Old School Bass Tracker Question

My Pop's has an '84 model bass tracker similar to the one in these photos. The last time we fished Sardis, the wind was kickin pretty decent. Other folks around us were fishing two out of the front, but we are not set up to do so. They were also pulling drift socks and we didn't have any at the time. These people were not only moving much slower than us, but their boats were MUCH more stabil in the water. Our poles were bouncing close to 2 feet up and down, which ruined our presentation completely.

I thought that the drift socks were the main factor in stabilizing these boats, but today my pops slid out to Sardis on his own with the new socks that I bought. He said the boat was nice and slow, but it was still getting hammered by the waves.

Do yall think the extra weight of 2 people in the front plays that big of a part in this equation or do you think that this model of hull is obsolete and just not cut out for it?

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Was they fishing out of similar boats? Reason I ask is I read somewhere a good long while back about adding extra weight to the front of the boat on rougher water. Helps keep the front from bouncing so much. Havent tried it though...just read about it.:o

ES I have found several years ago that the more weight you put in the front of the boat it does help. I used to borrow a buddies Bass Tracker, I think it had a 35 hp motor on it and it was about 16 foot. I have a 2008 175 Lowes now with a 50 hp Mercury on it. If I am going to be in the boat alone and I know its going to be kind of ruff out there I will pull as much weight out of the back of the boat as possible. Plus I will keep the back livewell empty of water. I put extra weight up in the front storage compartment. And as soon as I get on the water I will fill the front livewell full before I even leave the ramp. It dont take much figuring when you have 2 - 23 gallon livewells on how much weight that ads to the front. And when I get to where I am going to be fishing this may sound stupid but I will trim the motor all the way out of the water. It seems to work for me, but there again, I also now have a Lowes boat and at the back of the boat it is alot wider than a Tracker especially the older models. I have also been caught in bad storms with my fishing partner. We got caught one day by a freak storm that came up really fast. And you know I couldn't have picked a worse place to fish at! We were over 14 miles from the boat ramp! I had the boat trimmed out all I could get her. The wind and the waves hit me so hard when I came out of the cove I almost had the front of the boat standing up at a 45 degree angle. I told my partner who was sitting next to me to set up on the front deck and turn around and face me granted Marcus might weight 150 wet! Just that little bit of weight change was enough for me to maintain a higher speed and meet the white caps coming at me better. Granted it was hard for me to see with him sitting in my line of sight.

My boat already has the double seat setup in the front of my boat. But I have never used it. I usually have the larger seats in my boat instead of the little ones because I like to sit down and rest my back. And I always have extra rods up on the front deck. LOL also keeps the wife out of my hair when she is fishing with me usually! Granted sometimes she gets a little wild and crazy in the back of the boat! Sometimes she flips a jig up into my hat just to keep me awake!

I have never used a drift sock. I do troll alot but where I fish at there is alot of stumps in the water. Its bad enough on trolling motors shafts! I have always figured a drift sock would just get wrapped in a stump.

The best thing I did to help me in ruff water was to put a Apollo SS stainless steel prop on my 50 hp. Granted that is kind of over kill for a 50 hp but I have found that it really helps me get the boat up on plane faster and gives me better control in ruff windy weather. During MO CDC last spring camp there was alot of windy rainy days. There were alot of guys with big glass boats that wouldn't go out it was that ruff! It was the first time I could get on the water due to work and I was going to fish one way or the other! One of the guys who had a large glass boat decided he would go out with me if I was that crazy. He couldn't believe that we were really in a stupid aluminum boat! And this guy has a Ranger! He kept telling me that he wouldn't have spent all the money on his Ranger if he would have known about how well my Lowes handled! Hey I don't know nothing about boats! But I knew what I wanted in a crappie boat when I went looking to purchase a new boat. The Tracker and the G-3 boats I looked at didn't have the layouts or the room I wanted. Would I purchase the same boat again heck yeah! But I might get the 195 instead of the 175 just for the extra room for the wife and fishing with 3 people on the front deck.

Dont go if the waters to rough>>>>>>>>

ES i have an 86 bass tracker that my grandpa had, it has made its way through my dad after he passed my brother got at it and i finally got him to let me use it, and when i got it it was in bad shape as far as the deck and flooring, i put new floor and carpet and when i did the deck i set it up with 4 seat mounts so i can fish double and have an brella hole or fish single. it works great never had any problem bouncing and dont have drift socks the only problem is my usual fishing partner weights about 80lbs less than i do so it kinda leans. so if you get the chance i would do double up front plus its just more fun.

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Originally Posted by jimfish

Dont go if the waters to rough>>>>>>>>

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Bingo !

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Originally Posted by jimfish

Dont go if the waters to rough>>>>>>>>

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Exactly

You gewbs. When I say rough, I mean boarderline, not deadliest catch rough. True the wind was strong enough that a lot of people were leaving, but a lot were staying too. I'm not up to par on specific boat names or models, so I'm no help. I can tell you that there was another bass tracker still out there that appeared to be a much newer model. Another guy was in an aluminum triton like cockrumcrappie man's. These boats weren't getting tossed around nearly as bad as we were. We came home with a goose egg that day. Dad got skunked again yesterday for the same reason

stay at home and clean

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Originally Posted by billbob

stay at home and clean

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You should just sell me your ride for about $4173. Think of all the extra time that you'll have to perfect your beer fetchin skills

We have a 20' Tracker Grizzly (72" bottom and 96" beam) and the noise from the waves slappin' the boat is a lot less when both of us are up on the front. Sometimes I think it's the noise of the waves that slows down the bite rather than the see-saw motion. I could be wrong. I've been wrong one other time! ;)

Also the newer 175 BT's have a deeper V bow that helps it take the waves a lot smoother. Double seats up front are the way to go.

That's right Sat, it's called the Revolution Hull, my 2006 has it and it's a lot smoother than the 16' 1999 BT I had before.

don't go talkin' new, ya'll know ES can only afford the "socks"! ;) and the dock!

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Originally Posted by C N

We have a 20' Tracker Grizzly (72" bottom and 96" beam) and the noise from the waves slappin' the boat is a lot less when both of us are up on the front. Sometimes I think it's the noise of the waves that slows down the bite rather than the see-saw motion. I could be wrong. I've been wrong one other time! ;)

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I've been wrong one other time! ;)[/QUOTE]

Yeah I know what you mean I thought I was wrong once but I was Mistakin

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Originally Posted by satdoc1

Also the newer 175 BT's have a deeper V bow that helps it take the waves a lot smoother. Double seats up front are the way to go.

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So is that what you have, 175?

I have read that a full tank and full live wells helps alot the more weigh u have keeps the boat low in the water not on top so it don't bounce as much. Can't say about 2 in the front that's next on the to-do boat list.