A

Welcome to the Salt Strong podcast disrupting

B

fishing entertainment as you know it. Prepare to laugh, prepare to get to know fishing legends in a whole new and unfiltered way. And on occasion, you might even learn

A

a thing or two about fishing. Here's your host, Joe Simons. Like Diamonds Everything we wish someone had told us about buying our first boat or even upgrading from from a small boat or a skiff or a canoe or Ginnu up to something a little bit bigger. Hey everybody. Joe Simons Like Diamonds. This is a rerun for many years ago. We haven't talked about boats in a while and I've seen quite a bit of questions both in Facebook and in our private insider community about buying the first boat. Any recommendations? And this podcast was just too good not to kind of bring out from the vault. Let's face it, summertime is when you got the most boating activities, the most new boats sold or you know, even used boats sold. It is the time of the year to do it and this podcast is incredibly helpful. So I wanted to replay it. Number two, we, we are going to be selling the Pathfinder but it might already be sold by time you hear this. So if you are a lifer, make sure to check your email. We're going to give our lifer members a chance at getting that Pathfinder boat at a crazy deal including all of our GPS spots like everything in the Garmin and we actually have a brand new Garmin obviously we moved over all of our waypoints and all of spots, two trolling motors. The list goes on and on and on and we're doing a couple of pretty cool things for our lifer members. So if you're a lifer member, make sure to check your email. You're going to be only ones who get a chance to to purchase this Pathfinder boat as we make some changes in in our own boating world. So here is the podcast. I appreciate you guys and I hope you enjoy. Hello Sung Nation, Boating Nation. Joe Simons Like Diamonds Back again. We are talking about the best boats slash skiffs on the entry level side. This is a question we get a lot. We have a very, very robust and fast growing insider community and a lot of our members I think 62% according to our survey have boats and many of them are new boat owners and many of our the rest of the people are kayak or wade fishermen and they all seem want a boat, right? Who doesn't want to have a new boat? And that question comes up all the time. I'm looking to get my first Boat and, or I'm looking to upgrade from a, you know, a kayak or a gnu, which we'll talk about as well today. What do you guys think I should, should get what's kind of like a first, not necessarily beginner, but kind of more an entry level boat. And everyone here on, on the team has obviously been in those, those shoes. And we're going to kind of discuss one by one the different types of boats and skiffs and, and our experiences so far. So, Richard, you kind of hit on this offline about one of the biggest problems. Do you mind sharing that just right off the bat in terms of a problem and an issue that a lot of fishermen make with their first boat?

C

Yeah, absolutely. So something that I've just seen over the years, you know, you get excited and you want to get a new boat, and immediately you think of all the options that are available to you, and kind of one of the traps, so to speak, that you can do is think that you can get a boat that does everything. Or, you know, you kind of downplay what you're going to be doing 90 to 95% of the time just to compromise to be able to do that. One thing that you might do, you know, a couple times a year, you know, a great example of this is getting a boat that's got, you know, a bigger draft or something like that, when you're going to be doing inshore 95% of the time. But you want that option to go, you know, 20 miles offshore or something like that. But we've proven, you know, on nice days, you know, you can go out 10, 15 miles, you know, no problem. And a lot of people will compromise what they're going to be doing and have the efficiency lost kind of on the inshore game or whatever it is you want to do. It goes backwards too, by doing that. So that's something really to kind of pay attention to. And the other kind of second thing that I've always seen is people usually get something that's way too small for them or way too big for them, and then within a year, they already want to change, you know, kind of what they have. So those are two things that I see probably that are the most common. What about you guys?

B

Yeah, I would say the biggest complaint I see from people is seeing how shallow we fish and how many fish we catch, and they, they can't get that shallow with the boat they have. They might have a big bay boat or, you know, a pontoon boat or something like that. That's not really good for the type of fishing that we do ensure we're 90 of the fish we catch are in like a foot of water or less.

A

I think when we had Will Mason on, you know, he's, he's working full time in the, in the boating industry and he said the issue is normally they get too big versus too small. But it is one of the two. But he says normally it's too big. They don't think about holy smokes. I can't get shallow. I can't do all this cool fishing I thought I was going to be able to do. I'm never going offshore because my days I was going to do it. It's windy or you know, something comes up and you don't realize how much more fuel it takes, how much more it costs to store it. Like it's not like you remember your, your little skiff and I think why, you know, you have one right now where it can fit in the garage that's pretty nice to have it at your house versus having to pay these crazy fees that these marinas are charging right now or any kind of storage place. And he's like, most of the people who are buying their first boat regret that they went a little too big thinking they're going to need all of this and they, in most cases they don't.

D

Yeah, I think, I think ease of use is big because especially for the first boat, if it's a big boat, like a 24 foot boat, right. Even I've been, have had boats for a long time now and even with launching the 24 foot boat alone is kind of a hassle, whereas taking the skiff out, it's like I do it with Otis, right. As a, as a total deterrent and, and I've seen so many times where people get their first boat and they're almost so intimidated by just launching it by, by just using it that they don't, they don't even use it. So it's, it almost kind of defeats the purpose. So as Joe said, see it all the time where people get too much boat, it costs a lot and it's, it's, it's just not as easy to use and it's kind of scary. It's way more scary. And, and as they go on the lighter side, I think it would be a safer bet going on the smaller side than bigger side just for that reason because even, even on windy days if you have a shallow running boat, you still can get into some great fishing because those intro fish, they're not Going anywhere. They're there. And if you can reach them, you know, you can. You can get out there in the. On. On pretty much any day and have some fun.

A

All right, so, Wyatt, you just got your first boat.

D

What is.

E

Is a Carolina skiff.

A

Carolina skiff.

B

Oh, yeah.

E

You want to talk about a boat that you don't got to worry about getting beat up like that is the industry. I mean, that thing you can. You can. Well, you shouldn't, but you. You can run in some pretty. Pretty gnarly places. You can get around oyster stuff like that. Like that boat. I cut it in half, and it would still float. It's the. The material that it's. No, I'm serious. The material that it's made out of, there's different types of materials. We could probably get into that later. But that skiff, out of everyone that I talked to, Luke, I know you owned one as well. It's just a boat. I. I mean, it. My personal recommendation, I think it is the best starter boat out there, and I'll go over some specs real fast. So I've got the J16. It's 15ft long, 158 inches long, 64 inch beam, gunnels, 14 up. It weighs about almost 650 pounds, but it drafts 4 inches, which I think that's one of the first things that I want to talk about is, like, if you're inshore fishing, which I think is probably the easiest thing to go out and get started doing in a boat offshore, there's a lot more variables and components that go into it. But I see a lot of folks try, like Richard, and like, pretty much all of us have just said everyone compromises. Everyone wants to. To get a larger boat they can do a lot in. But I think everyone here would agree that most of the fish that we're after, specifically number one fish, were after redfish, generally hang out in less than three feet of water. Now, you look at a boat that's, you know, drafts eight inches, that's. That's a decent draft. But the big thing is tides change, tide shift. And there are many days where I find redfish in less than a foot of water. 8 inches gets to cutting it. So even thinking about how low can you get that draft to where you can comfortably move around when the tide switches, when things, you know, and I. I hear from members all the time, especially folks that are in the Carolinas, that there's those heavy tide changes, tide shifts. You can get out in those good spots, but you're scared to stay out There at the most opportune times for feeding because that tide's dropping. Some of my favorite days have been at low tide. And, you know, you need to be able to draft really shallow, but inshore wise, I don't think that boat can be beaten. And recently I showed that offshore, it's a pretty, pretty strong force as well. I took it out 15 miles. Again, you have to pick the right days. You have to be safe about what you're doing. But there's a lot of things that go into that boat that make it very versatile. The flat bottom, the. The width of that boat. I've got a 40 Yamaha on it and I think just like another quick spec on that one. That's, you know, I think I want to say it's. I can't remember how much it weighs, but it weights the boat differently. So there are pros and cons to having a boat that's small and light and you have to pair your motor with it as well and distribute weight. I was talking with Luke about the draft on it. Standing on one end of the boat changes the draft. So you got to think about who you're going to have fishing on the boat. You know, if you want to take a lot of people out, that might not be the boat for you, but if you fish with one or two folks, it could be a bit like Richard, your mako might be a little bit better suited for fishing with more people. Tony, I think your. Your boat would. Is it. Is it tough to fish more than one person in?

B

It's doable with two, but ideally one person, because the more people you put in, the more the boat's going to draft, it's going to ride different, especially when you're in these smaller, you know, 15, 16 foot skiffs like we are. Yeah.

A

And I mean, Wyatt now is asking every girl he meets, how much do you weigh? I'm just curious to make sure you're not going to mess up my fishing here in the boat.

D

Weight distribution, all right?

E

Very important. Can't be messing up the amount of redfish I'm catching. That's relationship advice. Number one, don't let her mess with your fishing.

B

Can't put too many white claws in a cooler either.

E

Oh, hey, I got that cooler. Got the coolers right in the correct spots where it doesn't mess up that draft. Guys, don't worry.

B

I'm taking care of

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special three pack. And so for the record, Luke, that was your very first boat as well.

D

Yeah. So I had the J16. So I think why you said the other 15. I have the 16, which is a similar boat. They're great. They're really good starter boats. There's obviously pros and cons of everything. The big pro is that it's just easy to use as far as trailer and you forget it's even back there. So light launching it super easy fixing things when they go wrong. Another topic that, that kind of gets overlooked like that those boats is basically like a. Like a John boat designed hull, but it's made out of fiberglass and has the foam or whatever in the bottom that makes it literally unsinkable. So it's safe. The con, though is that it's not like a family boat. Like, because you, although you can get shallow, it's. It's a flat front boat. So if. If you're out on a choppy day, you feel every wave and a lot of times you feel it on the vibration of the boat and on the spray hitting you in the face. So it's not a good, like family boat. And that's why eventually, I eventually sold mine. And it's just, just, you have to just weigh out those things. Or are you in it just for fishing? Like hardcore fishing, the shallows, where is it more like kind of a family boat kind of blend. And the quantity of people are usually taking just yourself or you're taking one person or two. So like, all those factors really come into play. And that's really what makes it that there's not a one. Like, there's not an answer. Like, if you were listening to this and you want to say, okay, you just have to get this boat, regardless of circumstances, that's there's not an answer. It's really based on exactly how you plan to use it. And so we just wanted to highlight these. These key things to think about.

A

Cool. And then, Tony, you recently just got a new little whip, huh?

B

Yeah. Finally got something with the motor on it in kayak fishing. Pretty much my entire inshore career. But realized that was getting a little tiresome and you really had to pick your days wisely with that. Now I'm in a ginu or gnu. It's a classic. It's a 15 6. The beam on it is 55 inches, so it's pretty wide and nice and stable. And the boat itself alone weighs 245 pounds, so they're super light. I mean, you could tow these things with a car if you wanted to. And I tow it with my pickup truck and it feels like I'm not towing anything.

A

You Just use your one hand and lift it off the trailer and put it in the water.

B

Actually you can, I mean you can launch it pretty.

A

You could probably bench press. Why? It's 650 pound Carolina skiff. Let me put it on my back.

B

These boats are basically fiberglass canoes that you can put a motor on. They have all different types of models like the lts. I have the classic. They have high siders, low ciders, different, a little bit different style bodies and different horsepower ratings you could put on them. This one in particular, you could put like a 25 horse on it. But I have a 15, it's a four stroke Suzuki on it and it does 20, 22 miles an hour with just me on it, which is plenty compared to, you know, pedaling three miles an hour in a kayak. So I think it's a great entry level, especially if you are switching from kayak fishing to a boat you don't. You might not have enough storage space to put a big boat the trailer on. This has a swing tongue. It fits straight into my garage. So I just swing the tongue open and it could be ready to go for the next day. I always park right up to it, backed up to it. So if I need to go real quick, I just unplug the charger, hook it up and I can hit the water nice and easy in that aspect too. Compared to kayak fishing where you have to load everything up and then at the end of the day you have to unload everything and you're tired and beat, worn out. So great, great transition. And it, it drafts, I believe, 4 to 5 inches. Pretty much the same as Wyatt's. But again, with these smaller vessels, the more stuff you put in them, if you do put the most horsepower you can on there, that's a big mistake. I see a lot of people make, they try to put these big motors on so they can go fast, but you're not going to be able to go shallow. Same thing with the gas tank. You put a big gas tank on there or you fill it up every time you go out, which you don't necessarily have to do. I think I've only spent maybe five bucks on gas the past two months I've had it. That only has a six gallon tank and whenever I fill it up, there's barely any gas that was used from the previous trip, even going 10, 20 miles on a trip. So very cost efficient. If you're tight on a budget, these smaller skiffs are definitely the way to go.

E

It's funny I think I spent more on snacks to fuel my kayak journeys than I do on the fuel that I spend in my boat. Now I'm serious, Cliff. Bars and Gatorades, you need them. When you're out there. You're not, you don't want to cramp up or get tired.

A

Now it's like fuel.

E

If I didn't realize how cheap it was gas in a boat when you're, when you're running around on the flats. I think that was another important point there, Tony. Yeah, for sure.

B

Drinks and gas are about the same price right about now. Red Bull is about the same as a gallon of gas.

D

And, and on the, just on to another pro of, of skiffs and smaller skiffs. Why, why I think they're the, the smarter play for a first boat is, is especially if it's small enough you can keep it in the garage. The, the, the cell value afterwards is so much better than if it's a bigger boat that you have to keep out in the sun. That sun will just, it'll. It'll do a number on it. I got my, I got a skip my skiff used the Carolina, the J16. I got it from a guy who kept it outside. It was under a pine tree. So there was like all these little pine, like black little, you know, plot that pine SAP and you can't scrub it off like it was, it was bad. And so I got it for a really good deal and then after four years of using it, I used it hard and eventually those pine things wore off and I kept in the garage and I just took good care of it and I literally sold it for more than I paid for it four years after. And so when you get these smaller skiffs, especially if you use and you take good care of it, I mean you're not going to be blowing a ton of money by just kind of learning the boating side and then going up to the next boat eventually. So just something to keep in mind that the garage storage is such a benefit if you can pull it off

A

and just saves you tons of money. Like remember we were looking just to store a trailer. Just a trailer outside. It's $150 a month. That's crazy. That was not covered. That was not anything fancy with a

D

six month waiting list too. It was insane.

A

Nuts.

E

While on the topic of price, I mean, I think it would also be good to talk about like, you know, the different pricings of some of these smaller skiffs. Like and a lot of times that I would say the first Place to even look to get the best price, probably Facebook Marketplace. Like, when I was looking for my boat, I went to a couple different boat dealers and things like that.

B

Like, there.

E

There's a lot of stuff that mechanics I worked on. They'd done a lot. And it was like. Because it was sitting in a boatyard and not something that was like a private sale, there was a little bit more money tacked onto it. Going my J16, I cut it off of Facebook Marketplace. And depending on how much work has been done on the boat, the. The different accessories that have been put on there, and I'm sure we'll talk about all that stuff later on. Will vary the price of the boat. I know some of the very base models of Carolina skiff are less than, you know, $8,000. I don't know how much. Luke, you paid for your first J16. I paid, I think, 10,000 for mine, but I had the center console, which doesn't come stock in those boats, and I paid for the motor and everything as well. So it's like, it all varies. How much did you pay for ears? And, like, did it have a center in it?

D

Like, yeah, I had center console with the trolling motor and depth finder. That all works. Was like. I mean, I got a crazy deal. It was under 3,000 bucks. But again, that was like. That was a long time ago. That was 12 years ago or more. But yeah. And just getting it used. So I got it from work. The office I was at had like an intra, and the intranet was a classified section. And it was from a guy that worked at the same company. He just needed to get rid of it. It looked terrible. I really wanted a boat, and I was okay. It's like, low enough where if it's a total bust, it's like, you know, even just a trailer alone is most of the value of what I paid. And everything ended up working, which it really shocked me. I would say one thing to do if you're getting used, which is nice as far as the price point, is just make sure to test it. Make sure to go on and actually ride in it. And ideally a day where it's actually kind of rough so you can actually see how it handles anything will feel good on a calm day. And so ideally, you can test it on a day where it's. That's pretty windy and purposely go to the windy side of the lake or the bay or whatever you're going to just so you can feel how. How it. How it. How it acts. Because no matter how good you are at picking the days you can fish or how flexible you are. There's going to be a time where it gets nasty out there, and you want to make sure that it's. It's not a. Just a totally bad experience. So that's one. One tip I learned and try out everything. I literally stopped the boat. He turned it on. When I got there, it was already running. So I was like, all right, maybe this thing doesn't start up very well. So I purposely, when I was out there, I went to the windy side of the lake, felt how it was, turned the boat off. Hey, I want to try the trolling motor. And. And so I put the trolling motor down, make sure to buzz it around. And then I was the one who started the motor up and it started up. And. And so just. Just kind of purposely, you know, test it out in not. Not perfect environments if you can.

B

And with the used boats, too, especially right now, you know, the time we're doing this podcast with COVID and everything going on, you know, new boats, people are having to wait to get a new boat. So people are actually, you know, raising prices on used boats just because people are buying whatever they can so they can have it right now. So do your homework. If you are using or buying used boats, you know, see what the price actually should be. That way you can negotiate to get a good deal on it. Yeah.

A

What about you, Richard? What are you in?

C

Yep, so I'm in a Mako 18, but it's the LTS, so it's not like your traditional Mako with the deeper

B

V. It's kind of like a hybrid,

C

really, between a flats boat and a bay boat. I ended up going with that one personally because I fish here, northeast Florida, Georgia, you know, and we sometimes got to make pretty long runs, you know, across bays. You know, the St. John's river is huge. So I wanted something that is going to give me a little bit better, you know, kind of. Kind of safety as well, and just be able to travel, you know, further if I needed to, or fish out of the jetties, you know, stuff like that. So I did that. But it's got, you know, about 11 inch draft on it. I've been in 10 with the motor running and been fine though, just with just me. But honestly, been a really phenomenal boat.

B

It's got a.

C

A pretty wide beam as well. That's something we could talk about as well as how wide the boats are, because a lot of times that will affect, you know, draft and things like that, too. And it's got pretty wide gunnels on the side, so I can actually, you know, walk all the way around just on the gunnels if I need to as well. So that's pretty good. And it's enough space where you can put, you know, a little bit more than you normally would and say, like a traditional skiff, but you still can get into some pretty skinny stuff. And I was fortunate to. I found mine on Facebook Marketplace. I knew that this. The time right now for buying boats is really tough. And there's some in boat dealerships where there's three boats there and two of them don't have motors. So right now, Facebook's not a bad place. Unfortunately, the. The folks that I bought it from, they just needed to do a quick sell, and it was kind of a price you couldn't refuse on it. So I went ahead and got it. And, you know, with that being said, with used boats, you know, too, it's good to kind of know what you're getting into and know a little bit about the craft already ahead of time. Because if not, you know, you buy one and all of a sudden, you know, if they haven't done maintenance on the motor, there's a lot of other additional costs that can rack up. But, you know, still, you can get a very good deal if you know what you're doing for a used boat.

A

Did any of you guys ask for that to see the maintenance records or. And. Or, you know, bring along, you know, a friend who's a mechanic or mechanically inclined?

E

Yeah, when I went, I had the wire. I, like, I checked out all the wiring and everything. I had looked up a good amount, like, common boat issues or, like, for boats that have been sitting around and find out whether it's been running recently or if it's sat for years. Because there's a big difference. In a boat that's. That's been running a lot and a boat that's not had a lot. Like, it's not. It's not bad to have a boat

C

that has a lot of hours on

E

it, that's consistently run, but one that had a lot of hours and then sat for three years, there's a very good chance there's stuff that's wrong with that boat, because the longer boats sit after having saltwater run through them, like those, you know, boats are machines. They're meant to be run. When they're not running, that's when you have issues. Things freeze up, things lose grease. It's like, there's a lot of issues that can run through that. But I checked out all the wiring. Make sure if you are buying one that has a motor on it, that the motor runs flywheels, not like everything can turn right. All that stuff. I would say just look up a common list of issues for boats that are in whatever condition that your boat like, whether it's been sitting or it runs a lot, and then check those things. And then there's great YouTube tutorials out there. But yes, if you have a good mechanic friend, that does help as well.

B

Yeah.

C

Another thing if you are going to be buying used is to take a very good look at the trailer. If it's a galvanized trailer, for example, your life on that trailer is going to be a lot shorter compared to aluminum trailer and things like that as well. And believe it or not, trailers can be kind of expensive to repair and fix if you get one that needs a lot of things done to it. And a trailer is one of the most solid things that you want. Almost even more so than the bow at times. Because, I mean, if you're on a single axle and you're going over a bridge and, you know something messes up, it's a. It's a very bad deal. So definitely make sure the trailers are. Are good to go as well. That's very important.

B

Yeah. And when checking the boat out itself too, like the hole, I learned this from my dad years ago. Me and him used to. He would buy old boats and just fix them up and use them for a little bit and sell them. But looking for soft spots on the floor also in the transom, looking for cracks and things like that. If you find any soft spots, they're. They're a pain to fix, especially when you get into the floor and the transom and all that. So if you can avoid that at all costs, definitely do.

A

So explain a soft spot.

B

So soft spot, if it's an older boat, they usually have wood underneath the floor. If that wood rots out. You know, if you're walking on the floor and all of a sudden you feel it give a little bit, or you can go to the transom and, you know, do like a knock test. Knock around on the transom. If you hear a hollow spot or, you know, you can push your finger and it moves a little bit, those are going to be what we would call like soft spots.

A

Or if you hear anything knocking back, that means it's probably got some termites or some rats in there, so not away.

B

Or that.

A

It's interesting that, you know, all you guys have mentioned Facebook Marketplace because you know, you know Luke, you know growing up was you know, Boat trader, right? I mean there's only a couple places to, to really get boats. I mean had classifieds, old school paper and you had Boat trader, Boat Trader USA man. So Marketplace is like that's, that's it now, huh? It's kind of taken over I think

E

going because I looked on, I looked at Boat Trader and like sites like it to get an idea of the market value of stuff. I could see different conditions of boats, things like that. It's a good place to go look to understand what something would cost like I guess at a store, if you could put it that way there there's appraisals and stuff getting done on there. Much less formal on on Facebook Marketplace which is a pro and a con because a lot of times you get a better deal but there could be underlying issues. There's, you know, there's a lot that goes into how things are priced on Boat Trader. There's usually agents or whatnot involved in some cases. But Facebook Marketplace now I feel like you get a lot more direct interaction. You can ask more questions, you know, a little bit more about what's going on rather than someone handing that boat over to a trader or a dealership or whoever and and them handling it then. Now you don't have contact with the person that, that had it beforehand.

A

And I guess some pros about going to like a nice dealership is they're usually going to have their mechanics check the whole thing out but obviously they're going to you know, upcharge as well make their spread and somet they'll put you know, small little warranties on there. Talk about that. In terms of warranties on, on engines or any other accessories. Do you guys have any, any good or bad experiences there on the first boat or way out of warranty by the time you got it?

D

Mine was as is and fingers crossed and everything worked out well.

E

Yes.

C

So mine has a 5 year hole warranty so I've still got about a year and a half even though I'm the second owner on the warranty. So that's something to look at too for different brands. You know some of them do have very good warranties. Mako is one of those companies that does have a pretty good extension life on some of their items. So that's something to look at too.

A

Cool.

E

She's on any of my stuff replacing things as they break.

B

One nice thing about the GNU is a lot of the stuff it's Very easy to fix and replace. Like just everything's out in the open and exposed. So if you need to replace a bilge pump, you just unscrew it, put a new one in, you're good to go. Electronics. The wires run through the trainer. Lost my train of thought. The little things on the side of the boat, the top, the gunnel.

A

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

B

The wires just run through there. So if you have to replace wires, just feed them through, pull them out. All the connections are in one little hatch. So if something shorts out, you just fix that in there. So it's not like a boat where you have to go into, you know, deep hatches or drill holes or access areas to get to things that fix them.

A

And with a gnu, you instantaneously have a million new friends or however. I mean gnus are out there. That's like a tight knit little club, right. It's kind of like going in a jeep where everyone just kind of waves at each other.

B

Yeah, there's kind of a cult following. One of my, one of my trips, I was heading home and someone pulled up next to me really fast and honked their horn and first thing I thought was oh crap, something fell off the trailer of the boat. And he's just pointing and giving a thumbs up and waving. Canoe man. One thing I will add about those boats though is they're not made for choppy water. They're flat bottom, they're. I learned my lesson the hard way. The first day I took it out nice and calm. Flat morning across the river. The wind shifted from the east so it was still calm on the shoreline. I was fishing then decided to go back about quarter mile. I had a four mile stretch to cross about a quarter mile in, it was rolling three to four feet and every wave I was just nose diving into and I got back to the launch and looked like I just jumped in the water. So they're definitely not a. Not a dry ride.

E

Yeah, I think, and I think it sounds like we're knocking V bottoms really hard because each of us have said we have the flat bottoms and that's really great for inshore fishing. And for those who don't know the difference, you know, you get a flat bottom boat is essentially like if you look at a john boat, that front just curves down into the body of the boat. Now that's great for flats fishing because you have the shallowest draft possible with a V, it comes down to a triangle and that's going to increase your draft. The benefit of that is that you can go out in choppier waters, you can, you can cross bays and they're like, like Richard said, there are hybrids out there. And depending on where you fish, I would think about what areas you have to cross, how long of a ride you have. You know, you don't take an off road vehicle or you wouldn't want an off road vehicle for, you know, city driving and you wouldn't vice versa. So thinking about what your average, I guess, commute is to your favorite fishing holes or areas that you want to explore and get out into with your boat, that's important to think about in the boat that you're going to be going and buying. That being said, flat bottoms, you know, they can go out in areas that essentially you only see V bottom boats. For example, offshore where I've taken my skip, it's a flat bottom boat. I can't go out often in it, but when the seas are calm I can. You want that V to be able to cut through waves and not have as much spray like we've talked about. For sure. When it's a windy day with that, that J16, I am soaking wet if I'm not very careful and very adamant about how I'm riding that boat because it's not very long. Ideally you have a boat that's, that's long enough to cover three waves at a time because then you'll never be nosediving the front, the middle and the back if you've got a boat that's shorter, which is really preferred for flats fishing, for agility, being able to move around on the motor, fuel efficiency, everything like that. But it's not as stable of a ride when you walk around on it, it'll shift around a little bit more. There's pros and cons to every little length, width and you know, even the design of the hull on a boat. And all that really comes down to is, you know, what are you going to be doing, where are you going to be traveling? And that's all that stuff that factors into which boat is best for you.

D

Love it.

A

And then get prepared to spend a lot more money than you ever thought you'd spend on marine batteries. Did you guys have to do that, the upgrades?

E

Yeah, yeah.

A

Jokers are expensive.

B

Now the battery that's in mine right now it's about a 350 battery. Luckily it's only about a year old, so still going pretty good.

D

Yeah, that and I think that lead into accessories too. And that's a big thing and so. And the same thing though, it really Depends on what you're going to be doing. If you're going to be doing a lot of inshore fishing, a troll motor that works is numero one, I would say, by far. And if it doesn't have one, at least have the wiring everything set up. A huge problem that I've seen a lot is they just got somebody just get a new boat and then they want to go inshore fishing and now they're having to, to, to drift and they don't have, they don't have control of, of a. Quietly moving around and, and really hunting down the fish. It's really tough. And then they have to rewire the boat and it's a huge hassle. So having the, the proper accessories and obviously number one will be trolling motor in a distant, a very distant third would be like a power pole or really anything else for that matter. That trolling motor is just crucial.

B

One thing I learned really quick about the bow, even though it does draft four or five inches, if you have a trolling motor on there, you're not going to be able to get into four or five inches of water. So if you do need to get up that shallow, a push pull would be ideal. You could also paddle if you wanted to. But I raise my motor up just high enough that it just bear. Like if I catch a little bit of a wave, it starts cavitating on the surface. But on smooth, calm conditions, I can have it up almost close to the hole and I can, I can get about 3 to 4 inches shallower than I was able to with it down in the normal position. Does that make sense?

E

Yeah. Being able to quickly adjust that trolling motor is, is really important for finding where the fish are. Depending on time of day, they could be super shallow. They could be further out and obviously you're going to bite a little more the deeper you are, but you won't be able to get as shallow. So I'm, I mean, through. Throughout the day, I'm constantly raising, lowering my trolling motor. But I agree with Luke. First thing, that's the first thing I bought for my boat is it had a power pole on it and that since broke, I got a new one. Haven't even put it back on because I, I spend most of my time on the trolling motor. The person that had it before me was primarily a bait fisherman and that power pole was great for him. But if you use artificial lures, you need that trolling motor. It's a 110, the best thing. Another thing I would Recommend. That's a very easy, quick accessory that's going to help you catch more fish. 110% is a cooler. And that you put that right up at the front of your boat. This is where it comes down to, like, having a wider bow is really nice because you can get stuff on there, but having something to stand on that adds an extra inch or two. Or in the cooler's case, an extra foot where you can stand on top of it. You can lean down, mess with the trolling motor. If you have a fancy I pilot, you can do that. I use the tiller handles. Luke got me hooked on doing that. So it just, it's nice to be able to fish. Kind of bump the trolling motor handle with my butt, move it around instead of having to pop, and then you can still reach down and get your

A

white claws in the other hand.

E

So, yeah, we're doing a little band.

B

Yeah, that's exactly what it looks like.

E

Sipping.

A

This just went downhill fast.

E

Oh, man. So, yeah, having, having a cooler really, really important because you can stand on it. Obviously it'll keep your. Your white claws cold.

A

But.

E

But having that extra visibility is. Is really important out on the flats. I mean, even if you can't see to the bottom two sight fish, you can see color changes. You can see potholes. I hear from people all the time that are in the Carolinas, like, oh, you can't see into the water. You can definitely see color changes. You can see where it gets darker and you can see where it's lighter. That indicates a depth change. And just having that cooler. So where you can see that depth change, it's going to help you catch a lot more fish really fast. And I would say my third, like, if I had to give three things. If the outboard that you're using does not have a jack plate, you need to put one on there. That's a huge, huge thing. That's number one going to save you fuel and it's going to allow you to run shallower. So that would be my three things. The jack plate's definitely the most expensive. I honestly wouldn't even worry about the power pole. I have the stick it anchor from the power pole unit, and I just use that. I haven't even worried about putting the actual unit back on because I wouldn't use it that much.

A

What about you guys? What are some must have accessories?

C

Yeah, for me, having the trolling motor is number one probably by far. And where I'm at in super, super heavy current. I went ahead and the Trolling motor that I had was not the I pilot but you could upgrade it for a kit basically.

B

And I just did that.

C

And it's absolutely game changer for our fish because with these heavy currents and stuff, I was constantly, I mean, half of my lines out and I'm trying to not make sure the boat stripped into a dock or something. So the I pilot or being able to, you know, make a asmuth kind of where you're wanting to go and it corrects for it is huge kind of over here on the east coast where I'm at. But the other one was what Wyatt said, having a jack plate. I mean, I didn't realize how this is my first boat with a jack plate and man, that is absolutely. I don't think I'll ever have one without it again because I'm able to get in the true, you know, depth of what that boat can go in and still be able to move in there with the big motor if I need to. So I use it almost every single time I go out. So that's a huge one.

A

I haven't heard any of you guys will go for it.

D

Luke, Tony, do you have a jack plate on the, on the Ginu? Yeah.

B

It's a fixed one though. It's not adjustable, I don't think because

D

on my current boat I have the dream boat, the, the Maverick. I don't have one on there and, and, and I think as long as you have a trim like I, I've been. I was gonna do it and then I was like actually I really haven't needed because I'm usually with somebody else and I just have them get in the front of the boat if I'm up in like in shallow water and, and need to motor out of there. Most of the fights I fish is, I mean it's, it's, you know, you can't really get on the plane anyhow, so just get all the weight up front and that's like having like a, a jack blade in itself where just every, all the weight in the front lifts the back up. For a small skiff, it's a 17 foot skiff. Having two people up front raises the back probably four inches. And most jack plates are four to six inches or so. So for the bay boat it's I, I love it. But for the, the little skiff, the fact that you can use the weight allocation to, to lift the boat up when going shallow or when in the shallows, it. I wouldn't, I don't personally, it's a Must have. It's a nice to have. It's very nice to have. It's still everything's way distant from the trolling motor as. As everybody's been saying.

A

Yeah, go for it. No, go for it, dude.

B

I was gonna say, aside from the jack plate, something I wish I had on this bow is power trim just to raise and lower the motor. Because this one, it's either you pull it all the way up and it's completely out of the water or you have it all the way down and it's completely in the water. So if you are pulling or using a trolling motor, you know, if you want to get shallow, you have to pull that motor all the way up and what happens is you lose that skeg. So if you're trying to troll or push pull, you may find yourself, you know, swinging a lot. If you have the motor in the water just enough to keep that skeg in the water, it's going to keep your boat more straight, easier to navigate with your trolling motor and when you are push pulling. So that's the one thing I wish I did have.

A

Yeah. Power.

E

Huge one accessory that I didn't hear that I. I see everyone freak out about when they first get a boat, but none of us mentioned was a fish finder.

A

That's what I was gonna say.

D

Yeah.

A

For.

E

For inshore fishing. Like do any of you guys even. I don't have one even on my boat. I thought about getting one for just navigation purposes, like if I'm navigating at night or I don't want to look at my phone or whatever. But I mean, just for the GPS function of it. But do you guys use, you know, side scan or any downscan. I don't, I don't even know. Like, I don't even know what a fish finder does because I don't use one.

B

It's on my list. It's on the very back end of my list of things to get. It has one on there. It's really old though, and it's a really old side scan. It's only a 4 inch screen, which I've never seen them make nowadays. So I do want to get that just because I do like fishing around the bridges and you know, deeper canals and stuff like that around the beginning of the year, January, February, when it's colder out. And that side scan can be a game changer when you're fishing bridges and docks and things like that. As far as the gps, I don't think I'd ever use it. I just use my phone. But if you want to find fish around deeper structure, it can definitely help.

D

And for murky water areas too, I have, you know, I have one on the boat and I, I kind of use it, but not really, it's, it's really just for like if I'm out at night or if the water is really murky, that's when it becomes more and more important. But for, for a lot of the, the bays with like grassy days are often gonna be pretty clear where you can, you can just see with your eyes the, the shallow zones, the, the, you know, the caution zones if you will. But if you're in like marsh areas where there's a lot of oyster bars that are kind of hidden like in Crystal river and stuff, you really want to know what the, what the bottom, what the depth is when there's low light conditions or the water's murky. So that's, that's something that's definitely not essential. But, but in some areas it's, it's, it's more essential than others.

A

Yeah.

B

One more, I guess this could be another topic is some non fishing related essential items. I would say rain gear. Like even on my kayak I brought rain gear. Not even just for rain, but if you know you're doing 20, 30, 40 miles an hour on a boat early in the morning, it could be a little chilly. And that rain gear can help keep you keep it a little warmer. But especially in Florida, you never know, it can rain at any moment. So having that rain gear is definitely a plus on the boat.

A

Oh, this is super helpful. And we'll have to do kind of a follow up one because I'm sure a lot of people say hey, why, why haven't you talked about like you know, our 24 foot pathfinders, some of the, the next stage boats and maybe that's what we do on a future one is talk about your second or third boat or maybe just all about bay boats or something like that. Because I know that comes up a lot. But I think this is super helpful. I know this is a question that we just continue to get over and over and over again and I'm pretty sure we covered most of the main kind of sub questions that we get if we didn't let us know in the comments. We'll be checking the comment feed on this over@saltstrong.com in the fishing tips section. You can also post it on YouTube. But if you wanted to come right to us, that's the, the blog post is the Place also known as saltstorm.com in the fishing tips section. And if you haven't joined us in the insider club, what the heck are you waiting on? We've got some really, really, really cool stuff coming here in 2022, all based on helping you find the fish. We did a survey to our 26,000 members and golly, we were just blown away with how many people said, you know, what we do best is helping you find the fish. And how many people said, man, my number one thing I want you to help me with going forward is finding the fish. It was just a recurring theme over and over and over again. So if that sounds like you, if you just want to help, even if you're experienced and just aren't on the water every single week or every day and in, in time's valuable to you because we have full time guides and people who are on the water a lot that just constantly want to get better, constantly want to be around other people who are sharing and are positive and willing to help, then I know you'll absolutely be blown away. When you see our community, there's no cursing in there. Like, literally, you can't curse. We've have it, you know, bleeped out. If anyone tries to do any kind of cursing or any negative attitudes or any belittling, boom, you're gone, out of here, adios. So it is super, super positive, super, super helpful. And every week we're out there fishing in new spots and, and filming every bit of it and showing you the good, the bad, and the ugliest is the stuff you cannot find out there on YouTube. So definitely come and join us@saltstorm.com. you'll see a little join now. Button up there at the top and we'll put links down below as well. And please do leave us a comment. Let us know what your first boat is. Let us know anything that you might have learned if you went too big, too small, or just right in the middle. We'd love to hear from you guys. Appreciate it. Anything else?

E

Covered it.

A

Well, that was good. All righty, we'll talk to you guys on the next episode. Peace we out.

B

The water if there was a way it's been said my Pablo hero Look on catching big reds and 20 pound snook I wish I knew all the things he knew today

A

for he's the

B

reason why we are this way

E

and

B

he put fish in our souls to stay.