Big water for Stratos 176XT?

[Tomahawk]

Pretty new to the BBC boards here. I had the pleasure of purchasing a 2007 Stratos 176XT with a Yamaha 70 HP engine this year. I have been fishing a few local tournaments in the natural lakes around where I in Southern MI and Northwest IN. I would like to also fish in some tournaments that my local club hosts up on Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair. Do your guys think that my 176 XT would do alright on those larger bodies of water? I would only fish on a nice day with no east wind.

Thanks

[Clint S]

i think it all depends on weather and water conditions....we used to take 18' bay boats 30 miles offshore in the gulf of mexico....but only when the conditions were right. i had a bass tracker once, fished a tourney in 4-5 rollers(real size not exagerated) and swore i'd never do that again. only ran about 5 miles from the ramp and hid in a bay all day. first time i had ever actually been scared in fresh water. "can" you do it? i'm sure you could, "should" you? well again that depends on the conditions.

just my $.02 worth

[Jason Phillips]

Just like Clint said.....depends on weather conditions. There are some days I wouldn't do it in a 22SSExtreme and it was the equivalent of an aircraft carrier.

[BBCJUNKIE]

use your judgement - probably best with only a south wind or maybe breeze - they are great boats though, my buddy just bought one got to fish with him the other day really surprising how stable they are and how they do in a foot or two chop

[Tomahawk]

Thanks for all the input. That puts my mind at ease. I was kind of thinking pretty much what everyone has said. You just have to make sure that you go out on a descent day.

[trisonmike]

When i was 20 years old my buddy and I took a 10' aluminum Sea Nymph with a little hand steered motor on Lake Erie. We were catching Wallies like crazy. Anyway we looked up and saw a huge steel hulled Coat Guard boat coming right at us. They asked is we knew how far out we were,and he said it was 12 miles. If bad weather came up we would never come close to making it back to land with our tiny motor. And we did not have any life vests on board.
It makes my knees weak thinking about that some 29 years ago.

[Neilslure]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by trisonmike &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">When i was 20 years old my buddy and I took a 10' aluminum Sea Nymph with a little hand steered motor on Lake Erie. We were catching Wallies like crazy. Anyway we looked up and saw a huge steel hulled Coat Guard boat coming right at us. They asked is we knew how far out we were,and he said it was 12 miles. If bad weather came up we would never come close to making it back to land with our tiny motor. And we did not have any life vests on board.
It makes my knees weak thinking about that some 29 years ago.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sounds like it was a recipe for disaster. I have heard that Erie can change in the blink of an eye.

[Garza200ProXL225]

If any of you watched the Detroit River FLW episode, you can see what we deal with here just about every day...

[jamesshannon]

I have a 17ft aluminum with a 95 inch beam which makes this boat very stable. I am always surprised at how small I feel when I get out on open water. Bottom line is know your boat's limits and respect the body of water you are on. Bass boats in general are not comfortable in swells or waves, there is a reason the walleye fisherman use deep Vs and high sides.