This is the view that has kept me from writing in this blog; it was my original intention to add to this blog each week, but when push comes to shove and I can either write this or go fishing - well, you can see what wins out!

In this post we're going to talk about boats - new, expensive boats!

I am very used to my old beater Lowe aluminum boat. It was great - shallow draft, jet drive, and you could bang it up against nearly anything and quite simply not have to worry.

Fiberglass boats are not like that!

All it takes is floating by the dock, after you have carefully put the boat in the water:

Get the roap ready, back into the water till just the bow is out, then take the rope to the dock and tie it off. Back in far enough to float the boat free, and carefully pull forward. If you get a rope that floats, there is a much smaller chance of snagging the rope on the trailer when you are pulling forward. If you do, this is what happens:

That's not what knocked a hole in my gel coat, though - that was me, sitting in the boat, not tied up and messing with the super cool Lowrance Elite 5 that the guys at Denver Marine hooked me up with. It was a nicve, calm day, no other boats out, and I was all of a sudden aware of several things at once. One, waves had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, as they are wont to do, and my boat was fifteen feet closer to the concrete lip of the boat landing than I thought.

And Bang!

A hole in the gel coat of my brand new bass boat.

Thanks to another great local business,

Four Season Marine Supply

575 Hwy 16 N, Denver, NC

(704) 489-8242 ‎

and the Evercoat gel coat repair kit they sold me, I now have a gel coat that does not have a hole in it - perfect repair, and super easy to accomplish. Unfortunately  all the pictures of the repair process were accidentally deleted and I hope that one unintended collision with concrete structures is all this boat will ever have!

The water was warming to the low seventies, but due to the weather over the last week and a half has been reduced back to the mid sixties - the spawn looks like it will be set back another week or two.

But the  fish are biting!

This was caught on a small soft bait - some kind of little shad thing, the Fluke I believe, and this is what I have caught most of them on; and small jointed shad crank baits - more in a week or so!

There will be more coming soon! This is a just a quick word to let you know that LakeHawk's Ranger Z117 will be delving into the 2013 Ranger boat that is the subject of this blog - we will also cover fishing in NC and some other subjects, including the idea of the Ranger lifestyle.

Let's face it, this boat is built for fishing - but it is built for speed too. I just wanted to get that right out in the open! We buy these boats not just to fish from, but to go fast in. The tourney guys can talk about a monetary necessity - the need for speed is a biological necessity. I buy a fast car, where am I gonna drive it? But if I buy a sweet new bass boat?

I can go as fast as I want - except in the no wake areas, and only when it is absolutely safe! It's a speedboat! These things are like a little water rocket, which means intense fun!  So, the other ones can say what they want - I would not have spent the money I did to go 18 miles an hour.

I got this boat at Denver Marine - all the guys there are great, Thad and Bjorn, thanks a lot. Danny is the best boat dealer around this area!


The Ranger Z117 is 17'6", and came equipped with an Evinrude 115 HP hi output oil injected engine and a bunch of extras that the guys at Denver Marine threw in, like the upgraded depth finder/gps the Lowrance Elite 5 - but where's my T-shirt!

I love this motor - depending on conditions, this boat has already seen a little over 50 mph, and with the modern motors there is no break in period!

More will be coming soon, as well as an initial review of the boat from stern to stern and everything in between - the good, the bad and the ultra shiny!

See ya on the lake!