Nitro bass boats??

[Angler management]

I have a 2000 Legend V-170 with a 90hp merc. And im planning on selling or trading in for a bass boat. Im looking for a boat 20' or more for being able to fish rough water lakes such as simcoe. Anybody have any experiance fishing a nitro in rough water? I know some bass boats are better then others but does it make that much difference if the boat is same length? I hear from everybody "go with ranger" or go with another brand that costs $60k+ for a 21ft model. But i find its always somebody who owns one and has never been in a nitro, and assumes they are no good because they cost $20k less then a ranger or skeeter.

[John Bacon]

Are you set on a bass boat? Other designs are better for rough water.

[Angler management]

Ya, i mainly fish shallow bays for bass, and have a need for speed...lol and would love to be able to rip across a big lake at 70mph to a bay on the opposite side. Also plan on entering tournaments starting next year.

[Tayzak15]

How you looked at the lund predator? sounds like it might be good for you. Get the best of both worlds.

[Luke V.]

Look at "walleye"/"crappie" boats

Most are wider and deeper and will handle rough water excellently

Ranger 620 would be my number 1 choice

Next choice would be a triton 202 (was on Erie in November and she was rolling 6 footers and that boat was awesome)

You would be surprised to realise the draft of the walleye boats isn't much more than a bass boat

 

Edit to add:

Lund Pro V are a great boat aswell

Very versitile handle rough water very well

Edited April 1, 2013 by Luke V.

[Angler management]

I realize there are boats that handle rough water better then a bass boat, but no other boats allow you to have a stadium size fishing platforms that sit almost flat on the water. Fishability off a bass boat cant be beaten, and they are still able to do 70+mph in big chop. Im looking to figure out if a nitro is a good choice compared to others that are reputable in rough water. I thought about the 621 ranger, but i dont like how it sits so much further out of the water, and smaller platforms. Not to mention the price tag... :s thanx for the input!!

Edited April 2, 2013 by Angler management

[Terry]

loved my nitro, it handled lake simcoe quite well

 

[Harrison]

Ran a 20ft Nitro on Simcoe for a few years, I was happy with it. Handled the big water well and stable to fish out of. I would look at another one, but a Ranger 521 is on my list.

[fish_fishburn]

Nitro makes a decent boat. I have owned a few of them. Lots of people bash Tracker boatst and for good reason. Their customer service on their tinnies sucks from what I have heard. I am running a 1996 884 Savage with a 175 Merc original owner and it has treated me very well. I have fished out of and piloted the majority of them and very few run a nice as the Savage hull.

 

Mine is only 18.5 ft so I cant compare it to a 21 ft hull when in 3 ft or more swells but it handles better than alot of 21's at WOT. Set up is the big thing. I spent alot of time setting mine up when it was new and have it tweaked out perfect. 68 mph on gps, no chine walk at all. I can turn as hard as I want at full trim and dont worry about slipping or hooking. Try that in other brands that cost alot more and you will be going for a high speed swim, and I have seen it first hand.

 

Huge casting decks and nice layout, big livewell that keeps my fish alive make for a nice fishable boat. You can pay 15 or 20k more for other brands but they are not 20k better and thats a fact. If I was in the market for a new bassboat I would be buying the new Z8 with a 250 Merc. Very quick and pretty too.

 

My fishing partner bought a 929 4 yrs ago so we use his for tourneys now and its an awesome boat and runs really nice in the rough stuff. Its a 21 ft has an awesome layout. Just wish he would let me pilot it more often cause he's lousy and scares the crap out of me with some of the stunts he's pulled. Go for it.

[Gerry]

Bassboats are by their very nature, flat hull vessels. The flat hull is what makes them faster but also render them rougher rides....they're all the same with some slight differences. I owned a 21' Triton and had it for 6 years. Before it I owned an 18' Lund ProV, and now own the Ranger 620 that you see here. I was in the bass torunament scene for 8 or so years and had the opportunity to ride in many boats, including a few Nitros'. A word of caution....if you think that you can run a boat, any boat, at 70 MPH in 3 foot waves, then you will be destroying your boat and yourself with it. And you will be dissapointed because that just doesn't happen. Nitro is a good boat as are many others. What sets one apart from others is the slight design differences to the hull and interior setups. Hull design will make a boat run faster (in calm conditions) than another, but at the sacrifice of something else. Everything is a compromise with boating. What makes a boat run faster is by putting less hull in the water. The more hull that lifts out of the water the faster your rig will run, but at the cost of stability, i.e. chine walk. My Triton would run faster with the motor set higher on the transom, but that came at the price of losing 'bite; in rough water. Most bassboats need a hydraulic jackplate so as to make that adjustment on the fly.

 

My take on Nitro is that it is a rougher ride than Ranger, or Triton, or Champion. etc. The Ranger is the slowest but also the most comfortable, the Triton was somewhere in between. Some boats are more expensive than others, but that is usually for a reason....they use heavier materials and are built better and stronger. So, as you see, another tradeoff....lower price equals cheaper materials and thus lower quality which might not show up right away but trust me, it will if you run them hard. If you take very good care of a cheaper boat, it will probably serve you well.

Edited April 2, 2013 by Gerry

[Roy]

Sound advice, Gerry.

[Garnet]

I've been in 100's of bass boats.

 

It's all in the setup. You can jack them up prop them out and get that 74mph. Then you go to Simcoe and get hammered.

 

Fury props are a nice for speed and rough water.

 

So rough water you want the boat to stay on plane at very slow speeds 18mph-20mph then if you step on it needs to go. No prop blow out.

 

I've been in 3 Z9's and 1 Z8. Never really rough water but the 9 is definetly better. Just has more hull.

 

And don't believe you can still run wide open in 5'6'7'8 fters. Well you can and you will break ever thing on your boat including yourself.

[craigdritchie]

I wouldn't get too hung up on the 70 mph part, since the boat will spend a very tiny amount of its life actually running at that kind of speed. And you won't be doing 70 mph in big waves in any bass boat - sorry, but you just won't. Not unless you really like the idea of destroying the boat then getting a kidney transplant. If you want to go fast in big waves, believe me man, the last thing you want is a bass boat.

 

For what it's worth, the vast majority of any bass boat's life is spent with the big motor shut off - not running at wide open throttle. Probably 90 percent of the hours you log in it will be spent fishing, not driving, so you'll enjoy the boat a lot more if you focus on things that matter when it's being used that way, as opposed to going top speed. Boats like Ranger, Triton and Stratos tend to be a bit wider than others for most of their length (I'm not talking max width, but width over the entire length of the hull. They all have a 96 inch beam. But how much of the boat is actually 96 inches wide? How wide is it at the console? Or on the front deck?). Wider boats provide greater stability when fishing, and perhaps an inch or two less draft so you can get into real skinny water. It also means more fiberglass is used in construction, which results in greater cost and greater weight. These boats also tend to have a broader pad that they run on while on plane, again providing increased stability. Being heavier, they blow about less in the wind, so you're on the electric less often to correct your drift. They're awesome to fish out of, but as Gerry notes, there is always a compromise, and it's usually in the form of top-end speed.

 

Other bass boats like Allisons, Bass Cats, Panteras etc. are lighter, narrower overall, have more aggressive hull rakes, and use sharper, narrower pads to run on. This gives them greater top-end speed potential (100 mph+ for an Allison) but once again there's a trade-off, and that comes when you want to actually fish, not just burn gas. Step from an Allison into a Ranger and it's like night and day. One is really, really fast, and one is really, really comfortable and great to fish out of. How do you want to spend most of your time?

 

By the way - have you ever taken a horsefly to the face at 70 mph? It's not a whole lot of fun. Buy a full coverage motorcycle helmet to go with your new boat.

 

Nitro makes a very nice boat that's a happy compromise between fishability and flat-out speed. Ranger, Triton and Skeeter are more expensive because they have more glass in them, are built a little differently, and have different finishing details (stuff like upholstry, hinges, differences in wiring and plumbing, etc). Being a little heavier and more stable, they will generally provide a softer ride in chop (and waaaay better than a Pantera, for example).

 

The big question of "is it worth it" comes down to how, where and when you'll use the boat. I do know a lot of guys who have replaced their bass boats with multi-species rigs.

Edited April 2, 2013 by Craig_Ritchie

[bigbuck]

Before running and buying a boat, try to get out in a few different ones to see what you like and dislike about different models. Educate yourself as much as you can. You are going to be shelling out a ton of dough, spend your hard earned money wisely.

[Andrew Grant]

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Edited January 29, 2014 by XxX

[Lunker777]

Buddy has a Ranger 620 with a 250 Verado and we fish 2-3 ft of water on LSC pretty regularly.

 

Dont let the "walleye" name tag scare you. I would be looking at multi species FORSURE. Way more versatile

[Angler management]

Thanks for all the imput guys! And when i said 70mph in chop i didnt mean big waves, lol. Gotta realize im coming out of a boat that has top speed of 50mph but wouldnt think of going over 30 in choppy water. And by choppy i mean less then ideal conditions. I guess my big question was peoples thoughts on nitro and stability, but something i skipped on was quality of build which now i realize isnt the greatest. Leaning more towards the new stratos 189VLO. Which is smaller an less powerful, but seems to be much more quality oriented and still a fair price.

[Angler management]

Also made my decision based on a feiends experience with bass pro and his tracker. Exchanged 2 boats, and gave him a larger model instead the second time because they stopped production. Which his 40hp 4stoke couldnt even move. Then buddy asked about upgrading motors and they offered him $1500 for a motor with 14hrs on it for trade in. Now he has to buy a new motor and hopefully sell the old 40 for a descent dollar

[ecmilley]

Before the big discussion of the best boat (of course it's ranger ) what are you using to tow? if you gots a little crv or rav4 not pulling a fibreglass bass boat, make sure you budget for a pick up or similar suv to get you around and not stuck in launches.

as for bass boats it's preferance I prefer Ranger for fishability thought they tend to be slower top end due to there weight and build quality any bass in 20ft range can go through rough water 2-3 ft i can do about 40ish mph at best without getting soaked and beating myself up, older champions about the best rough water bass boat ever!

things you want- under deck rod lockers, lots of storage good livewells, check for steering cables issues and cracks on the transom and gel coat.

Ranger 620 series about the best multi-species on the planet and can handle some pretty rough water and still get fairly skinny and think that is something to look at if you want glass, Nothing wrong with lund multi-species either, aluminum is lighter easier to tow generally less money little rougher ride and less top speed

[Harrison]

Beware of 2ft-itis. Popular issue with folks who buy 18ft and under bassboats after a year or two.

 

I was warned by a good friend when I got my first bass boat, glad I went with the 19'6 vrs the 18 I was considering.

[Angler management]

Only reason im not buying my dream boat(carbon ranger) is because i just picked up a new truck... Maybe i should hold off a couple years, but dang its hard!!!

[ecmilley]

Only reason im not buying my dream boat(carbon ranger) is because i just picked up a new truck... Maybe i should hold off a couple years, but dang its hard!!!

do it once do it right at the cost of boats i really want a 520c but it's 2 years away at least , or spend 10k if your a little handy on a used boat really won't lose anyvalue over the next several years while you save for the big purchase, i know i've outgrown my little 18fter

[Angler management]

I have a 17ft aluminum bass boat, just got rebuilt hasnt even touched water, figured i could squeeze some extra $ out of it if i sell it now, but i guess it wouldnt make much of a difference with the price tag of a 520c. Im just eager to get into something asap. Lol

[Old Ironmaker]

Know didly squat about boats that can do 70 mph, but can tell you that if my cousin in his 20 foot Ranger and 250 Merc and I decide to head to a spot a few miles away when there's a 2-3 foot chop I will get there in my deep V and 115HP before him. I'm usually fishing before he arrives because he has to, lock all 10 of his rods away, batten down anything that can go flying at 50mph, cooler, tackle, net, jackets, tighten all the gimbals on electronics, etc........

I guess it depends on what body of water one spends most of the time on, I'm on Erie, don't know anyone local that would consider a bass boat. Have seen a few guys come on shore and kiss the ground after arriving alive, and not just with bass boats.

[Angler management]

I spend tons more time floating around and with the trolling motor then i ever do with engine, so fishability is much more important to me... Had a deep-V and hated it... Just not what im looking for in a boat