Posts: 688
Location: Northern IL | A friend wrote this and is right on the $!!
Boats—For Better or Worse
We get a lot of phone calls asking what size boat works best for Spoonplugging. Therefore it is a subject worthy of talking about. We have yet to find the perfect boat but our thinking should be based first on CONTROL followed by safety. We would all do a great job with our control having a 14 to 15 foot long jon-boat with a 9.9 to 15hp outboard. However, if we spend a lot of time on the great lakes or other large bodies of water, then the jon-boat would not be the first choice for obvious safety reasons. Where we do most of our fishing would be the biggest concern on what type and how big or small you would want to go.
We cannot control the weather or the water conditions but our choice of what boat we decide to fish from can make the difference between our success or failure. It is of the utmost importance that our choice of boats allows us to control our depths and speeds from the shallows to the deep. If we must fish out of something that will not allow us to do just that, then our fishing will surely suffer. If you are afraid to troll the shallows because we might damage a prop and the fish are in the shallows then we just missed out. If our boat does not allow us to contour troll the shallows, then we are missing out on one of the most important parts of the learning process. If you are a beginning Spoonplugger, a large boat and motor will not allow you to learn to troll the shallows which is the first step in becoming a good Spoonplugger. A boat, motor and trailer is quite an investment these days. You would surely want to take some time in choosing what is best for you as well as keeping control of lures in mind.
There is a world of difference between how a 14 foot boat responds when you turn the tiller handle compared to a 16 foot boat of the same width. The difference could be compared to parallel parking a Volkswagen versus a1972 Cadillac. An accomplished Spoonplugger could make a straight line pass with an ocean liner to hit a spot using markers and shoreline sightings but may not be able to interpret that spot as being productive with such a rig.
The longer and wider a boat is, the less response you get when moving the tiller. A steering wheel is not as responsive as a tiller driven model, causing a lack of control and slowing the learning process. Here are some goods and bads in deciding what may be best for you.
SMALLER BOATS; somewhere in the 14 to 15 foot and 62 to 70 inches wide. This may include tri-hulls, flat bottom and V hulls. The size motors could range from a 9.9 to a 25 horsepower. These size boats would handle anything from a small lake to a couple of thousand acres, depending how rough the conditions, and would offer the fisherman good control of lures at all depths.
Any time we go longer than 15 feet or wider than 70 inches we begin to lose some control. The mechanics of trolling become more difficult. The boat’s response time is slower due to the added length, width, and weight. Anchoring becomes more difficult, not just what weight is needed to hold the boat in position but just getting into that position. Interpretation of a fishing situation because of a lack of control becomes more difficult. The whole ball of wax gets worse as we go bigger in our choice of boats.
The worse mistake a fisherman can make is buying a boat that causes him or her to never be able to reach a point that they can't get better in their fishing.
Good Spoonplugging,
John Bales
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