You don't need a boat w/ a 50" livewell.
You also don't really need a big boat. If you look at the 2006 schedule you'll see you wouldn't really need a big boat – TONS of guys fish Vermillion and Cave Run from bass boats.
Qualifier #1: Southern Shootout!
April 8th & 9th, 2006 – Cave Run Lake, Kentucky
Qualifier #2 Spring Warm Up!
May 12th & 13th, 2006 – Petenwell Flowage, Wisconsin
Qualifier #3: Mercury Marine's Summer Challenge!
June 24th & 25th, 2006 – Eagle River Chain, Wisconsin
Qualifier #4 Musky Hunter Magazine's Fall Meltdown!
September 16th & 17th, 2006 – Lake Vermilion
2006 PMTT RANGER BOATS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!
November 4th & 5th 2006 – Fox Chain 'O' Lakes, Illinois
Also note that trolling was NOT an option on 2 of the four PMTT events.
I would consider my Starcraft or Wills Targa or any 17 to 20 foot V hull like a Lund or Crestliner. My take on the situation is first you need a boat that can handle all types of waters both large and nasty to small and mild. The Pmtt is only a few events. What about the rest of your year? Lake St. Clair ? When I bought my Starcraft with a roller trailor I wanted a boat that would get me on most every lake that had a boat launch and still be safe on a nasty lake like St. Clair. We proved the worth of the Starcraft hull this past June when coming in from the belle River Hump in 5 to 8 foot waves. We got wet but we got home. The flip side was that we also were able to launch and retrieve this boat on a small Musky lake in the upper peninsula that has no boat launch and did it with a two wheel drive van. Not possible with a big Glass boat like a Ranger or any of those style boats. Ask Chad Sandy how many times he had his Triton full of water on St. Clair. Ill never own a Bass boat or an Esox Magnum because of the limits it would put on my fishing adventures. In consumer reports about 5 years ago in a North American Fisherman magazine the Starcraft Pro Elite was named the best all species fishing boat made. The Super fisherman that we have is the exact same hull with different inside configurement. The Super fisherman was discontinued and replaced by the Pro Elite. 250 hp Rangers will fly by us all day and they are great casting platforms. However they are not designed for big waves or very cold nasty weather. We deploy our Big Bimini top and with our full wraparound windshield we can place a heater in the space between our seats and stay very comfortable in most any cold rainy or snowy days. If money were no object I would have a 20 foot Ranger, a 26 foot Pro line center counsil, A 17 foot Tuffy Esox Magnum , My 18 foot Starcraft and my Little 1448 Jonboat. But with the Starcraft I get most of all of the above. Most Tournement pros Use big Ranger like Bass boats with very big engines so they can beat the next guy to the best spots. This doesnt make sense any more as most all of them use near the same rigs. Thats my take on why we selected our boat. With the exception of the 115 Optimax I have not been sorry we purchased this boat. The 115 4 stroke gets us 40 mph fully loaded. Handles big water like a champ and can be launched in as little as 10 inches of water with a roller trailor. Kingfisher
Yes Will I see that Vermillom and the Eagle River chain are no trolling. Eagle can be row trolled. Also only one line per team member. Unless only one team member is fishing out of the boat and that state laws alowe two lines. I'm just looking for something with a bigger beam. My Lowe is only 16 ft with I think a 72" beam. I would to get something bigger. Ranger boats are nice. but towing all that fiberglass is alot of weight and I'm not looking for something that goes 100 mpr. I've ben kinda looking at a 17 pro angler Lund in a tiller. But the live well was only 32 " and the longest rods you can store is 7'. So all the lake in the PMTT the jude boat will come check the fish? It only looked like the did that at the Eagle chain becuse of WI laws. Do you know of a boat in the 17 ft class size tiller with 8' rod storage?
Thanks LeMay OUT
A crestliner 1750 fishawk w/ a 115 merc 4 stroke with tons of lowrance goodies and a big powerful minn kota on the front….kinda like my boat.
Or I would go with a lund in same set up, maybe a mr pike or pro V
I didn't cause lund was over $7200 more for same setup i got on the fishawk…..Or Ranger…haha… i need a real job first, and have to give up my career as a college student…lol
I forgot to mention why I would not have a big boat with tiller steering. I know of two guys who had big boats with Big Tiller motors. Both had accidents. One hit a sailboat wrecked his Tuffy and the other hit a Bouy on White Lake killing his father inlaw. Both were caused by lack of vision. I have a tough time seeing around a passenger in a Tiller boat when Im traveling on Plane. The bigger the boat the harder it is to see out in front of the boat. However a tiller will outperform any counsil boat when precise edge trolling is needed. They simply turn sharper but this is the only advantage that I can see besides taking up less room. When trolling multiple rods the driver on the tiller is in the way when fish are being brought up the prop wash. Planer boards with a tiller are very tough as Michelle and I have learned this year. I will only run a small motor in a tiller situation. In traffic I like to stand up to get a better field of vision . Being closer to the bow and standing gives me a great view of whats in front of me. Cant do that with a Tiller. My little Jon boat with its 9.9 tiller is great for edge trolling but sucks for Planer boards as I am always in the way when we hook up a fish. I wish they made wheel steering that was as fast as a tiller. Jim, I would look at a 17 or 18 foot aluminum with a windshield,top and at least 115 hp. Its hard to beat a Targa for width and price. Lots of good boats out there. Starcraft, Alumacraft, Targa, Fishhawk, Lund, Lowe, the list goes on. Smokercraft makes a great boat in that catagory as well. Good luck and choose well. Mike and Michelle
I hear what you all are saying about the price of a Ranger and I certainly know my bank account is a lot smaller now than it was a bit over a year ago. However, as a proud 621 owner, all I can say is you get what you pay for. I've fished out top of the line Lunds, I've owned 2 Tuffy's and fished out of a number of Skeeters and Warriors. Have to say, absolute hands down, that if the BMW is the ultimate driving machine the Ranger is the ultimate musky/walleye boat, period!
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