I am very highly likely moving to corpus in the next month or two and have a question. I am an avid fisher and duck hunter. I have a question about boats for the area. I went down last weekend got the feel for the area and brought my boat with me ( a 1656 havoc, which is designed for running the flooded timber) I found that while my current setup worked it wasn't the ideal setup with all the flats. I looked around the upper laguna madre. So that leads me to my question. What type of boat do y'all recommend? Tunnel, surface drive, or flats boat? I plan to sell my old one to fiance my new purchase. Would be mainly used for duck hunting but will fish as well. Any insight is greatly appreciated!

Shoalwater cat is what I have
Haynie's and shallow sports are great
Lots of majek's down there

Any shallower runner will work. Just depends how comfortable you want to be

Airboat?

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Shoalwater cat is what I have
Haynie's and shallow sports are great
Lots of majek's down there

Any shallower runner will work. Just depends how comfortable you want to be

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This.

I have a shoalwater 20' cat and love its stability speed and shallow running ability. Never done much duck hunting out of it, but it should be as good as any boat.

That being said my buddy had a Majek RFL that we took duck hunting a lot but wear your mouth guard in any sort of chop. Shoalwater is much more comfortable and I dont think sacrificing too much shallow running capacity.

Waypoint Marine will set you up. Chris' Marine is also top notch but further from corpus proper.

I love my majek RFL for fishing and hunting. It can be rough, but would be great for someone learning the water.... You will be able to run in places you shouldn't.

My FIL has a Mosca. They are built in Corpus and offer a tunnel-V and cat.

Boats on the coast are a big compromise. I think the first thing you need to do is figure out how you will do most of your fishing.

Do you want to run down to Baffin in search of big trout? Do you want to run offshore and work shrimp boats? Do you plan on sight casting with a fly rod?
Do you plan on putting dead bait on the bottom for meat? Will you normally be fishing with 1-2 or 3-4 people? Do you want to search for reds by burning the shoreline while sitting up high in your deer stand.....like NW80?

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I have a shoalwater 20' cat and love its stability speed and shallow running ability. Never done much duck hunting out of it, but it should be as good as any boat.

That being said my buddy had a Majek RFL that we took duck hunting a lot but wear your mouth guard in any sort of chop. Shoalwater is much more comfortable and I dont think sacrificing too much shallow running capacity.

Waypoint Marine will set you up. Chris' Marine is also top notch but further from corpus proper.

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Same here for my Gulf Coast 220 VS http://www.redwingboatco.com/gulf-coast-22-vs.html

Eats up chop, dry and can run shallow. Haven't duck hunted with it but great boat.

Sounds like he will be mostly duck hunting which to me means running into shamrock or nighthawk. If you are trailering your boat you can get away w/ a really shallow flat bottom boat like a Majek RFL. If you wanna run across any chop i think a cat hull is going to be your best bet!

Thanks, I'll check them out! If anyone every needs someone an extra II'll have gas and beer money!

Do you want to run down to Baffin in search of big trout?
Yes, but i have found several launches in the bay that I would most likely just launch into the bay from there.

Do you want to run offshore and work shrimp boats?
No

Do you plan on sight casting with a fly rod?
That does interest me

Do you plan on putting dead bait on the bottom for meat?
No, not typically

Will you normally be fishing with 1-2 or 3-4 people?
Most likely 2 with an occasional 3rd person

Do you want to search for reds by burning the shoreline while sitting up high in your deer stand.....like NW80?
I'll probably be more in the flats/near the shore especially during duck season

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My FIL has a Mosca. They are built in Corpus and offer a tunnel-V and cat.

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Good friend has a mosca I get to fish off of about once a month. Very smooth runner, not super skinny, but skinny enough.

Post your budget on the new boat of you want to get the best recommendations.

Best riding boats with good shallow water capabilities are going to be the Shallow Sport X3, Dargle 230/250 HDX, Mowdy 25 Cat, and Mosca Phantom Cat

Boats with a great ride and excellent shallow water performance include the JH Outlaw, El Pescador, Shoalwater Cat, Tran Cat, and Haynie Cat

Boats that will get you skinny as hell but will rattle your teeth are Shallow Sport Classic and Majek Illusion or Redfish Line

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I love my majek RFL for fishing and hunting. It can be rough, but would be great for someone learning the water.... You will be able to run in places you shouldn't.

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A majek RFL will either help you learn water or make it so that you are really really stuck...

The RFL doesn't even really need water if you are running on a muddy bottom.

I don't even want to think about the amount of crap that dude had to have sucked up into his engine. I can hear the overheating warning going off.

I know that at this point with moving and so forth I won't be able to swing new... I am in the market for around 17-18 obliviously I know it would be something used at that price unless I went with an aluminum tunnel. ( say an express)

Thanks so much everyone!

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I know that at this point with moving and so forth I won't be able to swing new... I am in the market for around 17-18 obliviously I know it would be something used at that price unless I went with an aluminum tunnel. ( say an express)

Thanks so much everyone!

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Ever thought about keeping the Havoc and replacing the motor with a Mud Buddy or Gator Tail? I had a Mud Buddy at one point and could easily make that run on the video above

You might see a well used 18.5' RFL in your budget, but, you can pretty much cross every other boat mentioned out.

Oh yeah, that's what I figured. I definitely thought about putting a surface drive on my current setup or picking up a aluminum hull and putting my current motor on it . I've been eyeing the new GTR... Just didn't know which would work better for down there.

Get something with a v-hull or cat package. We went the Majek with the flat nose a long time ago and the skinny water it runs around in runs out and sooner or later you are in chop. Pissing blood and getting wet.

Surface drive for marsh/mud/sand, long tail for swamp/woody debris. Sounds like a surface drive. But there are some pretty cool long tails when they get like 35 hp, but they are kind of dangerous levels if torque at the bigger sizes. Even surface drive will need to be handled. They are not as speedy as a prop, but more torque. You can easily run the flats in that video. There are some crazy videos out there. Anyways you can go in like 3 inches of water pretty good w surface drives. In nasty freshwater to drier mixed areas, airboat costs may come in.

Thanks again everyone! I'll rule #1 when I decided and buy!

I would buy a bigger boat for fishing that can handle the chop and then use a smaller kayak or small boat with a mud motor to duck hunt off of the mother ship or for short runs.

You aren't going to want to fish or make really long runs with your mud motor setup. (Although technically it could work). There is no way I would want a mud motor to be my only option if I lived in Corpus.