Towing a 21' bass boat

How many of you guys tow a larger bass boat with your 3rd gen? I have a 2015 Tundra that I tow with but the other day I decided to put the hitch on my 2017 TRD Off Road and see how it does. I was really surprised at how well it towed my 21' Triton bass boat. Keep in mind I live in east Tennessee so I'm dealing with hills, not much flat land. I thought it would really struggle but it pulled it like a champ. I only live about 3 miles from the boat ramp but have to go up a couple good grades to get there, really didn't down shift anymore than my Tundra. I thought I would just keep my Tundra to tow my boat but now I'm thinking I don't really need it. Just curious what others thought.

 

If all you tow is those three miles, then sure the Tacoma is fine. If you plan to ever tow anywhere that you'll be getting out on the interstate, the Tacoma will struggle a lot more. I don't know the specs of your boat, but the Tacoma will probably be able to do it, but your fuel milage will drop significantly and you'll put a lot of stress on your truck.

 

I was towing a 4k lb camp trailer at 60mph last weekend and had to cross 2 decent grades. It was 360 miles of towing round trip and really wasn't an issue. Aerodynamics of a boat is much better than a travel trailer.

 

I tow my 19 foot open bow all summer, up to 180 miles away. It tows it just fine. It brakes fine also, the trailer has surge brakes. It slows down in the hills, no big deal.

 

Yeah my bass boat is on a dual axle trailer with surge brakes so stopping it is not a problem. I wouldn't be concerned pulling it on a long trip over the mountains, really felt strong.

 

How's the fishing down in tennessee right now this time of year? I still have to wait a good couple weeks here in New England area.

 

Are you talking for trout? Or bass? I’ve had some luck already in south central mass with bass. Would think the trout fishing bite would be on right now. Buddy in ct has been killing it trout fishing.

 

I can understand where you're coming from but we use to pull big boats with full size Chevy and Ford trucks and they had less horsepower and less torque, just don't see why it would hurt one pulling on a long trip. My 21' Triton probably weighs a little over 4000 pounds with boat, trailer, motor, gas, and gear so still way under the max towing capacity. 95% of the time I'll only be pulling my boat 2 to 3 pounds but once a year we take a trip our of state and maybe pull our boats 300 - 400 miles, you think that would take a toll on the truck? If I sell the Tundra I'll more than likely buy a 200 series Land Cruiser so I'll still have it for long trips if needed. Last year we went from east TN to Lake Lanier in Georgia and pulled our boats over a few mountains. I got about 11 MPG with my Tundra and my buddy got about 9 MPG with his V6 Ford Explorer. I normally get 15 - 16 on the highway in my Tundra so it lost a few MPG but he got around 25 MPG without the boat so it killed his MPG. I also had to slow down and wait on him going up steep grades, it was fun laughing at the Ford struggling.

 

Had a slow winter bite this year but smallies will be spawning within the next 2 weeks. Water temps are around 60 so only a few more to go and they'll be on bed. I suck at the transition bite but they're starting to feed good, or I should say they were starting to. Our lake has come up over 10 feet in the last 5 days due to a lot of rain and now tonight lows will be in the mid 20s.

Here's one I caught the other day


I'm ready for the deep summer bite. This one came out of 30' on the drop shot this past summer. Love them brown fish.

 

See you’re lake fishing but I’d die to go stalk those small mouths in your mountain rivers/creeks some of the coolest landscape I’ve seen in the states.

 

I do that too. When it gets really hot in July and August, we hit the rivers and take our kayaks. River smallies are a blast and fight like nothing else. The river below the dam on the lake I fish has smallmouth and trout so you never know what you might catch. The Clinch River below Norris Lake doesn't have a lot of smallies but has some huge brown trout. Those guys fish with baitcasters with 12# line and Rapala jerk baits, I've seen some big Browns come out of there and some 5 pound Rainbows. We kayak fish the upper Holston River around Kingsport, TN, I've had some days where I've caught 50 plus on the 6 miles stretch we float, that's a blast.

 

Man just floating along and catching smallies sounds like a dream right now. I need to move south.

 

Several guys run jet boats but also some float it with drift boats and fly fish for smallmouth, I'll have to admit, I want to do that someday soon.

 

I haven't been out yet this year, waiting for the water temps to go up. I've only been fishing for 3 years now but man did I get hooked. So I'm still learning as I go. I have a buddy thats been fishing for over 20 years and he says the fish are out there but still hard to find em. I am talking about bass fishing. Will be interesting this season, now that I have a truck and a jon boat I fixed up. Hoping to catch some big ones in the less accessible places.

Any good spots in MA? Btw I don't think my jon boat can handle a bigger lake.

 

Man thats awesome. I want to fly down to Tennessee and book a charter with someone, maybe next year. I heard the fishing is crazy down south.

 

Depends where you are and how you’re fishing. I mainly kayak/shore fish so I tend to stick to smaller lakes and ponds. I live in webster ma and if I can get ont he boat webster lake has some good largemouth/smallmouth. Long pond in Rutland has some really good largemouth fishing. There really are good lakes all throughout mass for northern bass that is. Just really depends on location. Pm me if you’d like and i could probably steer you in the right direction depending on location. Don’t wanna hi jack OPs thread

 

Here's a few shot from around east Tennessee and some river fishing

 

Oh yeah, and some Land Cruiser pics LOL!

 

Man you are living the dream!!!

Tennessee looks beautiful! What kind of bait is that with the fish in the net? Is that a hellgrammite?

 

Yes, we use to catch them under rocks and the smallies would destroy them. I found these and they are the most realistic artificial ones I've found.

NIKKO HELLGRAMMITE 3" Floating Scented Soft Bait (Natural)

https://www.amazon.com/Nikko-HELLGRAMMITE-floating-scented-biodegradable/dp/B077SL6RQQ?th=1

They're the stretchy type material so they last forever. I've had some that I've caught 50 plus bass on and still in good shape. I use an 1/8 oz keitech jig head with them.

KEITECH Super Round Jig Head

https://www.amazon.com/Keitech-Tungsten-Super-Round-Heads/dp/B07RN9Y3FT