Just when I thought that the size of bay boats had reached a maximum practical size they seem to just keep getting longer. While waiting at the Causeway landing for my crew this past Saturday morning, a young friend of mine pulled up with a new twenty-six-footer. I can’t remember the brand name of the boat but it was a cat or twin hulled low-profile fishing boat with a flat deck connecting the two hulls. In the middle of what seemed like an acre of casting deck, both on bow and stern there was a small, self-bailing cockpit area where the center console sat with two of the finest padded captains’ chairs, I have ever seen. The hull contours of this boat showed that someone had done some incredible engineering and from my experience it looked as if it would take the waves really well. In a boat of this length the ride would have to be good because the bow would be in the next wave well before the stern left the last one. This unusual looking boat had every imaginable gadget to aid in fishing and was powered by a huge 350 hp. outboard. Standing there beside this boat, my mind began to wander about the details of owning such a beast of a fishing boat. How much fuel does this thing burn? How difficult is it to tow and what size truck would it take to handle it? How big would your boat shed have to be to accommodate it; you obviously couldn’t leave a boat like that out in the weather? How wide does the entrance of your driveway have to be so that you can turn in without dropping your trailer wheels in the ditch. The words to that old country song began to play in my mind, “Some guys can do it on a dime or do it right down town but I need forty acres to turn this rig around”.
Back in the day, an eighteen-foot trailer able boat was big; or at least it seemed that way to a bunch of anglers that had never seen anything longer. My first boat was fifteen-foot long and it seemed pretty big to me but after I saw my first seventeen it began to look rather small. Then I was finally able to purchase an eighteen. At that point I thought that I had arrived on the fishing scene. It only took a short time to figure out that a twentyone would be that much better. Finally, I have settled in to a twenty-two-foot center console and I have stayed there ever since. For an allpurpose fishing boat on Sabine Lake or for that matter, Rayburn or Toledo Bend this size boat will do everything that I want to do; especially in a guide application. Twentytwo feet will handle most anything that our area bays can dish out (Except when it is so bad that you shouldn’t be out there anyway.) and is still easy to tow, store, and maneuver around on the road or in the driveway at home. I have fished a lot of times out of twenty-three to twenty-four-foot boats and there is not a whole lot of difference between those and a twenty-two as far as performance on the water. However, when you step up to twentyfive feet it does make a difference. That is an extra three feet of deck space and an extra three feet of length in running in rough water. Would I like to have a twenty-five-foot center console boat? You bet. However, that would require a wider drive way, a much longer boat barn, and a heavy-duty truck to pull it with. To up the ante that much would require a lot more guide trips to pay for it all and in this age of the Covid-19 Pandemic or what I prefer to call the Wuhoo Flu I would find myself underwater financially in two months. My business is off by 50% anyway because of travel restrictions in March and April and now a constant barrage of gloom and doom by the news media who seemingly have nothing else to report except the Wuhoo Flu. All that negative reporting has an effect on tourist travel and I need a good bit of that to make a living. So, for now, I will just have to stick with what I have and be happy that I have a boat.
It is the nature of man to desire the best things in life. All of us anglers want the best boats, outboards, electronics, and all the other things that help us get on the fish but just how big does a boat have to be to effectively catch fish. Well, there are a whole lot of anglers out there that think that a kayak is the right size. This is a trend in boats that has been going on for a good number of years and does not seem to be slowing down at all. However, this is not the answer for everyone. I am not in to paddling to the fish at my age so I need a boat that will handle myself and up to four anglers safely and efficiently. My twenty-two Pathfinder center console is the best all purpose fishing boat that I have found. It is big enough to get me to the fish and back and roomy enough to allow my guests to fish comfortably. It rides dry and smooth except when the water is really rough. On those days I try to launch near where I want to fish and stay off of the open wind-swept areas. I have state of the art equipment and electronics and a powerful outboard motor to get us to our fishing location quickly. If I were just fishing for myself, an eighteen-foot boat would be large enough but for carrying quests I wouldn’t want any less than a twenty-two. It looks like I am stuck where I am but that is ok. My boat has served my needs for thirteen years and will continue to do so. A larger boat with more power wouldn’t help me catch any more fish than I am catching now. So, instead of worrying about bigger and bigger boats I just need to fish smarter, learn more about how to catch the fish that I am after, and learn to think outside the box. There is much more to learn and discoveries that haven’t yet been made in fishing.
If you are looking to buy a new bay boat there is a lot out there to look at. There are a lot of fine boats and they seem to get better and longer every year. There are a lot of specialty boats being made right now such as boats made to pursue red fish in the marsh or the shallow waters of the lower coast. There are skiffs that are being built for all purpose inshore or near offshore fishing. There are deep sided boats that are actually made for offshore but can fish in the deeper inshore waters. Whatever you might want in a fishing boat there is a boat made for that purpose. However, the overall trend is longer and longer boats with outboard motors that are up to 450 hp. I am wondering just how long a trailer able bay boat will get. Somewhere, someone is probably planning a thirty-footer with a five hundred hp. outboard. Or perhaps the trend will move toward twin outboards. How many axles would a thirty-foot bay boat trailer have to have. Three? Maybe even four. I am really curious to see just how far this trend will go.