I enjoy this site and visit regularly for my bass fishing fix and occasionally lurk around the saltwater section. My dad is looking at buying a new or slightly used center console. He's looking around the 22' range and would like to be able to do a little bit of everything with it. We're hoping to take it offshore on calm days and fish the bays. Any recommendations? Also, I visit a few other fishing sites, but seem to have a hard time finding dedicated sites for bay fishing. Any recommendations? I love this site, but it is definitely focused on fresh water fishing. Thanks for the help guys!

www.2coolfishing.com is another great free site. www.360tuna.com is another. Those are the only 3 I frequent anymore, with this one being my favorite due to the bass fishing sections.

look at a Blue wave, they make a good all purpose boat and they are fairly priced.

haynie boats are the only way to go, little more expensive but well worth it. run skinny and very stable for offshore. taken mine 40 miles out

I've looked at Blue Wave, and I can't find a thing wrong with them, but the price worries me. One of those, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is, things. TX Grizzly do you have any personal experience with them? How do they handle offshore? I'll take a look at Haynie as well. Rockport 2, what model do you have and if you don't mind, how much does it run?

i own a 18' classic. my boat is more set up for shallow water running but i have taken it into some pretty rough water. the boats are made light so they are rougher than a heavier hulled boat but i have never run into anything it wouldnt handle. i have also taken it offshore on nice days so far i couldnt see land....

You might look at a 23ft Haynie. It,s is a all around boat. In the Bays and the Gulf. I have bend 25 miles off shore in mind,its take the water good (a dry running boat. Works great in the Bays too.

Hey Basstexan, I see you are in RRock. I'm not far from you in the country in Georgetown. I'm sure that you will find that everyone likes the boat that they have. Having said that. Every time I take my Kenner 18vx I like it more. Handles rough water great, smooth ride. That Merc motor is so reliable.

Have fun shopping. There's so many really good ones to choose from.


Don

I run a Haynie 21T and in my opinion they are the best boat for the money. It constantly amazes me on how shallow it will run and it handles rough water like a dream, I can count on one hand the number of times I have been sprayed crossing rough bays, and those times were my fault. I fish all over Rockport area and this boat will go anywhere I need to go from Baffin to San Antonio Bay. Talk to Chris at Chris's Marine about them he builds them, tell him Darrin gave you his name.

wait until you can go to the houston boat show. spend a day or two looking over all your options. the show is in january and is one of the largest in the nation. this show allows you to really compare fit and finish of all the boats that your interested in and save you a lot of time that might have been spent running from dealer location to dealer location comparing the boats of your choice. even if you don't buy new you will have a better idea of what used boat your interested in purchasing. i live in oklahoma and drive down every year to look around at what is new in the boat world......rick

23ft BIGFOOT. 200 opti, its bad [censored]. I can burn the blats looking for schools of reds, or anchor up in the surf. I have all the options, you can have plus Im on the merc pro team. I think I paid 32,000.

I have had a 22 bluewave since 2000. It is a great BAY boat.
It lives on lake Palestine but has spent time on Sabine lake
and out to the islands at Gulfport MS. I have no complaints
on the boat.
It is not a flats boat or an offshore boat. You cannot have
everything in one hull, but it is a good compromise.
good luck
MO