I’m thinking about getting a hydraulic jack plate on my bass boat, it’s a ranger 520vx with a 225hp. So it’s 20’10” boat. Right now, I get it to about 65-70 depending on different factors. The reason I add where I’m from is pretty much all the water around me that I fish is deep. It’s not like I’m in Florida zipping around random rivers and swamps where the deepest point is 6’ and randomly goes to 1’ or something. With that being said, how exactly would a hydraulic jack plate benefit me vs what I have now and compared to a manual jack plate? Do I really need to be able to raise the motor like that if I’m always in deep enough water where I don’t have to worry about hitting ground? Would it make me faster? Handle rough water better? What’s the benefit?

There have been a few times I’ve had to drive in real shallow water, I did actually hit the ground earlier this year. But that’s only because the rowing competitions made me go around the outside. I’ve since learned when those competitions are and avoid going to those places those days so it’s never been an issue since. Outside of that I’ve never once hit the ground on any of my boats. So is there a benefit?