ANOTHER SEASON ON THE ELITE CIRCUIT
EDITOR’S NOTE: Gussy is currently on the road to the southern U.S and his first Bassmaster Elite event. Every year he gets his new boat ready for the long road ahead.
For the past eleven years I have travelled south in January to start my fishing season in the US, competing in professional bass tournaments. I’m fortunate that Lund is a great supporter and helps me get into a new boat each season. Usually, I’ll get my boat in December and have a few weeks to get it rigged up the way that I want it before I hit the road. My 2023 boat is a Lund 2075 Pro-V Bass XS, which is my dream fishing machine! It’s a bit of a project to rig a new boat but having my hand in it, with the help of some friends around home, I know how everything is set up. This includes knowing where the connections are and where possible problems could occur.
ELECTRONICS
For all anglers, electronics are the most important tool on our boats to help us catch more fish. Do you need the latest and greatest in electronics to simply get out fishing and catch a few fish? Absolutely not, but if you take your fishing seriously or make your living as a tournament angler or guide, you better keep up with the newest technology.
SETUP FOR THE BOAT
When it comes to setting up your electronics the first thing to consider is where to mount them in your boat. You are going to want a screen at the console and one at the bow, or multiple, depending on what accessories you are including. I have much of the Humminbird product line on my boat, including Mega-Live and Mega 360 – both set up on the bow, to help me find and catch more fish. You must decide how you are going to mount your screens. I have done this many ways over the years but on my boat this year, I have three units at the bow.
REDESIGNED CONSOLE
Lund has redesigned their console recently to allow for mounting these units directly. This is very convenient, and they are never going to move or get loose. I use an E-Lock electronic mounting nut to lock the units to the brackets and I never have to take them off the boat. The cover fits over the mounted units perfectly for ease when traveling. Over the course of a season, I get a bunch of messages from people asking about the settings on my electronics units and to be honest I usually don’t have to play with them a whole lot.
GET THE POWER TO THE UNITS!
Mounting your transducers properly is important and then it’s all about providing them with plenty of power. Today’s big screen, colour units require more power than the old gray screen units we used to have.
You want to use larger gauge wire and have clean, solid connections between the battery and the units. Quality batteries are also important.
Last year I changed up the battery set-up in my boat to use two group 31 X2 Power deep cycle batteries to power my motor, electronics, and accessories. I have these two batteries rigged in parallel with jumper cables and I have a ton of power for everything in my boat. It is the way to go. I posted a video of my set-up on my YouTube page last year for anybody that is unfamiliar with this.
My boat has a four-bank charger – three banks for the trolling motor batteries and one bank for the two batteries in parallel and that fourth bank charges those two batteries every night.
My Mercury ProXS motor kicks out quite a bit of juice to keep them bumped up during the day so they are usually charged within a couple of hours every night.
Once I switched to this “two batteries in parallel” system last year I immediately noticed how much better and clearer my electronics worked, they were the best I’ve ever had. If you don’t have room for two batteries in your boat, try to get one good group 31 battery in there, instead of a traditional, smaller cranking battery.
TROLLING MOTOR
Another question that I get asked frequently is “what size of trolling motor do I need to get for my boat?” For most fishing boats over 18 feet you want to get either a 24 or 36 volt trolling motor. A 24 volt runs on two deep cycle batteries while a 36 volt runs on three batteries. If you fish seriously, like to put in long days and have room in your boat, you want to get yourself a 36-volt system if possible. It’s pretty tough to kill a 36-volt motor in a day if you have quality batteries.
I run a 36 volt Minn Kota Ultrex motor on my boat. It has all of the newer trolling motor features available on it, including Spot-Lock and the ability to pair it up with your Humminbird units and their unique mapping. When it comes to actually rigging the trolling motor, I want to get at least six bolts to mount it to the pad on the front of my boat. You don’t want any play in the bracket, make sure it’s tight.
WIRING FOR TROLL MOTOR
Finally, with the wiring, make sure the plug is put together properly, with tight connections, using waterproof connectors wherever they have the possibility of getting wet. If you are unsure of how to rig your 24 or 36 volt system, Minn Kota has diagrams on their website to help you do it correctly, which is easy. With all trolling motors, you want to get the same group 31 deep cycle batteries.
ADD ON ACCESSORIES
In addition to trolling motor and electronics, there are more accessories to include on today’s boats to turn them into fishing machines. I run a 10” Atlas jack plate on my boat that I really like for the ability to move my motor up or down. In shallow water, I can lift the motor to run around but on the other side, in rough water, I can put the jack plate all the way down and be able to trim up to lift the bow, making for a more pleasant ride. You can also play with the exact height to get the most speed from your rig.
Along with the jack plate, I have a set of T-H Marine FingerFlex Blinker Trim switches that I use to control my jack plate as well as the trim so I never have to take my hands off the wheel. They are a nice addition.
T-H Marine offers almost every accessory you can think of to trick out your boat. On my new rig, I have included some of their LED strip lights inside my compartments, a G-Force Eliminator Prop Nut on my trolling motor to make it quieter and allow me to check for debris inside the prop from time to time. I also have a set of their Steer Stop Hydraulic Steering Locks on my motor whenever it is on the trailer to keep it from moving around and I carry their Prop Master Propeller Wrench and Prop Stop in my boat in case I ever need to change a prop. They have a ton of cool stuff to trick out your boat, a lot of which is affordable.
RIG YOUR OWN BOAT IF YOU HAVE THE TIME
Rigging the equipment on your boat yourself is great if you have the time and some space to work on it. Knowing how things are set up, where they are placed and where all of the connections are can help you out big time if you ever have issues down the road. Almost everything on the boat relies on battery power so again, one of the most important investments in your boat should be your batteries. If the batteries are strong, all of the equipment on your boat can work the way it’s supposed to.