New Aluminum Bass Rigs

[slonezp]

I don't think so!

Y'all don't have to deal with boat lanes

My home water is the Fox Chain of Lakes in northern IL. Its the busiest freshwater waterway per acre in the US. There are days I'd rather deal with rollers on lake Michigan than the boat traffic on the Chain.

[slonezp]

When y'all run the great lake how do y'all handle waves?

Do y'all run into them? With them? Quartering them?

With our boat lanes you hit them from what ever angle the boat lane leads you, there is no choice!

Get out of the boat lane you lose your lower unit or bust a hole in your hull!

Running waves varies on the great lakes

I kinda play it by ear. The waves are further apart than on a smaller body of water. Riding on top is not always an option. We get rogue waves as well.

On the Chain there is an area called the washtub. I don't think that needs explaining. Another area called suicide alley. I've never been to the bend but I have fished many of the premier bass lakes in the southeast especially on the Tenn river and the traffic is not the same.

[slonezp]

Moral of the story is to buy the right tool for the job

[J Francho]

Or more than one tool....

[gardnerjigman]

I live in Mid-Missouri, although my boat lives down at Table Rock. Anyway, my boat is a Tracker Pro Team 185. It gets a good deal of work in at Table Rock and Lake of the Ozarks. If I was in the market now and could afford one of those new aluminum rigs you were mentioning, I would buy a beautiful, well taken care of, used, GLASS boat every time. I usually stick up for the old aluminum boat, and they have their place, but to me, if you are willing throw down over $20,000.00, and you are going to be out on LOZ very often, you'll appreciate the glass rig for the very reasons you alluded to in your post.

 

But that's just me. Those aluminum boats are capable of anything you are looking to do in Missouri, and I'm sure you'll be happy with whatever you get if you invest that much money in it.

 

X2

[bassinbrady03]

I've been to Santee Cooper. Marked boat lanes would be nice in some places, lol.

 I know right!! It gets dangerous out there.

[Nice_Bass]

When y'all run the great lake how do y'all handle waves?

Do y'all run into them? With them? Quartering them?

With our boat lanes you hit them from what ever angle the boat lane leads you, there is no choice!

Get out of the boat lane you lose your lower unit or bust a hole in your hull!

The waves get out of my way!!!  (I don't fish the GL, unfortunately all that often.)

If I had to do it over, would have bought an express over tracker for sure, but money and marketing got to me and I took the easy way out.

Back to topic though, I do prefer an aluminum on LOZ believe it or not.  Much easier to get in between the docks fishing them and don't have to worry so much about scuffs when fishing next to bluff walls. 

Boat lanes at loz September through memorial day- wide open lake. 

Boat lanes Memorial day through Labor day- 4am to 10am weekends, much better during week.    

For sure eaiser than the Toledo Bend as I am not looking for stumps and boats, and 50ft cruisers pretty easy to spot.

If I could do it over, I would still fish a tin boat right now...but that's only because at the time I could not find a fiberglass that had a beam that would fit in the garage. 

[c21chris]

I live in central Illinois. There are a few power plant lakes that have a 25hp limit so that's what I got.  I get 18-19 mph with a partner and 20-21 by myself. I haven't ran it on rough water yet.  

[TX18_E90]

Have a Triton TX18. Bought it last year. Love it. Great fishing platform. You can easy fish two people on front deck. A LOT of storage.

Mine is rigged with my 2010 Etec 90 hp. If I could have afforded a 115, I would have gone that route. Boat rides nice. Handles rough water pretty well, but your not going to be running all out. I've added a 6" JP to mine and I'm turning a 18 pitch prop at 43 mph. That gives me a comfortable cruising speed of 40 mph. Most 115 owners are in the 46-49 mph range. 

Ranger seems to be the popular version, but I think that's mostly dealer and name recognition. I liked the Triton dash better. All welded trailer. My dealer was willing to rig my motor.

The only knock I give the hull is it can have porpoising issues. The factory tried to cure this by welding aluminum angles to the hull back by stearn. They are effective at helping control the handling, but caused most hulls to loose 2-3 mph. Adding a 6" JP and proping correctly is a better cure but the JP will void Hull Warranty if discovered. I believe you can now special order them without the trim angles and a 4" fixed set back plate. 

[kikstand454]

IMHO

xpress , all the way. ... don't look back.

[Catt]

TX_E90, Nauticus Trim Tabs

[Surfcaster]

My tournament partner has a new, 2014 18' Triton aluminum with a 90hp Mercury, and it performs and fishes out of very well.  Will run 40-45 mph and good fuel economy.  I think it was in the $20,000 price range.

[190 Tracker TX]

^{I purchased a new 2013 Tracker 190TX in July of 2013 and have enjoyed making the purchase.  I have made my first upgrades to the boat for 2015; check them out.}