[Skeeterpeter]

I recently got my first boat it's a 94 18' skeeter with a 115 merc on it. The trolling motor is a hand held jobber that is too fast for trolling and hard to operate. I have two depth/fish finders that don't have water temp on them they are old but give me good readings and decent bottom views with the sensitivity turned up. My question is how much of an advantage is the whole new setup? Let's say an I pilot trolling motor and a new lowrance with down scan and GPS and everything? Or can a person be successful with less money is definitely a huge factor mind you I traded for the boat haha. What would be some better options?

[OneBlade]

You don't need all that fancy stuff. If you troll you may want to at least be able to know what speed you're trolling to have an idea what depth your lines are at. You need a fishfinder to be able to find trees and so forth at the bottom. But really from what I've seen if you have The right rod and reel set up and know where to cast and how to catch him you'll do better than a lot of people with all the gear including myself. Just to be in at the right lake at the right time is probably better than having all the gear but at the wrong lake and wrong time. 

[sparkchaser]

I agree, there are some nice expensive gadgets on the market now. All of which will help, but not required. I think above all time on the water, learning a lake, is more valuable than anything. Also, learning about the tendencies of what fish you are after. You would be glad that at a minimum you upgraded your trolling motor.

[Piscolli]

I fish with a 55 lb Minkota bow mount and a $100 Eagle Cuda. With limited graphics I do have trouble find fish when they are scattered but I've put a lot of Crappie in my through the year. My brothers who posted above are right, you can't buy a bite. But the good stuff sure can make it easier. 

[craigm]

I recently got my first boat it's a 94 18' skeeter with a 115 merc on it. The trolling motor is a hand held jobber that is too fast for trolling and hard to operate. I have two depth/fish finders that don't have water temp on them they are old but give me good readings and decent bottom views with the sensitivity turned up. My question is how much of an advantage is the whole new setup? Let's say an I pilot trolling motor and a new lowrance with down scan and GPS and everything? Or can a person be successful with less money is definitely a huge factor mind you I traded for the boat haha. What would be some better options?

                                                                                                                                              It makes no sense to buy thousands of dollars in new equipment for an old boat but updating with used does .As you begin to update your equipment set some priorities ,trolling speed is critical you need a motor that will allow you to troll down to .5mph  up to 3.5 a bow mount electric will do this on your boat perhaps look for a used motor bow mount ,minnkota is my choice and craigslist often has good units at way below new price ,look for one that gives you the ability to vary speeds down to near zero this rules out most bass fishing units that are cable driven and only offer 4-6 set speeds , Once this attained you can now control your boat to most crappie fishing situations. Next you need to know where you are and what is under the boat fish finders and gps has been out for a while so there s a lot of good used equipment out there here I prefer Lowrance but you have other choices . Lowrance offers the elite series with gps and 2d  and down imaging new for less than $300 you have many options including BBC.com for used equipment .I would be glad to help you out with info on equipment pm or call me (my wife says I have owned or used most everything made for fishing she is close to correct but I never said that ). With all that said Good equipment and the abilty to know when and how to use it WILL make you a more successful angler. Good equipment allows you to fine tune all the skills you learned with out it , you will still have days when you can not buy a fish but you will learn something and have a lot more fun with good equipment.

[IAMMAC]

This is a tough subject and all depends on your priorities and how deep your wallet is.  If you want two graphs (I would recommend Hummingbird with SI) and an iPilot it will set you back about $3K OTD.  That's with 2-899s and a 80lb thrust iPilot, might be a little more with installation.  You can easily get by for now with a new (used) trolling motor and a handheld GPS for speed as long as the graphs you have show the bottom fairly well.  That being said all of this equipment does not guarantee that you'll put more fish in the boat but it does help.  With SI you can eliminate a lot of water that you'd probably fish if you didn't have it.   As long as your boat is mechanically sound  and runs good you can spend some money on graphs.  There are plenty of old timers back east where their graphs and trolling motor are worth FAR more that their boat!  Hope this helps....

[Skeeterpeter]

Ok good tips all well appreciated. Now do you think the pilot is something once used you will never go without or is it an acquired taste? Has anyone used it and thought it's unnecessary? Graphs--- do you feel the chart plotter down scan and regular graph all in one is the best or does it become overwhelming?

[sandman]

Ok good tips all well appreciated. Now do you think the pilot is something once used you will never go without or is it an acquired taste? Has anyone used it and thought it's unnecessary? Graphs--- do you feel the chart plotter down scan and regular graph all in one is the best or does it become overwhelming?

The iPilot WILL spoil you. I love the remote. Seldom use the tracking but always use the speed control. Downscan/graph with GPS is good. You don't have to let it overwhelm you but yes, it can. Cool at first but you will back off once you start getting used to it.

[OneBlade]

iPilot is great.  Just being able to tell your boat to go a certain direction and not have to adjust it is really nice.  No more put your head down to tie a lure and your boatmate says you're doing circles.  Really gives you time to fish and not manage the trolling motor.  Also easier to control from anywhere in the boat.  Depending on size of boat, you can get a good trolling motor with ipilot for $1200-$1500.  If you get the right size, there's a chance you could take that trolling motor with you onto your next boat if that's a concern.  You'll never get what you pay for it if you sell it with the boat.

Fish finders I think you can find basic ones that give you enough info for $200.  If you think you want the DI or SI, you'll pay significantly more and even if you get it there is a learning curve and not everyone increases their fish caught just because they have SI and DI.

[Skeeterpeter]

I'm thinking the ipilot is something a guy should invest in from what I've seen it's next to necessary.