The New Boat

 

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.