of fishing. A good fish finder would be second on my list, GPS third.

[fishing addict]

Kevin ,
please email me at [email protected]