Living in Florida gives me opportunities to fish both fresh and saltwater. Bass boats are designed for freshwater and when used in saltwater, they will begin having corrosion and rust problems within a very few months. Face it, they simply are not designed to take the beating that saltwater gives everything it touches.
My dilemma was solved by owning two boats. But the upkeep and storage problems that two boats bring became just unbearable. I though I would have to choose one or the other until I found a new boat that really impressed me – a Carolina Skiff product.
The Carolina Skiff brand always brought to my mind those flat bottom skiffs with little or no internal structure. They are add-on boats – you buy the hull and add things like a center console or front deck. They are great for small water and are generally an entry boat for new anglers.
Just a year or two ago, Carolina Skiff quietly came out with a new line of flats boats under the Sea Chaser name. The Flats Series of boats are built on an old Hoog hull design. According to their advertising manager, the company bought the old Hoog molds and designed their own cap. For years the Hoog flats boat hulls were one of the standards for South Florida flats anglers.
I went with the 180 model, a 17’9” boat rated for a 150 hp outboard. I bought it from Big Boys Play Toys, a leading Carolina Skiff and Honda Dealer in East Palatka, Florida. Big Boys is the leading Honda outboard dealer in Florida and can provide some deals and incentives that some other dealers can’t touch.
I have to be honest about this. My son bought one several months before me and we fished Lake Okeechobee with five or six other boats earlier this year. Back in Moonshine Bay, the water was two feet or less, but it was full of fish. I ran back into the bay in my 519 Ranger only to end up trapped into a long, muddy, bumping idle out of the bay. My Ranger with a 200 Optimax simply would not get up in water that shallow.
My son, who followed me back into the bay decided to get up and run the same way I did. He cranked the wheel hard to port, lowered the factory equipped trim tabs and hit the throttle on the four stroke 150 Honda. To my surprise he wheeled around in one circle and was up on top running. He was getting up in water that my depth finder said was 1.7 feet deep, and there were three people in his boat. I, on the other hand, churned mud and coral rock all day.
The live well is large and has an oxygen infusion system that comes standard, so I can easily use the boat in a bass tournament. I now have that one boat that can perform both fishing tasks for me. The list of other standard equipment is impressive and is more than most other boats provide.
I have several hours on the boat now, both in fresh and saltwater. The boat performs nicely, and while it is not a bass boat hull designed primarily for speed, that 150 Honda VTEC pushes it quite well.
The Hoog hull design, one that I was familiar with fishing in South Florida provides a smooth, dry ride and easily cuts across a three foot chop with comfort. The standard equipment trim tabs provide a means not only to get out of the hole quickly, but to prevent bow porposing, something to which smaller boats with big engines are prone.
Lockers on the boat are what I call semi-dry. They do have a lip and a hydraulic lift arm, but they are not completely dry. That problem is easily solved with peel and stick rubber automobile door trim strips available at any auto parts store.
I feel better about this boat than any of the many I have owned. I no longer feel locked into one type of fishing or the other. I can fish a bass tournament on Saturday and be back in the Gulf of Mexico catching seatrout and redfish on Monday.
If you are like me and you do both kinds of fishing, consider a flats boat – in particular, consider this Sea Chaser Flats Series 180 from Big Boys. It outperforms many of the other flats boats at a far more reasonable price, and it allows you to fish both kinds of water. It just doesn’t get a whole lot better!
