2 anglers flying out of boat at 75!

[Quillback]

2 big yak tourneys next weekend, plus quite a few bass boat tourneys.  Going to be another interesting weekend on the Rock.  

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

Im thinking i want that new Bass Cat with the 450 on the back, i bet 70 in a 22ft boat feels safe.   I heard a podcast where Rick Pierce was saying on demo day they wouldnt let the drivers go over 95.6.   

[Dutch]

Fred U. used to have an 18’ boat with a suped up 300 that according to Dennis would run 105 when properly tuned.  He could only run it at daylight on a calm morning.

[mixermarkb]

I only fish a couple tourneys a year, but even in that limited exposure and just in fishing for fun, I see several guys running their boats past their driving capabilities- holding on for dear life while they are chine walking so bad that they are washing the decals on the sides of the boat. Driving a high performance bass boat is a skill that takes a lot of time to master, and really needs a bit of training from the dealers who sell those rigs.

In my younger days, I was constantly pushing the top end, down to custom props, lower unit mods, motor mods, hydraulic jack plates, etc. It was fun, and I still like to open it up and let it eat, but you have to pick your spots, and a crowded day on the lake just isn’t it. I spend a lot more time at 4500 RPM these days than I do at 5900, and I catch more fish now than I used to. 
 

Seat time is the key, but we need more on the water training by the dealers. Lots of these 20-21’ boats are capable of 75 or even 80mph, and you have new owners who don’t even have the basic understanding of how much the trim button matters at those speeds. Driving a fast boat up on the pad is NOT point and go.

I also believe we don’t have nearly the quality of on the water law enforcement without the Water Patrol being a stand alone agency.

like so many other things, if the money behind making and selling these rigs doesn’t start doing a better job at self regulating, and getting folks decent on the water training in their new toys, we are gonna be regulated by the state, and nobody is gonna like how that looks. 

[dtrs5kprs]

I've run mine hard precisely twice in the last 4 years. Once, at daylight in the summer, when I realized we'd left a bag of baits on the table. The other was in '20 running back from Mill-ish to Schooner through that chaos on the so-called last day of "lock down". That was more about hammering it when you could, to get through the few open spaces. It was a lot like running the channel on the Upper Mississippi on a Saturday.

Not much good happens at WOT. 

[Champ188]

22 hours ago, dtrs5kprs said:

Not much good happens at WOT. 

Probably the wisest words in this entire thread.

Mixer had some great info, too.

Stay alive out there, guys. It's fishing, after all. Not worth dying over or killing someone else. 

[fishinwrench]

On 4/17/2022 at 9:03 AM, mixermarkb said:

 

Seat time is the key, but we need more on the water training by the dealers

Adding that responsibility to the dealers is unreasonable, and would do nothing but inflate the costs.    Are you going to add responsibility to hardware dealers that sell hammers and chainsaws?   What about gun dealers? Car dealers? Pit bull breeders? Pharmacist's?  Liquor stores?

[mixermarkb]

23 hours ago, dtrs5kprs said:

Not much good happens at WOT. 

I’ve blown up two powerheads and one lower unit in roughly 30 years of bass boating. Wanna guess what speed I was going when all three let go? 

 

[mixermarkb]

21 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

Adding that responsibility to the dealers is unreasonable, and would do nothing but inflate the costs.    Are you going to add responsibility to hardware dealers that sell hammers and chainsaws?   What about gun dealers? Car dealers? Pit bull breeders? Pharmacist's?  Liquor stores?

I beg to differ. When I made the jump from a pretty quick little Champion 18’ with a 175 to a Champion 202 “light n dry” with a hopped up 225, Kerry from Kerry’s Marine in West Plains followed me to the ramp on Bull Shoals, and spent about 20 minutes showing me how to drive it to  control the chine walk. It still took me most of the summer practicing to get the hang of it fully, but the chances that I would  hurt myself or someone else in that boat had I not had that on the water lesson would have gone up dramatically. 

[Flysmallie]

Some people can't drive cars and have no business in a boat. Boats at speed are a whole different ballgame. And the only qualification that you need to drive one is some cash. I love going fast on water, but I also have enough experience to keep from hurting anyone. Never have understood why there isn't a speed limit on water. It makes no sense. I know there is an enforcement issue but that's a poor excuse to not try something.