EQUIPMENT

Team FishDancer is proud of our association with Contender Boats and Mercury Marine. After a through search for our tournament needs we decided upon the Contender 33t powered with twin Mercury Verado 300s.  Following the 2008 season of bad weather events along the SKA PRO tour I can attest to the strength, durability and bad water ride of the 33t and our choice of Verado 300s has been rewarded with zero problems in more than 300 hours.  We have rigged the boat with RayMarine electronics and have a single E120 mounted on the dash along with a digital sounder, radar and twin VHF radios.

To assist us in getting from Fernandina Beach to each of the 6 stops we make along the SKA circuit, we selected a specifically designed for the Contender 33t Loadmaster triple axle trailer.  This trailer is well suited for the boat and for the needs of any tournament team with a heavy duty winch/strap, hydraulic over electric brakes on each axle and two spare tires and hub assemblies in case of emergency.  This will be our third Loadmaster and we can recommend this brand to any team seeking a trailer....Ben and his Loadmaster support team have assisted us all along the SKA trail.

One of the most critical components of any boat is its capacity for fuel and for bait.  We have the FishDancer set up with a three tank 400 gallon fuel system providing us excellent range and we also took care of our live bait needs.  We rigged the boat with triple bait tanks two in the transom and one under the leaning post so we can hold more than 150 live baits at any given time.  We are fishing with 12 custom made rods (Ugly Stick blanks) from Don Whitman at Leaders and Sinkers in Fernandina Beach, these rods are paired with 6 Shimano Trinidads and 6 Speedmasters each filled with Hi Seas camo line.  We deploy Penn 625 manual downriggers and have removed the wire and spooled them with 300 feet of 125 test mono.

As you might imagine keeping everything in good mechanical order is critical to Team FishDancer's success and our 'PIT' crew is one of the best in North Florida....Charlie Lyons and his great team at River Marine in Jacksonville.  Charlie competes along the SKA divisional circuit and knows the needs of any tournament team....

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