What size boat?

[Rick Ackley]

CC's give you room up front to cast, and WA's give you a galley, and berths. I am partial to a 23'WA cuddy, twin OB's on a bracket. Hard top, enclosed, electronic in an overhead, with lots of rod holders, a good baitwell, and below deck fish boxes. Of course if I could Grady White would be my choice, but there others that make fun fine boats. Hit the show scene during the Winter. Some will make you drool. Good luck.

[zacs]

There is no answer to your question.

It is all about personal preference.

Here is what you do:

Figgure you are probably going to spend $2-5K per year on gas and maintenance and upgrades, especially if you are going to have a slip.

So I assume you have that discretionary $ in your budget.

Take that money, and spend $5K this summer and $5K next summer, and get on as many charters as you can, specifically in the area where you plan to do most of your boating/fishing.

What you will learn:
A lot of fishing hot spots
Several boat fishing techniques
Pros and cons of different boat layouts
Boat handling skills
General seamanship

Please do not look past this advice. It will put you eons ahead of most people just starting out.

Best of luck

Zac

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by zacs

There is no answer to your question.

It is all about personal preference.

Here is what you do:

Figgure you are probably going to spend $2-5K per year on gas and maintenance and upgrades, especially if you are going to have a slip.

So I assume you have that discretionary $ in your budget.

Take that money, and spend $5K this summer and $5K next summer, and get on as many charters as you can, specifically in the area where you plan to do most of your boating/fishing.

What you will learn:
A lot of fishing hot spots
Several boat fishing techniques
Pros and cons of different boat layouts
Boat handling skills
General seamanship

Please do not look past this advice. It will put you eons ahead of most people just starting out.

Best of luck

Zac

This is good advice.... The other thing to do is to see what other people like to do in their boats and where they take them and what you would want to do - similar or different. But definitely look into what Zac said...

[keeperreaper]

Seatrial, seatrial, seatrial. Find a few boats you are interested in and try them. Plan the trials when the weather is snotty to really see how the boat handles. Run in up sea, down sea, quartering, beam to etc to get a real feel for the boat characteristics. You won't be sorry. Try to find people on this and other boards who have the boat you like and ask questions or even better yet try to get on them for a spin. At the end of the day it comes down to personal preference.

[fishsmith]

zacs advice is great, you kill two birds with one stone, learning boats and spots.

[MakoMike]

Originally Posted by zacs

There is no answer to your question.

It is all about personal preference.

Here is what you do:

Figgure you are probably going to spend $2-5K per year on gas and maintenance and upgrades, especially if you are going to have a slip.

So I assume you have that discretionary $ in your budget.

Take that money, and spend $5K this summer and $5K next summer, and get on as many charters as you can, specifically in the area where you plan to do most of your boating/fishing.

What you will learn:
A lot of fishing hot spots
Several boat fishing techniques
Pros and cons of different boat layouts
Boat handling skills
General seamanship

Please do not look past this advice. It will put you eons ahead of most people just starting out.

Best of luck

Zac

Best advice you could get!