My Experience with the Best Bass Boat

[i50]

Hello all,

I bought the best bass boat (paid $391k+) just to see how I would like it and it honestly does not work for me. Here's why:

I primarily fish with 4 bottom rods from shore.
I have all my hot-spots already marked with buoys at every location.
The best bottom rods can cast 300 feet so I can reach almost anywhere on most lakes.
In some rare cases where I might need a boat, a kayak works for me.
I still float fish and lure fish from a kayak.
I might buy a small motorboat (without sonar) to replace the kayak.

Now, here's my personal opinion of the best bass boat:

The top speeds are way too fast for these small waterways.
It is easy to run your bass boat right onto land and get stuck there.
The saving grace for this boat is the slow trolling speed.
The sonar was the biggest disappointment:
- Fish look like half moons
- All fish look the same (from what I can tell)
- There is constant movement (fish & terrain?) on the screen & I am not sure why?
(Is the sonar rotating 360 degrees maybe? If so how do you stop it from rotating?)
- I was uncertain of the actual direction the sonar was viewing?

In summary, I found the boat was just too fast, the trolling motor was OK, and the sonar was very disappointing. In other words, I bought it, I tried it, I didn't like it, and I sold it!

i50

[JeppeH]

Didnt like mine either, but I guess I just keep it incase it comes upgrades/changes to it since it is a brand new feature to the game.

[gazza]

my guess is that ( in my opinion ) that boats will be used in any new waterways to be released,
so right now as you said, a kayak will do, they are just something for the richer players to add to their inventory.

[i50]

@Jeppe: You probably made the right move in keeping it because I only got 78K when I sold it.

@gazza: +1

[Lenny Rat]

On a real fish finder, the fish DO look like half moons. And, yes, they all look the same. The only difference is the size of the half moon indicates the relative size of the fish.

[Cpl Tunnel]

The half moons you see on sonar are actually the fishes swim bladder which are full of air.
the air in the swim bladder is the only thing sonar sees . So the only thing sonar can show
you is the sizes of the fish not what kind of fish they are.

[Maj.Tryhard]

Originally posted by Cpl Tunnel:

The half moons you see on sonar are actually the fishes swim bladder which are full of air.
the air in the swim bladder is the only thing sonar sees . So the only thing sonar can show
you is the sizes of the fish not what kind of fish they are.

Very interesting, didn't know that about sonar.

[Lenny Rat]

Good thread, and truthfully, the whole idea of the boats and fish finders now comes into question.

As noted, the top of the line boats appear overpowered and oversized for where they can be used. Now to the topic of the fish finders; do they really help?

A typical fish finder has a "cone" view which is mostly below the boat and might reach a few feet in front of it. If I need to drop a line straight down and just jig my life away to make use of it, it seems kind of limited.

Furthermore; my understanding of the game functionally was that fish spawn based on your gear and throw location; thousands of fish don't just spawn throughout the whole lake and sit there waiting for you to find them. That said; what is that finder really telling us?

I have more questions than answers at this point...none of which convince me of a rational reason to buy a boat.

For now, I'm just going to buy a bigger keepnet when I hit L50.

[i50]

@Lenny and @CPL: Thank you both for that additional information. I guess you can tell I never used sonar in real life eh? Anyway, I still don't understand why the sonar screen keeps moving (fish swimming and terrain) when the boat is stopped. I looked at some real sonar videos on youtube and the terrain remains stationary. However, they talk about an optional "side view" and this appears to be a 2d side view IMHO. Now I do see a few half moons swim by but the terrain seems to move as well. And those two half moons keep swimming by (right to left) periodically. In any event, here is an official video showing the sonar in action; however, it falls short of showing the sonar screen when the boat is stopped and it also falls short on showing how the sonar screen was used to actually locate the fish so the rod could be casted in the proper area.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9cbaldK7pM
For what it is worth, I was fishing off the floating dock for catrfish @ St. Croix and a short distance away was someone in the same bass boat I purchased. I could tell he was trolling; however, he never caught a single fish during the entire time I filled my 661 lb net.

It seems to me something like a portable sonar unit would be much easier and more accurate than what we have now:

https://i.postimg.cc/pLjqYGH2/sonar-portable.jpg

Just my obseravtions and my personal opinion.

i50

[i50]

Originally posted by DrCulocane:

Do you really need a fish finder in a game where all you need to do to catch a certain fish is to cast in a certain spot with a certain bait at a certain hour of day and all these info are on a spreadsheet?
I mean, fish finder or not we will be fishing at our marker buoys anyway.

+1

[i50]

Originally posted by Lenny Rat:

Good thread, and truthfully, the whole idea of the boats and fish finders now comes into question.

As noted, the top of the line boats appear overpowered and oversized for where they can be used. Now to the topic of the fish finders; do they really help?

A typical fish finder has a "cone" view which is mostly below the boat and might reach a few feet in front of it. If I need to drop a line straight down and just jig my life away to make use of it, it seems kind of limited.

Furthermore; my understanding of the game functionally was that fish spawn based on your gear and throw location; thousands of fish don't just spawn throughout the whole lake and sit there waiting for you to find them. That said; what is that finder really telling us?

I have more questions than answers at this point...none of which convince me of a rational reason to buy a boat.

For now, I'm just going to buy a bigger keepnet when I hit L50.

Wow, a great analogy Lenny! Thanks for your contribution.

[Maj.Tryhard]

I've been making good use of the sonar on my cheap little metal boat.

I do believe you're correct, Lenny, about the way the game works. The sonar isn't showing you actual fish that are sitting there waiting to be caught. It's just kinda like a more detailed version of the surface activity that helps you find where the fish are. It's an indicator that the area is good for fishing. I've already found several good spots that I hadn't known about before.

If you're the kind of person who's content to just cast at the same marker over and over again, you prolly don't need the sonar. However, if you like searching for new spots, or are trying to learn a new waterway, the sonar can be very helpful.

Not only does it show underwater activity such as the concentration, size, and depth of fish, but it also can give you a good idea of what the terrain is like underwater. I really like that particular feature, since the little iPad looking map is pretty useless on some lakes. I'm already wishing we could use boats on any map we wanted. I'd really like a better look at the bottom in places like Louisiana or Florida.

[i50]

Originally posted by Maj.Tryhard:

I've been making good use of the sonar on my cheap little metal boat.

I do believe you're correct, Lenny, about the way the game works. The sonar isn't showing you actual fish that are sitting there waiting to be caught. It's just kinda like a more detailed version of the surface activity that helps you find where the fish are. It's an indicator that the area is good for fishing. I've already found several good spots that I hadn't known about before.

If you're the kind of person who's content to just cast at the same marker over and over again, you prolly don't need the sonar. However, if you like searching for new spots, or are trying to learn a new waterway, the sonar can be very helpful.

Not only does it show underwater activity such as the concentration, size, and depth of fish, but it also can give you a good idea of what the terrain is like underwater. I really like that particular feature, since the little iPad looking map is pretty useless on some lakes. I'm already wishing we could use boats on any map we wanted. I'd really like a better look at the bottom in places like Louisiana or Florida.

Hi Maj,

Can you give us a few screenshots of what you found useful (or even a video if you could do that too) because I never saw anything like what you are describing. However, since I have never used sonar IRL before, maybe I just don't know how to either use it or adjust it (if that is even possible). Or, is it possible the sonar version you are using shows something completely different than the one i tried?

Thanks!

[Maj.Tryhard]

Yeah, I should be gettin on tonight. I'll try to get a few good shots, I dunno how to do a video though.

I don't think there's any adjustments in-game, but there are 4 (I think) different kinds of sonar. I got the cheapest boat with "advanced" sonar, though I'm not sure what the differences are.

[Fishing4Trains]

I think anyone investing in a boat now will find that it'll come up trumps in any future water releases. they must have that in mind.

[gazza]

so i bit the bullet, brought the lvl50 bass boat ( only because the sonar is ment to be better ) decided to go to Germany for a giggle, still don't really understand the sonar, but caught a few ( 1 uni so far ) some areas i went to, nothing to see, but if you slowly move around you can see the fishing lanes, to be cont.