Boat Speed for Striper/White Bass

Hey y'all,
I'm getting a boat for Striper/White Bass fishing. What is a minimum top speed for a boat that will be well suited for this Striper/White fishing? I'm looking at one that tops out at 35mph and one that tops at 45mph. I really like the 35mph one, will it be sufficient? Thanks

Don’t know but my boat will run 45 or 50 but I rarely go over 35 for fuel economy. I recommend max HP on whatever you buy. You don’t get a secon chance at HP IMO. My 2cents

I have a Tidewater Bay Max 2400 with a 300hp Suzuki engine. It runs top end with a quarter tank of fuel 52mph without starting to bounce 55 with the bounce. Plenty fast for a bay boat. My buddies run Falcons and Redfins and Blazer Bays that go 40 mph. IMO if you aren't running a bass tournament and needing to go 68 mph there is no need to go over 40mph. If you want to run fast max your engine size for the boat. Excuse the pun but your mileage may vary.

I’ve never caught a fish going faster than about 3 miles per hour. I’d go with the 35 mph that you like more.

Thanks for the responses. To reword my question, how important is boat speed when it comes to finding whitebass/Stripers?

I wouldn't let boat speed be a deciding factor on a purchase. I would be more concerned about the boat layout and engine condition than boat speed. Boat speed absolutely nothing to do with catching stripers /sand bass/ hybrids.

Flying around the lake at mach 2 is a largemouth thing. Most of us that chase schooling fish just enjoy the ride between point A and point B.

I agree with 44 Diesel as well.

Paul and Diesel have hit it on the head. Get a boat you you like and will enjoy fishing out of.

Fuel economy and engine stress are a big thing for me. I personally don’t like a boat that’s under powered and always has to run at 4000+ just to get around the lake.

A larger engine will let u cruise at 28-32mph and sip fuel and not stress the motor...but also has your back when that last second pop-up thunder storm bears down on u...and u need the extra horses.

Sand bass don't care how fast your boat is. I've caught a ton of them fishing out of a 14' Lone Star with a 7 1/2 HP motor on the back.

But since you're running around the lake and only stopping when you mark fish, wouldn't it be more efficient to be able to run faster? You would be able to cover more water right? The boat I'm looking at is a Mako Pro skiff 19 with a 90 Mercury. Seller tells me it goes 45 but I think it probably goes around 35 max

Sellers have a habit of over estimating top end. I doubt that a 19' CC with a 90 is going to run 45. Ask if that is speedo or GPS. My speedo reads 2-4 high. That said the speedo on my Ranger was right on. I prefer max hp on a boat.

Bring up Navionics free web app. Plot a few courses on the lake you think you will frequent. Check times from point a to point b at various speeds, 20,30,35 40? See how long it would really take you. 30mph is not really slow on the water. Or , if you are just really hung up on the whole testosterone speed thing get the faster boat. Be honest with yourself.

I don't really care for speed but want the boat that would be most efficient for Striper/White bass fishing. The 19 Proskiff deal fell apart. Now looking at a key largo 186 bay with 90 hp or mako 18 lts with 115. Can someone answer my most important question: Will searching for Stripers/White Bass be more efficient if I can run over an area faster? Do fishfinders even work when at 30+ miles per hour? How fast do y'all run when attempting to mark fish? Thanks!

Not sure what unit/transducer you are using but I have a triple shot Lowrance and the Sidescan and down scan is typically best used at 3-5 mph. Maybe I'm missing something but my depth finder won't even register when I'm going 30-40 mph.

A good graph with a properly placed transducer will work at any speed either boat you listed. My Elite Ti's work at 50mph which is as fast as my rigs goes. Still a bit confused about your efficiency questions though. You worried about only getting 3 mpg at cruising speed or 4. Or handling when the winds blowing 20 mph. Better yet, room for 3 people or just 2.

So you mention efficient a few times. So I put some numbers to it. Up to you what you feel is efficient. I picked a random lake and threw in some random numbers on navionics plotter.

Distance 4.2 miles I doubt you will be going further than that in between spot checking.

Speed 28 mph covers the distance in 8.59 min

Speed 36 mph covers the distance in 6.59 min

Actually three questions of which only the middle question has been answered.

#1 yes

#3 up to 15 mph

If anyone tells you that you can mark fish at 40 or 50 mph I would suggest investigating that before making a decision to buy a boat based on that input.

They will show on your graph at those speeds and with touch screens its easy to mark then circle back around.

Austin: it's a lot more efficient to let the fish lead you to the concentration of fish (just happened to be stripers in my video below) than it is to rocket all over the lake (although that is fun I will admit). If you really want to get into them, learn the technique below (and you can do this on any boat). Speed comes in if you want to get back in quickly (safety feature) or have a long run offshore or upriver - something like that. You'll want something that can go slow without fouling plugs for trolling and have room to get one aboard. Good luck catching them!

That was an excellent vid on high speed charting. Wish I could duplicate it - but 22 is all I do in the puddle-jumper.

There are a lot of things to consider before you look at speed...
1. How do you plan to fish? If you will be throwing artificials, you need big casting decks for the number of people you expect to fish with. Slabbing is not as critical but live bait you need the right sized round bait tanks or space for a bait tank.
2. How many people and types you plan to carry. I have kids so prefer high gunnels on a fish and ski vs big decks that my kids can fall off from
3. If you plan to cruise the lake scanning via down imaging then you will probably want to go around 30, if you are chasing topwater then binoculars and a fast boat
4. I go from spot to spot to look for fish vs covering the whole lake so I can go 35 between spots then use my thumper to call in fish or move to the next spot

I don’t run wide open between spots when looking for hybrids or striper. I rarely open my throttle over 2/3 unless running back to ramp to get home before wife gets mad!! As has been said layout and fish ability is more important.

Don't know if it's been mentioned, but if you fish on a boat long enough, you're gonna take that accidental look over your shoulder and realize that a storm is about to overtake you. In which case, you're going to want the fastest boat you can afford to get away from it.
Yes, you can mitigate that by watching the weather, phone alerts, etc. Just sayin. When the feces hit the oscillator, yer gonna wanna skiddadle.

Get the faster boat so few years later you don't have to say i wish...

No you aren't missing anything. Even when you have your transducer perfectly installed you'll be able to read depth (maybe) but actually you aren't going to be seeing schools of fish at 30mph and any structure you see will be questionable as far as accuracy. Striper fishing isn't a speed thing, it's a steady pace thing and putting in enough time to find the fish.

Got it! Thanks for so much information. Will opt for max hp when possible. Will set up another thread for another boat question.

One thing you did not mention was the lakes you fish. Speed is more important on larger lakes like Texoma and Tawakoni. On Tawakoni i can run 15 - 20 miles wheras on Lavon 1/2 that.

I have a FishMaster 196 with a 125 Merc. It tops out at 36 mph. I'm not sure what prop is on it but it comes out of the hole quickly and I typically cruise in and around 30 mph. I have a Lowrance HDS with sidescan and LSS transducer. Your ability to pick up return at speed will have more to do with the location of your transducer. I cannot get a decent return over around 8 mph, so I'll run from structure to structure then typically troll at 3 to 5 mph looking for what I want to see. Speed was not a factor when I was boat shopping.

I don't think any sonar is very accurate at more than 5 mph. But the faster she will go the more areas of a large lake that could be checked in a day. If you are going fast a large school would look like a drop in the bucket and you would probably never stop to fish it.

You'd be surprised