since a mud motor is not in budget at the moment would it be worth is to get a jack plate. how shallow will I be able to get and whats the best for the price. I dont want an thing to fancy, just so i can get her even more shallow. All thoughts are appreciated, Thanks

PS Im running a 1448 polarkraft with a 35 Johnson (shes a fucking tank) short shaft.

A jack plate will help you get shallower while running, but as soon as you stop your stuck like a guy named Chuck. Your out board still needs water to cool it self.

I run a 50 HP Tohatsu with a jack plate all summer. A jack plate like others are hinting at are designed to run with hulls that have a tunnel.

A jack plate will allow you to elevate the motor higher and yes get you shallower but that doesn't help you when you stop or have to restart... You'll either have to use TM or push pole to deeper water. At least that's what I do. My summers are spent push poling on grass flats & sand bars that hold redfish. No real need for a MM until the winter for me.

Check out the Atlas Micro Jacker. I am running this on my boat and it's a great jack plate.

idk I have got off plane in 2 inch of water and soft mud and have gotten back up on plane from a dead stop. The johnson is a tank and does not die, personally I believe a lil bit of a lift will make a diffrence but i thought id see what every one els thinks

If you can get an outboard up in 2" of water from a dead stop......why the hell would you even think about a mud motor? You obviously have the baddest outboard ever created!

Sounds like you need a jet, and not a mm anyway.

Then I suggest a Gator Tail.....sounds you already have the perfect attitude for it.

Has anyone ever tried putting a hydro jack plate on a mud motor for getting deeper in the mud? Like maybe mounting it lower than you need to so you have it raised up at the height it needs to be at to run but you can bottom the jack plate out to get the prop down deeper in mud..? Just an idea i had didnt know if it had been done

In that case you could just get a longer shaft for you motor. MB has 27", 32", and 40" shafts for that very reason.

Terry has his duals on jack plates.

Speaking of that.....where is Terry? Did I miss something over the summer?

I have a jack plate with a 25 . Used that last winter in my marsh. I ended up by the end of the duck season with a broken impeller and almost burned up the motor. This year I have a mud boat problem solved.

I have a jack plate with a 25 . Used that last winter in my marsh. I ended up by the end of the duck season with a broken impeller and almost burned up the motor. This year I have a mud boat problem solved.

The more offset you get the higher you can run your motor. I run a bullet bass boat with a 14 inch set back and my prop shaft runs 1-1/2 above the pad(bottom on boat). As the water runs out the back of boat it rises up so that's where the longer off set comes into play.

Get a good hydraulic jack plate for that Johnson. U can move it up and down as needed.

I have a jack plate on my boat that doesn't have a tunnel and theres a huge difference. Its funny though the jack plate raises it up five inches I coulda just put a short shaft on the tall transom and got the same result however the offset of the jack plate might have some benefit im unaware of. Possibly giving the water a chance to come up from the bottom of the boat for less cavitation.

That's right. You don't necessarily need a tunnel for a jackplate. Bass and bay boats run hydraulic plates. Hydraulic plates and tunnels will give you considerably better gains though.

The micro jacket by atlas I mentioned earlier is a small hydro self contained unit.

Performance pods will help you run shallower at slow speeds. JS

A jet on the Wisconsin will work, but a jackplate with a prop motor will do it as well. Depending on how much set back and what prop you run will determine how well it will perform. That river is a lot like the Black up here with all the shifting sandbars and such, I see a lot of guys running prop motors with a plate flying from the Mississippi upstream every summer while out there.

Do you have a shallow water pickup?

Get a jack plate with at least 4 inches setback and plug some of the water intake holes jack it up as high as it will go without sucking air and cup to the prop But check your pisser constantly because it don't take long to burn them up