Pretty much just saying howdy. I bank fished for the majority of my teen years until I just got tired of fighting the fire ants. Finally got myself a little fishing boat that will probably spend most of it's time on Benbrook since I live about 15min from the marina.

Took it out for a quick overview of the lake and a little fishing Sunday afternoon but came up with nothing. From what I'm reading here looks like I need to head towards the south end of the lake for bass and crappie. Hope to get some more time in this week and try to learn some more about the lake.

I haven't caused a traffic jam at the boat ramps yet but if you do get jamed up by a little ford ranger with an grey alumacraft on the back, feel free to lend a hand. *grin*

Welcome and I hope you have good fishing.

Everyone has to learn, so just do the best you can and most folks will be patient and willing to help.

Congratulations, and I'm sure you'll do just fine...if my wife can back an 20' long, 8' wide Hurricane deck boat with a 4wd Suburban with dark tinted windows, you should have no problem with your rig.

Congrats on the boat. We were out last night on Benbrook. Some guy in a big pontoon and a bunch of kids had the ramp hogged up.

congrats & welcome to TFF... Wish you luck on your next outting. Believe me I know how them days feel to get skunked lol.


Rob

I'm sure we'll all hear about here if you do!

If you are conscious that you are having trouble backing, or getting the boat on the trailer that is half the battle. Boaters get more pi$$d off at the amateur boaters who are completely unaware of the trouble they are causing; like using the middle of the ramp wen there are two backing lanes, using the ramp to get the boat ready to launch, or being incapable of backing the trailer.

I watch with marvel the "pro" boat launchers with their $40,000 boats that just back right on down, stop where they supposed to, then back the boat off the trailer and get out of the way in just a few minutes.

Then I think of all the trouble I have trying to back a short coupled trailer that I can't see half the time, that will jack knife in a heart beat, and impossible to float the boat off the trailer without putting the rear truck tires under water, resulting in a absolute panic when they start losing traction trying to pull out.

I think to myself that I used to put 53' trailers in tighter places than any boat ramp in the world. Then the light came on in my head. It is far far easier to back up a long trailer than a short one. The longer trailer takes moments longer to react to the movement of the steering wheel giving the driver time to recover from any mistakes. A short trailer reacts instantly to any movement of the steering wheel making it much much harder to back up.

One more thing thing I will get off the soap box. In order to get back up the ramp without risking a heart attack I stop with my rear truck wheels out of the water on dry pavement. I get out of the truck and push my little light boat off the trailer and beach it beside the ramp then get out of other peoples way. Loading the boat is the same operation. I get my feet wet and put the boat on the trailer by hand. It takes a little longer than the Big Boys do, but I get off the ramp is less time than trying to float the boat off the trailer.

I getting long winded I know but almost done. The whole point is that people with short boats have a more difficult time backing and launching than people with big boats. And people with big boats ought to stop and think about the problems the little guy is having and offer to lend a hand or at least have a bit more patience and understanding.

Ok I'm done. Maybe I should have made this a post instead of a reply.

I think he was just kidding on the 'lend me a hand on the ramp' comment. Kinda wrote a book there Gramps...

Welcome to the Forum memblin.

Good Advice here..

I was also new to the boating world as of last year. I bought me a 18 foot bass boat, never haven driven with a trailer behind me.

Backing down the boat ramp at first is really nerve racking... i took up both lanes of the ramp, took forever, pissed people off, but eh... even the most experienced person was once a beginner.

G/L man... happy fishing, be safe.

I appreciate the welcome. My uncle helped me figure out the backing in part. I may be a little wobbly going in but I don't have to stab at it five or six times to get it in there. It's getting the boat back on centered where I have some issues right now. heh

I think perhaps I'll invest in some of those carpet covered bow guides and some rollers on the back to stick up out of the water. If all goes well I'll be out there again several times this week.

Something else you may consider is finding a big empty parking lot and practicing...backing that is...not loading and unloading.

I always have all my gear in the boat and ready when I back down the ramp. I usually fish alone or with a female friend so I have a really long rope attached to the boat and the other end on my trailer hitch. I back down the ramp until the boat floats and I pull out from under it and then pull it to the shore or if they have a pier or ramp I pull it that way. I usually am out of the way before they know it. When I load it I back the trailer down so the running boards are just about halfway in the water. Run the boat up on it and hook it and I am gone. If I have someone that can drive the suv I will let them pull it out but I always back it down. They say I can just about back it down in my sleep. I used to have to pull a compressor years ago that had a pivoting front axle and that helped me to learn how to back a boat trilaer.

You're in the right place if you want to git ya some lernin. I read this site religously and it's probably saved me hundreds of hours of learning it the hard way.

Good luck and welcome to the TFF

Take your time to get used to it, youll have it down in no time. Everyone started at some time in their life.

Welcome to the TFF,