Logan S

Because I own one Any of the big names will serve well, especially in normal conditions. In rough water, size helps before brand... No matter the boat, being in rough water in a bass boat sucks. Bass boats are not made to handle rough water, they are fishing platforms, some are little better than others...But that's where operator experience comes in to play too. If you want a fishing boat purpose built for handling rough water you need to look at walleye style boats or something similar...But then you sacrifice many other things when it comes to bass fishing.

And just in case you have all your goals figured out already, when it comes to how a boat rides it's probably 80% driver, 20% boat. Allow yourself time to become experienced in operating your boat and I doubt you will have issues in any rig. A bass boat is probably one of the more complicated boats to drive well...There's more to it than flooring the throttle and steering where you want

You've received some good advice here so far, I will try to add to it. Length, storage, livewells, overall condition, motor, trailer, etc...All need to be balanced against what you can spend. In general, I'd say you want to lean heavy on length since you plan to fish the upper Bay. You don't want end up wishing you went bigger. When it comes to glass boats, generally a 20' boat can do everything an 18' boat can...But an 18' can't do everything a 20' can. For used boats, motor and trailer condition need to be considered as extremely important too. If either turns out to suck you will regret everything. Get both checked by a professional. For motors, some have bad reputations (the FICHT is probably one of the more notorious ones) so avoid those...Even if you get a 'good one' the resale value will be hurt significantly. Remember, the boat is just a tool to take you to the fish...So make sure you get one that matches your fishing goals! Get your budget figured out, get your goals figured out, and then start looking. Narrow it down by brand once you start finding some that fit your goals. Look at as many as you can and keep an open mind...Whatever you do, don't fall in love with the first boat you look at! I've seen a few people do this and they ended up with something completely different that what they set out for, obviously regretting it. Don't get too caught up in what electronics/extras are on the boat, but don't pass up a great deal either. If a boat is a little out of your price range but comes with $3,000 worth of electronics, a brand new quality trolling motor, or with all of the previous guys fishing gear, it could end up being a better deal in the long run. After all that, if I were to rank the brands you listed...I'd put Stratos at the top (For obvious reasons haha)

Yea, I wouldn't use it with a spinning rod...But any baitcaster should work in a pinch, it doesn't really need to have a dialed in set up. I would grab a Chart. w/black back model and throw in your bag. If you end up in a shallow grassy area on the river, start chuckin'!

Ha! I thought your pic looked familiar but I didn't want guess wrong haha...I used to have an account for a long time but I never really posted and ended up forgetting the name/password/email I used, I just browse while I'm supposed to be working I know a lot of our guys are on here too, Brian has recruited a bunch haha. I have a couple Powells, they're great...Although now that the price jumped they are less desirable to me for new rods. I got the Squarebill, Wacky, and a Max 6-8 Heavy all for $139 each (retail) a few years back. I think they jumped it up to $169 now, still worth it, but before they were a screaming deal. The Wacky is a 6-10 MH/XF and is the best sliderhead rod ever made Being a Co-angler, you can be limited in what you bring so if you want throw it in you bag you can definitely get away with throwing on a spinnerbait/chatter rod so you don't have to add a whole setup to the load out. That's where having the 20 foot floating tackle box helps , I just throw everything imaginable in the locker if I think I might need on TX day. Like I said, it's not a sure bet, but it's certainly worth keeping in the bag. If you have a high tide early in the morning you can probably pop a few on it before the water falls and the sun gets up in the right areas. The fish really have to be up in the 1 foot zone for it to really excel...at least in my experience on the Potomac.

I'm guessing you are talking about the Potomac? It's not your typical crankbait fishing in that usually the goal is rip it out of or just over the shallowest grass. You shouldn't have issues casting, it's about the size of a standard squarebill...It actually casts pretty well in my opinion. I use the Powell Squarebill rod (6'9" heavy/fast), a 6.4:1 reel (not exact..just not a slow or fast one), and usually use 14 lb flouro. With 10lb flouro you can get it down to about 1.5 to 2 feet if you try...Rod tip down and a long cast. With 17 or 20 lb flouro you can keep it way up even on a long cast/fast retrieve. I'll use these setups if I need it to do one of those things, but most of the time the 14 lb covers everything. I also change the hooks since the ones that come on it are pretty wimpy when using a heavy rod, heavier line, and there's more crap to get stuck in then in a typical crankbait scenario. The way the Potomac is these days, it's a more of time-and-place thing..Since the grass is so minimal compared to what it was a few years ago. A lot of times you'll need to get a little deeper than the 1-minus will go (wood/rocks/deeper grass edge, stuff in 3 or 4 feet) so squarebills seem to be the top choice if you are going to fish a crank. But if you get an overcast/rainy day or a flood tide, anything that gets the fish way up and spread out, you can crush on the 1-minus. There's not really anything else besides topwater that can get a good reaction bite when the fish are spread out with only a foot of water between the grass and surface...And a lot of times they don't seem to commit to topwater in that scenario (as much as it seems like they should). I don't consider it a dink-only bait...I know it's called the Baby 1-minus, but it's really not much different in size than any standard size crank. I too have caught some pigs on it.