# farmington or ogden bay



## Bhilly81 (Oct 18, 2009)

i have a 14 foot boat with a 7.5 horse outboard on it and i was wondering what my issues or troubles might be in getting through the wmas to go hunting or should i not really even try? i was hoping to get a mud motor by now but nothing ever works out for me so i am asking for some info


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## Gee LeDouche (Sep 21, 2007)

I would suggest Cutler up in Logan. I dont think an outboard will do you much good at either of those places. sorry dude.


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

Is it a flat-bottom, or that little blue and white one I saw when I came to get the dog house?


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## duckhunter1096 (Sep 25, 2007)

I am in the same situation as you...Old outboard motor. I've found it's pretty much useless in the majority of the WMA's. The only place it's been any good was up at Cutler.


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

You will have a hard time. If you stay in the deep parts and when you get in the shallows you will have to push the boat a couple hundred yards.


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## Hunter_17 (Mar 15, 2008)

I have used a trolling motor on my flat bottom before I made my mud motor, it got me where I wanted but took a while. But it had adjustable height but the only place at Ogden bay I think that's deep enough would be the main channel.


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## Mojo1 (Sep 8, 2007)

There’s a few spots you will be able to reach, just make sure to keep an eye on your water pumps to make sure it doesn’t stop up. You will have to do a little paddling, push poling or wade the boat in towards the end, but its beats walking from the parking lot.

I don’t hunt Farmington, so I can’t tell you anything about it.

At OB you will be able to run the river channels and the canal that runs from the parking lot into unit 1. 

There are launches onto the river at both the north and south entrances. South Entrance launch is the flood gate/bridge, actually 2 ramps, one on either side of the bridge. Run north up the channel that on the east of the road dike, off to the east there will be some ponds you can paddle/push pole/ wade out into. I occasionally hunt them; I’ve had good and bad days in there.

When you come into the North Entrance you can go straight or turn right. If you go straight it dead ends in the parking lot at the water control structure; Launch there and you either can go left out to the delta unit on the river or run straight back south in the canal to access those ponds I talked about below. All those canals are interlinked to make a big triangle island. 

If you turn right when you come through the north gate the road winds around to another parking lot with a launch, if you run west, that channel finally plays out in a pharq/log jam (right behind the north west corner of unit 1) there’s spots to set up all up through there. If you turn and run back towards the east from the launch you can only go up as far as the flood control structure I talked about in the presiding paragraph. That stretch usually gets heavy foot soldier pressure.

When you run to the end of the canal that runs from the unit 1 boat launch out to the big water, beware it shallows up in hurry, but if you wade, paddle or push pole to the east along the reed line, you can get some good shooting in, I hunt that area a lot, further east you go the better it seems to be.


Good luck and watch those waterpumps!


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

From my knowledge of Farmington Bay (never boated there, but I have hiked in plenty of times) the only places you'll be able to use that motor will be on the channels next to the dikes. You'll want to go slow, as to avoid possible hazards, but the channels are pretty clear. You will encounter quite a bit of aquatic vegitation as well. As was said, make sure things don't get clogged up. As for venturing outside of the channels, its going to be tough to impossible under power. If u are prepared to push the boat, there are a few places that would allow this, mainly with a flat-bottom boat. If you have a v-hull, unless the boat is very light, it will be a real struggle to push it away from the channel. 

The advantage if having a boat of any sort is you can motor down a ways past where most of the dike hunters care to walk. Even if u have to park it and walk from there, it cuts down on all that walking down the dikes.


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## wileywapati (Sep 9, 2007)

I had an old 12 ft V hull that I ran a 9hp Evinrude.. Turpin hug the dike till you get way out.
I'm talking 6th bridge at least.

Unit 2 you won't run at all.

Unit 1 you can get to within about 200 yards of shore then you are dragging / pulling the rest of the way in.

don't lock the pin in on the back of the motor so if you do hit something the motor will
pop up instead of taking so much damage. 


Get the boat up on plane and you'll get a lot farther than you think.


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## Bhilly81 (Oct 18, 2009)

Chaser said:


> Is it a flat-bottom, or that little blue and white one I saw when I came to get the dog house?


yea its that same one i guess i can just throw the oars on and row like hell. Ha yea right


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## MEEN (Jan 27, 2009)

I run a 14 ft v hull boat with a 9.5 hp johnson outboard at Farmington all day long... Just make sure you keep an eye on your outlet water.


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## Bhilly81 (Oct 18, 2009)

MEEN said:


> I run a 14 ft v hull boat with a 9.5 hp johnson outboard at Farmington all day long... Just make sure you keep an eye on your outlet water.


thank you that makes me feel comfortable i guess i should have said that its a 14 foot fiberglass v hull that sits a bit high in the water as long as i dont fill the live well and someone is up front to level me out a bit with my fat ass in back with the motor thanks for all the responses and help i am still open to more ideas as well


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