bass boat pro/cons

[ole matty]

Hello, been awhile I had post something in this forum, I had been "boat shopping" I had come up a lot of good deal on some bass boat-stratos, champion, cajcun, and javeline, etc etc. I was wonder what's pro and cons owning one of them? Keep in mind I m more of pike/muskie, white bass, and panfish fisherman. How does it handle in rough water 15-20 mph winds, and if anyone had fish for muskie out of bass boat was the netting muskie problem?, is boat too low on water to work jerkbait without rod tip slapping water all time?

Thanks!

Ole m

[NCLaker]

Matty, when you get your new boat, let me know if you ever need help breaking it in targeting ski's . Still need to take you up on your offer to hit Flake one of these days .

Good luck on finding your new boat!

[Nick Kuhn]

Go watch a muskie tourney sometime, every boat is a ranger or javelin or something along those lines. I don't have one but I'd say they work better for muskie as they sit lower in the water (up near the bow on our deep V there really isn't enough water for the fish in the net so we have to net near the rear). I'd say you could go much deeper with an 8 which would be an advantage. Would have come in handy Saturday, I could only 8 about 4 feet under and I needed to get down to about 6-7 feet.

[Deitz Dittrich]

The pros and cons are going to be different for every person. The ride in a bass boat can be wetter, but once fishing, they catch far less wind and its much easier to hold your position.

Some boat landings can be more difficult to launch a bass boat, but you can say the same for a large tin boat.

as for fishability, I think a bass boat is about as good as it gets. Your actually higher up off the water in most bass boats and dont have to worry about hitting the edge of the boat, netting should also be easier as you can get the net lower in the water if needed. A fish can "Bounce" out of a bass boat easier though.

[Nick Kuhn]

What do you mean by bounce?

[Deitz Dittrich]

Musky/Northern when in a net can seem so nice just laying there, but if and when they want to cause problems, a flick of a tail and they are all over the place. MOre than once I have been removing a hook from a fish on the front deck and its ended up back in the water and I am diving for a rod before it goes overboard.

[ole matty]

Deitz, can bass boat handle the 3-4 foot waves? Wind, I m not concern, just concernin about waves and stability in waves.

[Cecil]

Easily!!

[TR21]

Just watch the pros when they fish Lake Erie or the Louisiana Delta or Sam Rayburn. There have been instances where they are fishing in 5-6 footers and although they are taking water over the bow they are still able to fish a tourney. Yes ,they can handle those waves. If you have any doubts about a bass boat a good multi species boat with a little deeper edge might be to your liking.

[mww24]

they'll take waves over, but most any boat will in 5 footers. add bigger bilge pumps. and carry a spare.

[Nick Kuhn]

Musky/Northern when in a net can seem so nice just laying there, but if and when they want to cause problems, a flick of a tail and they are all over the place. MOre than once I have been removing a hook from a fish on the front deck and its ended up back in the water and I am diving for a rod before it goes overboard.

Most muskie fisherman unhook the fish with the net in the water, not on the boat deck. That's where I see the low deck as being an advantage as more of the bag is in the water. Plus it's less of a reach to the fish for unhooking.

Maybe you should invest in a big net Deitz. It's easier on the fish and it'll keep you from having to dive for rods.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Good advice Nick, one I will take to heart. Its really only happened one time to me as far as pert near loosing a rod. But your right, for the most part I do remove hooks up on the deck and not in the water as maybe I should.