Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | Tough compromises have to be made to get the best rig for you. I fished quite a bit on Lake Michigan over the years and out there a good deep V was great, not an absolute nescessity, but really nice to have. They handle the bigger Canadian waters like LOTW, Eagle and Lac Seul just fine too. The most trouble I had was on Winnebago with the short distance between wave crests. I ran an Alumacraft 18.5'er for 17 years, which was a real stable fishing boat for casting muskies too. But it was just overkill when I stopped fishing the Great Lakes as much as before, so I went to a glass boat that had less freeboard in order to get a little more performance in the speed and gas economy departments and better fishability in casting presentations by being lower to the water. It's something you need to be sure of before you buy, what your priorities are. Then you can compare different brand boats to find the one best laid out for your use. When you compare, you will find some have a lot more room in back which is great for running riggers and netting fish while trolling big spreads, and others have more room in front to lay out more rods while casting muskies. If you do a lot of backtrolling then the higher sides of the deep V are working against you in the wind. Always a compromise. Don't think that a deep V is a ticket to stay dry because it isn't. When you get into 3-4 footers and have to make a turn running sideways to the wind you better have a rain suit on because even a windshield can't stop the spray. I've hit some weird waves comming around islands on windy days where it looked like someone took a five gallon bucket of water and threw it over the top of the windshield.
You have to ask yourself, how many people are going to be in the boat most of the time, then size it accordingly. Saving money by getting a smaller boat isn't such a good deal if your are packed in like sardines on most trips. The opposite is true also, wasting extra gas hauling around a boat that is too large for most trips. If you are willing to fish a few less days each year a smaller boat can be good on big water. I first started chasing salmon from a 14' deep V with bench seats and a tiller 35HP. Then I ran a 16 foot modified V glass boat with a 50 HP tiller for many years and was in waves to 7' when I was young and stupid but the boat could take care of us even if it was pretty wet and pounded a lot in the waves running on plane.
I suggest getting the biggest motor you can put on the boat if cash allows. A kicker is worth it's weight in gold on a larger rig if you troll. I have never been in a fishing boat yet where I thought that it was over powered. You can always cut back on the throttle setting and get better mileage with the bigger motor, but a smaller motor might not even plane the boat with a full load and reduced throttle setting.
The last thing to worry about is when you have the boat, don't put in needless things just because you have the room. Every pound counts against your top end and mpg. Hope this helps a little bit. |
