# Rules To Avoid Abusing Your Boat



## CaptainSolo (Nov 4, 2016)

Let me begin by saying I USE my boat.  I grew up fishing in Florida where everything is shallow, covered in grass, and hard to get to, so I am certainly no stranger to using my bass boat as an All Terrain Vehicle blasting through walls of reeds, matted grass and the like in order to get where I need to go during a tournament......because I usually take pity on my equipment when I am afforded a fun day.  

With that being said, I also take care of my equipment.  I know how what the limits of my gear are and I operate within that range in order to get to where I need to go and then get back.  

Anyways, I figured I would share some of what I have learned as a shallow water guy that has helped me keep my boats in working order for years.

The last event I was at in Louisiana is a perfect example of seeing numerous examples of equipment abuse, specifically to lower units.  I saw dozens of expensive engines with chunks taken out of their skegs, bent stainless props, and even line sticking out of the prop.  In all my years fishing shallow water I have only damaged one lower unit, and my current boat, being four years old and seeing hundreds of hours in dangerous waters has only sand marks on the skeg.  

So, here are some of my rules for operating in hazardous waters:

#1: Trim UP when going DOWN:  I learned real quick that one of the best ways to avoid contact with the bottom, even in really shallow water, is to trim the motor while Im slowing down.  The trick is to add just enough power as you slow down and raise the motor that the bottom of the boat doesn't just want to hit the bottom either.  It's a balancing act and it takes some practice, but being able to slow down and trim up at the same time without causing damage to your hull is the easiest way to avoid damage to the prop or keg.  Conversely, when getting up in shallow water, first make sure you have enough depth to get on plane, make sure the bottom is either sand or mud and then if you have a partner, just ask him to jump on the bow briefly to keep it down.  If you don't have a partner, or you have a full tournament load, start your hole shot by pointing about 90-degrees from where you want to go and then turn as you give it full throttle....by simply turning you are allowing your lower unit to kick out of the way while also getting lift.    I tend to trim the motor all the way down when getting on plane....the last thing you want is to plow by having the engine too high up.  

#2 Never run anywhere you don't know:  Ok, I agree, this sounds very simple, but the fact is that people get careless when it comes to running new water.  Ive been in many situations where I thought it was safe to run, only to run into a stump right before I get on plane....Im lucky like that.  The moral of the story is to take it slow until you understand the bottom composition and depth, and good maps like Navionics cards are essential for this, but I always recommend testing the waters first even if the map says theres plenty of depth.  

#3 Avoid floating debris:  This one is also pretty obvious, but keep in mind that I have had several instances where a thin layer of floating wood chips or other hard debris got into the circulation system and jammed the thermostat wide open.  If you must go through heavily debris or grass, stop whenever it is safe and put the engine in reverse to try to clear as much debris as possible from getting clogged in your engine.  

#4 Bump, Stop, Slide, Go:  I fished a lot of heavily wooded river systems this year, and every one of them had a TON of stumps, some harder than others.  Done correctly you shouldn't experience any damage going through a stump field.  The number one thing I see people make a mistake doing is when they hit a stump at idle they keep the engine in gear.  The best way to navigate stumps is first to keep the engine trimmed high, but low enough to maintain steering, and once you make contact with a stump, immediately put it in neutral and let the stump slide up the hull and away from the bottom of it, once it is to the side, or completely clear, then you can renege the engine.  By doing this you are limiting the amount of incidents where your engine makes contact with the stump, as well as the transducer that you have mounted on the back.  Don't get in a hurry in a stump field.  

#5 Dont Jump Off The Bridge: This is a rule that unfortunately I break sometime, and it really just means, don't follow someone else with hopes that they know where they are going.  The fact of the matter is that you just don't know who knows where they can and cannot run, unless you are following someone who is showing you where to run and they are experienced on that body of water.  I ran into this problem recently on the Atchafalaya Basin when I was following some guy and as we were passing a barge that was hugging the right side of the channel, instead of using my better judgment and overtaking the barge on his port side, I decided to follow my random friend, and he led me right into a field of cypress stumps, barely visible above the surface.  In that instance I got lucky and only hit some soft debris, but I tell you what, I had some choice words for the guy in front of me, and more deservedly MYSELF!

#6 Mind your pressure:  Your pressure gauge for your engine is the most important gauge on your boat.  Know where your operating range is and always pay attention to it so you can detect and correct an issue before it becomes a problem.  And don't be one of those guys that needs to have a rooster tail twenty foot high everywhere he goes.  Find the level where your engine gets the proper amount of water pressure and still performs as far as speed and handling.  Your engine will be able to take a little less pressure in those instances where you are trimmed up to get through heavy grass or very shallow water, but if you are running safe water keep that water pumping hard.  

#7 Check it or wreck it:  If you think you don't need to check behind your prop every day when fishing shallow water fisheries you need to think again.  It only takes one second to pick up somebody's sloppily discarded fishing line to destroy a lower unit and it only takes five minutes to take off a prop, inspect it and install it.  It just makes sense.

Anyways, those are some of the things I have learned running shallow water.  The biggest thing is to just take it slow and error on the side of safety and your equipment at all times.  I hope you already use these principles, and if you don't I hope they help you save yourself some heartache and headache.


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