Favorite Musky Boat

[Jay R]

I was hoping to get a few opinions from the experts on their favorite Musky rig. I am looking to purchase a new boat at the end of this season so wanted to start the thought process. Thanks for the feed back

Jay

[onemagnum]

Do you live right im Comstock? I grew up just a little north of there.

[deerhuntr8]

Triton TR-21X.

[Jay R]

onemagnum, I live south and east a couple miles from comstock, That area has been home for me most of my years.

Jay

[VMS]

This is too hard to comment on. you need to find what works for your style of fishing, and what features you want on your rig.

Fishing rocks alot where you can ding the bottom of the boat a bit? I'd suggest aluminum..

Do you want a big livewell? Large casting deck both front and rear, etc?. Are you going to be fishing big water? Trolling?

I am partial to my alumacraft Navigator because it has all the feautures I was looking for, and it was easy for me to rig with electronics, etc.

Steve

[RK]

Hey Jay -

Boy, it really depends. Depends on fishing style (whether or not you troll and what else you fish for besides muskies...) and how big a water you're planning on being on. How many other people you fish with for muskies (big difference between a 2 and 3 person boat when guys are flinging big baits around...)

If you're staying close to home, anything with a decent front deck will do. But if you want to head to Mille Lacs or Leech, you need something that can handle the water, or accept getting blown off some days (you'll get blown off some days if you have a 21 footer on those lakes though...believe me...)

My criteria for a muskie boat are something along these lines:

- Large enough front deck for 2 people to stand and cast

- rear deck where someone can stand and cast without clinging by their toenails. A seat base for a stand-up pro pole in the back is a bonus.

- adequate rod storage. The great shortcomign of a lot of otherwise good muskie boats. Storage for 7'6" rods. 8' is better yet. Big enough hatches to fit big reels and get rods in and out.

- capability to run 24v trolling motor systems

- gunwale space (or rails) for rod holders

- transom for a kicker if I want one (I go back and forth on having one or not about every other boat I buy - but I want the option)

- Adequate floor space for big boxes. Cute little built-in tackle storage racks don't do me much good. You only need so many spare hooks...

- Decent-sized hatch covers for under deck storage compartments. Throwing extra gear into a locker shouldn't be a jigsaw puzzle...

- a 'clean' interior. I intensely dislike cutesy French Pastry crud like baitwells and odd handles all over the deck and along the gunwales. They just get in the way.

- Narrow gunwales, or at least gunwales with rounded edges. I got bruised ribs once from releasing a fish in big waves in a boat with wide, square-edged gunwales. Never again...

Every once in a while you'll see a boat company come out with a "muskie edition" model. They usually have the same layout as always, with the addition of a 60" livewell, usually at the expense of storage space. In other words, utterly pointless features. If I had to narrow it down to two things that would be meaningful design changes to most boats on the market, it'd be getting rid of above deck baitwells (my boat has one, and I live with it, but I'd rather not have one at all...) and bigger rod storage spaces with room for rods more than 7' long...

Right now, and for the last 4 years or so I've been running an 18' Tracker Tundra. Been the best boat I've owned. Layout's good (though it'd be better if the front deck were about 10" longer), rod lockers are fantastic (centerline for rods up to 7'6", and I can fit 9 footers in the side lockers), big open under-deck storage lockers for random stuff...lots of other features I like. Plus can't beat the ride on rough water. Trolls exceptionally well, but not too high out of the water for casting. If you want to check it out sometime, get ahold of me and we'll go for a spin. Might have to bring a rod or two along of course...

The roaring metropolis of Comstock...gotta love it...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Jay R]

RK,

Thanks for the response, I hope you dont charge by the word!!! I will be gettting a counsel boat for sure, with 3 young kids the protection from the wind / waves will be nice and I am sure at some point they will want a to be drug around the lake on a tube of some type. The casting deck is my biggest concern as most aluminum counsel boats have smaller casting decks. I have looked at the "normal" 3 manufactures, Alumcraft, Lund, Crestliner and just do not see enough room up front. RK, good point on the wide gunwale never crossed my mind.

Live from Comstock!!!

Jay

[Scoot]

Jay,

Tons of good info above. RK really focussed on a lot of the important details and the big/small water question is very important. Two questions always come to mind for me with this sort of deal and both are "bigger picture" deals- 1) are you going to fish small/medium water mostly or are you going to fish big water a lot? and 2) what's your price range? The answer to these questions will drive the responses you get considerably. After that, I think RK hit on a bunch of good things to think about.

[Jay R]

Scoot, I agree RK really lays down the good info. You brought up two good points and as with anything price point can and will be a limiting factor. Sure like many of us who hit the water a "Ranger" would be wondrful but of course not practical. I will want to fish "big" water on ocassion with the new rig. My current boat situation really limits my attempts at "big" water strictly from a safety standpoint. However I can vividly remember at the ripe old age of 10 rolling in some big waves out in the Gap on LOW in a 16ft lund with Grandpa and the rest of the crew. It was not unil many years later that I realized even though he seemed calm, cool and collected Grandpa was looking for a clean pair of "tidy whities" when we made it back to shore!! Good points Scoot and from another post you had on this site I assume you have joined the fraternity of fatherhood, congrats!!

Live from Comstock

J

[DougSpringBay]

Jay R-

Send me an e-mail. I Pro Staff with Lund, and I can send you some info.

Doug

[email protected]

[Giant_Jackpot]

Live wells in a ‘muskie’ boat are definitely a waste of space (but I do need one for the occasional walleye trip). I bought some big rubber stoppers at the local hardware store and plugged all of the inlets and outlets (don’t forget the one on the side of the boat). Once this is done, you have another storage bin. My new Alumacraft Navigator came with a bait well under the rear casting deck and within a week of owning the boat the bait well was in the garbage. I converted the space to hold another battery and 6 of the clear Plano tackle boxes that hold the tackle for those “other” species I occasionally go after. I also agree with RK on the narrow gunwales; the closer you are to the water the better off you are.

[10,000 Casts]

When It comes to Muskie boats I like big casting decks front and back, a wide beam, it needs to sit low in the water. I am a full windshield guy, but the fishabillity of a single console is nice although you will freeze in the late fall.

A point on livewells was made, my oppion is that they shouldn't make a (Muskie size livewell). Thats what cameras are for... Also remember that your buddies will be standing on them all day and after a while they get caved in.

Center rod storage is really nice although you might be out of luck if you have longer rods.

I fish out of a Crestliner Sportfish. It is a fish and ski model and it is horrible for walleye boat control but it is a great muskie boat. Lots of room and I have everything that I need.

Also, don't forget to rig it with a good color graph and gps with a lake chip. And a good trolling motor with a maximizer is a must.

Just some thoughts,

John

[kjgmh]

Go to a couple of dealer, climb in a couple of boats and see what suits you. Couple of dealers within driving range of Comstock, Frankies in Chisago, Zachows in Chippewa Falls, Crystal Pierz in Rice Lake. I personally have a Crestliner 1750 FH with dual consoles and love in for Musky fishing. I fish allot by myself and is small enough I can handle by myself, but still plenty of room to fish a couple of people.

[traveler]

last fall I finally found a center console bay boat, and it has all the makings of a great muskie boat. Narrow, rolled funnels; low to the water, great casting deck/set up for a bow mount, walk ALL the way around the boat fighting a hot fish! And not a speck of carpet in it. So far the drawbacks are exposure in rough weather with only the single console, and not enough rod storage.

[Muskycrazy]

I use a Deep V with live wells because I use big suckers in the fall . Casting deck for and aft and low enough in the middle to get out of those late fall 20+ MPH cold winds a bit . I like the fact its carpeted so that its not completely slippery in the snow . I'm not a super big electronics guy , prefer a depth finder , lake map and a little fishing know-how . I don't like for technology to find fish for me but lots of people like the high tech fishing and thats cool , just not for me . I'm not against walk throughs but wonder about trying to walk an 8' rod through when you have to walk a fish around the boat .

[traveler]

Muskycrazy; I'm not sure if you were referring to my post/boat specifically, but my center console isn't a walk-thru, the console is in the middle so you're totally free to work a fish along the rail all around the boat. The design is awesome for fighing fish, but doesn't keep much wind off ya on long runs. Also, it's got no skid stuff for traction...being a carpet salesperson/install you'd think I'd favor carpet, and I do. Just not in my boat!

[Muskycrazy]

Actually I wasn't . I had thought about A walk through for my self but went with a side console instead . Center Console , no carpet .... Boston Whaler ?

[traveler]

It's that style, kind of. Thats what most people picture because it's the brand we see up here most often. On the coasts, there are tons of different CC manufacturers. Mine is considered a bay boat (as in ocean bays), the hull design is probably closest to a ranger style bass boat, but without the cushy seats, carpet, stereo...not that theres anything wrong with all that. If ya wanna go for a boat ride. Mine isn't so comfy...makes me wanna fish harder:)

[Muskiefool]

For me it's gotta be big due to the water I fish, and set up basically as Rob stated, clean, simple and few things to hang up on, I went with Ranger over the others mainly due to boat control concerns I had with some boats high riding bow, my Lund blew all over due to this, I like the rear deck space for the people in the back and theres plenty of room for my fat @$$ up front, I would say a 620 or 621 they are deep yet can be fished pretty shallow for big lakes or 619 or Bass style for mid and smaller size lakes, although the 619 will handle the big water pretty well to from what Ive seen, good luck and get something you'll be happy with for at least 8-10 years.