i am curious about those riverpro boats that are advertised on this site. i have gone to their website and checked them out and was wondering what others thought about them. unfortunately i am looking for an all around boat that could go on lakes and rivers. i noticed that they kind of make a deeper v bottom style. does anyone think that they would work in open water too? maybe on a lake like leech or minnewaska?
Alvinmack is a field staff member here and he runs a RiverPro. You might shoot him a PM to ask him about it. From everything I’ve heard, they are the cat’s meow on the river. I’m not sure how they would perfom for typical lake use.
You could also give Kevin Turner a call or email him. He’s around here from time to time and might resopond to your post too.
I think some of the guys in the catfish forum run Riverpro as well. We should be able to get some info for you shortly.
I’ve been down that road too Brad and I have decided that there isn’t one rig that covers lakes and rivers to my liking. You just can’t beat a deep-v boat for running the lakes you mentioned. And you can’t beat a flat bottom boat with a jet for running shallow rivers.
I’m running a 175cs Alumacraft Mag for the lakes and I am getting a Blazer jet boat for the shallow rivers I like to run. The total cost for both rigs is around 22k. This was a factor in my decision too.
I have ridden in RP’s, a friend of mine has one. He has had it on large lakes before and didnt have a problem. You are not going to do 70 mph across 4′ seas, but the boat will handle it just fine, but might give a rougher ride than your conventional V hull boat.. RP’s are designed to skim the water, not cut it.
The pictures of the high pro dont do them justice, these are very deep and wide boats.
I think the rougher ride would be well worth it on a lake to be able to launch in the river and run in 4″(inches) of water.
Here’s an old thread Steve found….
I’ve been in a HiPro and they are a sweet fishing boat. Lots of room to move around. I know it looks like a v-hull, but it’s not. I haven’t been in one on a lake, but have heard it’s a rough ride.
Brad, you want exactly what I want! Big water and still fish skinny water!
I’ll be honest. A RiverPro isn’t for everyone… one of the few trade offs to be able to run in REALLY skinny water with these tanks is that they are basicly a flat bottom boat. On a windy day a person riding in front will be talking with a higher pitch voice! She gets rough up there!
I’ll let AlvinMack talk about his LoPro as this boat is designed for the water he fishes.
I personally like the HiPro and I’ll find Fishhead or Catten addict to tell you about their experiances…
I can tell you I was in a HighPro and “tanked” over a root wad at night that was at least two feet out of the water…not a scratch on the boat.
thanks for all the posts. i really like the HiPro but i do most of my fishing on open water, not necessarily big water, but mostly lake fishing. i guess i will just keep looking. thanks again
Hey guys thx for the RiverPro kudos…
Brad, Thx for your interest. If ya mainly fish big water…stick with a prop. (I sure wish I could build a boat to do both well) Good luck in your quest…
A River Pro will handle big water but they are designed for the skinny water of rivers.
The way the hull is designed it will actually pull water under neath it so it rides very high. When you get into larger waves, it not only gets rough, the boat will clear the water between crests and the jet begins to suck air instead of water. If you throttle down and run just off plane its not too bad.
The thing is because they are designed for shallow water use,they plane at a slow speed.
I do have a large Deep Vee for big water, but I usually take the RP anyway. Its where all my good gadgets are attached! 
So I prefer to deal with a little loss of performance on big water than use my inferior electronics.
My wife has taken over the Deep Vee for cruising Minnetonka and other popular pleasure water. Its now called the SS Estrogen. 
Basically, if your going to do most of your fishing on rivers where you need shallow water performance, and hit the lakes once in awhile. Then a RP is a very good choice.
If your going to hit the lakes most of the time and only go to the river once in awhile. Call a buddy with a RP when you decide to fish the river.
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Its now called the SS Estrogen.
Now that’s funny! 
Very good info too!
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