Best boat for windy conditions???

[CrappieCrazed]

Hello all, Im from Ohio... I posted in the ohio thread but thought it would be nice to get some info from all on the site......

I have an 18.5ft aluminum deep v boat. It was bought a few years back with catfishing in mind on the ohio river. it is a really nice boat but with even a light wind this boat gets blown around bad enough that its a real pain in the but to fish out of while your crappie fishing.

I was hoping some folks could give me a little info on what they could recommend on a boat that would be good in wind. Im assuming that a large HEAVY bass boat would be ideal. Anyone know of what bass boats sit lowest in the water and is heavy?.

I just figure if I could find a model bass boat that sat really low in the water and was heavy that would be the way to go. Any info would be appreciated. I prolly wont be buying new, not in a big hurry either for I can fish if I have to.... Gonna wait and find a good deal but need to know what I should be looking for..... Thanks!!

[Quackrstackr]

Any newer style bass boat is going to be a tenfold improvement over a deep v aluminum so far as wind is concerned.

[BigMack]

Nope. You got the best thing already.
Some folks let water into the hull to steady it up.
Now a heavier 22ft Lund or Crestliner would work.
My bass boat gets swamped by waves or wave boats too often.
Low in the water is not always a good thing.
Just my opinion.

[Slab]

Wow, put a little water into the hull to steady it up, never heard of that. Seems like it ought to work though. Lowers the boat, and adds weight. Interesting idea.

Anyone have experience with this, does it really work?

[Wannabe...]

Wanna swap? I fish from a 18.5 Champion 187. I "bad word" and moan about the wind all the time.

Kind of depends on the kind of fishing you do. Are you single poling exposed or submerged cover or are you spider rigging. If you're single poling a 1648 Mod V aluminum moves a lot in the wind, but is easy to control and quick to respond to TM inputs. My boat doesn't move around as quick, but is much slower and takes more power to respond to TM inputs. Kind of a trade off. Now spider rigging....it's just a matter of going into the wind to a point or going with the wind and using a wind sock to slow you down properly.

Kind of hard to say without you saying what you're tyring to overcome exactly. However, the grass ain't greener on this side, IMO, but there are advantages to my hull as well.

I've decided a man ain't made to have one boat. You need at least 4 good fishing boats just to get by these days. Trouble is, I got 1 too many wives to go that route.

Wannabe...

[Wannabe...]

It helps some Slab, but it's marginal and not really adviseable in rough water ie in in bad wind when you'd need it most.

Wannabe...

[CrappieCrazed]

Nope. You got the best thing already.
Some folks let water into the hull to steady it up.
Now a heavier 22ft Lund or Crestliner would work.
My bass boat gets swamped by waves or wave boats too often.
Low in the water is not always a good thing.
Just my opinion.

I see what your saying about the boat sitting higher out of the water. Thing is we don't fish for crappie in ohio till the pleasure boaters are done for the season. I got to fish out of a fellas 20ft ranger the other day with a 250merc on it....... winds were between 15-20 im assuming. It seemed to handle wind effortlessly COMPARED to my deep v aluminum. Now i said compared to!!!! He was still working the trolling motor but he was keeping us on the fish......... in winds like that, trying to stay on a spot with my boat...................... Haha, youd be so mad at that boat you would leave in no time... Thats why im in the market. Ive heard that the bigger aluminum boats are pretty good but i figured with the higher sides on the deep-v boats they just caught wind worse than bass boats...

[CrappieCrazed]

Wanna swap? I fish from a 18.5 Champion 187. I "bad word" and moan about the wind all the time.

Kind of depends on the kind of fishing you do. Are you single poling exposed or submerged cover or are you spider rigging. If you're single poling a 1648 Mod V aluminum moves a lot in the wind, but is easy to control and quick to respond to TM inputs. My boat doesn't move around as quick, but is much slower and takes more power to respond to TM inputs. Kind of a trade off. Now spider rigging....it's just a matter of going into the wind to a point or going with the wind and using a wind sock to slow you down properly.

Kind of hard to say without you saying what you're tyring to overcome exactly. However, the grass ain't greener on this side, IMO, but there are advantages to my hull as well.

I've decided a man ain't made to have one boat. You need at least 4 good fishing boats just to get by these days. Trouble is, I got 1 too many wives to go that route.

Wannabe...

Sorry bout that wannabe, your right though, should have let you know what were trying to do. Were ALWAYS pitching jigs. That being said were trying to use the trolling motor to hit laydowns or standing timber so having a boat that reacts well in wind would be a help....... Thanks

[wish4fish]

Don't know how far you run in your boat to fish but did you ask the guy how thirsty that 250 is? With gas on the rise just thought you might wanna take that into consideration. If the wind is blowing I either anchor or find a tree to tie off to or hold on to.

[CrappieCrazed]

Wow, put a little water into the hull to steady it up, never heard of that. Seems like it ought to work though. Lowers the boat, and ads weight. Interesting idea.

Anyone have experience with this, does it really work?

I was just out the other day with a fella that said he knows a couple of guys that won a tournament doing this. Winds were terrible and it was very hard to have boat control. Supposely they pulled the plug from inside, let it fill hull and put plug back in. Stabilized the boat enough to have decent boat control. Thats not what im shooting for.

I know this is a stupid example to use but have you ever seen a large log floating on a lake in high winds. Its barely moving!!!! Its heavy and most of the log is sitting in the water so the wind has little to no effect on it. Maybe thats a terrible example but thats what im thinking on a boat. HEAVY AND LOW PROFILE!! Think this is the wrong way of thinking??