Speed, what's the big deal?

[MMosher]

Chicks dig it

[McDavid]

Peter "Maverick" Mitchell """"I feel the need—the need for speed!""""?

[gollygee]

fishingmike, I think you've hit on the big difference on what I'll usually be on instead of maybe some western or northern lakes. I won't be on what I consider "big" water hardly at all, so getting somewhere with a 50 mile run just isn't that important because there will be a ramp within 15 miles of anywhere I want to be. With that said, I think Ive found a 95 sprint with a 200 that i'm looking at tomorrow actually that the guys swears is 70+ mph all day long. I can't get him to understand that I don't care haha. I just would rather a motor work, instead of blowing me down the water for an extra 10 mins of fishing time. Everyone's different though, so all I ask is just give me a friendly wave as you go by!

[Dogfish_Jones]

I find that going around the 50 mph mark (maxed out is 62 for me anyways) is fine with me, but I am not out in a tournament with 200+ boats and looking for that $10,000+ pay out. In the club tournaments we have around 10 or so boats, all buddies, we respect each other’s area. Heck, we even tell our members where we are going to start fishing most of the time.
During the time I am looking for a nice fishing spot, I will go even slower (20 mph) to look around and determine if that certain place looks good or not. Then when on a nice place I go maybe 3 to 5 mph looking at my graphs to see if any fish are there.
I have come to enjoy the time on the lake and speed is not the most important part of that enjoyment. I have no problems with those that enjoy speed, I just hope they are very experienced and understand you can't stop or turn a boat like a car if something happens in a quick second of two.
Respect, safety, knowing your boat are very important parts of sitting behind a steering wheel of a boat.
If someone is fishing where I wanted to fish, no problem, I fish somewhere else for a while, fish are everywhere and the fun is finding and catching them. I have more than one place marked to fish…or I better hope so anyways.

[duckco]

I like having options and going fast or slow is a good example. I don't fish tournaments yet but threw the yrs I found that speed is really fun get the blood flowing he'll my 2013 ram cummins is a 800 hp daily driver I don't use all 8 all the time but I like knowing I have it. The biggest factor to speed on a boat that I found is out running weather. I would much rather go 70+ mph running from a lighting storm then 60 or less I cant tell you how many times I've been 20 plus minutes from the dock and be in a slow going boat. Its not fun when that storm catches up to you.

[friogatto]

Safety:
Local tx's launch in a canal.
The majority of the boats run 60-65mph, if you can sustain 60-65 the field staying in line and it's a quick easy run. If not...

Slow boats hold the entire field up, passing is limited and makes for some crazy driving as faster boats overtake the slow ones. Now the wakes start crossing each other as your fighting your way through a skinny 3 mile long canal.



50mph is fun
60mph is competitive
70mph gets the blood flowing and now your "driving" the boat.

[Kodiak16]

So you spend 30-100k to go fast to win $1000.

[eliteangler]

I would give that Ranger another look. They are very well built hulls and especially back then.

[Dubee]

So you spend 30-100k to go fast to win $1000.

No. You spend the money because fast is fun. If you when money, that is a bonus.

[Midnight Rider]

If you get a boat CAPABLE of going 60mph plus, it doesn't mean you HAVE to go as fast as it can. You can always run slower. I'd rather have a 150-200 on a good hull and run it 80% of the time at 2/3 throttle, and get better fuel mileage than if the same boat had a 115 on it and it was run wide open 98% of the time.

As far as boats you are looking for, almost every boat prior to 2000 had SOME wood in it...Transom, floors, stringers, etc. IF the boat has been inside most of it's life, there's nothing wrong with the wood in a boat that age. The areas that you need to look at closely are the transom, and around the floor drain. If the area around the floor drain is soft, you've got potential problems. If water has penetrated the transom "sandwich" due to a lack of sealer around transducer mounts or jack plate bolts, it can LOOK fine, but be rotting on the inside.

[stackenem]

Also you have to remember speed limits. I don't know about other states but in Mi we have a 55mph speed limit on our lakes unless you are I believe 1/2 or 1 mile off shore. I do know one tournament where the whole club got speeding tickets.

[Milehibird]

I was in your exact same shoes just a little over a year ago. I was fishing out of a 13' aluminum boat on an electric only lake, and fishing tournaments as a non-boater. Got bit to buy a boat, so I did. I don't know what your budget is, but keep looking and expand your search a little if you have to. When I started looking, there were all of 2 bass boats in my price range in the entire state. I expanded to neighboring states and there were a few more, but nothing that caught my eye. I ended up driving 1300 miles to get mine. In the end, I have an 18' Champion with a 175 Yamaha. It's set up to do 65 according to the guy I bought it from (but it'll never do that at home, the elevation robs the power). We have 40mph speed limits on all lakes in my state, so top speed isn't an issue anyways, except in tournaments in other states. Whatever you do, take a basic boater safety course and go out with someone who has owned a bass boat before, that will cut your learning curve down by a big amount.

[Teadow1972]

My boat runs 70 if Needed, but not very often. As far as speed in a tournament to me it does make a difference. I try and plan out my tournament strategy prior to practice and the tournament and I know the more time I'm fishing and not driving always increases my chances as I'm able to fish spots longer and fish more of them. Its basic math at the end of the day but I know i can fish more spots if I can cover more water and the only way to do that is minimize the travel time between locations. Always drive safe though and let the traffic and water conditions determine on the speed. Always try to keep a eye on what the water will let you do cause you don't want to push it to a level of non safety just trying to make weigh in lol. When I went from a 40hp tracker to a 200hp Champion I literally gained hours in fish time on certain lakes and conditions.

[exx1976]

Also you have to remember speed limits. I don't know about other states but in Mi we have a 55mph speed limit on our lakes unless you are I believe 1/2 or 1 mile off shore. I do know one tournament where the whole club got speeding tickets.

Speed limit?! That's stupid.



I had a 93 Stratos 275 Pro XL with a 150. It did about 50ish, and was nice, but I wanted a bigger boat. So I bought a 98 Stratos 201 Pro Elite with a 225 on it. It went 70 all day long. Had it for a season and a half and sold it. Was it fun going 70? Sure. Did I need a boat that burned 28 gallons per hour? No.

Turns out that a traditional bass boat just didn't fit the type of fishing we wanted to do. A buddy has a 16' tin boat with a 90, and it's so much more fishable on the small little pothole lakes with crappy launches that are so common here in WI. I also prefer the safety (real or perceived) of a deeper boat with higher gunwales. I don't like to go swimming unless I want to go swimming, and fishing in chop with waves coming over the bow was NO fun in the bass boat. In a tin? No problem.

So I bought a 16' Alumacraft with a Yami 70 on it. Everything here is still frozen, but if I'm lucky this boat will do 35ish. Do I care? Nope. I bought it to go fishing, not go racing. I don't tournament fish.

Other annoying thing about that 225 was that it got PISSED when running slow - like slow no wake speed, or when mapping a lake. And slow was ~4.5 mph. No way I could troll for musky with that thing. Now I can.


So... Fast? Sure. It's fun. But it's not something I'm concerned with. Been there, done that, just wanna go fishing.

Everyone buys boats for different reasons. Be honest with yourself, and buy what will suit you best. Don't buy a bass boat just because you fish for bass - I promise the fish have no idea what kind of boat you're in. Buy a boat that fits your budget, your lake/launch, and your comfort.

[watty]

Hey Newbie,
remember we have all been there once. As I look back on my situation many of the points are very relative. Fish move all the time, speed is relative to weather/water condition etc.. At the end of the day It is not the fish that get hooked...... I had never fished tourneys, never had my own boat, wasn't pressured to buy. I waited and eventually found a reasonable seller. I bought a 2007 Ranger at 19' with 200 Evinrude as first boat. 60 MPH with tourney load, took a boating coarse, joined a tournament club as a non until I felt comfortable . I don't drive my car wide open but have a heavy engine so that my actual mechanical maintence is very low. Same thing with boat- mid range motor to go my 30-40 mph with confidence. 1 tourney as a non I had to move forward on the boat to get it on plane, maybe 40 mph last to spots but finished FIRST for the money. Fish don't care how much bling is over their head.
Reliability sounds like what you need. I suggest you spend a little extra if you can and get something that will last and not be a $$$$ grabber later.
My 2cw

[.44mag]

All yall talking about 200's and I'm hoping my old 150 want be to much for me as this is on my first bass boat. Don't plan on going wide open any (except if a storm starts blowing in) some where between 1/2 to 3/4 throttle. Guessing my older boat might run 50 tops with me and my boy and gear in it.


1986 Ranger 372V with a 1983 black max 150

[noterman]

PM sent

[JR19]

The overwhelming majority of the waterways have no speed limit. Hence the reason I think we see people wanting to go as fast as they can. I have owned my current boat for 17 years and I am happy with it's speed. There has been times when I wish I had a boat capable of mid to upper 70's but I get to thinking how satisfied I am with my current rig and I can not justify the cost for 15 more mph.

[Bearetta]

80 MPH!!! That has to be on glass water!
Any tricky moments runnin that speed TR55?

[fastman151]

Fast=Fun

Plain and simple!!!!!