Why I Chose The Sea doo Fish Pro Trophy 170
Picking a boat or vessel is hard when it comes to the Illinois River. You can go with a Jon Boat or a Professional Fishing Boat. I struggled to decide on which way to go for the money spent. Jon Boats are great and can go in skinny water with more passengers, but you struggle with speed to get to your next spot. Professional fishing boats are great, but draft deeper and are harder to get where I usually love to fish. Keep reading to find out why I chose the Fish Pro Trophy for my vessel of choice in the Illinois River.
Lee Ioerger
4/21/20243 min read
Why I Chose The Sea Doo Fish Pro Trophy 170
Living on the Illinois River makes it hard not to want a watercraft to navigate its waters, and I am sure this decision holds true for any one living on the waterfront. I have owned many different types of watercraft throughout my life and never found the perfect vessel to get out and enjoy the river. Jon Boats are nice and they can go pretty shallow allowing you to fish a few people easily at one time. Bass Boats are also good to get more speed and acceleration to reach those hot fishing spots faster.
Pontoon Boats are another option and I have looked pretty heavy into one for my next river toy, they just seem to sit high on the water and take more effort to hold in position while fishing without an anchor. I ended up choosing the Sea Doo Fish Pro Trophy 170 and I’ll give my top 10 reasons why I chose this boat over all others.
The Top Ten Reasons I Chose Sea Doo Fish Pro Trophy 170
The first reason is price, I think watercraft price is very important in choosing a vessel to suit your everyday needs. The Fish Pro Trophy starts at around $15,000 and ends around $20,000 making it a very affordable fishing machine.
Since I primarily fish alone or with two small children the watercraft gives me the flexibility to go longer distances and fish more easily. Being just over 12’ long it provides a 3 seat bench that breaks up to provide a rear deck fishing pedestal. This allows me to fish out the back while one other adult or two small children fish from the bench seat.
Speed, with a top speed of 58 MPH I can get anywhere in a shorter amount of time allowing for the ability to target multiple fishing spots with ease. I can shoot south and fish the narrows, shoot north to fish the Crow, and I can put it in eco mode if I want to travel up to the Starved Rock Dam. It features 120 nautical mile range in eco mode with its 18.5 gallon gas tank.
I can still go in skinny water to chase that shallow water bite and be able to push pole or paddle with ease due to the size of the vessel. It drafts low in the water and handles well in choppy conditions. I spend a lot of time chasing summer walleye and sauger in less than 3’ of water.
Since I am a father of four beautiful children, there is no better afternoon activity than pulling the kiddos around on a tube or beaching on a nice sand bar for a swim.
Live well and Sonar, The Fish Pro Trophy comes with a fully functional live well system that will keep your fish alive or double as a great cooler for you river adventures. I plan to upgrade the 7” Garmin electronics in the future, but that will be another article.
Rod holders, the watercraft comes with 5 clip in place rod holders that mount either to the cooler or up front under the handles for trolling applications. They make hauling and using your fishing rods easier and more manageable, especially for a small craft.
Storage, with 24 gallons of up front storage you can fit almost everything you need for a day out on the water. The two latches in the front make it easy to access, on the water by flipping the whole top up and all of your stuff is within arms reach. The extra storage in the cooler for food and drinks is an added bonus when the live well is not being used.
The music, I love the stereo system on this unit and am quite the music lover. Anytime I am out cruising it is good to hear your favorite song coming through those speakers. With the BRP Connect you can wirelessly connect to your phone and play your favorite tunes with your phone safely stored inside the phone storage spot.
The Fun! I’ll be honest I never thought just riding a Sea Doo Fish Pro Trophy 170 would be that much fun. Every time I go out now I find myself with a smile that is hard to get off my face. The satisfaction and freedom of being able to go anywhere on the water is unmatched.
I have no regrets about purchasing my Fish Pro Trophy 170 and would encourage anyone to take a look yourself. With 1633 CC’s of engine power they rival a 16’ Bass boat with a 25HP for roughly the same price. I know when I have fish I want to catch I don’t want to spend all day getting to the next spot. The Fish Pro Trophy has many other great features and design features that take the user experience to a whole new level, if you want to check out the performance specs and details click HERE for more information.
I hope this article helps you make a great choice in picking out your next watercraft and I will keep enjoying mine out on the water. Until next time, Sign up Below for our upcoming newsletters and we hope to meet you out on the water!