What size boat???

[Crickschop04]

I'd do about 80% of my fishing on small lakes, but would also like to fish the Mississippi and 2-3 times a year on a bigger lake. What is the shortest boat and lowest horsepower anyone would recommend in order to be safe? I would fish at most 3 people out of it.

[Northlander]

16' with a 40 horse would do just fine in most situations. A 25 would work well if you didnt have 3 people in the boat too often.

[LMITOUT]

I was told one time to always put the max, or as close as possible, HP on a boat of what it's rated for. A lack of power can be more dangerous than too much if you encounter any bad water and I tend to believe that thought. Considering you fish larger water, although not the majority of the time, it may be worth it.

[eyepatrol]

Just my own opinion here, but if you're going to have 3 guys fishing, and plan to fish the river and larger bodies of water, I'd go with a 17' min. boat. 3 guys can load up a lot of gear. Storage, space and manueverability will all come into play. I tend to agree with LMITOUT on the hp, although I wouldn't be afraid to go one step down from the max. hp. For example, if it's rated for a 150, 135 would be fine, or if 135, 115 would be fine, and so on.

Just my $.02.

[Guest]

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16' with a 40 horse would do just fine in most situations. A 25 would work well if you didnt have 3 people in the boat too often.

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Exactly.

I have a 16" deep/wide Alumacraft with a 25 hp motor and it does just fine. It will plane out 3 people and gear without a problem and is still very seaworthy and there is plenty of room to fish. It performs a bit better with 2 people, but it gets me fishing just fine either way.

Your not going to win races.. but you dont have to.. it doesnt hurt that bad filling up the 6 gallon fuel tank either! Another bonus of not having a big/heavy rig is I can run in 2' of ACTUAL water depth(from surface), and far less if I tilt the motor.

[gunflint]

As usual, Northlander is right on the money. A 16 or 16.6 with a 25 hp is the number one rig up here, even for guides. The reason is because of the limitations on horse power in the BWCA.

The nice thing about this set-up is that you really can't spend alot of money on bells and whistles.

[Spinner1]

I have an Alumacraft Magnum 165 16-10 82" wide. It is very stable in rough water. But I find it a little bit crowded with three guys if a lot of casting is going on. It is just fine for panfishing. I ran a 45HP for years. Barely sufficient IMO. Like my Yammi 60 MUCH better. This boat has a lot of storage, console steer etc, so its a little heavier than a stripped fishing boat and needs a bit more motor.

[ocf]

what is the limit at the bwca anyways?, sorry bout the off subject

[Guest]

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what is the limit at the bwca anyways?, sorry bout the off subject

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The *Motor On* lakes have a 25 hp restriction.

I am thinking there are a couple lakes with a 10 hp restriction also.

[BobT]

I owned a Lund Rebel 16 with a 25hp Johnson for a number of years. For me and one adult it worked fine. Add a third adult and it was way under powered. Got in a situation on Osakis with 40mph wind and the motor had all it could do to push us around. That boat was rated up to 45hp. I upsized to a 40hp and it was the best investment I made.

Bob

[TSCTSC]

Decision is going to be very personal, really. Depends a lot on what lakes u are going to be fishing. There are two schools of thought : One is go as big and as powerful as ur can afford. The other schools is get the 16" with a small motor and u would be fine. I think if u fish the mississippi a lot, a lot of times, I think the best fisherman are in the 16 foots with the 25HP motors. Also, a 16 foot is a much easier boat to store, handle and trailer. U will appreciate that convenience. Sorry, if I did not help u much with your decision.