I'm currently fishing out of a kayak and truthfully I'm getting too old for it and am tired of the limitations. So, I'm starting to research a new boat. Here are some of my requirements and additional info:

I live in South Central PA. Most of the places to fish in my area are lakes under 500 acres and don't allow gas powered motors. There are two exceptions. The first is a 1200 acre lake with has a 20 HP max allowed motor. The other location is a river with several dammed lakes and this river system has no HP restrictions. I would like to take at least one road trip a year to fish and am also considering retiring somewhere south which may would a longer fishing season.

I fish for panfish and crappie a lot. However I do sometime fish for bass and would like to fish for flathead catfish in the river. I mostly fish alone. Currently I have 2 fishing kayaks so can provide one if someone wants to fish with me.

I've started looking at stick steer boats. The reason I am looking at them is that since I fish alone most of the time it would allow me to control everything from one location. I also want to sit low in the boat since am mostly by myself and want to ensure my safety.

So here are my questions:

1. Anyone have a stick steer boat and can provide feedback?
2. I think I want a front mounted trolling motor with spot lock and auto deploy. I know they are pricey but a MinnKota Ulterra seems to offer what I want. Anyone have experience with one and have feedback?
3. I would probably want Garmin Panoptix LiveScope. Anyone else using it?
4. You can get the Ulterra with a built in transducer for Humminbird. Is there any significant advantage of having Garmin LiveScope and Humminbird?
5. I probably want pedestal seats so I can upgrade to Smooth Moves seats. If anyone knows anything about these seats, maybe they can tell me if they could replace seats in the non-pedestal boats such as Tracker, SeaArk and others?
6. This one may seem silly, but I would probably want some space to have one of the little Dometic RV toilets on the boat. They don't take much space, but nature calls. Anyone have one on their boat?
7. Since I mostly fish alone, I have been looking at a Dakota Boat Retriever. Anyone have one?

Other items on the wish list:

Storage including rod storage
Built in fuel storage instead of the plastic onboard units. This may not be available on any boats in this class.
Versatrack (I have lots of track accessories that I could reuse from the kayak)


I know this is alot, but I'm gathering info. The Alumacraft Crappie Deluxe seems the closest I have found so far. Other boats in the same class seem to be the Tracker Panfish 16, SeaArk 1652 Crappie, War Eagle 648VS, G3 Sportsman 1610 SS and Xpress Crappie Stick Steer. Any others I should look at?

Would a 20HP motor be adequate? I don't have any interest in flying around the lake at 40 knots, but if I take a trip to larger lakes I may need to cover some ground. So far, my fishing trips have all been fishing from shore. Last year I went to Santee-Cooper in SC and am still hoping to go to Guntersville in the fall. I would take my boat once i purchase one.

Thanks for reading and providing feedback