ideas for catfish boat

first of all I have to say this is my favorite website. I have posted on here a few times. bk I think you’re hilarious. okay enough but kissing for now. thinking of buying a cat fishing boat ..wondering what you guys had for ideas. possibly you guys would like to post pictures of your boats for ide also. I am looking to spend around 5000. I primarily fish the mississippi. most of my fishing is for catfish. I live in west central wisconsin. thanks in advance and looking forward to reading all of your posts

You could buy BK’s first boat

Thats why I love this site

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You could buy BK’s first boat

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That poor man needs more spf !

For that budget, I’d be looking for an allwelded flat bottom with a coast guard bow 16-18 feet. Make sure you leave enough funds to get a sonar GPS combo of some kind. the rest is gravy. You might want one with a bait well of some kind but you can add a cooler for that.

Joking aside, and I only catch Cats by accident when Bass fishing on the river. But the boat I’ve always wanted to have would be an older Sea Ark. Fix it up with good electronics, motor and cooler – then letter Rip.

It depends on if (and how often) you are planning to fish small water. If you’re fishing primarily waters that are barge-capable, then I don’t see the need to go with a flat bottom jon boat. They’re not exactly the most comfortable all-around boat to fish in for all conditions (big water, small water, wavy lakes, etc), but they do handle shallow water nicely.

I can tell you that I have both an 1850 sportfish from crestliner and a 1648 polarkraft jon boat, and there’s no way I’d take the jon boat on the ‘sippi. Might as well fish in comfort on the bigger water. The river I fish the most though is the Minnesota, upstream from where they dredge for barge traffic. Here it gets quite shallow late in the year, so the smaller boat comes in handy.

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Joking aside, and I only catch Cats by accident when Bass fishing on the river. But the boat I’ve always wanted to have would be an older Sea Ark. Fix it up with good electronics, motor and cooler – then letter Rip.

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is the sea ark aluminum or fiberglass boat

Sea Ark’s are a solid aluminum jon. I think they are the thickest alum out there. http://for-sale.yakaz.com/sea-ark-18

x2 on the Sea Ark, if I had to buy another jon right now I would go with that. If you can’t find one of those, maybe try a lowe or alumacraft 1648 riveted.

I’d also like to know more about the pros/cons of a Sea Ark with a tunnel and an outboard jet. And boat length/motor HP considerations.

1St in order is a dependable motor, it don’t have to be big, a 25 tiller or under, electric start, thats the most important to me, it can be a good used one. Next a good solid jonboat with a coast gaurd hull if desired to cut the waves. A trailer that holds up and that don’t have to be new, just with good tires and wheel bearings and good hubs. Take $500-$800 of that and rig a live well, a couple seats, a depth finder and a high gallon bilge pump incase you need it. Buy a couple new batteries and the bigger the better. This is where Id start and put my money.

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It depends on if (and how often) you are planning to fish small water. If you’re fishing primarily waters that are barge-capable, then I don’t see the need to go with a flat bottom jon boat. They’re not exactly the most comfortable all-around boat to fish in for all conditions (big water, small water, wavy lakes, etc), but they do handle shallow water nicely.

I can tell you that I have both an 1850 sportfish from crestliner and a 1648 polarkraft jon boat, and there’s no way I’d take the jon boat on the ‘sippi. Might as well fish in comfort on the bigger water. The river I fish the most though is the Minnesota, upstream from where they dredge for barge traffic. Here it gets quite shallow late in the year, so the smaller boat comes in handy.

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So true Mr. aanderud.

Asking what’s the best cat boat is like asking what type of hunting rifle I should buy. It all depends.

I’ve spent many hours in River Pros and less in a number of Johns with and without jets.

Looked at the pluses and minuses of gas mileage, comfort, safety and well, all around expense. While every boat is good and many times great for certain applications, each person needs to figure out where and how they will be fishing most of the time.

Just the opposite of the less travel paths of the Minnesota, I travel in the channel and back waters of the Mississippi. Yeah, there’s times when my 17′ Lund Anger side council w/a 90 merc could be lighter…and shorter…and longer…and have more ponies. But day in and day out it give a fairly dry comfortable ride and it’s comfortable fishing out of.

I have a stainless steel prop and trim up at idle when I know I’m in wood. The motor has stopped by hitting a dead head, but (knock on wood) no damage has been done.

IF I were to be fishing on Lake Pepin at least 85% of the time, I would think about a larger, deeper boat.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of john’s running around out there with happy owners on the ‘sippi.

Just all comes down to what you feel good with. They all have trade offs.

I’m with Briank on this one. If you’re going to be mainly in the big river, a deep V is my choice. I have a 17′ Alumicraft (sounds similar to Briank’s) with a 75HP motor. Gets me around and is very comfortable to fish out of. The newer boats are wider than they used to be (because of the extra weight of the 4-strokes) and are more stable than they used to be.

I’ve fished out of Jon boats all my life. I do some tournament fishing in the Mississippi around the Alton area and most of those guys have the big 20-24 foot Sea Arks. I’ve fished out of them too. They are quite stable but I’ll take a deep V any day.

Of course, I’m sure mine and Briank’s are out of your price range, but it’s food for thought.

In your situation, all of the advise given here seems to be good. If you go with a Jon boat, a semi-V is definitely a plus in the big river…you won’t rattle you teeth when crossing those big boat waves.

Good luck in your choice…Ken

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you won’t rattle you teeth when crossing those big boat waves

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Sidebar note:

The first time I was in a RiverPro on the St Croix, I sat in front. I was wondering why Catten Addict was smirking.

We hit a good wave at a good speed and my left nut popped out of my right nostril. Wish I had pictures.

LOL Brain, I wish you had a picture of that too, thats the first time I’ve ever heard that one, thats a pretty rough ride.

Lotsa DeepVees available in the $5k range. Nothing wrong wtih used hulls; some even think they are preferable…

I’m going to go ahead and disagree with Stu here. I’ve been looking for used boats for a long time and there is nothing I would consider river worthy at that price range in deep Vs unless you are looking at boats well over 10 years old with a 10 plus year old motor. You want reliability and redundancy if you fish at night. the only way I’d buy a boat that old was if my granny owned it and only drove it to church on Sundays. I’d rather have a V for the lake I fish primarily and because I need a larger rig to accomodate my two 7 year olds. My 16 ft coast guard jon handles the big lake fine until you have 1.5 waves.

Well, if you spend $2500 on a used combo and $2500 rebuilding it, you can have one mean fishing machine. if you are looking for turn key, you are correct, there is a limited supply.
I’ve done it on 14′ tiller, 18′ IO, 18′ outboard, 23′ outboard. All deep vee. They are there if you look and many consider them the best value. Skins are thicker, more ribs in hull, heavier rivets.

If you are a DIY, the numbers are sweet, but i’ve contracted most of the last two boats and the value holds even then.

AND, the DeepVees can go home in 3′ waves…

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…here is nothing I would consider river worthy at that price range in deep Vs unless you are looking at boats well over 10 years old with a 10 plus year old motor. You want reliability and redundancy if you fish at night. the only way I’d buy a boat that old was if my granny owned it and only drove it to church on Sundays.

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Wow, I hope you’re kidding about the usable lifespan of a boat and/or motor being capped at 10 years. They’ll last well beyond that.

Also, with used boats (especially older ones), you’re going to find that the biggest cost in a boat isn’t the hull — and in fact, 10-15 year old hulls are almost free. The engine is the driver. As such, there’s not a big difference in cost between a similarly sized and similarly equipped V boat or Jon boat. The engine size will drive your cost either way you decide to go. But a word of advise — Don’t under-size just to get a brand new engine, because the ‘sippi is a big body of water. Even with as little as I fish it, I end up travelling at MINIMUM of 10-20 miles in a day. Some extra horsepower can be of great service in getting you where you want to be without taking all day in transit.

I’d say somewhere to start looking — to get an idea of what is available — would be a mid-90s fishhawk from crestliner (or I’m sure alumacraft and lund have similar rides, but yo’ll be paying more for the lund, guaranteed). They make several 16.5 and 17.5 foot models that would fit the bill. I’ve seen them with 50 horses for well under your $5k budget.

Some samples (by no means an all inclusive search, just soemthing quick to give you an idea)

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/boa/3099742578.html

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/boa/3104853121.html

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/boa/3096124467.html

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/boa/3100524105.html

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My 16 ft coast guard jon handles the big lake fine until you have 1.5 waves.

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On the mississippi, 1.5 foot waves are possible (dare I say even commonplace) every day, regardless of wind — they’re boat wakes. From barges and who knows what else. Jon boats work just fine, but the V hull gives a better ride, and with the width that’s common on them nowadays, a better all around boat to fish out of. Again, just my personal opinion.

I didn’t say you couldn’t find one but it is 2012. A 17 year old motor I wouldn’t trust to get me home unless I knew the owner who took care of it. How many years have those boats sat outside or not been properly maintained? Stu I’ve seen post after post of your boat issues and missing valuable fishing time due to your issues so you have no leg to stand on. I’ve fished my rig in pool 9 which has many very wide parts. You can get out of the wind easily on the river (maybe not on pool 2) but not on 10K acre lake Mendota. This poster has 5000 dollars budgeted. He might get into an old boat for that much but factor in decent electronics, battery replacement, a decent postitioning motor and he is over budget.

Well, kevin i’d have to say that i should have a lot of issues. I’m running 13 boats. A 14′, 7-16′, 2-18′, and 2-23′ as well as half interest in a 34’er…

Almost all of them are pre ’75. The DeepVee IO I run has a compression of 160#, which is near new. Oh, it’s a ’69 motor.

Now, the latest issues i’ve been writing about are due to a failed chain hook, hardly a motor problem…

Now, i’m a wrench from way back (’60) so it’s not too difficult for me. Patched my first fiberglass in ’58. Don’t even remember how many 318s i rebuilt. got enuf nicks on my knuckles to qualify me for a Wh’d (Wrench Doctor).

So i think i’ve got a couple of legs left under me. I WOULD

EXPECT to have 13X as many problems as the average guy…

Oh, i forgot about the 3 motorized canoes too.

They count, don’t they???

I agree with Aanderud about used boats and motors. You can get a lot of boat for 5-6K (especially in fall when people are looking at storage, etc.).

I would suggest investing in a compression tester if you are going to look at used motors. As long as they have good compression, everything else is pretty easily fixable, whether you do it yourself, or you pay someone to do it for you.

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I didn’t say you couldn’t find one but it is 2012. A 17 year old motor I wouldn’t trust to get me home unless I knew the owner who took care of it.

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Test drive the engine. Compression test it. Inspect what you can of the cylinders. Make sure the water impeller is doing its job.

It’s a 2-cycle engine. If it runs well, it’ll get you there and back again. The failure modes on these things isn’t usually fatigue due to thousands of hours of runtime — it’s usually issues like being run without proper oil mixtures, being run without proper cooling, etc. And you’ll notice this in your test drive.

I’d wager that if you went out on the Mississippi river or any large lake right now and asked 100 people with “fishing” style boats what year their engine was made, at least 1/3 if not 1/2 of them or more would be 17 years old or more.

Given 5k to spend, and water as big as the mississippi, I’d buy a 15 year old boat with a strong 40+ horse before I’d buy something newer and sacrifice down to 20 horses. That’s all.

No Canoes don’t count. My first boat was a flatbottom. I got it from a farmer for a hundred bucks. I found a nice but used merc 25 for it for 700 dollars. I fixed the missing rivets had the motor tested and cleaned and lubed and installed by a dealer. It lasted me 1.5 years and blew up in the middle of the freaking night 10 miles from nowhere with no radio and no cell service. I was stuck good. So I waited until daylight and then I used my electric to get back to the main channel where I flagged down a tow. I popped a good fish that night but my parents were quite scared and they were just about to mobilize the coast guard. You take your chances with an older rig. If that is all you can do I can understand that. They will nickel and dime you even if your chain is too long or too short.

I would have to say that any motor you go out in has a chance of failing. I’d rather be out in my ’69 that I KNOW the condition of vs my brand new etec 175 that i’ve only got 4-5 hours on…

One thing I would strongly suggest is oarlocks. Unbelievable how many boats these days just don’t have them, but you can get someone to weld you on some oarlocks pretty cheap. Store some cheap oars and forget about it until you need them. I’ve rowed back from the main channel many times in my life, running older equipment. It’s a long (5 mile) row, but it’s not the end of the world.

When it all comes down too it your on your own no matter who works on your motor. Mechanics fail but to know how your motors running is the most important. What I mean is you’ll never know how your motor runs unless you work on it yourself. To this day I have a basic wrench and socket set plus a couple other tools that it takes to work on a motor, in my boat.

Heres an example…I was hauling as- up a flooded creek and hit a submerged log and hit it so hard it knocked the distributor cap off its base. Because I had some tools and a little know how, like Stu, I was able to make it back to the ramp,,,and full throttle after about a half hour of working on it. Anything can fail and its always a good idea to be able to make the corrections at the time. Ya theres alot of very good mechanics but whats a guy do 5 miles down river from the boatdock.

When it all comes down too it, buy what makes you comfortable and make sure it runs on the first or second pull, it will 95% of the time if its a good motor, the rest is secondary.

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One thing I would strongly suggest is oarlocks. Unbelievable how many boats these days just don’t have them, but you can get someone to weld you on some oarlocks pretty cheap. Store some cheap oars and forget about it until you need them. I’ve rowed back from the main channel many times in my life, running older equipment. It’s a long (5 mile) row, but it’s not the end of the world.

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Darn tootin’ – Amen to that brother Matt!

I would NEVER have a fishing boat with real oars. Your outboard can cease to run, your battery power wane, but there’s always oar power…especially if you’re running a cheap old motor like me!

If you’re spending much time on open water a deep-V has some advantages. Otherwise, I think you can do fine with a shallow-V. I don’t have anything against Jon boats, grew up fishing out of one of those. I can get about any place in my shallow-V and it slices through the waves just a little better…

Either way, something in the 16′-18′ range is a nice size. A wider boat (than my 48″) is roomier more comfortable for multiple anglers, as long as you have storage space. Aluminum.

I’d be looking at used boats, always on the lookout for a good bargain. Manufacturers like Alumacraft, Lowe, Lund, and Smoker Craft all make a good boat and have been around a long time, there’s a million of them out there.