Ultimate Striper Boat

[snapper30]

Question:

If you had unlimited funds to purchase the ultimate Striper rig for inland lakes. .... what would it be?

Assuming that you fished less than 6 people, needed it to have good to great gas mileage, be fairly easy/light to trailer, and be somewhat multi-species...

I always see positive and negatives to all Striper Rigs..... just wondering what others thought.

Joe

[JUSTINHALL]

I have a Triton LTS220 with Mercury 225 optimax which is perfect for me. The only thing I would do different is next boat will be a LTS240 with 300 Verado. The 2 extra feet makes it a little more roomy and the Verado is quite for trolling umbrellas. But outside of a 24' and a Verado I wouldn't want anything different than what I got. The built in bait well is large and round and pumps lots of water and air and the large live well is huge for stripers I don’t have to bring a big cooler to put them in. You can ice them in live well or keep them alive in water. Boat has lots of storage and lots of rod holders.
It is a bay boat so it doesn't draft much water like other deep vees and easy to cast from it’s basically an overgrown bass boat. I can bass fish no problem and when I go to lake Erie, Lake St. Claire or in the Gulf in Florida it performs great. Its light and small enough I can drag it all over the US yet big enough and heavy enough when I get there. We also tube and wake board from it which works great because of t-top keeps line up out of water.
The enclosed cabin type boats are nice for winter no doubt but I don't like the difficulty to cast from front. Chasing birds and jumps is way more fun than dragging live bait when you can. I had a clear vinyl front which wraps around the console made that keeps the cold air off me when running, makes a huge difference. Three turn buckles and 4 snaps and it’s on or off, plus a roll up zipper window in front if you want it open. This works great in rain also with t-top and vinyl enclosure you can run wide open in rain and not get wet.
Regardless of brand check out some bay boats, mine loaded will run 52 mph.

[stripernut1]

Ive seen justins boat in action.....hes right , its about as close as youre going to get to the "perfect striper rig". And its a sporty looking boat as well, very nice

[Duayne]

The Carolina skiffs do a great job but I think I'd want to go Aluminum. Probably 24' with at least a 7 1/2 beam. I'd want a built on canopy with a roll up full enclosure. A raised front deck with trolling battery and storage underneath and footing in the stern just slightly above water level. I'd have the helm on starboard and bench seating with under rod storage on port, all under the enclosure. Give me an open stern with room for a 50 gallon tank in the center, plumbed out to fill and empty with very few steps. the other possibility would be to have a raised stern with the tank under foot and storage\batteries on both sides. I'd want a raised rid holder rack with easily accessible down riggers underneath. I want the canopy situated so two people could cast off the front with little worry of snagging the top, and room to move and cast bottom fishing rods off the back. The boat would be low profile and lighter weight and could easily be pushed with a 115-150. I'd want a really quiet motor with digitally controlled RPMs for precise umbrella\downrigger trolling. Of course a Minn Kota with I pilot for slow trolling. I'd have a 10" Lowrance HDS touch on the helm, an 8" in the back and another on the bow. Or I might just have the mounts so I can take the 8" back and forth. I'd have all of it networked together so I could see the transducer on the TM as well as what was mounted on the back from either\all units.

That's a start... Does it look like I've thought about it at all?? LMAO..

[snapper30]

Never thought of selecting an outboard engine that was good for trolling.

What are good vs bad outboards to have for trolling? 4 or 2 stroke. ...etc.

[HURRICANEBOB]

Seats up to 6 with comfort, out of the weather, open bow for jump fishing, porta pottie to avoid dock runs, sleeps 2 on a fold out sofa, 40 gallon live well, 135 hp Honda pushes it to 35 mph, and still lighter than fiberglass to tow, and mor forgiving when boucing off rocks or beaching to bottom fish. 70lb Min Kota will pull it all day and all the next day on a 24 volt battery supply, and still have 1/2 day left before battery charging. 22 foot hull, with swim platform makes it 24 foot. Aluminum...no hull cracks, and, when buttoned up, you can bust 3-4 foot Cumberland storm waves with a driving rain and be totally dry.

And oh yeah.......You dont have to worry about anyone else in KY pulling up to the dock twith the exact same boat.

[Duayne]

Never thought of selecting an outboard engine that was good for trolling.

What are good vs bad outboards to have for trolling? 4 or 2 stroke. ...etc.

The general thought has been that 4 strokes are better for slow trolling. 2 Stroke engines did not burn hot enough to burn off all the oil in the mix and could cause plug fouling where 4 strokes do not have that issue. Plus, 2 strokes were generally louder and the more quiet the motor, the less worry with spooking. Hardly any of this matters much with some of the technologies that are out today. Evinrude, for one, has redefined the parameters of 2 stroke technology where none of those things are factors and they are the lowest maintenance motors you can find. The motor even winterizes itself. Having said all that, I have a Yamaha.. lol

So speaking of my Yamaha, it's a f 150 on the back of a 2012 20' Pioneer Venture. It's also probably the only thing like it on Cumberland. The 150 at idle would push this thing to 3.5-4 mph which is faster than I like to usually troll so I had to add a trolling plate to slow it down. Many of the higher end lines have digital throttle systems and Yamaha's line (others probably as well) has a feature where you can control the slower rpms from buttons on the digital display. Could be really handy those times you want to got .2 mph faster or slower and can't get it dialed in with the manual throttle.

[gizzard shad]

Seats up to 6 with comfort, out of the weather, open bow for jump fishing, porta pottie to avoid dock runs, sleeps 2 on a fold out sofa, 40 gallon live well, 135 hp Honda pushes it to 35 mph, and still lighter than fiberglass to tow, and mor forgiving when boucing off rocks or beaching to bottom fish. 70lb Min Kota will pull it all day and all the next day on a 24 volt battery supply, and still have 1/2 day left before battery charging. 22 foot hull, with swim platform makes it 24 foot. Aluminum...no hull cracks, and, when buttoned up, you can bust 3-4 foot Cumberland storm waves with a driving rain and be totally dry.

And oh yeah.......You dont have to worry about anyone else in KY pulling up to the dock twith the exact same boat.

In interest in selling your boat?

[GeoFisher]

Seats up to 6 with comfort, out of the weather, open bow for jump fishing, porta pottie to avoid dock runs, sleeps 2 on a fold out sofa, 40 gallon live well, 135 hp Honda pushes it to 35 mph, and still lighter than fiberglass to tow, and mor forgiving when boucing off rocks or beaching to bottom fish. 70lb Min Kota will pull it all day and all the next day on a 24 volt battery supply, and still have 1/2 day left before battery charging. 22 foot hull, with swim platform makes it 24 foot. Aluminum...no hull cracks, and, when buttoned up, you can bust 3-4 foot Cumberland storm waves with a driving rain and be totally dry.

And oh yeah.......You dont have to worry about anyone else in KY pulling up to the dock twith the exact same boat.

I must admit..........that is a BADASS boat..........Bad ASS.

[The Fish Whisperer]

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/v...1295549329.jpg


URL=http://s698.photobucket.com/user/p761rset/media/1295549327.jpg.html]http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/v...1295549327.jpg[/URL]


URL=http://s698.photobucket.com/user/p761rset/media/1295549326.jpg.html]http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/v...1295549326.jpg[/URL]


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/v...1295549324.jpg


URL=http://s698.photobucket.com/user/p761rset/media/1295549331.jpg.html]http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/v...1295549331.jpg[/URL]


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/v...50293405-1.jpg


Sleeps 4, Restroom, shower, kitchen, ac, heat.

My wife and I love it!

[GeoFisher]

http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/v...1295549329.jpg


URL=http://s698.photobucket.com/user/p761rset/media/1295549327.jpg.html]http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/v...1295549327.jpg[/URL]


URL=http://s698.photobucket.com/user/p761rset/media/1295549326.jpg.html]http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/v...1295549326.jpg[/URL]


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/v...1295549324.jpg


URL=http://s698.photobucket.com/user/p761rset/media/1295549331.jpg.html]http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/v...1295549331.jpg[/URL]


http://i698.photobucket.com/albums/v...50293405-1.jpg


Sleeps 4, Restroom, shower, kitchen, ac, heat.

My wife and I love it!

That is Nice..........I guess setup for ONLY trolling.

Have you ever trolled Dale with it also? Wondering, because there are guys being really successful there lately.

Later,

Geo

[The Fish Whisperer]

Dale is my main lake
Cumberland 2nd

looking to do Laurel this fall

I have bass fished out of it, we anchor and then fish a hot spot

I lot of cat fishing jugging style with noodles.


We go to Lake of the Ozarks every year.
there we bass fish under anchor. I have some nice spots that produce.

I have taken that boat to the Bahamas, all the way to Sea of Abacos
Green Turtle Cay.
Caught tuna and Mahi Mahi