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Great
Lakes. Until you actually fish them, you have no idea how small you can
feel in a bass boat. The bass fishing is some of the best in the world,
but as with all good things, there’s a price at times. It can
get really rough out there – Edmund Fitzgerald rough.
It
isn’t that rough always, but between the wide-open spaces and
– on some areas such as Lake St. Clair – the large
pleasure craft traffic, uncomfortable and even dangerous waves are a
fact of life for the Great Lakes bass angler.
Bass
boats are designed to be fast and efficient in shallow, protected
waters, and although more of them are now built larger and deeper to
handle the bigger waters many bass anglers fish, there are times you
will get bounced around pretty good and soaked too. Some of those days,
you have to decide ‘do I go out in that stuff?’ Or
stay home and watch the Bassmasters on TV?
Some
of us push the limits and make runs we probably
shouldn’t be making too. At times, it comes down to a choice
to endure or not fish on the Great Lakes, or at least not head to the
place you really wanted to fish that day.
There
is an alternative though that a few innovative bass anglers are
starting to investigate.
One
of
those anglers is Clinton Township bass tournament angler Dave
MacDonald, the 2001 Canadian Open Champion. Dave is no stranger to big
water since he’s fished on the Great Lakes even before he
began fishing bass tournaments out there 20 years ago. He’s a
regular at many St. Clair and Erie bass events, and often ends up near
the top of the standings.
Dave
MacDonald is a competitor and does not want to have anything hold him
back so this year he decided to experiment a little. Dave is aware that
many boat manufacturers are making larger, deeper boats to capitalize
on the upsurge in the walleye tournament market. Since walleye anglers
tend to troll more and commonly fish out in the open, vulnerable to the
elements, their boats tend to resemble beefed-up bass boats.
Dave
traded in his familiar bass rig this year for a Ranger Boats 621VS
– a large boat aimed at the walleye/multi-species market and
particularly aimed at the big water angler. Bass Lines caught up with
Dave recently to see how his experiment was progressing.
Djkimmel:
“Dave, you’ve used your new Ranger 621 for a
few months now in your big water events. How do you feel about fishing
out of a ‘walleye’ boat in bass
tournaments?”
Dave:
“It’s pretty cool! Every one of my partners who
have been in it have been impressed with the boat.”
Djkimmel:
“How does the ride compare to a traditional bass
boat?”
Dave:
“The boat rides great. I had the shock absorber seats
installed and that really makes a difference. But it isn’t
just about the ride. It’s also about the comfort. The Ranger
621 is the driest boat I have ever been in. At many of our tournaments
you always see guys coming in soaked. Most of the time now, I
don’t even put on my rain gear. I don’t understand
the physics of it, but I’ve never had a wave come over the
nose while running. It’s drier than some of the bigger 23 and
24 foot fishing boats I’ve been in over the years!”
Dave:
“The boat is so forgiving. This past weekend, they had a huge
event on St. Clair that attracted even more cruisers than normal. There
were trying to set some world record for the most boats rafted on a
lake. We came back in through a really rough 4-foot cross-chop. I just
drove a steady 30 miles per hour. We sat back talking and drinking
water like it was flat calm around us.”
Djkimmel:
“So, has the boat changed how you approach your
tournaments on the Great Lakes?”
Dave:
“Yes, it has. You know there are days out there so rough, you
really question whether or not to make the run. With my 621 now there
is no hesitation. If I want to go, I just go. I know the boat can take
it, and because the ride is dry and so much smoother, I know
I’ll be feeling fresh and ready to catch bass when I get
there instead drained and warn out before my fishing even starts.
Djkimmel:
“Have there been any drawbacks to competing in a
‘walleye’ boat against other anglers in bass
boats?”
Dave:
“The only thing I’ve found is the top end speed is
a little lower. It’s a 55 mile per hour boat. The bass boats
beat me in the shallow flat water, but as soon as we are out in the big
water, the advantage flips around. I can run the waves at a faster
steady speed and I get there feeling a whole lot better and calmer than
the others do.”
Djkimmel:
“How about fishability?”
Dave:
“For the Great Lakes, it does everything perfectly. You can
do anything in it you would normally do from a bass boat. The only
thing I could see would be flipping and pitching because of the high
sides being a little different. But we don’t do much flipping
out on the big lakes.”
Djkimmel:
“How do the internal things compare like livewells and
storage?”
Dave:
“Ranger divided the huge rear well for me. It’s a
bathtub. I also have a livewell up front. I like to use it to separate
out problem fish from healthy bass. I also use it for efficiency when
I’m really catching them. I’ll put my bass in it. I
never have to leave the front deck. Because the boat rides so smooth,
the bass don’t get beat up in the front well either like they
use to in the old bass boats.
Dave:
“As far as storage, it’s every bit as good as my
bass boats have been. The side boxes are a little shorter than
I’m used to but it has a large rod box in the middle of the
front deck that holds everything well. Ranger put in the back deck
insert for me too and there’s so much space under that I went
out and bought a couple large plastic bins to keep my
partner’s things in so they’d stay near the front
instead of sliding way back under.”
Djkimmel:
“So you’re pretty satisfied at this
point?”
Dave:
“Oh yeah. I don’t think I’ll ever go back
to a bass boat.”
The
Ranger 621VS is 21’
3” long with a wide 94
¾” beam and 25” depth. It’s
rated for a 200 to 250 horsepower motor and has a 55 gallon centered
gas tank. Many bass boat manufacturers are now building multi-species
boats for the walleye and big water market. If you fish the Great Lakes
or other large waters a lot, you may want to consider this type of boat
for added comfort and safety. It may open up more options for you while
tackling the rough stuff. Dave MacDonald took the plunge and
he’s not going back.
Check out Dan Kimmel's Confidence Products
Also, see Building Quality Bass Boats
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*Article
originally published in the Michigan BASS Chapter Federation
Bass Lines magazine
– September 2004 issue.
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