Small River Boats

  • shady5
    Posts: 491
    April 22, 2011 at 3:34 pm #1271915

    Does anyone fish small, shallow, rock-strewn rivers from a boat? I am interested in opinions on the best model for this purpose. Preferably, I would put a small outboard (~4 hp) on it, to avoid any upstream paddling…
    Grumman sport boats seem solid, but are there other options?
    Thanks for any input!

    redneckjr
    Rosemount, MN
    Posts: 1037
    April 22, 2011 at 4:04 pm #927834

    I dont know if this is what you’re looking for or not, but this is there bread and butter. I’ve seen them in use and they’re pretty cool. river pro

    targaman
    Inactive
    Wilton, WI
    Posts: 2759
    April 22, 2011 at 4:50 pm #959757

    I would rather fish out of a mod v jon style boat on a small rivers than that grumman sport boat. Just a a little more freedom of movement in a jon. Less tippy also.

    phishirman
    Madison, WI
    Posts: 1090
    April 22, 2011 at 4:51 pm #959758

    I spent a lot of time fishing small waters out of a 10 foot basstender rigged with a 6 horse merc and a TM up front. That little plastic boat was durable, super stable and pretty fast with that merc. it probably ran 20 MPH on plane. No way you could plane it out with 2 guys though. If you’re fishin alone on smaller water its perfect. Also doubled as a great duck boat.
    bass tender

    walleyejgr
    Posts: 281
    April 22, 2011 at 9:24 pm #959848

    Used to have a Coleman Crawdad 12′ that I fished out of for years,both on the river and lakes.Had it all tricked out,bow mounted trolling motor,pedistall seat on the bow depth finder/locater,5hp outboard.Sure do miss it!Tested a 15hp out board out on it one day,WOW!!!That was wild ride!!!

    jighead-two
    Cedar Falls, Iowa
    Posts: 642
    April 22, 2011 at 10:14 pm #959868

    I had a 12′ LOWE jon with oars and an anchor. It was rated for a 5hp, but I put on a 6hp in deeper water. 2 guys, 2 trucks,1 to put in the other to take out. No trailer. Worked great, caught a ton of fish. Wish I never sold it!

    dorancehefte
    Wisconsin
    Posts: 155
    April 22, 2011 at 10:45 pm #959875

    If you are going to trailer it, my old 14′ extra wide jon boat with a 15″ transom and a 20 horse planed out easily, planed out (eventually) with 3 guys with a 9.9, and moved pretty well with a little 4 horse too. There was no tippiness, plenty of room for 3 and safe to take the kids. Three guys could drop it off the bank (about 15 foot down) and lug it back out again. We dropped the boat/gear and a guy stayed and fished the first 1/2 mile while we took the trailer down river to the take-out point. Two guys could stand up while fishing/drifting without falling out. So why did I sell it????

    We used a canoe to fish the really small streams. One guy would get out and fish the top half of a rock bank. The other guy would canoe halfway down, beach the canoe and fish the lower section. By leap-frogging that way we could efficiently fish several miles of quality water without getting in each others way.

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