What's The smallest boat you've seen 25 miles out?

In the late 80's fishing with my dad at the Bucaneers, we were taught a lesson in cathing kingfish by 6 Vietnamese fisherman in a 18' jon boat. It was not the 6 gas cans, 6 people in a flatbottom jon, nor the kingfish stacked like cordwood in the middle of that boat that was so impressive. It was the guys in the front catching bait on a handline, passing it back to the guy in the back fishing with a big red Folgers can with mono wrapped around it! He had his hand in the middle of the can and when the king ran the can spun around his hand using his other hand as drag. All our high tech stuff and a guy with a coffee can puts it on us....

Must have had 50 kings in that little boat. Fishing's not all about your gear or your boat.

In aviation we fly single engine aircraft with the expectation that we will make an emergency landing on every flight. We fly twins expecting that we will have to bring it in on one.
Treat offshore fishing the same way. Prepare to go offshore thinking that you will hit unseen debris and knock a hole in the boat or drift for days with a dead engine or hanging onto a partially sunken hull. Because it happens to guys just like us every year. And every year some survive and some don't. Think of the possibilties and prepare for them. Type 1 life jackets, and a ditch bag with water, flare gun, epirb and VHF is a minimum starting point.
You don't want some handsome romeo marrying your wife and spending your life insurance money, and your kids calling him "dad".

Tex

Gap said:

In the late 80's fishing with my dad at the Bucaneers, we were taught a lesson in cathing kingfish by 6 Vietnamese fisherman in a 18' jon boat. It was not the 6 gas cans, 6 people in a flatbottom jon, nor the kingfish stacked like cordwood in the middle of that boat that was so impressive. It was the guys in the front catching bait on a handline, passing it back to the guy in the back fishing with a big red Folgers can with mono wrapped around it! He had his hand in the middle of the can and when the king ran the can spun around his hand using his other hand as drag. All our high tech stuff and a guy with a coffee can puts it on us....

Must have had 50 kings in that little boat. Fishing's not all about your gear or your boat.

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cool post, gap.

My first boat, other than aluminum boats, was a 17' Whaler. I fished it as far as 40 miles on a regular basis. I was young, flat bellied and not to bright. I never had a problem but I think it was because I always had that little voice talking in the back of my head. It constantly reminded me I could die out there. I always listen to the little voice!

My .02, the sea can be a dangerous place, but it is also fun to adventure into. Geez, people sailed dug out canoes halfway around the world thousands of years ago. Where would we be without a sense of adventure. I regularly take my 18' CC out 30 or so, but I am very anal about maintainance, and only on days where there is little or no chance of big thunderstorms. I know the boat and my skills will handle some fairly nasty stuff, but if its a rather bumpy day I stay much closer to hedge things a bit more in my favor. Just make sure and have a good radio, good first aid kit, some boat handling skills, and some common sense. As tokavi said, listen to that little voice...
I have seen many small jon boats out long distances, even saw a pontoon boat out in solid 3s a couple of years ago, that was a scarey sight.

I have been 8 miles out of Galveston in my Bass Tracker in my younger days. Dont know If I would do it now though. I cant swim that far anymore. hehe

My Dad, Mom and I regularly went out to the Bucaneer Rigs and even out to the East Breaks out of Port O'Connor with an 18' RMC center console with a 115 Evinrude. My Dad was as anal as could be about maintaining our boat and he made sure we had safety equipment that worked. He also installed auxillary tanks so we could have a longer cruising range. We loved going snapper fishing during the fall and winter to escape the crowd of boats during the spring and summer. We were friends with Captain Jim of the Captain Doc out of Galveston and we would radio our float plan to him every trip out of Galveston. My Dad and I caught our first amberjacks off a mooring buoy near a rig 50 miles out of Port O'Connor from that little boat. Our best sow snapper trip (15 from 12 to 25#s) was in 3 to 5 foot seas at Bucaneer Field one summer. I am sure a lot of people thought we were crazy, but I felt safe in our boat because of the care my Dad took in keeping it up and his experience in navagating.

16' flat bottom. Sabine Pass

ever watch any programs on the nutty green peace guys i watch them chaising down a tanker that had to be 50 miles out guess they thought they could stop them or board the guys on the boat were dropping 55 gl drums down on the boats never sunk one these guys were in zodiacs

Smallest boat I've seen is a 14' jon boat 22 miles out of galveston with 2 guys and a 9.9 hp motor on back. Flat as glass that day, but if a thunderstorm popped up, they were swamped.

We were 20 miles out in a 17' whaler the other day on a flat day.

A lot of people say that it's foolish to go offshore with only one engine too. The way I see it is a second motor costs another $15,000 and you probably burn 50% more fuel. You can get a lot of tows for $15,000+ if your engine was to ever break down.

SurfMeister said:

We saw a Carolina Skiff flat bottom boat coming in at 25 miles when we spotted a piece of wood that was holding ling. We waved him down and let him try his luck on the ling. I know that Carlolina Skiff's are foam-filled, but man that hull must beat you to death in any kind of wave conditions. SM

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been there, done that. I have driven a 24' carolina skiff offshore the last 3 years before getting my catamaran. It would beat you to death in anything over 1.5'. It is foam filled and unsinkable, has a ton of deck space, but is not suited for offshore use for comfort reasons. Also the boat is not too keen on all the pounding it takes. It started to fall apart. I was never concerned about using a single engine offshore, though. I had towing insurance, but still, I would rather not wait 3-4 hours for a tow boat to show up.

I see people out in small boats all the time. My friend takes a 23 footer out 50/60 miles all the time out go galveston.( Loaded with six Red gas cans!) I say he is stupid. Going offshore in a single engine bay boat is dumb. I tell him that if every thing goes right you will be fine but when one little thing goes wrong your dead. Its like riding a motorcycle with out a helmet. It is stupid, stupid, stupid.
- i may be wrong, but I doubt it

Who was it (meeks or someone else ) that crossed the gulf to the Yucatan in a 22 whaler with a single engine.
I'll see if I can dig that up.

Dave

Yup John Meeks. Venice ,La to Cozumel in a 22' Whaler with a 200.

Thats going pretty far.

Dave

You don't want some handsome romeo marrying your wife and spending your life insurance money, and your kids calling him "dad".

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HAHAHA, you got my attention. LOL

Just a thought could Mont add a place on this site just for float plans? Would anyone use it? Would it help?

Erik

That's a good idea Erik...I'd use it.

WAHOO-YAHOO said:

Just a thought could Mont add a place on this site just for float plans? Would anyone use it? Would it help?

Erik

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We had a float plan forum here, but it was seldom used, I guess Mont gave it the axe...lol

~20' Pontoon boat at a 20mi rig..... "stupid is, as stupid does"

2 weeks ago we saw an 18' jon boat diving off a rig about 45+miles out..

a