Prop or pump

[Small Fry]

When I bought my boat last month it's a 1990 18ft Alumweld FV 200 Merc mounted on the back I got the pump to go with it.
Here is the question,

I want to fish the flats down around Astoria for Strg would I be better off with the pump?

I don't know the area very well and I know there are a lot of shallow areas. So what should I do.

Second question,

How difficult is it to swap.

[ 05-10-2002, 06:25 PM: Message edited by: Small Fry ]

[Flatfish]

The prop is safer.Last year while springer fishing above the bridge,the wind hauls from South to straight out of the West and about 50 mph.The waves are about 6' high and a 1 1/2 second split.We took every 3rd or 4th and clipped the top 6" or so off the wave.200 Merc with pump.20' alumaweld.The bilge was losing the war.We could not pick up the bow fast enough and had to take out at a different ramp because we couldn't get back to the John Day ramp.Had we had a prop we would have been fine.It would have enabeled us to hold the bow up and plow thru those short waves.The pump is best most of the time but it almost got us that time.Scary stuff.Oh yeah,the guy running the sled has a captians lic.So he is a little qualified.Glad it wasn't me running the thing.We would have been on the news for sure.
As far as switching them between pump and prop.It all depends on what is "hard".What some think is easy some fear.It is not too mechasnically tough just kinda heavy and awkward.
Good Luck.
Mark

[Jellyhead]

One thing about a pump is that it will definitly let you run shallow.......tooo long. W/a prop, you will know when you are too shallow and have time to trim up and back out. With a pump, you will not know if you are too shallow until you have to push your boat off of a sand flat. Pumps let you run shallow for sure, A river atlas, and good charts will keep you in the channel, no matter what you have. I suggest a good charts, slow speeds no matter what you have in unfamiliar water.

And flatfish is exactly right about the safety factor of being able to trim up you're bow in big swells. I have a 16' bass boat and have been able to navigate massive swells by trimming up the bow and breaking waves with the bottom of the boat, not taking them over the bow.

There's tradeoffs to owning every kind of boat. The best boat to have is six of them, like me :smile:

BTW, I am in the process of buying a sled w/a pump to add to my fleet. For running rivers. The grady white is quite aways off in my future. If I get that, I'll run the salt and brackish stuff too.

Aaron

[fishbait]

Small fry,

Good points for both... When I have fished the shallow water by Astoria I have been in 4-8 feet of water. If you are careful you should be fine with a prop, plus you will get better gas mileage and the added control mentioned earlier. If you need to get shallower than say 4 ft, and I don't know why you would, use your kicker.

[Small Fry]

Great information from all. Thank you.

:cheers:

[crabbait]

Scott - You got it right about duck hunting. the thing that they did not mention is that you can run in the dark with a lot more confidence with a pump knowing that you do not have the lower unit sticking down. It is not shallow water that gets you when duck hunting, its the floating debris.

Rather than plugging up the pump, I run the kicker in the shallow weedy stuff or use a push pole. Save the pump for the pre-dawn run on the river.

[scottev]

I do a lot of duck hunting around the islands with a prop and was considering a jet - I talked with some of the hunter who use a jet and they said the things are constantly getting clogged up. A couple of the guys said they spent most of their time in the shallows with their jets not working and running with their kickers