What a day SRS!!! I hope you brought some mojo to the thread. I'll go see...

8 wt poonin'

Like a boss!

Nice Bay Snapper!

So I think I may have convinced my wife on buying a skiff. I waited too long and missed my opportunity on a BT Osprey out of Portland that was pretty slick. I've now been on a recent hunt through CL, boattrader, local marina's etc and just not seeing anything that jumps out. Any tips on other websites I should be checking?

Microskiff.com classifieds. Also, some brand specific forums like the Maverick Boat Owners or the HB Darkside (hells bay) both have classifieds where skiffs pop up. I'll edit post links when I'm on a desktop.

Skiff shopping in Texas is a waiting game. If you are in a big hurry FL is the baited field.

Microskiff is a great starting point, most boats will be in FL, but some in TX too.
http://www.microskiff.com/forums/microskiffs-for-sale.16/

Maverick Boat Group. You'll have to sort through all the Pathfinders, but they're in there
http://mbgforum.com/forum/13-boats-for-sale/?page=1

Some sexy stuff show up in TribeNwater but the traffic is slower and it's usually pricey or sold when the guy hits the return key.
http://www.tribenwater.com/forums/hells-bay-darkside-association/

Thanks for the info!

Right now I'm pretty open on makes. Would like to buy used with a budget of 10k-20k. Is there any manufacturers I should be ruling out from the get go with a focus on stealth/dryness? From what I've researched on here there is some that are pretty bad hull slappers. Figured it would be tough to get into a HB or a Maverick that isn't 15 years old for my budget so I was kind of ruling those out too.

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Figured it would be tough to get into a HB or a Maverick that isn't 15 years old for my budget so I was kind of ruling those out too.

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I bought my 2007 HpxT in that budget year before last. Only caveat, I picked it up in the shadow of the Daytona Speedway - so I spent a couple hundred (+) in diesel and had to listen to Kenny Trill and the Ags beat SC on the radio, but it is very doeable to get a great skiff in that budget.

Don't forget 2 Cool. Just today a guy listed a 2003 HpxT for $18k. There is a lifetime of fishing left in a well kept 12 year old boat, my buddy fishes the hell out of one much older. If this boat has been offered and clean enough to suit me in '14 - I'd own it.

Is it a hull slapper? Sometimes. Will it get you wet? in the right conditions, absolutely. Is it a blast to fish? Aw hellz ya.

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise - small shallow water running boats are hell to ride in on rough water, it's physics. Welcome to SKIFF fishing!

http://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/forumdisplay.php?f=89

Boat

[url=http://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=2055329][/url]

ETA. I wish I'd found one with a 70 2stroke. Dang. And when you buy this boat I want to come measure the poling platform. That is exactly the look I like. I want so bad to trash my factory one and have one made with the curved legs like this one.

Wade through craigslist more efficiently by using state wide list. Sometimes a skiff will pop up in an "unusual" place like San Antonio, Austin, or Dallas.

There were a couple of East capes for sale last winter that went for right around 10k. Keep watching and you can find what you want. Boat shopping slows down in the winter so sometimes you can get a better deal or have a better chance of picking one up before someone beats you to it.

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So I think I may have convinced my wife on buying a skiff. I waited too long and missed my opportunity on a BT Osprey out of Portland that was pretty slick. I've now been on a recent hunt through CL, boattrader, local marina's etc and just not seeing anything that jumps out. Any tips on other websites I should be checking?

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Centerpole has you in the right spot... That Osprey you missed out on, in my opinion - was not a can't miss. The guy accessorized that boat like a lit up big rig. To each his own.

How many guys do you want to fish?
What bodies of water are you going to target?
Just back country or do you want to do some jetty / open water trips?

All of these are important. I picked up a Beavertail Micro a little over a year ago inside you budget, 1 year old with 15 hours on it. Is it the perfect 'do-everything' skiff? No. Is it the perfect boat for what I tend to do (chase redfish in marsh, creeks and shallow water flats on upper coast)? Pretty damn close.

Would be looking to fish 3 people. Marsh, back bays and maybe run open water on the rare days of there year where it's glass (Port A was pretty flat this weekend) from Galveston to Baffin. The more I look though I want to be max 17' because I would want to store in my garage.

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Would be looking to fish 3 people. Marsh, back bays and maybe run open water on the rare days of there year where it's glass (Port A was pretty flat this weekend) from Galveston to Baffin. The more I look though I want to be max 17' because I would want to store in my garage.

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So, three people on a poling skiff can be very tight. Whipray fits your goal but not your budget. I think for 10-20k you can get a boat that comfortably moves two guys, poles well etc...

If you are serious, that mav Centerpole posted up is likely exactly what you are shopping for... If you want a newer hull you need to look at Dragonfly Emerger, Cayo 17 or maybe Skull Island 16. All likely more comparable to my BT Micro but maybe that is what ends up fitting...

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My dad just started getting into fly fishing a few years ago. He had his best (Texas) fly fishing day of his life Sunday. Caught 10 reds poling the back lakes.

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That woukd be a great day!

On Sunday I put CPjr on 3 monster drum, literally dinosaurs, that were lazily perusing some oysters. My luck- no way they would take the fly for him but it was so clear and so close he later said it was

"One of best fly fishing experiences. "
"What's the best son?"
"Any time we catch a tarpon."

I love it. Glad your dad had an awesome weekend too.

I haven't tried to pick it up yet, but reading this thread over the last year has certainly given me the itch. I'll keep yall posted.

Dad is headed to Belize on the 23rd. I'll post some pics.

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Would be looking to fish 3 people. Marsh, back bays and maybe run open water on the rare days of there year where it's glass (Port A was pretty flat this weekend) from Galveston to Baffin. The more I look though I want to be max 17' because I would want to store in my garage.

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So, three people on a poling skiff can be very tight. Whipray fits your goal but not your budget. I think for 10-20k you can get a boat that comfortably moves two guys, poles well etc...

If you are serious, that mav Centerpole posted up is likely exactly what you are shopping for... If you want a newer hull you need to look at Dragonfly Emerger, Cayo 17 or maybe Skull Island 16. All likely more comparable to my BT Micro but maybe that is what ends up fitting...

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If you're fly fishing you can't really fish 3. You can carry 3 men and have one guy poling, one guy fishing, and one guy cheerleading and take turns. Hell, on my panga it can be a bit difficult to have 2 guys fly fishing and you can't do it with somebody poling, I've got to run the trolling motor.

Conventional gear we can fish 3 easily, just have to watch your casts.

Yeah I wouldn't be looking to fly fish 2. But would like the capability to pole, fly fish, have a beer drinker hanging out and rotated if someone wanted to.

What are you waiting for?!?

Just dive in. You will have some frustrations getting started but that all just makes the first catch so much rewarding.

Reply #1K to this thread. Wut Wut.

https://instagr.am/p/BKT85giB-Hc

Somebody please buy that Mav hpx that Centerpole posted so I don'T damnit!

Somebody buy it before I BUY ANOTHER ONE.

Yep, that's a nice one. Someone outta grab it. Go ahead CP. You're a collector! you have more than one tractor, you should have more than one bhote

That Maverick would probably last about 3 days on the block in Florida.

Hey Rick,

did you notice when you had that poon in your hand that they are very closely kin to the skipjack in that each one comes with one metric crap ton load of sh*t and slime!

Afterwards I smelled like a pig farmer covered in trout slime....

No mav for me, but soon...


If things line up right, I'll go pick it up in a couple weeks.

Nice Salt! Looking forward to that!

Pesca Maya a la Madre!

Starting to tie fly's for an upcoming redfish trip to Chandeliers. First time targeting reds on the fly, do you have a favorite crab fly you like? TIA for info!

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No mav for me, but soon...


If things line up right, I'll go pick it up in a couple weeks.

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That's gonna be slick.

Are you going to put down any kind of floor to cover those stringers?

Isn't this time of year for poppers and reds on top??? Do they get up on top @ the Ch islands??

Short answer: Yes I plan to put in a deck.

Long answer:
I've always wanted to add front and rear decks and a false floor to my noe (like the NMZ). The tentative plan is to do the noe as fiberglass practice, and then tackle the panga upgrades second after I have a project under my belt. Since the panga has a decent stringer system already, it should be the easier of the two projects.

The panga has a fuel tank cutout in the rear bench so I just need to find somewhere to put the battery and I should be good to start running it. I have no idea if it's feasible to run it sitting because of the high bow or if I'm going to want to add a grab bar or tall skinny console to run it standing up.
I do have a grab bar with GPS mount on the noe right now. I'll probably end up cannibalizing it for the panga while I work on the noe and get a better feel for how I want to finish out the panga.

I'm keeping an eye out for a poling platform to put on the panga, but most of the ones I've seen are built for shallowsports, dargels, etc with motors up high on a jackplate. They're all much higher than I'd like (50+" and I think I'll only need/want about 3'). I'll probably end up having to get one fabricated. Didn't you say you wanted to get a different platform with a step up to it like the ranger banshees? I'd be happy to take yours off your hands .

I'm trying to figure out what route to go with a trolling motor. I know I won't be able to pole the panga all day like I can with the noe, so I'll probably want to get a trolling motor. Undecided on whether I want to splurge on one with gps and a remote, or just go with a cheapo. If I'm comfortable taking the boat out of the jetties, I may splurge on a nice TM for chasing poons.

Since the panga won't get super skinny, I'm toying with rigging some kind of cradle to use it to haul the noe to remote places of the coast where micro's usually don't go. Mothershipping some SUPs around is intriguing but at $1500 a pop for a SUP, it just makes more sense to keep my noe. Mothershipping the noe is probably a pipe dream, but it's fun to dream.