Would You Fish Out This? Could You?

[Boomstick]

If I was fishing on Ontario or Erie and could afford that, that would be a pretty sweet fishing boat. Maybe a little bit overkill, certainly on the smaller lakes I normally fish on but pretty sweet regardless.

 

Good luck with your new boat whatever you decide to do.

[J Francho]

On 2/6/2021 at 6:30 AM, slonezp said:

You've ridden in one?

Two: Meh.  One new, the other maybe five years old.  Everything that looked cheezy on the new was ratty on the used.  Not impressed.  Reminded me of a Ranger Bay I really wanted to buy, before I bought the Bullet.  I expect more for the money.

On 2/6/2021 at 7:19 AM, Jigfishn10 said:

Just looking at some notes from this past fall and I had circled Sea Ray as a potential purchase. Unfortunately I didn’t note why it didn’t make the cut.

There isn't a single model in their line up that I'd even try to fish from.  We had a Sea Ray stern-drive bowrider when I was a teenager.  That boat was awesome, but not a fishing boat.

15 hours ago, Boomstick said:

If I was fishing on Ontario or Erie and could afford that, that would be a pretty sweet fishing boat. Maybe a little bit overkill, certainly on the smaller lakes I normally fish on but pretty sweet regardless.

 

Good luck with your new boat whatever you decide to do.

I have three kayaks and an 18' pontoon boat as well, so I'm covered there.  I'm not ruling out a little tin can tiller either.  I still love that style boat.  We have SO MUCH water here one boat will never cover all the bases.

[J Francho]

50 minutes ago, J Francho said:

There isn't a single model in their line up that I could ever afford I'd even try to fish from.

Fixed it.  For giggles, I built a 25' runabout with basic options and it was $200k.  Nope.

[Jigfishn10]

1 minute ago, J Francho said:

Fixed it.  For giggles, I built a 25' runabout with basic options and it was $200k.  Nope.

LMAO...I'm assuming that was the reason I must have passed on it...I was probably laughing too hard to write notes on it. 

[J Francho]

I was genuinely shocked.  They're more than a Chris Craft.

[Jigfishn10]

The person in the river I referred to a few posts up has and fishes out of a Bayliner. He's an older, retired gentleman, but he loves it. 

I actually thought they were more like a lake boat so I never pursued it. They were a little out of my price range but it might be worth a peek.

[J Francho]

Bayliner gets a bad rap for being a price point boat.  They sort invented the package deal (boat, motor, and trailer) that Tracker did with bass boats.  They suffer from the same reputation, though optioned out, they look pretty good.  I've just seen too many nice looking Bayliners with underpowered Force O/Bs in permanent dry dock for me to ever consider them.

 

Looks like they do the same thing - pimping a 21' bay boat for less than $30k. It comes with a 115, lol.  Nope.

[haggard]

On 2/5/2021 at 9:59 PM, J Francho said:

I get what they are going for, but the new designs have zero personality

Well said. (speaking about products in general, not a specific brand).

On 2/6/2021 at 7:19 AM, Jigfishn10 said:

If you see an EdgeWater with a blue Bimini top in  Kennebunkport it’s probably us. ?. Good luck!

Congrats! I'll keep an eye out.

 

[Boomstick]

9 hours ago, J Francho said:

I was genuinely shocked.  They're more than a Chris Craft.

Yeah, I figured that would be a pretty penny so I checked on boats.com. Basically any used one that floats is going to be more expensive than my house.

[J Francho]

11 hours ago, Boomstick said:

Basically any used one that floats is going to be more expensive than my house.

I hear you there!  The whole idea of a bigger boat came about when we were looking at cottages.  There are shacks on the water that are 5x the price of my dream home.  Never mind the yearly taxes.  We decided to get the boat, and squat at our friends' cottages in exchange for a couple bottles of wine and our stellar sense of humor.

 

Seriously everyone, I appreciate the feedback!

[roadwarrior]

My first boat was a Bayliner Fish & Ski.

 

POS

 

 

[J Francho]

They are not, and will never be, on my list.

 

In no order:

 

Pathfinder

Boston Whaler

Scout

 

 

[Jigfishn10]

Good luck John...you are certainly doing your homework...One thing to remember, bigger boat, bigger headaches.

 

Quick story. 

Coming home from work in 5 PM traffic and I get pulled over by a state trooper. The trooper asks if I know why he's pulling me over. I said, "to be honest, no, I stayed in my lane and traffic is only going about 35 - 40 mph." He asks for my license and registration. I grab the registration out of my glove box and a repair bill fell of from a boat dealer.

He says: "Is that a repair bill from Monahan Marine?" "Yes".

"They got you too huh? I can't tell you how much money those thieves have of mine." "You've spent enough, just get your rear light repaired." 

And lets me go. ?

[J Francho]

After all the boats over the years, I don't think I can agree with that.  Yes, bigger boat, greater complexity and more systems that can possibly fail.  My Xpress was an absolute PITA to figure out minor issues, but in the end were easy fixes.  In contrast, any issues I had with the Bullet were easy to figure out, but good luck getting at the parts that needed repair or replacement.  I had to remove the gas tank to install new bilge pumps, lol.  There were sections of the Sea Nymph where there was no hope of ever seeing the wiring, so you checked the fuse, all the connections, replaced the switch, to find there was a short in the wire from rubbing. What are you going to do?  The first two boats were bass boats with the toys and 20 years old, the Sea Nymph was purchased new, and was a simple tiller deep-V.  Some of this figures into my purchase.  BTW, the wiring in the Pathfinder is like fine art.

[Jigfishn10]

Finally in JF

 

[OnthePotomac]

I spent a week with my brother fishing out of his 17'6" Tracker with down riggers for kings a few years ago out of Rogers City, Michigan on Lake Huron and wondered every day if there was any one there who did not have a Whaler and for two days wished to heck my brother had one as I was looking at the top of a Huron roller way above my head.

[J Francho]

I'll be doing way more bass fishing than salmon fishing in this next boat.  I don't have any interest in trolling deep for fish.

[Deephaven]

On 2/9/2021 at 8:24 AM, Jigfishn10 said:

Good luck John...you are certainly doing your homework...One thing to remember, bigger boat, bigger headaches.

Couldn't disagree more....user dependent of course.  I put 800 hours on a 30' Sea Ray Sundancer and made money when I sold it.  Over the 800 hours I had less than $300 in parts I used to repair it.

I wasn't slow enough to buy it new and take that depreciation hit though.

[Jigfishn10]

11 hours ago, Deephaven said:

Couldn't disagree more....

For some reason this doesn't surprise me. ?

 

I should have chosen my word better, larger boats, IMO, are just more to run and maintain. 

Again, JMHO.

[J Francho]

I put 210,000 miles on a 87 Jeep Cherokee Chief and it only cost me a screwdriver and a water pump.  I paid $500 for that car, and sold it for $500 when I was done.  It had around 450,000.  Another true story, I had a set of DW Collectors that I bought a month old, used.  I used them for half a dozen tours, five albums and sold them 17 years later for more than I paid for those drums.

 

Resale of this boat will happen after they read my will.

[Way2slow]

Actually, if possible, I would want one a little larger if fishing big water.  I have been in some hairy situations on large inland lakes that were only a couple miles wide in a 20' bass boat when a sudden afternoon thunder storm popped up.  The great lakes have the potential to make those inland lakes look like farm ponds.

[J Francho]

1 hour ago, Way2slow said:

Actually, if possible, I would want one a little larger if fishing big water.  I have been in some hairy situations on large inland lakes that were only a couple miles wide in a 20' bass boat when a sudden afternoon thunder storm popped up.  The great lakes have the potential to make those inland lakes look like farm ponds.

If I was simply launching directly in the main lake, I'd agree.  We mostly drop into one of the protected bays, which are small lakes unto themselves.  You pick your days when you head out to the big lake. 

 

This is Port Bay, where I grew up and learned to fish.  Pretty typical largemouth fishing there.  It's only ever "rough" when we get a south wind which is rare.  On nice days, you can run the lake, and even head to other bays.  Sodus (the crown jewel of Lake Ontario) is just a 40-60 minute boat ride away.

 

[slonezp]

On 2/9/2021 at 7:57 AM, J Francho said:

They are not, and will never be, on my list.

 

In no order:

 

Pathfinder

Boston Whaler

Scout

 

 

Are you looking at the scout bay of sportfish

[J Francho]

52 minutes ago, slonezp said:

Are you looking at the scout bay of sportfish

251 XSS.  I don't think I could bass fish off the sport fish very easily.

[Deephaven]

7 hours ago, J Francho said:

Resale of this boat will happen after they read my will.

Then the cost of ownership will be really similar to a bassboat with a similar size motor, trolling motor, talon, electronic setup.  Slight more wear and tear on the trailer due to the weight, but that is somewhat inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

 

32 minutes ago, J Francho said:

251 XSS.  I don't think I could bass fish off the sport fish very easily.

My buddy has a 251xss, really nice boat.  Does great out here on Tonka in the rough stuff, but is still controllable with the trolling motor.  Obviously not as easy as a flat bottom boat, but that you already know.  Have you been out in one or similar?