Looking into buying a new rig. I'm not the cadillac kind and don't care anything for bass fishing or fiberglass. Don't need a motor that's going to break any sort of records. Just want to get from point A to point B in general comfort. Would like something around 18ft. Any suggestions on a Crappie/Catfish boat? I'm all about utility, durability, functionality and quality build. Style isn't my thing.

Thanks for anything.

JR

I have a grizzly 1754, that I use for crappie and catfish. Has a 60 hp 4 stroke on it. I like it a lot, but keep telling myself that I am going to sale it and buy a flat bottom. I like the versa track system mine has on it, other makes do the same thing. That way you can mount rod holders or whatever you want and not have to worry about drilling holes. Or if you want to troll you move the holders where you want them. Only thing that is bad about mine is there is not much storage for anything. So I added on to the deck to store trolly batteries and other fishing gear.

My next one may be a war eagle or something like that. Whatever you get just remember you will be up in the brush so don't need a fancy paint job.

Would like to see what everyone else says on boats since in a couple yrs I will be ready to purchase a different one.

Ever considered SeaArk? Seems that they produce a quality boat.

I prefer bay boats personally. They are good for everything you could want to do and handle the rougher water well. I have a 20 yr old fiberglass bay boat and I plan on using it another 40 years. I prefer the safety factor of a foam filled fiberglass vs an aluminum. Good luck and please post what you get. We all love looking at boat porn.

Tracker boats fish nice

I have a tracker 175 TXW with a Mercury 60 HP 4 stroke. Been fishing it for 5 years. I also hear from my mechanic the yamaha motors are very good. The motor gets my boat to 20-30 MPH easily and thats as fast as I need to go. It's very easy on gas and has not given me trouble to date.

Truth be told, the packages like I bought are a waste of money. I stripped the fish finder and the trolling motor and replaced them. I never use the live wells and have converted them to dry storage. You could get a used boat or just a simple aluminum boat and do fine. Biggest issue with me doing that was the wife wanting a nicer boat. The upside of having a simple aluminum boat is you can get to everything for maintenance without dealing with the plywood deck. If I bought another boat new I'd strip all the gizmos and add my own.

Other advantage of a simple aluminum boat are how easy they trailer and load.

I have a 20' Skeeter bass boat for my crappie boat, catfish boat and sometimes even bass boat, but mainly crappie boat!
I can tell you right now, a big comfortable boat with lots of storage is WAY, WAY better than a little cramped boat with no storage!

we have a grizzly 1860, rear tiller mercury 60 for our boat, it does good, pull kids tubing, knee boarding etc... goes 30mph. fast enough for rear tiller. go as big as u can, wish we had the 20 foot boat now, like someone said above, not much for storage, but lots of room for coolers and chairs. easy to clean.

Depends on where you plan to fish. How far you want to drive on the lake.
In most cases I think bigger is better,..Texas is windy, you hate to buy a little
boat that limits when and where you can fish. I have an aluminum Ranger 18 1/2 ft, with 115 merc.
I can fish all over Fork up to about 20mph wind, after that for me it's not fun...
Bigger boats with bigger mortors can stay out in a lot more,..

I love my old 1860 1990 cajun center console When it's running good..lol
I crappie and catfish just fine out of it.. I've had to do some customizing but I have it just the way I want. If I'm drifting for blues I have 6 rods out but if I'm anchored up in the shallows for the spawn I have 12 rods out (3 on each corner of the boat). Now with my Ulterra I can hit brushpiles or trees. Let me know if you have any questions for setting up your boat.

Blake�s Boats has a nice fishing boat. Here is the link.

http://blakesboatsales.com/rvs/Alumacraft/2018/PROWLER%20175/5/

I will tell ya for not a fast boat and for great room on the boat, I love my 21 foot pontoon boat. Great boat to get where you need to go, safe a comfy. Just put you a good spot lock trolling motor on it and its good as any other boat. I can take that boat in most any cover and have no problem fishing for what ever is biting. I am even competitive with it in the CAT tournaments.

Paid for is the best kinda.
I bought a G3 a couple years ago and really like it. If you can find one, and I couldn't where I live, but I woulda really liked a War Eagle. I have only been in one and it had an Evenrude and was a fishin son of a gun...

I have a 2014 express h18 bay for sale. Center console with Yamaha 90 4 stroke. Camo with depth finder and power drive v2 with I pilot. Pm for details and pictures