I have been thinking about it and commenting for quite a while that I wanted to buy a different boat. A bass boat to be precise. In my last post, last fall, I mentioned what I was looking for in a boat. I have been looking since then and came across this one finally. I had to make some sacrifices to keep the cost down.
I was getting ready for my first tournament of the year at Grand lake and saw this boat a few days before I was leaving to fish as a co-angler. I decided to go out of my way on the day of the tournament registration to check it out and possibly trade in my Nitro Fish and Ski.
I got to the boat dealer and saw the boat parked out front. It looked nice from a distance, but as I got closer I saw some imperfections. The carpet was tore in a couple of spots. There were some stress cracks, and there was a spot on the back corner of the boat where the previous owner had apparently hit a dock and starred the fiberglass.
This about deterred me from purchasing the boat. Reselling it could be tough in a couple of years. It was also only 1 year newer than my current boat. I was wanting something a little newer than a '99.
After hem hawing around most of the morning, the salesman said that we should take it out for a test drive. The motor fired right over. The boat ran good and glided through the 2 foot waves without banging. It felt solid. Then we stopped and put down the trolling motor. I ran along a bank for a while adjusting the speed and staying in a perfect line with the bank even thought the wind was blowing hard and waves were crashing into us. I was sold.
This boat may be a little beat up, but it will fish great, I won't have to worry about banging it up, and the price was right for a bigger boat.
They didn't offer half of what my Nitro booked at low value from what I had checked the night before, so I decided to keep it for a family boat. This way we can still ski and fish and all be in the boat together.
I don't have the boat yet. The dealership is doing a couple of small things to get it ready for me first. I have another tournament in the meantime, that I will fish as a co-angler. After that, I may continue as a co-angler in the BFL's this year, and fish some other tournaments out of my new boat.
Last tournament I didn't catch a bass. There were 220 boats and out of those only 75 co-anglers caught a bass. It was tough fishing. Some people found them though, just like always. The winning weight on the boater side was 29 pounds. That's a giant sack for Grand Lake. I didn't even catch a short. I did catch a big crappie. It was disappointing when I got it to the boat and realized it wasn't a bass.
Tonight I am going down to Canton lake in Oklahoma for the Walleye spawn. It's fishing season once again. This year I am going to fish any chance I get.
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