boat restoration

[basser223]

I dont have much for boats all I got is a kayak and a canoe and I am getting intrested into tournament angling. I dont have a lot of money but I was thinking about getting a jon boat and fully restoring it into something of a mini bass boat. Does anyone know of a website that could be used as a guide into doing such a thing?

[Way2slow]

Usually, when getting into tournament fishing, you start in a local club. The first step would be to make sure they allow jon's and what the minimum boat requirements are. Clubs that fish a large lakes may not allow anything below 17' because a smaller jon could be very dangerous

Might find some electric only, but a lot of those guy's tie up a ton of money in an electric jon.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to discourage you, just do your home work, make sure you have tournaments you can fish with a smaller jon. For me, my 1436 jon is strickly a pond (tank if in Texas) and river boat, not a lake boat.

I've never had but one boat that caught a bass, (one jumped in the boat one night fishing shallow coves) so I'm not saying you need a big boat for that.  I've probably caught as many bass out of my 17' canoe as any bass boat I've ever owned.

[stratosjoe]

also most clubs will require you to have a livewell and most smallboats do not have them  :'(

[dmac14]

Yeah they're are a few things with this, I know I cant enter tournaments for a few reasons.

1. Needs two livewells

2. Needs to be at least 16ft

3. Needs to have at least 75hp

4. Needs a killswitch

5. Needs a back casting deck for a non-boater.

So find a local club and look into this, also nothing wrong with being a non-boater, sure is cheaper.

[Way2slow]

Non boater, back seater is a great way to learn.  You can get seated with some very good basser and paying attention to what they are doing can be worth the time, many times over. 

Just be dang sure you learn the proper rules/protocall when fishing from the back seat of another guys boat, you start casting to the front and taking his holes and you might find yourself back on the dock real quick.

One other point, the boat owners gas bill is a major expense to his tourney fishing (30 - 50 gallons a day is not uncommon on a large lake), the back seater should offer to pay a nice chunk of what the owner used that day.   Don't go for a thinking it's a free ride.