Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire "Bay" Boats...

...once I am moved later this year, I am thinking of getting a bay boat - one of those intended for inshore saltwater fishing. It seems like such a boat would also work well in freshwater, in the numerous reservoirs in Central and Southeast Texas. I've done the tournament bass boat thing in the past, and while speed is fun, versatility seems more attractive.

Sound like a viable plan? Comments are appreciated.

Could you be a little more specific? Is an 18' Bayrunner close to what you have in mind?

I have a Triton 19' LTS bay boat. While it is a useful boat, it doesn't do anything particularly well. It sails when the wind is blowing, and the draft isn't the best either.
If I were to buy another boat I would get one that was type specific, instead of a do it all model.

You are headed in the right direction. There is no other style of boat that can do it all as well as a Bay Boat. You can easily bass fish out of one, but they are not as nimble as a bass boat. You can fish the interior bays and marshes with ease, though maybe not as shallow of water as a flats boat. I live in Louisiana and it is by far the most popular boat in the state. Lots of folks even fish offshore in them for snapper and ling and such. While their range is limited offshore, on a nice day it is not at all unheard of to see bay boats out 5-15 miles.

Friend of mine has a 18' Ranger center cousel bay boat. Fished 10,000 Islands area with it.and has had it on Mille Lacs. Good boat, not the best for Mille Lacs, worked well down at Fort Meyers, were off shore a couple of miles with it on a good day ( no wind) and would not take it out on Mille Lacs on a windy day either!

Friend of mine has a 18' Ranger center cousel bay boat. Fished 10,000 Islands area with it.and has had it on Mille Lacs. Good boat, not the best for Mille Lacs, worked well down at Fort Meyers, were off shore a couple of miles with it on a good day ( no wind) and would not take it out on Mille Lacs on a windy day either!

There are a number of bay boats that share the hull of an 18-21' bass boat but a different layout inside. My dad used to have one and it worked well in what you describe and pretty much on the same lakes - Rayburn and T-Bend and then took it speck and redfishing all the time. Just make sure you get one with a decent sized front deck if you still want to bass fish out of it.

Some of the "bay" boats will have a deeper hull and more like a deep V than a bass boat - just a heads up, but others will share the same hull.

The skeeter ZX20 and ZX20 Bay boat share the same bottom hull design with a different transom and cap and lower sides, one for bass and the other for the bay boat but the same hull just as an example.

Once you get into the 22 and 24' bay boats you really start getting into boats that are purpose designed and of course heavier and deeper than a 18-20' bass boat.

I actually have a set of plans sitting here on the drawing board for an 18' center console flats boat that I was thinking of building to do the same things you mentioned but I can't pull the trigger on building it for fear of the lack of pretty much any V at all.

Something like this, for fishing?
http://www.gregorboats.com/oseries.htm

He's talking about something lik this. VERY popular on the gulf cost.

Skeeter


Ranger


Basscat


Pathfinder

I live on Narragansett Bay, and a "Bay Boat" here would be a little different. The boat in the picture would be considered a "pointy coffin". I've got a 21' Sailfish Deep V and I've had my butt kicked out here. I recommended to someone before to talk to your local coast guard and see what they recommend for your conditions. Old time boat builders would build boats specific to where you were going to use them. There's Narragansett Bay boats. There's Buzzard's Bay boats that are longer with higher sides because the waves are bigger! When I got my first boat here, the coast guard told me I should go with a boat at least 17 feet with 3 foot sides. They said they also rescued quite a few cobias so I might want to avoid that particular cathedral hull boat. I talked to a lot of commercial fishermen and bought a 20' Wellcraft deep V. I used that boat for 10 years and it was great. I replaced it with the 21' Sailfish which is also a great performing hull. A shallow V boat with low sides can get you killed here. The smallest boats I see that are not Deep V hulls are 17' Boston Whalers and Carolina Skiffs. They are more seaworthy than their size would suggest because they are cathedral hulls and Whalers, of course, are unsinkable because they are filled with poly foam. They will beat you up though if you run too fast for conditions. Of course, there's always the refugee fleet out there with anything that will float. Whenever there's a strong run of fish, anyone with a boat is out there. It's dangerous though. I saw two old Cobias sink in the same place within 10 minutes of each other. The coast guard had to pull them all out of the water. I was sitting in a boat 3' longer fishing in the same conditions. It's a very dangerous strip of coastline because the tide runs out opposite the prevailing winds and big waves kick up. There's a launch there and I don't use it because the water can be rough, but I watch people try to launch and recover boats there all the time. It's a disaster. I've been on some lakes up here that can get just as nasty too, and those big Lund aluminum V hulls are popular too.


This is a 19' Whaler and is the smallest boat I'd have here. Decent length, good hull design, deep V, and high sides.





This is a 19' Sea Hunt Triton, a popular boat here. They are lighter, require less power, and cost about $10K to $15K less than the Whaler. I tested one and see a few on the water whenever I go out.

There is a good reason those Sea Hunts don't cost as much as a Boston Whaler. It is because they don't take near the pains in building them. Some of it you can fix.

I like the way you think. Yes, there are ample boat choices that will run skinny enough for the bays, and still do the job in lakes, and rivers. 'Bout the only things that would be a necessity in my view would be a WIDE beam, and fairly shallow draft. Light weight is an advantage if you plan on trailering, but light boats do get bounced around in rougher water.

I prefer welded aluminum for ease of maintenance, light weight, and rust resistance. To each their own - stx has a dandy glass hull that'll get 'er done in either environment.

Spec' everything for the worst-case-scenario (salt). Upgrade electrical connections, wires, saltwater series trolling motor, saltwater series motor etc.

Add gas, a good fishin' pard', and have fun!

Having been on the coast in TX since the late 70s... as a kid fishing...

I have an airboat for shallows and duck hunting, no boat can compare for that work.

For other work we keep a 16 foot john boat for the river and short lake outings.

The mid boat is a 21 foot Hydra Sport. It will run offshore a bit though a hair small, will handle any bay water I've ever seen, and get you back safe and sound. Yep, I have to have almost 24 inches or more of water to run in or get up in, but if I"m about to wade, anchor, hop out and fish... I can walk it deeper to get out of there if need be.

The only issue, everything you buy will be a compromise unfortunately.

Bass boat is the only thing we never had or saw a need for, unless I'd have been a tournament bass person.

In laws have an 18 blue wave... I begged em not to buy that small...... fine some days on the bay, but more than once I've seen em scared to put it in, or come back with it... IE having to follow in my prop wash....

i know the Stoners, they build a nice boat

http://stonerskiffs.com/

Skeeter ZX20 Bay......150 4 stroke Yammi ...........and trim tabs.

I've done a lot of bay fishing and I really like what they call 'scooter boats'. There's a decent amount of room on them and it's easy to get around on them with two or three guys fishing off of it. We've used the same boats to hunt ducks in salt water bays and estuaries too and they work well.

Used to see scooters all the time. Built more than one and rebuilt more than one in my days....

For bay fishing they are a good boat, but I don't like rough water at all with them. I've seen the whole decks go under getting back home more than once.

Yep - hull form similar to a bass boat, maybe a little deeper V. Definitely not for the Atlantic, or Pacific ocean. Basscat has a pretty good reputation in the bass boat world, I did not know they were doing bay boats as well.

This boat obviously would be a compromise - not for tournament bass fishing, nor running 20 miles offshore Although I once did see 2 guys a couple miles off San Francisco, in a 8 foot plastic bass buggy

Mako boats has what they call the inshore models, anyone have any experience with them? They don't seem to be selling very well..

Didn't we talk about this for about 16 hours?

These do not look seaworthy. Solely for very protected waters.