Hello I am a angler from Central Minnesota and was just wondering if my 8 foot flatbottom johnboat with the 2.5 mercury outboard would be enough to compete in bass masters

Should be listed under General section, but imo you are going to get there slower. But a boat didn't catch the fish. It's the person inside.

You might want to consider being a co angler in a boat though.

I do NOT think you or anyone else would be very competitive in an 8 ft Jon Boat with a 2.5 kicker....yu would be going against 250 HP motors and 20+ ft boats with every piece of equipment you could possibly think of to help yu catch fish...

trolling motor, depth finders, power poles, fish finders, live wells,  GPS.. even machines that supposedly start a feeding frenzy...i think that Bass Hunter has a good option...(co-angler)

You guys are jerks

You guys are jerks

Truth hurts.

Just a live well would be tough on a boat like that. If you really knew the lakes then yes, technically you could be competitive at a huge disadvantage.

Guess you never know until you try, good luck

What happened to the 14 ft jon boat with the 9.9 you were talking about the other day? That would would be alot more comfortable to fish out of than an 8ft. Small jon boats aren't very stable in calm water, and things could go wrong pretty quick in a lake with wind and boat traffic.

First crack of a Yamaha 250hp would swamp you.

But I was truthful. It's not the boat. I good angler doesn't have to have GPS, power poles, even a fish finder. A rod and tackle will catch you fish. But you want to be competitive.

I know a friend here in mn that does smaller tournaments with a 14ft kind with a 40hp. So you don't need 60k, but do upgrade or co.

Thanks for the input! And that you guys are jerks was my friend sorry!

I do NOT think you or anyone else would be very competitive in an 8 ft Jon Boat with a 2.5 kicker....yu would be going against 250 HP motors and 20+ ft boats with every piece of equipment you could possibly think of to help yu catch fish...

trolling motor, depth finders, power poles, fish finders, live wells, GPS.. even machines that supposedly start a feeding frenzy...i think that Bass Hunter has a good option...(co-angler)

I've won 11 tournaments on Toledo Bend in a 1444 Alweld with a 25 Suzuki!

The only concern with small boats is a livewell

I have a friend who uses a metal tracker with livewells he built himself. For local tournaments he loves it. But fishing with the bigs he goes as a Co angler. Unless you're Casey Ashley and can win a tournament on brush piles catching your limit everyday.

Should be listed under General section, but imo you are going to get there slower. But a boat didn't catch the fish. It's the person inside.

You might want to consider being a co angler in a boat though.

Great point here about the boat not catching the fish. I can't tell you the number of times ive had my butt whopped by a guy in a jon boat with a Coleman cooler and a battery powered aerator, especially during the spring when the fish are shallow. Jon boats go where other boats cant go. I am also quite sure that if you took a top angler from FLW or the Elite Series and put them in a jon boat, they would still catch fish.

I have the smallest boat in nearly every tourny i fish and ive got a 17ft javelin with a 90hp yamaha

And here i though i was outgunned lol

I don't see any reason why not. You don't have to run from one end of the lake to the other. Just need to be where there's fish.

One thing I've noticed in tournaments is that it seems the guys with the biggest boats, with the biggest motors, spend the most time flying up and down the lake and the least time fishing. You aren't catching fish if you don't have a line in the water.

Rules or Tournament director would probably disqualify your entry as being unsafe for boating conditions on a big lake, Even "take off". Also keep in mind a proper circulating live well is required. By the time you added weight of two people, gear, battery, water in live well your weight would exceed the boats rated capacity.

Yeah.....guy's in small, slow boats can't be competitive against a field of other guys with fancy 21' glass rigs,with 250s on them.....never mind me, I'm just over here counting all the money I have won from my little tin can. Talk amungst yourselves.