Best Bass Boat Brand In Your Opinion

[fishingtx]

As the title says, what's the best bass boat overall. This is bound to be biased, so just give a little bit of reasoning. 

I would have to say the BassCat Couguar FTD. The reason being, out of all the boats I've fished in different conditions this boat brings the best from all of the others that performed well into one boat. It brings speed, fishablitity, control/handling, durability, and style into one boat. Like I said I've fished out of many and this one is the best I've ever fished from.

[crypt]

my friend has a Cougar and loves it. my favorite is a Gambler. Best boat I have ever been in. Also  a Champion is a great boat. The list can go on and on and on.............

[gim]

Oh boy. Well this isn’t going to get biased.

 

I have fished out of Ranger, Smokercraft, Crestliner, Lund, Warrior, and Lowe. Out of that list the Warrior was probably the best ride. The only bass boat I’ve ever been in is my own, which is a Ranger.

 

[A-Jay]

IME, Resistol and JW Brooks both put out quality products. 

Lesser know but still real nice units come from Grumbleton and Stermin Boats

A-Jay

[Big Rick]

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

IME, Resistol and JW Brooks both put out quality products. 

That they do, but I put little trust in their ability to float you or your ability to climb in one.....

 

I will say you'd look rather dapper as you sank....

[slonezp]

One that floats

3 hours ago, benburkefishing said:

As the title says, what's the best bass boat overall. This is bound to be biased, so just give a little bit of reasoning. 

I would have to say the BassCat Couguar FTD. The reason being, out of all the boats I've fished in different conditions this boat brings the best from all of the others that performed well into one boat. It brings speed, fishablitity, control/handling, durability, and style into one boat. Like I said I've fished out of many and this one is the best I've ever fished from.

There is no best. There is a best for you. Every boat is different as every body of water is different. Can't run a 20ft Ranger on an electric only lake and a 14ft jon won't fend well on the Great lakes

 

[J._Bricker]

In my opinion there are a lot of good bass boats, but the best one is the one that’s in my garage.

[fishingtx]

1 minute ago, J._Bricker said:

In my opinion there are a lot of good bass boats, but the best one is the one that’s in my garage.

What might that one be?

[greentrout]

Skeeter

[volzfan59]

I've owned several different brands, Stratos, Nitro, Champion, Tracker and G-3. Currently own an F&F aluminum boat (locally made custom, no longer in business). They were all great boats and gave me no problems. The one that I would love to have back is the Champion. I think that they were some of the best boats ever made, but that's just my opinion. As always, to each his/her own.

[GaryH]

Bias Skeeter.. I’ve own quite a few different brands never had bad luck with any of them but I’ve been staying with Skeeter so it must be my favorite.

12 hours ago, gimruis said:

Oh boy. Well this isn’t going to get biased.

 

 

 

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[Catt]

Bass Cat, Xpress Hyper-Lift, & Vexus AVX

[Dwight Hottle]

I have only owned two a Lund & a Starcraft. Lunds are a quality product for sure. But when the crap hit the fan my Starcraft 2050 STX saved my bacon & my passenger's bacon also. 

[Jig Man]

I’ve owned Champion, Ranger and Nitro.  I’ve also fished lots of hours in a Bass Cat.  I have a Nitro now but it isn’t as good as my Champion was or the Bass Cat that my friend had.

 

Champion was better built than Ranger while Genmar owned both but Irwin Jacobs put way more money into Ranger advertising than Champion because of the profit margin.  When John L. Morris bought both companies he destroyed the Champion molds.

 

I can’t honestly say which is the best because I only fish from my Nitro and a friend’s Phoenix.  If I were in the market for a new boat I would devote some serious time studying the Phoenix.

 

The actual boat isn’t as important as the electronics and the trolling motor. 

[Born 2 fish]

I had a nitro and a Lund not a bass boat and now a Phoenix. Out of what I have owned I’ll say Phoenix because I own one and I’m extremely happy with everything about it. 

[J._Bricker]

14 hours ago, benburkefishing said:

What might that one be?

A Ranger @benburkefishing

[Way2slow]

There are bunches of Very Good boats, it's just a matter of what fills the bill in a boat you are looking for.  It would a much shorter list to ask what boats you wouldn't/shouldn't buy.  Like Bayliner and Sprint to mention a couple, those were among the worst of the bad ones. Totally cheap construction.    

However, no matter what you list in that department, it will ruffle some feathers.  It goes back to that old saying, "you can fool some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but never all of the people all of the time", and that's what those cheap entry level boats were for.

[WRB]

In the 90’s Champions were popular, then Bass Cat came out with a faster wider hull with drier ride. Back then Ranger was the boat all other were rated against because they held the value but didn't do anything spectacular but were built like a tank and very reliable boats. Skeeter was another boat that was and is popular, fast hull but the storage wasn’t the best. Pro Craft was a good solid popular boat.

The fast hulls like Allison, Bullet and Gambler never were popular out west do in part to no dealers and didn’t ride well in white capped water.

Stratos at one time was popular when Earl Benz owned the company. When Benz came out with Triton they were popular out west. 

Today if I was looking for a new boat Bass Cat or Phenix would top the list for 19’-21’ boats.

Why, local dealers, lots of storage, dry fast comfortable rid.

Tom

[Bird]

I've only had Skeeter, Hydra Sport and currently a Lowe.

Naturally I like the Lowe best simply because it's a newer boat.

If I weren't so frugal I'd be looking at Vexus AVX.

[Mike L]

Ranger….Ride, storage, durability 

Skeeter….Value for the money

Bullet, Allison….Overall speed

Big O….Fishability

Tracker....Average lower cost

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[rangerjockey]

I've owned Rangers, Champions and now Triton. If I were buying another one tomorrow I'd probably buy another Triton or possibly the Charger/Champion 196 or Phoenix. 

If you fish tournaments I would defiantly check the rewards program that aligns best with your circuit.

I

[Susky River Rat]

I had a tracker 160 before my tunnel I just got. It did everything I asked it to. I cannot complain. My new boat so far does everything I need it to better. Just slightly less frills I guess you could say.  
 

I have never been on a nitro, ranger, skeeter etc. so I have no comment on those.

[TOXIC]

There are so many gives and takes in bassboats that it boils down to what you put your priorities in. Speed, fishability, ride, rough water ability.  Are you including tin in the mix?  I tend to look past all the peanut gallery recommendations because there’s sooooo much misinformation that I don’t trust it to form my opinion.  No, Ranger hasn’t been cheapened up since White River bought them, no, NITRO’s are not all crappy boats, etc.  I have a friend who works on my boat and has crawled through almost all of the major brands and can rate them at a professional level on their build quality and he can pinpoint everywhere the manufacturers have cut corners.  I’ve gone to Lake St Clair every year for 21 years.  All those years I looked at what brand dominated what I saw on the lake and what the locals ran.  I wanted reliability in big water, good ride, easy rigging and quality construction.  My current boat is a 21ft 2005 Ranger.  I had a 2000 929 CDX NITRO before the Ranger and it never let me down or left me stranded on the water.  I have put hundreds of hours on both.  I have spent time in a lot of current and past brands.  If I wanted to buy tomorrow, I would start the evaluation process all over based on my current needs.  

[Siebert Outdoors]

I'm surprised that Phoenix, Vexus, Caymas arent listed more.

 

Right now I have a Pheonix and love it.  Is there a better boat? Maybe.  But I think a lot of it is opinion based anymore.  I'm a guy that likes simple.  No frills that like to break or rot.

[flyfisher]

Rockproof River rocket