thinking abt getting a boat slip to make wintertime crappie fishing more convenient
the marina I called wants 275 a month with a one year contract.. you must be 25 or over to rent a slip.. I would like to get my son on the lease, so he can come and go as he wants, but he isnt 25 yet hes 23
. they dont have any slips for a 19 foot boat with lifts in them right now
If I get on a list, and a slip with a lift comes open, its an additional 60.00a month
if I rent a slip without a lift, I can put my own lift in if I want.. NO CHARGE for me to install my own lift.
they dont have dedicated electrical outlets for each lift, they have a share a outlet set up like 4 on the pole.
the reason I dont like this is because if I have my charger plugged in, to keep my automatic bilge pump going in case a leak develops in my hull. if someone unplugs it, with no lift my boat could sink.
also I could only fish in my slip or designated spots around the marina, not in other folks slips.
if I bring someone to my slip, they must arrive and leave with me .
ive never rented a slip at a marina before.. is this pretty much SOP at most marinas?
I understand the marinas are trying to establish rules and order but it seems like it would be kind of excessive to stop u from fishing in other peoples slips if they are not there. also require my son to be 25 to be on the lease. (he can be drafted under selective service and be required to give his life for this country), he can own a business, a house, a car, and half of a boat, but cannot be on a marina lease at 23 years of age ?
I dont want get into something I will regret for a whole year. although they do offer month to month option for 285 a month. I dont think they are having alot of trouble renting slips, as lot of people are living on thier barges and boats in this horrible economy.. same thing happened in 07-08 when the housing market collapsed.
I imagine theres alot of politics that go on at marinas, and my [censored] tolerance level is very low. anyone want to share thier experiences ? any comments appreciated.. thanks

I feel it’s very reasonable to keep you from fishing others slips. Most marinas have this rule. Just as you have paid good money to have your own private slip, they have paid good money to have their own private slip and don’t want other people using it. I will say $285/month seems excessive, at least to me it does. Keeping a boat at a slip without a lift is hard on a boat in my experience, plus it requires bottom paint and other maintenance. I personally would not do it. After you do that for a while you miss being able to load up a boat and go wherever you want.

$285/month? That's getting up there towards Guide prices.

I'd take that money and go fish with a guide 4 or 5 times a year.

Most marinas are like this now and this is why I let my slip go. Marinas do not want fisherman wondering around at all times of the days. They think we are the ones that steal things and cause damage. I agree with above. I would get a guide a few times a year instead of dealing with that. Marina crappie are never consistent from my experience

Reasonable........HELL NO!!! Thank God I live out west,fish anywhere you want,dock owners come out say hi and ask if the fish are biting.

As for storage I'd rather keep mine in the carport here at home and drag it 30 miles to a couple lakes I fish quite often or 65 miles to one I fish occasionally,2 maybe 3 times a year.To top it off I have separation issues with my boat........I like her right here where she's safe and sound

My friend has his boat in a marina and he listed me as his partner so I get to fish there. The marina lets you fish all over because there are a bunch of us that helps the marina manager patrol the marina of people that pulls their boat into the empty slips and then walk all over the marina as if they are members but we report those to the manager and the problem is always solved and taken care of right away. So we have a very good working relationship with the marina manager. All of the members that fish for crappie also ensure that the marina itself is always clean of trash and debris that the boat owners may have forgotten to clean up especially on weekends when they bring the kids out. All of the fishing groups do not mind doing this to help the manager ensure that the marina is always clean and is why he lets the members fish throughout the marina because he knows that we will take care and not destroy anyone's slip nor property.

As mentioned above the thing to keep in mind is that many marinas the crappie are only there a few months out of the year, so you’re paying a full year for maybe 3-4 months of decent fishing.

No electricity would be a hard no for that price. Plus the other comments above. sounds like a great way to tear your boat up leaving it in the water

I have a boat in one of the local marinas. (North Dallas) It's $400+ per month without a lift so $285 sounds like a deal. That said, if I had to do it all over again I would NOT advise "renting" a slip. Here are the reasons against it:
* boat hull gets warped quickly and the lower unit/prop wlll do the same unless you remember to tilt up every time. major algae growth and zebra mussels if you're on one of THOSE lakes
* wind, rain, birds, spiders will do their damage on the topside.....especially spiders...their poop is horrible. Most people with nicer boats have a spider net but those are several hundred $$
* people will unplug your extension cord and you'll go through batteries quicker than normal...the boater/skier crowd don't care about onboard battery chargers and will never plug your cord back in
* like mckinneycrappie said above, depending on what lake you're on, the crappie are NOT in the slips year around...doesnt mean you can't bait out your slip for catfish though! i'm lucky if I get crappie for 3-4 months
* i've had my marina move my entire section of boat slips so they could add an extension...to do this they cut off all of the brush piles hanging down in your slip (I try my best to hide the hang ropes but they still get cut)
* your slip (if baited) will get fished by everyone else...i have my top 10 slips I like to fish so it goes around and I don't mind if I walk up and find someone else fishing my slip
* not a huge issue but you can't simply walk your brush/trees down from your truck to your slip-it's not allowed. Marina manager yelled at me the first time but said she would turn her back if she saw me bringing the brush BY BOAT to my slip
* on a positive note, I imagine there is theft but in the 4-5 years of having my boat in a slip, I have never had anything stolen or broken...I do take all my gear back and forth

Alot of marinas have been bought out by corporations and they are no longer fishing friendly. They now cater to the pleasure boaters and they have really cracked down on fisherman. I know they have taken over marinas at Joe Pool and Lewisville. I'm surprised they are not willing to give your son access. I would think family members would be included with the lease.

A lot of marinas are also not allowing you to brush out slips anymore.

well I have 2 boats so thats not an issue, one is larger so I dont use it to tow far away. but didnt think abt having the special bottom paint.

thats a very good analysis and something to consider... thanks
guide prices in my area are around 400. for a half day.

heres the thing though, anybody with a boat can, float tube, ect pull up to any slip in a marina and fish it,, as the marina does not own the water..and theres no legal action the marina can bring against this,. so to me , restricting someone who is leasing a spot at the marina from fishing in empty slips from the marina itself is odd. So I think its not so much abt fishing other peoples docks, its more abt keeping people from having an excuse to be near other peoples boats and equiptment to deter damage and theft.
heres something to consider, say you make friends with several people who have slips rented at a marina, and they all agree that its ok to fish each others slips.. are marina operators going to say you cant do it? I mean where does it end? if you have to constantly be worried that u might be breaking some kind of rule, and get kicked off the property, it seems like the juice just isnt worth the squeeze.

The marina will not side with your agreement and I have experience in this. This also fed into me leaving my slip. We had a slip out on the deeper side of the marina and it was spring and so the fish were in the back of the marina in shallower water. We would go and fish the shallow slips and there was an older gentleman who was very nice and sunk condos in his slips that were loaded up with fish. We fished over there by this guy (not in his slip) and were talking and he told me that I could fish his slip anytime he wasn't there and had absolutely no problem with it. Fast forward a few days later, I go and start in his slip (he is not there). I notice there is another guy at the end of the dock when I start fishing. I proceed to catch several nice fish in a matter of minutes in the guys slip that told me I could fish there from a previous day. The guy at the end of the dock came over to me in a matter of 5 minutes and said that the guy doesn't want anyone fishing his slip and I needed to go back to mine. I explain to him that I wasn't going anywhere as I talked to the guy the other day and he himself told me I could fish it when he wasn't there. He proceeded to say he was going to get the marina manager to come and I told him to do whatever and I wasn't scared of him or the manager. Then he threatened to punch me and we have words back and forth and he then goes and gets the manager. I explain to the manager that the guy (I called him by name as he told me his name while we were talking) said I could fish his slip when he wasn't there just the other day and the manager told me to go back to my slip. From that point on, I knew the money was not worth it slip fishing anymore