Thread: Moving To Jacksonville NC

Far away from me , but welcome from Union County N.C

If you like to fish you will love it there. New burn only 30 min. (bass, crappie, stripers, catfish bream). Swansboro and Morehead City to the east. (red drum, black drum speckel trout) New river to the south. If you have a boat you will be in heaven.

That is the plan, I have a 16' canoe and plan on getting a 18' boat. I am researching the boat

for the area you will be fishing I do not recommend aluminum hull because of sand, salt,and oysters. The Carolina Skiff is the boat of choice in that area. Polar Craft also makes a good bay boat. Our coastal waters are shallow. I have a 17' DLX and love it but it don't like rough water. I just take it slow. If you have lots of money look at the Sun Dance.

Originally Posted by SEA DANCER

for the area you will be fishing I do not recommend aluminum hull because of sand, salt,and oysters. The Carolina Skiff is the boat of choice in that area. Polar Craft also makes a good bay boat. Our coastal waters are shallow. I have a 17' DLX and love it but it don't like rough water. I just take it slow. If you have lots of money look at the Sun Dance.

Why the salt vs aluminum? I would have guessed they are good for salt water.

I lived in Jacksonville off and on for several years until I retired. We now live about 2 1/2 hours north. There is not a thing wrong with an aluminum boat there. My 20' aluminum was near perfect for that area. I could bass fish out of it, go to the Cape Fear catfishing, trout fish New River Inlet, and I've even had it outside the inlet a time or two on very nice days. Since moving up here it has been used in the Pamlico Sound for several years with no problems. I have a bay boat now and mostly use the aluminum for crab pots, oystering, and hunting but if I got into a bind and had to sell one it wouldn't be the aluminum. It excels in shallow coastal water. Not the driest ride in a chop but I guarantee better than any flat bottom skiff. It drafts less than a foot of water and I would sure rather run my aluminum over an oyster bar than a fiberglass. My bay boat is just too pretty to mess up. Anyhow welcome to the area and you are welcome to pm me with any questions.

Originally Posted by Led0321

Why the salt vs aluminum? I would have guessed they are good for salt water.

They are fine until you start sliding on sand bars or oyster beds(and you will) The salt attacks the aluminum.

Some decent crappie fishing in New River, but you generally have to go up river from the USO ramp. Trent/Neuse up around New Bern are both very good fisheries, for almost any specie. I will recommend not taking the canoe into the Neuse though, that's a big body of water in most areas and pretty intimidating.

Shoot me a message sometime and I'll help If I can.