How Powerful Of A Motor Do You Need To Fish Big Lakes?

[FishingFool]

such as Rufus, Banks, and Washington.

Will a small 12-14' with a ~15-20HP motor be a little dangerous?

[curado]

yeah a 10 would be better suited for a 12'

[swedefish4life1]

LENGTH,:-$ width,:-$ side heights:-$ , bottom designs or lack of them and weights carried call out HP needed:-$ then add tides, winds and weathers , and extra weight you pack.

Lakes summer =run BUT BE SMART OVERLOADING ANY TUB WITH WEIGHT AND LACK OF hp WILL GET YOU KILLED AND FAST AND PACK ALL THE SAFETY GEAR NEEDED TO FINISH, extra ROPES, FIRST AIDE KITS, EXTRA FOOD AND WATERS AND PFDS!!!:chef:

[Gisteppo]

I used to fish in an 8' tugboat with a 5hp briggs outboard. She took 3' wind waves like a champ and had lower freeboard than most metal fishing boats out there.

Learn to use your boat before you get out on the bigger lakes, and you will be fine. Boats don't kill people, bad seamanship does...

E

[Rich McVey]

Are you talking about a jon boat, row boat, Im assuming is an unfinished aluminum rig. Alot depends on the boat itself and the hull design. I have a 55 on a 15 ft fiberglass, it kisses 45 mph, but will beat you to death if the water is rough. 4 people with gear is pushing it as far as weight/stability goes.

[Anonymous]

It all depends on how confident you are on the water. Then you have to ask yourself how fast you want to get where you’re going. Bearing in mind the safety, size, weight, length, hull design and number of people in the boat that you want to purchase. I’ve seen guys fishing Rufus Woods in Float Tubes and doing very well. Another question you might want to ask yourself is…If I have mechanical issues with my main motor can I make it back to shore? A couple of months ago I towed a couple of guys back to the boat launch that had issues with their main motor. Check out this report: http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReportCo ... id=305&t=1

Just three weeks ago I had the fuel filter plug up on my 115 Yamaha. It was no big deal because I was within a few hundred yards of the boat launch on Rufus Woods and we came back in on the 8hp kicker motor. However it could have been much worse…we had spent that same day 30 miles up river at the net pens. Blufin Loui can tell you how long it takes to travel from the net pens back to the boat launch on a kicker motor. A trip I’m sure he and his wife don’t want to repeat anytime soon. I now carry an extra fuel filter onboard.

For me Safety is the most important aspect of having a good day on the water. Knowing your boat, knowing the water, paying close attention to the weather and above all knowing you and your equipments limits and not exceeding them.

[G-Man]

HP doesn't really come into play as far a safety goes unless your talking about tides, winds and river currents. Do you plan to use your boat on the lake if the wind is blowing at a good clip? Making a quick run to the dock when things look like they are about to get dicey is the fallback for most who venture out on bigger waters. At a minimum you want enough power to be able to keep your bow into the wind/waves and make headway when needed. Ideally you want to be able to get your boat up on plane quickly when it is loaded and move at a fairly good clip say 20 to 25 mph for a boat of your size to effectively fish larger lakes. I'm not saying that you can't take your boat out with 3hp kicker and not be safe or have fun, you just need to launch close to where you will be fishing or endure a long journey at 5mph. One thing to be aware of when fishing Lake Washington and this goes for most any boat under 20', the bridges can get nasty even on a calm day. This is mostly due to boat traffic and waves rebounding, merging/colliding with one another and makes for a real mess, HP doesn't help with this. Banks and RW can sprout whitecaps in a very short amount of time so be prepared, have a backup plan, a good anchor on board and flotation devices for all.

[BassinBomber]

Safety 1st most definately,..on that kind of rig if you hug the shoreline you should be fine,..BUT,..it depends what you're targeting,..LOL,..you're not gonna land any cutthroat fishing near the docks,..but if it's Bass you want then you should be fine!

BB

[A9]

Its not so much about the power of your motor, it's the size/stability/weight of your boat. I used to fish a ton out of a 12' aluminum/15hp, predominately on big water (Puget Sound, Lake Washington, and a lot of smaller trout lakes). The boat worked great for these situations, but I had to watch conditions and check beforehand to see the wind forecasts and what not. It wasn't the most comfortable setup, fished 2 guys fine, 3 made it really tight. It needs to be pretty mellow out there for a 12-14 foot aluminum to be able to be comfortable/safe. However, I did pretty well scooting around with a 15 horse on a 12'er...Never measured the speed, but I'd say somewhere near 25-27mph....I got around pretty quick when it was calm...

Unfortunately you'll be limited in how often you go out, a 12' boat will get beat to snot on Lake Washington on an average summer day because of the boats and wind chopping it up, but early mornings/late afternoons/fall/spring/light wind, you'll be able to go out, as well as calm days. I've recently upgraded boats but still have the 12'er and plan on continue fishing out of it, however, moreso for smaller lakes.

[swedefish4life1]

Just Match the Hatch !!!!:-$ :chef:
Length:-$ , width,:-$ side height:-$ , options:-$ , HP:-$ and progressive Bottom "250 designs:-$ build a fish Hog Boss:salut: not Box![-x

[flippinfool]

Just Match the Hatch !!!!:-$ :chef:
Length:-$ , width,:-$ side height:-$ , options:-$ , HP:-$ and progressive Bottom "250 designs:-$ build a fish Hog Boss:salut: not Box![-x

V MAX:-$ =p~ =p~ =p~ =p~ =p~ =p~

[swedefish4life1]

Yes my son design is each and all:cheers: :chef:

[Mike Carey]

such as Rufus, Banks, and Washington.

Will a small 12-14' with a ~15-20HP motor be a little dangerous?

On calm nice days you'll be fine. Just know the weather report as each of those bodies of water can get windy and white capped fast.

[Bscman]

My fathat had a Smoker Craft Alaskan with a 15hp Yamaha that really hauled butt...we took it out in the sound a few times, and a couple of the bigger lakes on the west side. On a calm day, with two in the boat, it worked out okay. More than enough motor to scoot around given the weight of that setup.

On a windy day or even slightly rough waters, though, it was an edgy and almost miserable day fishing...

If you plan to make only a couple trips a year into "big water" you'll be fine with a 12-14footer...if you plan to make it a consistent thing, you'd be much happier with a bigger boat.