welcome to boat ownership

Sounds like you had a fun adventure. Glad you made it out and back safely.

Use google earth to see if ramps you have never been to have courtesy docks. Many of the parks have websites with this information as well.

After reading about this I am tired and ready to go to the house myself. It almost sounds like the TM was turned up to high. I promise it will ALL get better in time.

Rookies - Ain't they fun

Glad y'all made it off the lake safely. A word of advice, be careful of what you expose you're family to out there, especially in the beginning. It can quickly turn them off of fishing. You'd gain a lot by finding someone with experience and pitching them your keys for a day while you ride shotgun.

Btw, congrats on the new boat and good job on getting the family involved!

We've all been there

I've been googling. I think the trolling motor was "torque steering" based on what I Google. But it happened even on low speeds. It's not that it was bouncing up and down, it was just changing direction freely and sporatically.

What I can surmise is the trolling motor turns too easily. It's almost no resistance to turn the direction with the foot pedal. They make a device called a "troll perfect" that people say works well for this motorguide motor. Any thoughts?

I typed all that up because it sounded funny, and it was true. But we did have a good time, and can't wait to go back out.


As for lake Lavon, I checked Google maps and there was a courtesy dock on Google, but it wasnt in the water the other day. I'm wondering if I should try Ticky, and figure out how to beach it for loading?

navionics is great though. Allows me to record my attempts at loading the boat in the cross wind.

I think you'd like Lavonia or Collin Park. Both have docks (although the water is very shallow around them). Both parks are also in areas pretty safe to run.

Lavonia looks good on the map. It's a bit further from me, but won't cost me $15... I'll give it a shot maybe saturday.

I know what you mean. It's the furthest ramp from me, coming from Anna. It's where I'll be putting in on Saturday though.

Lavonia Park is a camping type park and they do charge a small fee for using their ramp . So when you arrive just keep driving past it and through the open gate to arrive at Lavonia South , which is closer to the dam and has a courtesy dock but no rest rooms for the family . Since your new to boating as I recently was , you will want to take notice of the wind direction to help decide on which ramp to use . Wind coming from the north makes the Lavonia south ramp tough with waves hitting the transom and trying to fill the boat . When you try beaching the boat make sure you trim/tilt the motor up to prevent the prop from hitting rocks .
My boat had a damaged trolling motor on it when I bought it and I saved money until I could afford a Terrova with pedal and remote and I find the fishing to be more enjoyable , the spot lock is amazing as well as being able to point the boat in a direction and use the " cruise control " option .
Try to also have the boat ready to be launched when you pull onto the ramp . I keep getting held up by folks backing down the ramp and then removing the straps and transfer gear while having lengthy relaxing conversations with the spouse while blocking the ramp and holding everyone up .

Thank you Darrell.