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Minn Kota Talon.. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Started by Xm Sean, May 30, 2012, 10:27:18 AM

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Xm Sean

The Good

Had the unit shipped on Wednesday and installed on Thursday. Took about an hour and was VERY easy to install
 
Deployment of spike is Quick
 
Testing in the driveway you can actually see the boat move up slightly while tied down to the trailer(so I know it provides alot of down force).
 
While using on the water during a Buddy TX I was amazed at how well it held while fishing a dock with 1.5-2 foot waves going down the dock. I just positioned the back of the boat into the waves and dropped the talon down. I was not even in "rough water mode". We stayed in one spot and my rider and I were able to fish without worrying about keeping the boat in the right position.
   
With high winds my rider got his crankbait wrapped on the corner of the dock about 6' off the water. I was able to get close and drop the talon to hold the rear of the boat still and swing the front of the boat in to get the crankbait free without worry of the whole boat right up on the dock getting slammed.


The Bad

   After moving around the dock I previously mentioned to fish the other side, I got into a good position and hit the down button... The spike went down for a second and stopped and showed no lights. After noticing I was drifting and trying several more times I had my rider take the TM and went to see what was going on. The spike started moving down and would start to make a scrapping sound(like sand paper on metal) and would come down 6" and that was it. I tried to free it by hand several times but no luck. Since we were fishing a tx I just went on without using it. When I got in the parking lot I hit down again and then pulled the spike down. At this point it came down and sand was present on the spike. there were also scratches on the spike from being forced out. Where we were fishing it was 4-5' deep and the talon was reading 7' deep. So the spike was 2+ feet deep in sand(impressive). So I guess the spike had sand on it when I hit the up button and somehow got between the spike and the channel it sits in when not deployed.
   
After saying all of that, I want to say..... If this was a rare thing or something that can me fixed so it does not happen again then I was be VERY happy with my Talon and the ways it will help me fish. I will test it out a few more times to see if it repeats this issue... I will also carry a small section of garden hose to hook to my livewell pump out that I can use to flush the unit on the water If I need to. I think this could have helped me with this issue the other day.





The Ugly

   In the end we won our TX... It was ugly how many big fish were caught on this day!!


k-unit

Smile stanley... you think a guy who just weighed almost 20 lbs of bass and stuck a $600 check in his pocket would at least crack a smile.....  :D :D :D
Women love me- Fish Fear me!!

Xm Sean


Xm Sean

Spoke to CS and the guy seems to think That with the wave action and the soft bottom that the spike was possibly deeper then originally thought and that maybe the 2nd stage was coming into contact with the bottom forcing some debris up into the unit. I will be testing the unit out a lot more and reporting back to them as well as you guys..

Pillager

The good news is that although it was inoperable for a time it doesn't seem to have damaged the unit.
18' 2003 Crestliner 1850 Fishhawk
150 hp Merc XR6

It pays to be an optimist.  Even if you are wrong, you are happy about it.

"Quit bitchin, keep fishin"

I fish, therefore I am.

Xm Sean

Update....

Had the boat out a few weekends ago and I have to say My talon worked flawlessly... Used about a dozen times and never failed on me... I was fishing a windy bank tight to the shore and was able to drop the pole down to retie, unsnag baits and keep me and my rider in great position. It is so nice not to worry about being blown into or away from your structure when unhooking fish to put them in the livewell, retie a new bait on, net a good fish on the back of the boat. I deal with this alot fishing tidal water.

My rider also said he was surprised the Talon did get in the way of casting......5 mins later he smacks it with a crankbait.... :D (but it was the only time... ). I have alot of fishing coming up so I will repost in a couple weeks how it held up

Pillager

I've fished on the back of several boats now with talons and with power poles and I've only ticked one once while casting.  Makes a good second stabilizer when relieving oneself off the back too. ;D
18' 2003 Crestliner 1850 Fishhawk
150 hp Merc XR6

It pays to be an optimist.  Even if you are wrong, you are happy about it.

"Quit bitchin, keep fishin"

I fish, therefore I am.