utahrd
Jet Boat Junkie
- Messages
- 90
- Reaction score
- 121
- Points
- 132
- Location
- holladay, utah
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2007
- Boat Model
- SX
- Boat Length
- 23
Hello Fellow Jetboaters,
I know we all enjoy spinning, submarining, cruising, wakeboarding, tubing, etc... with our Jetboats, but I thought I would write up my experiences fishing with the Yamaha sx230 in the hopes that others can gain from my experience. I have invested a ton of time and energy into making my Boat a very capable fishing vessel. First, you have to know some rules set down from my wife: no fish allowed anywhere but on the swim platform area, so here we go.....
Fish Localization:
Originally, I mounted a small Humminbird 345c fishfinder here just under my radio (3.5" screen):
I have found this location to have a clean look, and worked well enough for the past couple of years. One issue with this location, however, is you can't actually see it while you are actively fishing from the stern. This area, is fine for locating the schools though. Others have tended to mount their finders with a RAM mount or custom mounts usually near the factory depthfinder area. Go with what works for you. I have recently upgraded my fishfinder to a larger unit with chartplotting capability. I plan to mount it higher up in the same location most people gravitate to: I will mount my new unit coming off of the sidewall near the factory depthfinder as shown in the pic above. Fishfinder size? personal preference ...For me the 3.5" was ok but a little small. I think a 5" color HD display is probably the best balance of size/utility. We don't have a ton of space in these cockpits and I mocked up a 7" which looked to big. my new finder is a Humminbird 788 XD with a 5" display.
One last thing about the finder: if you run downriggers, you will need a frequency range between 50 and 90 Khz to reliably see your downrigger balls. You need the wider "sweep" of these lower frequencies to mark your downrigger balls which will have blowback of increasing distance with increasing depth. a 200 khz transducer may not be wide enough. Tracking the downrigger weights is extremely valuable at proving your fishing depth, and also for gauging how your blowback relates to your line depth indicator. on Humminbird models, the 200khz/83khz combos work well. a 200khz/50khz may be better. I will report back on that this summer
DO NOT PUT Transducer here:
This is basically the starboard side in the analogous place to the OEM depthfinder location of the portside. The speed pitot was moved next to the scupper following the example of other YJB users. NOTE::: I have already destroyed 2 transducers in this location. I strongly suspect it is due to reverse-jet thrust being vectored onto the transducer with the thrust-vectors in place. I have not heard this problem reported before, but have no explanation as to why I would go through 2 transducers so fast, when others have not reported problems with this mount location. I Moved my 3rd transducer to the opposite side of the scupper from the new pitot location AS SEEN BELOW, and that has been rock solid for 2-3 years.
MARINE RADIO:
I mounted one here:
This is really for safety on large bodies like Lake Powell, Flaming Gorge, or the Pacific Ocean. You can also listen to chatter from other fisherman who may or may not be sharing good intel on good spots. I pretty much fish on MASSIVE bodies of water, its not like typical lake fishing where you drop a line ...you need to hunt the fish down, and intel is key.
ROD Holders:
I installed 2 stainless steel rod holders on the rear parts of the gunwales in this location:
I also added 2 to the bow adjacent to the anchor locker:
The advantage to these flush mount rod holders are that you can attach gimbal mounted devices and add on to them. As seen in the picture, I have Two Walker Tournament-Electric Downrigger mounted into one of the other holes. It is trivial to remove the rigger for storage
I also attached a SCOTTY 3-rod holder
into a SCOTTY gimbal mount adapter
so that I can run 3-rods off of one of the flush mounts. look here at this picture:
As you can see, the downrigger has 2 rod holder mounts. Therefore, we have turned 2 flush mounts into a 5-rod holding system, or a two downrigger system port and starboard
CRAB POT PULLER:
I use this one made by Scotty: also good in the bow rodholders with the scotty gimbal mount under it to pull up my @txav8r box anchor
DOWNRIGGER:[
As mentioned before, I am using a Walker tournament electric downriggers. I have it mounted into the rod-holder with a gimbal mount available from cabelas.
and then have a walker downrigger "short swivel base" mounted to that so I can rotate the downrigger boom.
I have a 48 inch boom, and I believe this is ideal to get tackle away from the jet intakes. I use an 8 lb ball. I ran the electric to the rigger by modifying a marine 12v receptacle which I installed near the port rod-holder, and connected the rigger with a 2 wire trailer connector run directly to the battery below (sorry no pics right now).
TROLLING
What I normally do is run 1 engine at a time for trolling. with both gates in forward-neutral position, and only 1 engine on, the boat will advance at 1.7mph. With the propulsive engine gate in forward-neutral, and the other gate in the reverse setting (with the engine off) you may be able to see a slowing down to 1.5 to 1.6 mph. With 1 engine on, and that gate somewhere between forward-neutral and neutral, you can finesse the trolling speed to between 0.9 and 1.4 mph. This takes a little practice. With both engines on and in forward neutral, you usually see about 2.1 to 2.5 mph. Of course, the wind greatly affects this. In a nice 8-10 knot wind you can do some drift mooching at a reliable 1 knot overwater
Most people will troll for freshwater fish between 1.0 and 2.0 mph.
CATCHING AND LANDING:
As soon as a fish is on, I usually cut the engines, and fight the fish from the transom. after netting, I use the Cleanout compartment as my fish hold, or I use a cooler. On my SX230 this is a perfect holding spot and can accomodate lots of fish and ice. I have also used a cooler on the transom before I learned the geniusness of pouring ice into the cleanout area. This way, all fish and fish smell is contained to the transom. Here is a picture of my cleanout tray where I mounted a washdown hose to clean the guts and blood off the swim platform. You can also see my large folding net from Cabelas fits nicely here. The black bag is my second ancher (Danforth) so that I can anchor in place if necessary to jig.
I know most of this stuff is intuitive, but I thought the guidance on engine gate positions and trolling speed would be the most helpful. I also wanted to let everyone know that the high freeboard of our vessels can be very advantagous. In 10mph winds, the boat will drift at about .7 to 1.0 mph, and this can be successful for a "drift-mooch" type operation.
Using these methods I have caught numerous rainbows, cutthroat, kokanee, mackinaw and striped bass in the waters of Utah.
Good Fishing.
p.s., the name of my boat (although not lettered yet) is "Full Hookup"
[/B]
I know we all enjoy spinning, submarining, cruising, wakeboarding, tubing, etc... with our Jetboats, but I thought I would write up my experiences fishing with the Yamaha sx230 in the hopes that others can gain from my experience. I have invested a ton of time and energy into making my Boat a very capable fishing vessel. First, you have to know some rules set down from my wife: no fish allowed anywhere but on the swim platform area, so here we go.....
Fish Localization:
Originally, I mounted a small Humminbird 345c fishfinder here just under my radio (3.5" screen):
I have found this location to have a clean look, and worked well enough for the past couple of years. One issue with this location, however, is you can't actually see it while you are actively fishing from the stern. This area, is fine for locating the schools though. Others have tended to mount their finders with a RAM mount or custom mounts usually near the factory depthfinder area. Go with what works for you. I have recently upgraded my fishfinder to a larger unit with chartplotting capability. I plan to mount it higher up in the same location most people gravitate to: I will mount my new unit coming off of the sidewall near the factory depthfinder as shown in the pic above. Fishfinder size? personal preference ...For me the 3.5" was ok but a little small. I think a 5" color HD display is probably the best balance of size/utility. We don't have a ton of space in these cockpits and I mocked up a 7" which looked to big. my new finder is a Humminbird 788 XD with a 5" display.
One last thing about the finder: if you run downriggers, you will need a frequency range between 50 and 90 Khz to reliably see your downrigger balls. You need the wider "sweep" of these lower frequencies to mark your downrigger balls which will have blowback of increasing distance with increasing depth. a 200 khz transducer may not be wide enough. Tracking the downrigger weights is extremely valuable at proving your fishing depth, and also for gauging how your blowback relates to your line depth indicator. on Humminbird models, the 200khz/83khz combos work well. a 200khz/50khz may be better. I will report back on that this summer
DO NOT PUT Transducer here:
This is basically the starboard side in the analogous place to the OEM depthfinder location of the portside. The speed pitot was moved next to the scupper following the example of other YJB users. NOTE::: I have already destroyed 2 transducers in this location. I strongly suspect it is due to reverse-jet thrust being vectored onto the transducer with the thrust-vectors in place. I have not heard this problem reported before, but have no explanation as to why I would go through 2 transducers so fast, when others have not reported problems with this mount location. I Moved my 3rd transducer to the opposite side of the scupper from the new pitot location AS SEEN BELOW, and that has been rock solid for 2-3 years.
MARINE RADIO:
I mounted one here:
This is really for safety on large bodies like Lake Powell, Flaming Gorge, or the Pacific Ocean. You can also listen to chatter from other fisherman who may or may not be sharing good intel on good spots. I pretty much fish on MASSIVE bodies of water, its not like typical lake fishing where you drop a line ...you need to hunt the fish down, and intel is key.
ROD Holders:
I installed 2 stainless steel rod holders on the rear parts of the gunwales in this location:
I also added 2 to the bow adjacent to the anchor locker:
The advantage to these flush mount rod holders are that you can attach gimbal mounted devices and add on to them. As seen in the picture, I have Two Walker Tournament-Electric Downrigger mounted into one of the other holes. It is trivial to remove the rigger for storage
I also attached a SCOTTY 3-rod holder
into a SCOTTY gimbal mount adapter
so that I can run 3-rods off of one of the flush mounts. look here at this picture:
As you can see, the downrigger has 2 rod holder mounts. Therefore, we have turned 2 flush mounts into a 5-rod holding system, or a two downrigger system port and starboard
CRAB POT PULLER:
I use this one made by Scotty: also good in the bow rodholders with the scotty gimbal mount under it to pull up my @txav8r box anchor
DOWNRIGGER:[
As mentioned before, I am using a Walker tournament electric downriggers. I have it mounted into the rod-holder with a gimbal mount available from cabelas.
and then have a walker downrigger "short swivel base" mounted to that so I can rotate the downrigger boom.
I have a 48 inch boom, and I believe this is ideal to get tackle away from the jet intakes. I use an 8 lb ball. I ran the electric to the rigger by modifying a marine 12v receptacle which I installed near the port rod-holder, and connected the rigger with a 2 wire trailer connector run directly to the battery below (sorry no pics right now).
TROLLING
What I normally do is run 1 engine at a time for trolling. with both gates in forward-neutral position, and only 1 engine on, the boat will advance at 1.7mph. With the propulsive engine gate in forward-neutral, and the other gate in the reverse setting (with the engine off) you may be able to see a slowing down to 1.5 to 1.6 mph. With 1 engine on, and that gate somewhere between forward-neutral and neutral, you can finesse the trolling speed to between 0.9 and 1.4 mph. This takes a little practice. With both engines on and in forward neutral, you usually see about 2.1 to 2.5 mph. Of course, the wind greatly affects this. In a nice 8-10 knot wind you can do some drift mooching at a reliable 1 knot overwater
Most people will troll for freshwater fish between 1.0 and 2.0 mph.
CATCHING AND LANDING:
As soon as a fish is on, I usually cut the engines, and fight the fish from the transom. after netting, I use the Cleanout compartment as my fish hold, or I use a cooler. On my SX230 this is a perfect holding spot and can accomodate lots of fish and ice. I have also used a cooler on the transom before I learned the geniusness of pouring ice into the cleanout area. This way, all fish and fish smell is contained to the transom. Here is a picture of my cleanout tray where I mounted a washdown hose to clean the guts and blood off the swim platform. You can also see my large folding net from Cabelas fits nicely here. The black bag is my second ancher (Danforth) so that I can anchor in place if necessary to jig.
I know most of this stuff is intuitive, but I thought the guidance on engine gate positions and trolling speed would be the most helpful. I also wanted to let everyone know that the high freeboard of our vessels can be very advantagous. In 10mph winds, the boat will drift at about .7 to 1.0 mph, and this can be successful for a "drift-mooch" type operation.
Using these methods I have caught numerous rainbows, cutthroat, kokanee, mackinaw and striped bass in the waters of Utah.
Good Fishing.
p.s., the name of my boat (although not lettered yet) is "Full Hookup"
. Must have been years ago! they haven't been that healthy at powell since 2012!