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New Ranger boat

Remember those home buying and remodeling shows on TV? Woman in her mid 20s, is a stay at home cat watcher, married to a mid to late 20s butterfly photographer...their budget: $850,000.

I'd definitely have to have some kind of side gigs in addition to my regular job to pay for something like that. It's only money I reckon and no matter how great you are at saving and doing without, you can't take it with you when you die, so might as well enjoy it while you're breathing and have the health to do it. I know far too many that pinched pennies their whole life, finally retired, and died within a year or two of retiring.
 
Crow Terminator said:
Remember those home buying and remodeling shows on TV? Woman in her mid 20s, is a stay at home cat watcher, married to a mid to late 20s butterfly photographer...their budget: $850,000.
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Yeah, my wife likes to watch some of those shows, and it is ridiculous at the budget most of these buyers have for what their income should be based on the jobs they claim to have.
 
They also do what is called a 100 year mortgage. Have no clue how it works but basically you just rent your home until you die for a low monthly payment.
 
My new boat should be here in about 3 weeks. At 20 years, I'll have it paid off in 2043! (kidding about the 20 years part)
moondawg said:
Probably gets outfished by an old man and a cane pole in a 1980 jonboat and a small outboard motor.
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Guilty!!

Our bass club had our end of the year Classic in Alabama last year. The guy who finished 2nd fishes out of a jon boat.

The boat doesn't always help me catch more fish, but I sure enjoy having one. There are tons of guys in jon boats that can whip me day in and day out. I didn't get into serious bass fishing until just a few years ago. A new boat can't make up for years of experience that someone else has.

I grew up fishing farm ponds and watersheds. Got me a boat and thought "I know how to fish".

I found out there's a big difference in dragging a plastic worm in a pond and figuring out how to catch 5 a day in a highly pressured lake with constantly changing conditions. Look at the Elites. Some of the best fishermen in the country. Even they don't ways catch 5 everyday.

I always said nothing could frustrate me or make me feel as stupid as golf. I was wrong. I really love bass fishing, and it is very humbling to not be good at something that you love so much. I read bass fishing forums. I listen to bass fishing podcasts. I try to learn and pick up any knowledge I can. It's tough!

I had one club win in 2021, with a top 10 in our end of the year two day Classic. Only had a 4th place in 2022 (but had biggest bass of the year). I struggle to catch a limit day in and day out. Most guys in our club grew up fishing these lakes and that's tough to compete against.

I would love to get in the boat with some of them. I learn a lot from fishing with different people. Unfortunately there's a lot of guys who simply aren't interested in fishing with someone not in their tight circle of friends.
 
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TNReb said:
I found out there's a big difference in dragging a plastic worm in a pond and figuring out how to catch 5 a day in a highly pressured lake with constantly changing conditions.
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I have a buddy that has access to some fantastic farm ponds. He's always telling me how stupid bass are, how you can throw a worm on 65 pound braid with no leader and not spook them, how they'll eat anything you drag across the bottom, etc. He just doesn't get how much pressure affects a bass. I keep telling him he should buy a boat and join the pro circuit.
 
TNReb said:
Our bass club had our end of the year Classic in Alabama last year. The guy who finished 2nd or 3 fishes out of a jon boat. There are tons of guys in jon boats that can whip me day in and day out.
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Back in the 90s I fished a small bass club. There was an older guy in that fished out of a 14 foot V hull with a 25hp tiller steer. He usually won AOY, big fish of the year, you name it. He could flat fish. I remember my first tournament with that club. We fished Horseshoe Lake in Arkansas. I fished my brains out from safe light to 3pm and never had a bite. He comes to the weigh in with a 26+ pound bag anchored by a 7-6 which ended up winning big fish of the year. The only thing that bothered me was he cut all his lures off before he came in, shared nothing with anyone, and never tried to help the other guys. He always said he'd been taking notes for decades and was going to write a book when he couldn't fish anymore to share all his secrets. I ran into him a few months ago. He's still fishing in his 80s and hasn't written the book.
 
I own a 17.5 foot Stratos. I fish tournaments out of it and MOST of the time its doesn't hinder me from catching or not catching them. But on Kentucky lake doing 70 mph compared to 40 mph definitely has it advantages because of the sheer size of the lake. Cutting a 30 minute run in half both ways makes you more efficient. Also, a 10 mph N wind on Kentucky makes it damn near impossible to run anywhere with my boat. But yes the boat doesn't catch them but definitely helps in certain situations on these big TVA lakes.
 
Crow Terminator said:
It is amazing to me too. With Chickamauga being my closest lake, and it having the reputation for a top largemouth lake, it gets a lot of anglers fishing it. Any given work day, every parking lot at every ramp on it, is full of rigs like that. And the weekends are full of tournament anglers on top of the regular weekend anglers. Hard to think that any given weekend, there's easily multi million dollars worth boats on the water, and that's not counting equipment in and on the boat.
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I live on chick and it makes it hard sometimes to get out there and just go fishing sometimes!
 
Spurhunter said:
Sometimes I wonder myself. I hate debt, drive old paid for vehicles, am saving all I can for retirement, trying to get my house paid off, and watching the rest of the country living on credit having tons of fun. I just hope I live long enough to get the last laugh.
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Paid my mortgage off at 50. Retired debt free at 55. Been laughing out loud everyday for 3 years. Stick to the plan it works.
 
Crow Terminator said:
It is amazing to me too. With Chickamauga being my closest lake, and it having the reputation for a top largemouth lake, it gets a lot of anglers fishing it. Any given work day, every parking lot at every ramp on it, is full of rigs like that. And the weekends are full of tournament anglers on top of the regular weekend anglers. Hard to think that any given weekend, there's easily multi million dollars worth boats on the water, and that's not counting equipment in and on the boat.
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And because of the pressure and the way tournaments release fish, bass fishing there is exceptionally difficult
 
Spurhunter said:
I have seen firsthand just how effective livescope can be for crappie. Effective isn't even a strong enough word. But is it that effective for bass? I'm guessing it is more effective for offshore fishing than fishing shallow structure?
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Not really, steep learning curve that requires hours of training
 
Boat prices are ridiculous, even used boats. You could have probably bought a brand new boat 20 years ago and if taken care of you could probably put it up for sale and nearly break even on it.

And yes a guy with experience can fish out of a small cheaper boat or Jon and out fish a inexperienced guy in a new rig with all the bells and whistles but in my experience if the 2 guys are fairly equal in experience, the guy with the fancy rig wins the majority of the time. He can cover so much more water, make longer runs to get to more productive water. I've fished tournaments that were out of the lower end of lakes and upper end is where you had to be to win. Long runs have won many tournaments for me.
 
Ridgeline300 said:
Boat prices are ridiculous, even used boats. You could have probably bought a brand new boat 20 years ago and if taken care of you could probably put it up for sale and nearly break even on it.

And yes a guy with experience can fish out of a small cheaper boat or Jon and out fish a inexperienced guy in a new rig with all the bells and whistles but in my experience if the 2 guys are fairly equal in experience, the guy with the fancy rig wins the majority of the time. He can cover so much more water, make longer runs to get to more productive water. I've fished tournaments that were out of the lower end of lakes and upper end is where you had to be to win. Long runs have won many tournaments for me.
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a co-worker did just that. bought a g3 rigged for crappie fishing about 6 years ago. he quit fishing and sold it last year for $23k. thats about what he paid for it brand new.
 
Aluminum boat prices are getting to be what the fiberglass boat prices were very few years ago. I'm seeing a lot more on the lake and used to be you could tell it was aluminum approaching by it slapping the water and the smaller motor sound, but these newer ones are much harder to tell and running more like a fiberglass bass boat. When a tournament runs by our place, the aluminums are still a bit further back.
 

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