Wondering who's fished out of boats like mine and if you had any tips to make it more fishable?

Bought this fish/ski 2 years ago. Planned to use it for the family and some water sports but so far has been strictly fishing.Same hull and basic deck layout that the mfg used for their DC bass boat but with extra seats. It's solid as a rock and in great shape but there are some things that make it not the best fishing boat. Front deck is a little small for serious bass fishing. Driver/pass seats pushed fore to make room for additional seats (seats 5 pretty comfy but at the cost of front deck space) I think that fore seating location makes for slower hole shot and a little rougher ride. Walk thru windshield is fantastic about 20% of the time and a giant PITA the other 80%. There is NO good place to store rods other than ski box in floor. We end up with rods all over the boat when running from spot to spot.

Ipilot, that way you can fish off the large rear deck instead of the tiny front deck.

Good looking boat.
Don't know if it would work for you, but my neighbor has a similar layout on his boat and has vertical rod racks in the front section
mounted on the wall in front of the passenger side windshield where his cushions used to be.

Working $$$ on that one Alumacraft
Thanks Winger, never thought about that. Have to say that best place I've found so far is front deck leaning against passenger windshield, so your suggestion might work

TF2T, i had a Triton 18SF with a similar layout. it may have been a bit smaller, but i found out it didn't really fish or ski very well.

The best i could come up with fishing was using Alumacraft's suggestion of the iPilot and fishing off the back deck. When i fished off the front deck i felt like i should always be seated. I always used the remote control for the iPilot to keep the foot pedal off of the deck. The remote feature or iPilot in general does away with the cables needed for the steering and that does away with some of the clutter.

The windshield for me was always a PITA. Even on cold days running across the lake i sat up and above it so i could see. For me i don't think i got 10% use out of it.

I ended up with my rods strapped on the rear deck and beside the passenger seat while running, that way my front deck stayed clear so i could deploy the trolling motor. Once deployed, i used the anchor feature on the TM and i moved the rods to the front deck to get them out of the way.

I pretty much quit bass fishing in the 18SF, and went to drifting for catfish or crappie fishing, all off the rear deck with rod holders i made to fit in the seat pedestal poles. I bought offset seat pedestals and used them in the slots of your rear seats, facing out the back. The offset gave me just enough leg room in the space where the seats typically stored to be able to sit and stand to grab a rod. However the offset put the seat backs right up against the front seats. As well, I bought and modified a seat pedestal for the passenger seat that set it up a little and let it swivel to face out of the back when it was just me fishing. A little more comfortable.

In the end i never really found a good solution for fishing out of the fish and ski and traded it for a TriToon boat, for the family and outings. that was really a total cluster for skiing and fishing. Took a beating on that and ended up in Triton Bass boat last year. The family is grown and gone and it's just me fishing now, so my needs are just mine.

Hope this helps. Sorry for the long read.

Remove the windshield. Take a 3/4 inch board carpet it and bridge the opening in the front deck, make it removeable. That way you pick up more floor and casting space.

Thanks guys. I think I will pull the windshield, the 10% for me is just when it�s cold. You�re right about the rain though rooster it becomes worthless I end up kneeling on the seat.

Just had a thought I could pull pass seat and have pretty good spot to store rods. Wouldn�t work with three in the boat but might work with two?

LOL, that's what i did. I don't think i ever sat down in the seat.

Alumacrafts idea is a good one and had I kept my FS I was going to do something very similar. My idea was to start with a step even with the rear of the consoles, then build the insert flush with the front deck and fill in the leg space all the way. I figured the step would get them up there if they wanted to lay in the sun, plus i never needed the sitting room up there. you could keep it removable or or if you wanted it permanent, hinge it and make storage in the walk space below. if you build the step, you can have holes drilled along the sides and put your handles of your poles in there for vertical storage.

I didn't care about losing the floor/ski storage as i never used it anyway. if i remember it seemed to always be wet. i took the ski's/wake board/tube, whatever in and out of the boat as i didn't want the weight or trouble of something else in the boat to trip over.

if you carpet the 3/4" plywood on the front deck as alumacraft suggested, you may still have room to mount vertical rod holders on the consoles where the walk through is.

Another idea i had but couldn't do this on mine because of the cut outs in the sides of the interior (storage), but on the off change you interior sides allow, you may be able to remove the cushion and mount vertical holders at an angle toward the back and have room to keep the seats in place

i don't know if you would have room to sit, but if you removed the windshield, could you mount one the rod holders used for inside storage with the foam inserts or some sort of strap in the windshield track and have the rods lay on the front deck pointed toward the rear and strapped in on the console?

Good luck with it. It's a pretty boat and I am sure you can make it as fishable as you want.

One option that I saw someone do was to replace the windshield with two small plastic windshields like on a dual console bass boat. Much lower than the one you have on there now. Also less fear of breaking it with a weight flying back on a missed hook set.

I started with a little ranger fish and ski and then moved over to an Allison xb2003. Still sat 5, just a bit more fun and better front deck than a regular fish and ski platform

I fished out of an Astro Fish&Ski for years. You will not want to take that windshield in and out, its a PITA. Bridge the deck to increase platform. As for rod storage, that was always a complaint of mine but never found a solution especially with the 7'plus rods.

I have a Ranger 212LS Reata and, while it is a large boat at 21 1/2ft long, it�s still a fish and ski. We put in the optional deck extender and it made all the difference for fishing up front. I appreciate the windshields when it�s really cold and you�re zinging across the lake at 60mph. Also gives me a little secure feeling when the young grandkids are in the boat.

I think Ranger screwed up when they went to more ski than fish. I will probably never own any other than a CC/Bay Boat. Then only thing I regretted about my 375V was that I did not get a 395V. Just sell the half baked boat and get a Bay. I fished in the same waters last spring in my 22' bay that I did in the 18' Ranger.

I'm surprised Pat Goff has not chimed in on this thread. He always has glowing comments about the Fish & Skis.

Put an ULTREX on it. then you can fish anywhere on the boat with the remote.