Gas prices have left me no option for summer fishing fun other than finally capitolize on the world class fishery right out my back door, problem is it gets reely skinny in late summer threw early spring. I have been kicking around a 40 hp yammie with a jet drive or a 30 horse merc with a standard prop and a rock shoe and prop ring, both 4 strokes. PLEASE any opinions welcomed!!
I fish some skinny rivers and really wish I had a jet drive. If you plan on doing it a lot I would go with that. That boat in the pic looks pretty sweet.
-There is no reverse.
-You lose about 15% max power compared to a prop.
-You should consider a tunnel hull if you go jet.
-J.
I knew there had to be a downfall. Thanks for that info.
A lot of guys run those on the lower Wisconsin River. I’ve been in a couple of them. On top of Jon’s spot on observations they are also loud. If you go tunnel get the pods on the back too. If you like to fish water that doesn’t see much pressure, nothing is better. They can also be a pain if they get plugged up.
From what I have read prop tunnel is different than a jet tunnel with the jet tunnel being much shallower. Maybe just a 1″ where a prop tunnel may be 3 to 4″s.
What type of fishing are you going to do out of it? Like Jon said no reverse or limited at best. Dont think they troll down very well. If I was mainly going to fish that stretch of river it would be with a jet.
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A lot of guys run those on the lower Wisconsin River. I’ve been in a couple of them. On top of Jon’s spot on observations they are also loud. If you go tunnel get the pods on the back too. If you like to fish water that doesn’t see much pressure, nothing is better. They can also be a pain if they get plugged up.
We used one for work a couple times and I thought they were a royal PITA. The impeller wraps up on every piece of line, grass, and vegetation it sucks up. It would take an hour to clean it off, and we wound up ruining the impeller by cleaning it with a screwdriver. The water jacket also plugged up with sediment and we could only run it for a couple minutes w/o overheating. I hated the damn thing.
On a used one, I would definitely check the impeller for gouges, and make sure it’s pumping good water. Pull the water hoses off and make sure you don’t see any sand or dirt in there. If there used in shallow water they are probably pulling up a lot of dirt into the motor. But, like Kevin said, if you want to get into shallow skinny unpressured water, it might be worth the hassle. Personally, I’d pick the well set up prop boat and carry an extra propeller.
Keep it coming!! All very valid points and a perfect example of what the site has to offer!! 
Ben, looks like you may want to consider a Mud Buddy mud motor.
http://www.mudbuddy.com/HyperSport.htm
Hang that on the back end of a Lund Alaskan or something. You’d have a pretty cool set-up.
Mudbuddy is a much better option. The jet motor is a sweet setup with the tunnel hull and will run in just a few inches of water.
That’s a jet OB on a standard flat bottom and I’ve heard those don’t do well. Expect around 18 usable HP out of that 30 horse yammy.
Check Craigslist for a used BeaverTail/Muddbuddy type motor. I have seen a few killer deals there lately…
Rig pictured would be perfect just keep overall weight down .Been using jets on skinny rivers guiding Fall Steelhead in Northern British Columbia since mid eighty’s and love them, two strokes make better power and are lighter but the four strokes cannot be beat for efficiancy an noise. Jets are the best for shallow rocky rivers. Not as good for lake trolling, not enough forward bite for boat control at lower throttle. They do have reverse just not as effictive as prop, the piviting cup on nozzle gives you reverse
I believe in the new jet outboards the make up the power difference. Like 60 horse powerhead is a 40 HP jet outboard, they call em 60/40, so when you buy a 40 HP jet it gives you close to 40 HP because of the larger head.
Mud motor would be a good option but they don’t like sand, our at least sand wears the prop down quicker. Another option would be the Jet Jon, look it up on you tube. Guys build a ski do engine into a jon boat, way cool and runs skinny.
You can make quite a few trips to Mille Lacs for the cost of a Jet???
In college I had a 14′ jon and a 8hp merc. I built a prop guard in the shop and ran all over the river in St Cloud.
Picking up a 10hp and fabing a prop guard would most likely be a good option.
If you do decide to go this route I would be glad to help you build a prop guard that is bullet proof. -Mark
Duh, Good idear Chuck, forgot about that. I took an old pitch fork and made a guard for my little 8.
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