10/4 dvl

[gcopple]

Made a quick trip to DVL this saturday, the in-laws popped in unannounced on friday night with plans to stay the weekend so i "remembered" i had a day of fishing planned. anyway hit the lake and waited in line, chatted with a really nice guy about our boats (we both had the rt188's). Hit the lake and had a really tough morning. about 10 am i broke down and drop shotted some fish up. purple smoke was the color of choice today by the fish. i was catching them pretty deep, 40ft-ish. first fish had the bends so i go to needle it and it flops and i drop fling the needle overboard. throw the fish in the well, haul over the ramp, make the trek up the ramp to get a new bends mender, fizz the fish and i am back out. go back to that same spot, line up the boat to make the same cast and bam, back on. i caught 7 fish off that same spot, same cast. 7 fish in 12 casts. bounced around to a few other spots but only managed a couple more fish. at 11:30 wind picks up real good so i pick up a bull shad 6in version and start paralleling the bank with it. bring it by a little secondary point and bam, i'm on. get the fish close and realize i have a double! first time that has ever happened. get the fish to the boat and all of a sudden the fish on the front hook gets off! dammit. it was awesome, i huge wolf pack was under those fish, had to be over 20 fish all about that size from the looks of it. i get the other fish in and he goes just over 4lbs but was long as hell and skinny, he is a 6 after he starts feeding up this fall. after looking at my bull shad i noticed that not only did that fish get off the front hook but it ripped it out along with the swivel! i tied up a jackall glide bait, not sure the name, in the 6in version...it was the only other thing in that size i had. actually had a few more followers in the next 30 minutes but nothing would commit. i think they liked the faster movement of the bullshad at the time. well ended up with 11 fish, a couple short of 15in but most in the 2.5-3lb range. get out there guys, the fish are there and the quality has been pretty good.

[Dsrt Tortise]

Look at it this way, if they didn't show up you probably wouldn't have gotten off your but and went fishing. Great fish more tight lines.

DT :Big Grin::Fishing Hole::Fishing Catch::Fishing Hole::Big Grin:

[gcopple]

DT you are correct sir...i had no plans of fishing last weekend and it ended up working out well.

[chompot]

Sweet. Be out there next Monday on my RT188 as well.

[surfhard]

Any signs of striper activity yet?

[shinbob]

Wow, lots of guys out there with Ranger aluminums, it seems. Saw a pic on the Castaic board of another Ranger aluminum.

How do you like them? Do they get blown around in the wind too badly?

[gcopple]

i love it. i got rid of a basscat pantera when i got this one. it isn't bad in the wind at all, nothing like my older tracker i used to have. it is a great fishing platform, huge deck, lots of storage, easy on gas and oil, a breeze to tow. i just don't see a more perfect boat for fishing DVL, perris and skinner than this. i really don't see myself in another glass boat unless i move to someplace with bigger water and worse weather. even then this boat would manage. thing is solid and fit and trim is what you would expect from ranger. for the $1500 or so more it is than and equally equiped tracker, the choice is obvious to me.

[chompot]

i love it. i got rid of a basscat pantera when i got this one. it isn't bad in the wind at all, nothing like my older tracker i used to have. it is a great fishing platform, huge deck, lots of storage, easy on gas and oil, a breeze to tow. i just don't see a more perfect boat for fishing DVL, perris and skinner than this. i really don't see myself in another glass boat unless i move to someplace with bigger water and worse weather. even then this boat would manage. thing is solid and fit and trim is what you would expect from ranger. for the $1500 or so more it is than and equally equiped tracker, the choice is obvious to me.

X2 they are awesome boats. If you see me around come say hi. I fish DVL and Perris and run a RT188 in Max 4 Camo.

[gogreeenz4]

a good friend of mine owns a 188 and I do enjoy fishing from it and find it to be one sweeeeet ride but that price tag is steep for a aluminum...... I dig the boat though and do see value in ranger quality but man oh man that's a pricey tin ! makes me wonder other then the ranger name whats different between a tracker 190 and the rt 188

[gcopple]

a good friend of mine owns a 188 and I do enjoy fishing from it and find it to be one sweeeeet ride but that price tag is steep for a aluminum...... I dig the boat though and do see value in ranger quality but man oh man that's a pricey tin ! makes me wonder other then the ranger name whats different between a tracker 190 and the rt 188

have you priced out an apple to apples comparison between a tracker 190 and a ranger rt188? you would see it might only be about $1500-2000 difference.

the fit and finish on the ranger is second to none, way more storage than the tracker, everything is better quality, the trailer is FAR better than the trackers...i can keep going and going...but i think you get the picture. the prices you see for trackers in BPS catalogs are for bare bones boats...literally, there is nothing on them, you are lucky they give you carpet! once you add in the things you will need you are looking at what an RT188 starts at, they come pretty much ready to fish standard. If i would have bought a glass boat int he 18-19ft. range it would have cost me in the $32-35k range...i got my RT188 for just over $25k out the door. 115opti, graph at the wheel, upgraded troller, batteries, prop...put all of that on a tracker and you'll see why you see so many ranger's, such a better quality than the trackers and for maybe $2000 difference when you have all accessories equal.

[gogreeenz4]

wow 25k out the door? could of sworn my buddies was a bit more but when you say 25 there is no doubt i would go with the ranger.... 2000 bucks over 10 years is pennys a month so i don't blame you one bit

[shinbob]

.i got my RT188 for just over $25k out the door. 115opti, graph at the wheel, upgraded troller, batteries, prop..

Just curious, what was MSRP for your config, and where did you get it (I'm guessing Angler's Marine)?

I was considering the Crestliner VT, but this is the same price or maybe even a little less.

[gcopple]

i lied, i just looked at my paperwork and it was just $26k. yeah, anglers marine in Anaheim is where i got it. $22,272 was msrp. I worked with tom, he was very easy to deal with. i would recommend him in a heart beat.

[gogreeenz4]

what unit did you get? and only one unit?

[chompot]

I priced them all too. Crestliner, Tracker, Lowe, Ranger, and Triton. Once you get everything you want on them they are all very very closely priced. The Ranger IMHO was the best quality though and I also believe the resale will also be much higher because of the name as well.

I too went into shopping thinking Ranger would be out of my price range and I was terribly wrong.

Tom at Anglers took care of me.

[gcopple]

what unit did you get? and only one unit?

yeah, it comes with 1 unit at the wheel. i bought my own and istalled them myself. i saved a little $ that way. i had some gift cards and credit card points that i used to buy everything and installing them wasn't an issue at all.

[Glenn]

Sounds like a good day on the lake! Way to go.

[gcopple]

here are some pics from my last 2 trips. some of the fish look really big but that is just from how i took the pics...it isn't easy to take them of yourself with the fish. i only do it because my wife and dad like to see pics of the fish i caught. 4517645177451784517945180451814518245183

[GdHkSet1]

Nice lmb's!