In2Deep

I live very near a lake, and steps from a marina, and have the near-daily pleasure of watching and hearing boats of all types running up and down the water. Early mornings, it's the sound of bass boats headed to their favorite fishing holes. Apparently, the large mouth bass, crappie and white bass fishing on Lake Travis is very good.

This has me seriously thinking about adding a preowned bass boat to the I2D fleet, and I've spent quite a bit of time educating myself on what makes a good bass boat, and starting to look at what's out there.

Beyond the normal "how you intend to use, and what's important to you" factors driving the consideration set -- consistent with performance boats -- I'm finding that in the bass boat world there's an entirely different and complex dimension of other consideration points. So many consideration points, it's nearly impossible to come to a fixed set of features.

And I thought performance boat shopping was a bit arduous.

It also seems that pound for pound, and foot-for-foot, new bass boats are comparatively even more expensive than new performance boats. I'm going the pre-owned route.

I will say that I've pretty much arrived at Bass Cat as my brand of choice, with the Jaguar, Puma or Cougar as viable models. Bass Cat builds boats in a manner, and has a distinct style and build philosophy that reminds me very much of Nordic.

Just thought I'd share.

I2D

HTRDLNCN

I have never fished fresh water but always imagined that fresh water fish must be some damn fast fish cause it seems every bass fishing boat out there is an 80+mph ride! lol..

Rage

Actually I started on the bass boat side of things and then the performance boats. Be sure to take a hard look at Champion Bass Boats if you have'nt already before you commit.

In2Deep

That's the truth. For a sport, and a boat that --- to its primary purpose -- spends most of its time idling or trolling, its interesting that mid-70's to low 80's seems to be the bogey when moving from one fishing spot to the next. Seems like the hardcore tournament fishers are all about "getting there first". Can't say that I'm opposed to running in a 21' at near 80 MPH, but that's gotta take some seat time to build a comfort level to do it. Note to self; lifeline jacket mandatory.

Steve Zuckerman

I used to fish quite a bit, and still go occaisionally with my old fishing partner. He has a 20' Bullet XRD with a 300X. I'm afraid I have been a terrible influence on him .
I had 3 Shadows, 2 Allisons, and my favorite 3 Bullets.
I had a black and yellow 20'CC (center console) with a warmed up 2.5EFI Offshore (300hp), that was really fast. It would run in the mid 90's with 2 guys and all our gear loaded to fish, and 100 lightly loaded by myself. We caught a lot fish, did a little skiing and partying (live wells make great coolers ), and messed up the weekends of many jet boaters.
These boats do take some seat time to drive properly, but once mastered they are very fast and efficient. Having raced outboard boats, it was fairly natural for me.
If you ever look at or ride in one, you'll never look at anything else. I think I can probably hook you up with a nice clean used one if you like. My friend's dealership (Lawrenceburg Marine) inventory varies. www.lawrenceburgmarine.com
check 'em out at www.bulletboats.com My old 20'cc is still in "owner's showcase" on page 3.
I think they are like the Ferrari of fishing boats.
Best Regards,
Steve

Turbojack

Don't forget the danger of standing in boat while fishing and then falling overboard.

90mphRAGE

There was a Nordic Deck boat if I recall in powerboat mag that had a trolling motor on the bow. Seems like a good fit to me!

Maritime_Eng

I have been in alot of fishing boats over the years, from Rangers, tritons, bass cats, Stratos, ect. The best one by far is the 20ft Fastcat or also know as Lanier Custom Boats.
http://laniercustomboats.com/
Stable, good rough water handling, alot of deck space, and runs really well (Over 100mph easy).