Well, yall know Im a big striper guy . My wife and I got a place on the lake last year and a SMALL aluminum bass boat, a tracker Pro 160. It was a great first boat, but was a Bass boat..NOT a striper boat.

Well my birthday was recent and my wife agreed after fishing with my buddy who guides...we needed a bigger boat. Larger live well, larger area to move around, and much heavier and stable to withstand the Wake boats etc on Smith in The summer.

We picked up my new boat after shopping for weeks and test driving boats. We ended up in AC 180s home turf of Lake Guntersville..where we found a Bayliner Element F18 2018 leftover for sale .

Our main problem was getting a good deal on my 2019 Bass Tracker Pro 160 AND THEN a good price on a new boat. We almost made a deal on a Mako center console, as well as a Sea Chaser 19 ft boat. But one would only give me $10700 on my trade in ..the other $10800.

However At Erwin Marine sales in Guntersville we found a great salesman and the boat we wanted.

We wanted an F18 Element from Bayliner we thought...it has a 27 GALLON live well in back and another up front. But I also wanted a remote Trolling motor, and a T top at the least for options. That was another $3000 in options after buying one for $29,000.

However we made a low ball offer on the Brand New 2018 they had there.

It ALREADY had a T top, the upgraded motor from a 90 HP to a 115 Mercury, a remote controlled trolling motor...AM/FM stereo, swim boards with a ladder off the back, a Hook 2 -3 Fishfinder on the console , a trim indicator, a compass, the stainless steel bumper package, automatic bilge pump, a more extras. Things I would have never ordered as they were expensive.

Long story short...$30,900 list price boat ours for $28,000 and they gave me $14,557 for my trade in the other dealers were only giving me $10700 or $10800 for!

We bought it on the spot Thursday and drove it off at 3 pm..I launched it on Smith at 600 pm and hit the water with it.

All I can say is it is unbelievable. The M hull is super stable compared to the others we looked at. Flat turning, handles 3 ft wakes...and fishes like a dream more importantly it is very SAFE.

Here are some photos. HUGE UPGRADE for us and the best birthday present my sorry old arse has ever got. I have a GREAT WIFE!






















(CONTINUED A FEW POSTS DOWN WITH PICS OF MATT AND HIS SON ON THEIR TRIP WITH ME)