First time in big water

[Jim R]

nhbass and I just spent the week up on Lake Champlain, VT. We were up there for the BASS Eastern Divisional (him, not me). Have to say that I was really pleased with the performance of my boat.
Had some really nice days, couple rough ones, and some in-between. Obviously I was happy with the good days...running 50 or so at 4000 rpm boat was smooth and it felt effortless as I ran the lake. In the rough stuff it did a good job-especially as I got better at reading the waves and learned when to hammer down or back off gas. Really happy in choppy or 1 ft + waves...boat handled them super smooth and barely felt em at all and never had to slow down.
Glad I got my Stratos and really happy with the E-Tec, too. Good on gas as I ran all over central and north Lake Champlain.

[billybass]

Glad to hear things went well up there Jim. The smooth ride is one of the first things I noticed with my 200. I came out of a Champion to go into this boat and I can certainly say the ride was no better in the Champ. Nice and tdry too!

So how did nhbass do in the tx?

[Jim R]

So how did nhbass do in the tx?[/quote]

He got 4th in his age group. He/we learned a valuable lesson...when pre-fishing a big lake like Champlain, learn areas to fish in all wind directions! He was on fish all week and figured he could grab a solid bag from two areas. Unfortunatly, the wind was howling out of the west and there were 3 ft + waves blowing directly onto the shore areas he was trying to fish. He could barely hold the boat in line, almost went over a couple times and got seasick! But had a blast, learned a ton and can't wait for next year.

[ep72]

A Stratos is happiest running in a good chop and the 200 is one of the driest,best riding rough water hulls out there. Congrats to your son.

[dannov5]

Too bad they don't make them anymore.

[Jim R]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by dannov5 &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">Too bad they don't make them anymore.</td></tr></table>

Yeah, mine is a leftover, just hit the water this year, so I ain't worryin' about a boat for a while!

[Stratos Luver]

The 200 xl is the all around best 20ft boat for speed, ride, and front deck size. My 2 cents

[GregInAtl]

I love the ride of the 200 and 201, and in 1' chop they come alive and really shine as smooth and fast. On flat water mine feels heavy, in chop it will stand up and roll out. Bigger stuff than chop it comes down to driver for a lot of the ride.