Just musing…

About a week ago I attended the Bass Pro World Fishing Fair in Springfield, Missouri. It was an amazing experience as I had never seen so much product targeted at the fishing community located in one place.

Bass Pro was spotlighting their 50th anniversary aluminum boat. It looks very much like the original bass tracker that came out on the market decades ago. It came outfitted with an entry-level Minnkota foot control trolling motor and a mercury 50 hp outboard. It cost $17,000 before tax which is about 9% in Missouri.

I was disheartened to see that boat prices had morphed to an all-time high, putting an entry-level bass tracker, plain Jane, aluminum boat at a price tag of $17,000. This nice little 16 foot, 50th anniversary special was parked next to 22 foot Nitro bass boat priced at $92,000. Not too many years ago, I sold a house in Springfield, Missouri for $91,000. Nowadays, a really nice bass boat cost as much as I used to pay for a house. Some will say that that is a ridiculous comparison, but it is the sort of thing that pops into my mind when I consider a price tag of $92,000.

I know that there will be some who will take issue with my critical view concerning boat prices, but if someone were to ask me if I thought that the boats I saw at the Fishing Fair were worth the price, I would have to say “no.” “No!” A fishing boat will never be worth that kind of money to me. Never! The answer may be yes to a professional fisherman, but for an ordinary, every day, common man who is looking to get out on the water, I would say that today’s boats are outrageously over priced.

Of course, it is always a matter of perspective and certainly financial ability. I am a senior citizen, living on a fixed income and simply do not have the kind of discretionary money that is necessary to purchase an expensive fishing boat. Would I like one? I could probably feel comfortable in a boat that I saw priced between $30K and $40K. Anything more expensive than that and I would probably feel so nervous about having it on the water that it may suck all of the joy out of the fishing experience. I am merely speculating.

Now, I will admit this… I would love to have a well-to-do friend, who owned a $90,000 bass boat, who loved to take me out on his boat for a day of fishing. That would be the best of all worlds!

What are your thoughts on today’s boat and motor prices?

Back in the early 1980's, I saw an ad in the morning paper. '57 Valco aluminum 18' riveted boat (no leaks) with 25HP 1985 Evenrude engine (2Stroke) - only 10 hrs on it & a trailer, $1000 he said. First come first served. My buddy & I were there at 7:30 am, & sure enough there were 2 other guys there at 7:31 am. The man was elderly & had bought the boat new. He had had a stroke & could no longer safely operate the boat. It was actually quite emotional & he was having a hard time deciding who would get the boat. You could tell he was very sentimental about it. The next thing he did was to shake each of our hands & then he made a decision. BTW this is all true. He looked at us all & said that he had made his decision, he sold it to us. He said "Because these boys have calluses on their hands and know what a day's work is. He looked at the other 2 & said "Sorry, but you two have the hands of a swede shoe salesman. I'm not saying that was a good basis, but it was his...
I had it for many many years & finally sold it for the same $1000 I spent.

BTW I also was at the 50th anniversary Bas pro shoe. I was pretty disappointed. Only the very high-end stuff seemed to be on sale, because in the store itself there were a dozen bins of 20% off lures, everything else was retail.

The only food you could find was hotdogs unless you went to their cafe, then it was a $12 Kale salad, or a $12 chicken salad sandwich on a stale hard croissant.

Sorry, it seemed to be all about patting themselves on their back, rather than treating us, the reason they're in business, to some real discounts, etc...

Only my opinion. Sorry to have gotten off track.