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BTW, you should be able to get into a 18 1/2 foot entry level boat with a 2 stroke 150hp motor and trailer for around $20-22k. Once you start adding all those extra's you want is when the price starts going up. I doubt you'll be able to get what you're looking for for less than around $27-29k. Personally, I drop 4 stroke OB requirement. There's really no big advantage anymore of the 4 stroke over a 2. In fact, a 2 stroke will give you a little better performance, will be much cheaper on your initial cost and be cheaper to run in the long haul.

Three reasons really. In the majority of aluminums, there's less room to put a large tank. Most aluminums run smaller HP motors than fiberglass so less fuel consumed and finally most people aren't likely to cruise long distances in an aluminum boat. The ride of the average aluminum bassboat is not conducive to long distance runs in anything other than smooth water.

A 6 foot beam?? That's only 72". They haven't made a fiberglass BB that wide in 30 years. Most everything on your list are considered options. You can get that stuff put on any boat you buy. You need to get in some boats that you can afford and drive them. That's the only way you'll know whether the boat meets your expectations as far as ride and speed are concerned. Most of the major manufacturers have a lower end line now that come with fewer bells and whistles than their upper end "elite" models. You're sometimes limited to options or colors but that's about it. Here are a few models CHampion - 183 (This is a brand new model and not even on their website yet. Modular console, gobs of legroom and front deck space) Stratos - 286 XL Triton - TR-186 Ranger - 188VS (This is Rangers low end line) Nitro - 591 (Careful, Nitro is notorious for trying to push you in an underpowered boat) Skeeter - (unfortunately, Skeeter doesn't make anything in a 18-18 1/2 foot value series boat) Basscat - Sabre Charger - 186 (great rough water boat, unbelievable storage) Ride and decide.

This guys got a really nice Stratos for only $5800!! http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1155931495 Check it out!!

Don't forget the ancillary costs no one talks about. Since the 4 strokers weigh more, the boat manufacturers have had to push the beam width of the boats out a few inches to compensate. Those inches result in more pounds to push for the engine AND more pounds to tow with the tow vehicle. The gain in mileage with the 4 stroke is nearly eliminated if you took a narrower boat and put a newer, efficient, lighter 2 stroke OB on it, both in engine and tow vehicle mileage. When you consider a 4 stroke isn't nearly as torquey as a 2 stroker, you're going to feel a performance degradation to a degree. Don't forget the cost of that hull went up too when they had to bump the beam width out to compensate for the heavier 4 stroke motor. What are you gaining? Nothing.

Some video rental stores, the ones that still rent VHS tapes, usually have a copy of bigmouth for rental.

As way2slow said, they'll continue to make them till they can no longer effectively meet EPA requirements so that may be quite a while. I still don't see any real advantages of the 4 right now. The gas mileage aspect is just about out the door but that's somewhat negated in favor of the 2 stroke since the 4's weigh more. Add in the added 4 stroke maintenance costs, many which MUST be performed by authorized factory mechanics and the only thing left those 4's have going for them is the noise factor. Not worth it in my book.

i have a question for someone more expeiriacned myself. is this correct though? when you lift the bait keep your rod up till it hits bottom again. i always lifted it and then dropped the rod and waited to watch the line stop sinking then reeled up the slack. Well, sort of. I actually lower the rod tip back to around the 1:00 position as the worm falls trying to keep the most minimal tension on the line as possible so as to allow the worm the freedom to freefall straight down without allowing it to swing away from the cover I'm fishing. If you just drop your rod tip to 3:00 after the lift you'll have too much slack hanging and I guarantee you'll miss strikes if the fish are light biting on the fall. It's one of those "touch" deals that comes with experience.

I'm on my last year of BM after subscribing for 32 years. The magazine is pretty much of a waste anymore. Most of the issues from the past few years lay around the house and I haven't ever read any of them. I'm not really even sure what's in it these days that would make me want to read it. I did notice, as I was browsing through the latest issue that the tournament coverage seems to be taking up more and more of the magazine, along with the ads. Not surprising now that ESPN owns it.

Oh my, where to start.... That is an OLD boat. The builder, Aggressor (never heard of them) was probably one of the many fly-by-night builders that sprung up in the late 70's to get a piece of the high performance bassboat boom. I'm guessing that thing is at least 25 years old. The boat was made entirely of wood underneath all that fiberglass. All too often the wood was improperly sealed during construction. I would be shocked if there was even a solid board foot of non-rotted wood left in that thing. And $3250?!!! ;D That's bad news there. Move along, there's much better out there.

I think Bassmaster has gone downhill as a learning tool. In-Fisherman is about a good a learning tool as their is but you have to dig for the bass articles unfortunately.

George, it's obvious that you and I will not be fishing together but we are both gentleman and won't let this disagreement collapse into a flame war (nor would Glenn permit it) but you seem to be under the impression that professional guides are automatically better fisherman than their clients. As I said before I need a guide to show me where the likely spots are, and recommend presentations. Your not "proving" anything to me by catching fish I could have just as easily caught. As far as gettig skunked and saying your guide sucks, well most sportsman who use guides realize that that will happen sometimes. But how many paying clients will praise their guide, when the guide catches the 8 lber, and continues to fish from the front of the boat while the guy who pays the bill is literally pulling up the rear? I have no more to say on this. People will do what they think is best, my position is clear enough. The "mood" of the fish, on any given day on a lake can be different than yesterday or even a couple hours ago. Presentation and location are the key to any anglers success whether with a guide or not. If his fishing for an hour or so to identify those nuances that may have changed since he was last on the water improves my catch ratio, which in turn my overall enjoyment of the trip than I'd say he did his job. As for a guide. I'd hire one to learn a lake, mostly seasonal patterns. I'm not asking him to mark up my map but I'd definitely give him my map to give me good general areas to fish after my trip is over. As for the poster involved. The ideas of a mentoring partner or joining a bass club are the way to go. I learned more from fishing with various partners in bass clubs than I ever could in a half a day or day on the lake with a guide.

Yammie ProV.

As way2slow said, when taping the xducer connector to the fishtape, or wire coat hanger (that works for me) use as much tape as necessary to remove any edges where the tape and connector meet so when you're feeding the thing through it's less likely to hang. Most production boats have some sort of tube or pipe that most of the wiring runs through to the back of the boat. It's normally up under the gunwale on the drivers side right around where your throttle is locate and the other end is some where back at the upper rear corner of the boat. You can either feed it through that or try and find openings between the rear and the front and slowly work it through the hull that way. Good luck.

Sprints are OK but you have to make sure you stay away from the Travis edition sprints. Cheaply made with more unsealed wood than a Northwestern Pine forest.

Actually, Bull sharks are known to travel into freshwater when hunting for food. Not a good thing either as the Bull shark is known for more shark attacks around the world than any other species.

The only thing hooked up to your trolling motor batterys should be the trolling motor.

Hummingbird 987c.

You'll be fine.

Storm boats were originally a specialty boat built down in Florida to take on the big waters of Ocheechobee at speed. They're not a production built boat and are built one at a time which tends to make them more expensive. Long and narrow, yes they're fast but they can take on tuff water at speed. Expensive, hard to find used. Legend. John Storie, the Champion guy started up this company. It was an off-shoot of the short-lived Hawk bassboat company. The original Legends were more like Champions than anything. The company has since changed hands and I believe the hull design has changed as well. Supposedly a nicely put together boat. I have no info on how well it runs in the rough stuff.

I probably should've added this to my first post. A boats ability to provide a good Rough water ride is almost always in direct correlation to the amount of V in the hull. A quick look at Champions and Chargers will show a pretty extreme V while boats like Skeeter and Ranger have a far less pronounced V and a much flatter hull. There is a tradeoff usually, a Skeeter and Ranger will usually be a better fishing platform at rest. Of course, that all goes out the door when talking about lightweight hull boats like Blazer and Allison. Those boats are literally capable of skipping across the tops of big waves at speed. The same can be said for those Cat hulled FastCat bassboats. If you're looking at only spending $8500 on a fiberglass you'll need to shop around. Look for models that have a deeper V than others. Also realize that even with a deeper V hull, the ride you recieve is also dependant on the ability of the boat driver to correctly run in rough water. Any boat can give you a bone breaking, vertebrae impacting ride if you don't know what you're doing.

Good boats in rough water- Champion #1, Charger, Stratos, Allison (not for $8500 though), Storm (same as Allison), Blazer (same as Storm), Nitro. Not so good - Ranger, Skeeter So-so - Triton, Basscat. That's rough water ride. Now fishability once the boat has stopped is another matter.

I have marked a number of areas on this map that I would key on. No magic pill here. Just apply what you learn as far as seasonal movements of bass, best lures to use to reach and attract said fish and don't get frustrated.

Those little white spots on the west side of the lake are hotspots. One of those points is too.

Get those front cushions out of that thing and build a deck insert and give yourself some room to fish up front.