Crappie Boat Recommendation

[bigjohn]

I'm thinking I may want to get me a boat and try to catch some Crappie. I've never lake fished and never owned a boat other than a Jon boat. I'm wondering if any of you could point me in the right direction? I like the looks of the aluminum g3 and the lund boats but not sure what setup would be best. Thanks in advance.

 

[chimneyman]

Really depends on what kind of crappie fishing you are wanting to do trolling,single pole, spider rigging etc. for the money the Bass Tracker 175 is a great deal

 

[Safari Hunt]

Jon boat with a small outboard and trolling motor are hard to beat. You don't need anything fancy. A college prof had one minus the trolling motor (still new in those days). Caught loads of crappie out of Sewee Creek in Meigs County during a class field trip.

 

[bigjohn]

What budget range you thinking for everything, boat, motor, trolling, and electronics? How many people does it need to fish?

10-12k. I'm thinking used. No more than 3

 

[bigjohn]

Really depends on what kind of crappie fishing you are wanting to do trolling,single pole, spider rigging etc. for the money the Bass Tracker 175 is a great deal

I'm thinking single pole. I do like the look of the bass tracker 175 and have seen some used ones pretty cheap.

 

[WTM]

I'm thinking single pole. I do like the look of the bass tracker 175 and have seen some used ones pretty cheap.

i have the 175 tf. its made for crappie fishing and shallow water, the reason i bought it after selling my skeeter. perfect for how i fish which is a lot of backwater off ky lake. i can fish the main lake as well but you really need a 70-80 lb trolling motor but if the wind gets up its still a chore, although it does ride good even in rough chop.

the problem with the trackers. they are under powered except for the 190 and 195 with the max motor on them. if you can find a 2010 175 they were rated for 115 hp. i dont know why for that one year.

i dont know how big you are but 3 above average size people in a 175 even with a 75 hp is going to be a push and you need to have the 4 blade prop on it to get on plane.(the newer models have been coming with 4 blade upgrades)

i dont know how they figured person weights on all of those trackers because the USCG is 180lbs per person but all the trackers are rated for 4 people but only 575 lbs people weight for all of their models, even though they are almost the same dimension as a G3.

fishing by myself is fine but when my son fishes with me he sometimes throws me out of the boat when he shifts from one side to the other. he weighs about 225 lbs.

i like the 175 but i wish i had bought something different since my son and grandsons figured out fishing is fun, lol.. i looked at the 190 g3 but even though its higher rated it has a 4" less beam width than the tracker. so i imagine it would be tippy as well.

hope this helps

 

[Gravey]

A buddy of mine has an old Lund that just keeps going. Fished several times with him and it does the trick. Grew up fishing with my grandfather and he had a Basstracker but not sure which model. I think it was 18' long and had a 35-hp motor on it. Both of these do just fine on Percy Priest.

 

[REN]

Just look on Facebook market place, you will find LOTS of crappy boats

 

[fairchaser]

I crappie fish out of a bass tracker 165 with a 40 hp. It goes plenty fast but I'll tell you the drawbacks fishing out of this boat. Mine is set up to spider rig for two people and 8 poles. For the big reservoir lakes like Enid and Sardis, the wind must be 10 mph or less. Otherwise it's too dangerous. This eliminates a lot of good fishing days. You need a heavy deep V boat to fish anymore wind than that. Two fisherman require a lot of gear. The saying "we need a bigger boat" is often muttered. The bigger the better. Also, you need a wide beam if you are going to sit two people side by side in the front to fish. This is the preferred method to spider rig. Buy once cry once. Best of luck.

 

[RobDooley]

In addition, you must consider the lake(s) you will be fishing. I live near Chickamauga and fish there quite often. During the spring and especially the summer very busy with some dang big WAKE boats. Just saying...