Ultimate Utah fishing boat.

[catchinon]

I’m currently a bank/floatuber.  I fly fish, spin fish, worm fish. I just love fishing. I am saving for a fishing boat in the next few years. I’m curious what fishermen who have boats think would be a great boat. I want to be able to hit Willard, Mantua, Strawberry, Flaming Gorge. Price is relevant but I can buy used. More interested in length, motor size, brands to get or avoid. Gas trolling motor for trolling and electric bow? Full windshield or not. Bass boats (flat shallow hull) don’t do well when the chop kicks up so they are out. Don’t think I need twin screw 250 hp out boards but how much is enough? I had a 16 foot Crestliner with a 50hp outboard. I


loved that boat but it was a little small and slow.  I have an idea what I’d like, but I want to hear what the “pros” think.

 
I'm far from a pro but that might be an advantage-I haven't adopted a lot of opinions that have hardened into facts. I would definitely go with used. There are many different options on KSL and you get the fun of shopping all the different boats. Yes, you should buy one of the better brands but try not to not get fixated on one. Keep an open mind. Test as many as you can. I know a lot of people would be happy to take you fishing in theirs and tell you what they like and don't like. (If they won't tell there's ANYTHING they don't like they are lying and it's difficult to believe anything else they say; this is aimed at sellers, not members who take you out). 

Length. The first boat I bought several years back was a 14' tin can. I quickly realized that it was too small for me to even stand up in let alone hardly take anyone along. So I never launched it. Fast forward to three years ago. I spotted a nice-looking fishing boat for sale in a field and asked my wife to pull over. It looked great and seemed to have nearly all the things I would like to have to go fishing around here. It was a 17.5' Tracker. (I didn't realize it was a "piece of junk" and I should't look further .) To my surprise my wife said to go ahead and see about buying it. I was flabbergasted but pleased and soon the boat was mine. It was great. Is it the best boat in the world? No, but I've had tons of fun fishing from it. I got a little off track there, so, back to length. It's a bit tight for active fishing. I would buy longer and wider next time. I spent some time fishing with Ice-sled and Piscophilic who have 20+ foot boats. It's impressive how much more fishing space there is in those big girls. The really great thing is that they resurrected these boats that had been parked for years. They have great skills and put a lot of sweat equity into them. But I digress. My advice: get as big a boat as you can and take along a lot of family and friends. Plus you'll be a lot more stable and secure as they can handle rough water.

Motor size. My boat has the max hp of 90. Not bad for a hull that weighs a little over 1000 lbs. It gets up on plane quickly and gets me where I want to go fast enough. It tops out at 35 mph on my analog gauge. I tend to throttle back to around 25 mph cruising speed. Ben and Jim have 115 Johnsons on their 20-footers and they get around the same from what I could tell. Some might say that I don't have enough experience to fairly judge. Just passing on what I know. What about going for the bigger motors? Can't say that's wrong at all. Having lots of power is nice. When we went to replace our old Subaru we test-drove some turbo models that turn out 250 hp. Bought one. Would never go back.
Another vote from me for a Minn Kota on the bow. Get all the fancy controls.

Brands. I would do a lot of research before deciding. The problem with dealers is that what they want to sell is best. Some boat owners will tell you that what they have is best. There plenty of unbiased reviews on the internet and I suggest you look at some of them.

Miscellaneous: There are so many options out there for what you want. Do you want to pull people around the lake? Look at getting a ski-and-fish boat? What do you want in the bow? Do you want a deck you can cast from with a bunch of storage hatches? Or seats for your passengers? How many live wells do you want? I could go on and on, but you get the idea. If I were you I'd write my whole list of wants and needs and go from there.

Oh, don't be afraid to get a Tracker. My experience and DUBOB's have assured me I didn't make a mistake. But there's a boatload of good one's out there. Have fun. I've found that planning and dreaming is half the fun anyway.