Yah, I could go for a big fish... I generally am happy with catchin' schoolies on light stuff but this spring at the Cape was many many very small fish... really small. It was nice to get a few better quality schoolies, but....
I could go for a drag screamer. Hope to search out some mackerel on Saturday and find some nicer fish.
Slip, its 5 minutes including the walk to and from the car. Its a breeze. That's one of the reasons I went a little smaller... They had an even better deal on an 18 1/2 footer with 90hp honda, but I fish by myself alot, so it will mostly be a one man operation. It would have been a much bigger production to get a bigger boat in and out of my garage (I would have had inches of clearance on each side) and to launch/retrieve, plus my driveway is positioned kinda ackwardly. All in all, I think I saved myself alot of aggrevation.
I sacrificed some range and I'll lose some boat days, but I love the surf, so its not exactly a big deal if the weather gets too sporty and I have to fish the beach.
Hopefully, at the end of the season, I'll be able to say that I made the right call... we'll see. I've been happy so far (I've launched 4 times
).
One thing I can say... I've already seen some benefits from the plastic hull. I bounced the boat off some pilings in a laughable attempt to jig up some herring and I bumped the 3A bridge trying to turn around after hooking a fish.