Who's running the oldest bass boat?

[billmac]

I have an 88 Cajun Maverick. I'm sure that's not even close.

[BigAngus752]

This guy?

 

[gim]

This oughta be good. Some real fossils out there I’m sure.

[Scott F]

I’ve got an 88 Ranger. I’m the original owner.

[TnRiver46]

I’ve got an old jon boat and an old canoe but no old bass boat 

[Biglittle8]

86 Ranger here. 

[FishinBuck07]

5 hours ago, Biglittle8 said:

86 Ranger here. 

That is a good looking boat!!!

[Captain Phil]

My first bass boat was a 4' x 8' wood boat I built myself. I screwed and glued it together from a sheet of plywood for the bottom.  It leaked like crazy, but it got me off the bank.  When I got a little money, I moved up to a 12 foot car top Jon boat with an old white case mercury 10 HP outboard.  Bass boats were starting to arrive when I bought a 15' Terry Bass, 50 HP Johnson and stick steering.  After my first tournament, I moved up to a 15' Terry side console with a 75 Johnson.  This was considered state of the art in the late sixties.  When I saw my first Hydrosport in a tournament, I had to have one.  My Johnsons couldn't keep up, so I moved to Mercury 150s. Back then, we ran two blade props.  To get on plane, the passenger had to go to the front of the boat.  Those props vibrated so bad, the depth finder looked 18" wide running down the lake. Bass boat trends come and they go.  There was a time when Ranger made inboard powered bass boats.  All my boats caught fish.

[Biglittle8]

 

34 minutes ago, Captain Phil said:

My first bass boat was a 4' x 8' wood boat I built myself. I screwed and glued it together from a sheet of plywood for the bottom.  It leaked like crazy, but it got me off the bank.  When I got a little money, I moved up to a 12 foot car top Jon boat with an old white case mercury 10 HP outboard.  Bass boats were starting to arrive when I bought a 15' Terry Bass, 50 HP Johnson and stick steering.  After my first tournament, I moved up to a 15' Terry side console with a 75 Johnson.  This was considered state of the art in the late sixties.  When I saw my first Hydrosport in a tournament, I had to have one.  My Johnsons couldn't keep up, so I moved to Mercury 150s. Back then, we ran two blade props.  To get on plane, the passenger had to go to the front of the boat.  Those props vibrated so bad, the depth finder looked 18" wide running down the lake. Bass boat trends come and they go.  There was a time when Ranger made inboard powered bass boats.  All my boats caught fish.

I love hearing your stories, now we are in a time of 80k bass boats and trucks. 

[billmac]

When I was a BASS and tournament wannabe in the 70s and 80s, a bassboat was way out of my reach.  Spending $58 on my first baitcaster was a deep cut into my finances.  But I had a small aluminum canoe and over time I purchased a trolling motor, swivel seats, and a friend gave me an old flasher unit.

[DaubsNU1]

1960 Rich Line with a 1974 20HP Merc.

 

[TnRiver46]

1957 Cherokee 

[NoShoes]

10 hours ago, Scott F said:

I’ve got an 88 Ranger. I’m the original owner.

Dude that’s cool. 

[Captain Phil]

2 hours ago, billmac said:

When I was a BASS and tournament wannabe in the 70s and 80s, a bassboat was way out of my reach.  Spending $58 on my first baitcaster was a deep cut into my finances.  But I had a small aluminum canoe and over time I purchased a trolling motor, swivel seats, and a friend gave me an old flasher unit.

 

I built my first flasher from a Heath Kit.   Soldered it together on my dinning room table.  I couldn't believe it worked, but it did.  At least you knew how deep the water was.  Finding fish with it was a different story. ?

[JimT]

I finished up a 1950 Pen Yann cartopper last year and have fished out of it, does that count as a bass boat? ?

 

[MN Fisher]

I still got a lot of work to do on it for the conversion...but can we count my 1972 Alumacraft Lake Master?

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, JimT said:

I finished up a 1950 Pen Yann cartopper last year and have fished out of it, does that count as a bass boat? ?

 

Absolutely! She’s a beaut 

[JimT]

12 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Absolutely! She’s a beaut 

thanks--I've got a fairly clean original Mark 10 that is slated to go on it at some point if I can ever get it tuned up right. But for now I'm just using a nice light 6hp Suzuki 4-stroke on it. Which is nice too.