3 years of research, contemplation, and hemming and hawing have drawn to a conclusion. Picked up a fishing boat (bass boat). So my Heat has a stablemate -- with a whacker motor.

I'm a big block guy, but after 4 trips out I gotta say -- there's something to say for a high performance outboard on a smaller boat. 73 GPS on a 20'6" hull, low to the water. Is a bit of a rush. Definitely gets the adreneline pumping.

Oh...and I've even caught a few largemouth bass.

Nice bass boat ITD......
I've owned:
3 Bullets, one of which was the only fishing boat ever in Hot Boat, all with 2.5 Mercs
3 20' Shadow mod VPs, all with 2.4 Mercs, one with N20
1 Allison XB2002, with a 2.4 Merc offshore
I thoroughly enjoyed them all.
My fishing partner is re-doing his 20'XRD Bullet/300X Merc as we speak. I'm looking forward to getting back out there too.
Low maintenace, easy on fuel, fast cool looking boats.......
what's not to like
Check out Bullet's new 21SS below. It's one sexy fishing boat, fast (100ish with a 300xs) and nice deck layout.
Best Regards,
Steve

Wow, Steve. I didn't know you are our resident Nordic/Bass Boat expert. Nice collection of experiences you've had. I've read quite a bit about these go-fast bass boats. Special craft for sure. Awesome looking Bullet. I believe I've seen a Bullet, and an Allison, blasting around on my lake here. If I catch a glimpse, I'll try to snap a pic.

I'm a bit confused. How after 3 years of research did you not end up with an Allison? Instead of 73 you would be doing 93! I spent 10 years in an XS2003 with a Mariner 225 Super Mag. Loved that boat, a friend of my son is still enjoying it. Did 94.9 on GPS with 50lbs of lead shot in the gunnel on the passenger side (to level it out!). Great fun, easy on fuel AND easy on parts. I have lots of pics but I don't think I can post.

Good question. The easy answer is that I tried to find an "even balance" between a worthy performance boat, and an all-star fishing boat. IMO, the Allison (and Bullet) both were designed primarily with performance in mind (and are off the charts in that way). I was looking for a bit more innovation in the fishing category.

Allison vs Bullet vs the rest,
Having owned what are generally considered the 3 fastest bass/fishing boats (Allison/Bullet/Shadow) it's like this:
Allison is a race hull that you can fish off of, however the narrow beam and deep vee make them more prone to instability off plane, ie fishing.
Bullets give up a little (not much if hull weight is similar to the Allison) top end performance by making their boats a little wider. However, this makes them much more stable at rest, ie fishing. The extra hull width also makes for more storage below deck, and much more spacious front and rear fishing platforms.
The Shadow 20' tunnel vee was an interesting boat. Great fishing platform, as it was low and wide. The outside sponsons made it very stable at high speed (O chine walk) and off plane, ie fishing. Jay Cox was a ModVP racer and really didn't know much about fishing, but he had a dealer friend of ours (Jerry Cassidy) design the deck. The boat was somewhat weight sensitive, like most tunnels, and was not very forgiving in rough water due to the shallow tunnel height.
For guys that either couldn't or didn't want to drive pad boats, the Shadow was a great alternative hull.
Of the above 3 boats, the Bullets were the best compromise of performance, looks, and fishibility.
Currently, their business is coming back nicely, Allison is hanging in there, and Shadow has been gone for a long time.
Obviously if you are a hardcore tournament fisherman, you are probably in something else, like a Ranger, Skeeter, or
maybe a Bass Cat .
Regards,
Steve

You bought a great boat.
I understand Bass Cats are good rough water boats, and very good fishing platforms.
Regards,
Steve

From my fishing/racing days.
Allison 2002XBR and Bullet 20XD
The pictures aren't the best. The Allison pic is in the late 80s, so no digital cameras back then.........
You can see how much deck space the the Bullet has. Under deck storage is huge.
Wish I still had one of them...........
Regards,
Steve

Very cool and awesome rigs. As I'm getting more seat time and learning the nuances of how to drive this BCB, I'm beginning to understand why a fisherman would want the fastest boat to the best spot at a tournament. Just the pure thrill of it.

Some of the best drag and lake races in the south are bass tournament blast offs .......
It's like a 50 boat drag race with very little supervision.
Some of the bigger tournaments here went to an "ooze off",
one boat at a time take off format, to cut down on the racing. It did help somewhat. Of course the guys who drew high numbers and left last could be at a 20 minute disadvantage in starting and fishing time. To equalize that on a 2 day tournament, they would flip the starting order the second day.
Of course a mile or 2 down the lake, it didn't make much difference. People were still racing to the best spots.
My partner and I won a little Wednesday night club tournament, which was mostly an excuse for a little midweek fishing/drinking/racing. I heard a guy in the back of the crowd say "I thought those guys just raced" ..........
Steve