Quote Originally Posted by buster View Post
When you read my next suggestion, just keep in mind my forum title, "Senior Geezer", and take it for whatever you think it's worth.
I hate to over simplify things, but may I assume that you have considered using "POLES"?
They are cost effective, and although manually operated, they are fully steerable, and come with forward, neutral, and reverse built right in? Just a thought!

However you end up doing it, You will probably need to spend a lot of nights "froggin" in order to pay for your equipment. It's a good thing you enjoy it.

Dave
When I was young I wasn't allowed a motor on my boat. All I had was a pole, the river is to shallow in some areas for oars to do any good. I spent a lot of time on the river during summer vacation from school poling around the river. Some days I would cover 20+ miles.

I don't know about frogs but I've taken my trolling motor off my boat. Idling the motor scares the fish less than having a prop in the water, I've had fish swim along with the boat when idling along.

As for lights, Buster has it right, they suck when on the cage. They light up the boat fine but you can't see worth %^&*^ with them. Any lights other than the navigation lights on a boat while under way are not legal. The exception to this is "docking lights" on the bow but can only be used when docking the boat. I've found that using no light is best allowing your eyes to get adjusted to the darkness. I use a spotlight sparingly because every time you use it, it takes a while for your eyes to adjust again. Running the river here for 40+ years also helps a bit knowing where the rocks are and the deeper channels for safe running at night. The winter ice does move some of the rocks around tho.