posted 09-25-2009 04:25 PM ET (US)        

The primary use of the boat is for fishing in the Chesapeake Bay. I fish about 60 times or more a year. The Verado had 5 hours on it when I took delivery and it now just got its 600 hours checkup. I keep the boat on a trailer at a marina. The marina has a ramp so towing is only about 100 yds except when I take it to the dealer for servicing.

My boat is equipped with a 250 Verado (6 year warranty), hardtop, optional bench seat on the port side, raw water washdown and weather curtains. The electronics I had installed are a Raymarine C80 as a chartplotter/GPS, Furuno 585 fish finder and VHF radio. I have been happy with all the electronics and just had a Lewmar Pro-fish windlass installed this week. The boat is on a Performance tandem aluminum bunk trailer with fore bunks.

My use of the boat is strictly governed by fishing style at a particular time of the year. I start fishing in mid-March and stop in mid-December. Being that I am not retired fishing is pretty much a weekend thing. You either have to fish in some snotty seas or stay home. This is where the boat shines. The weather curtains keep the wind and spray off of you. When the sun comes through the weather curtains it is pretty comfortable. I have to admit my increased experience running the boat has allowed me to use the boat more effectively too.

In the spring and late fall I pull planner boards and troll for large striped bass (called rock in Maryland). I troll with 11 rods. This meant I had to add a bunch of rod holders. The boat came with 7 (3 rocket launcher, 2 in the gunwale and 1 on either side of the engine.) I have added 2 more on the gunwales facing out at about 45* and 6 Lee Tackle Tulip clamp-on holders (three on each hardtop support). This allows me to move rods around to get them out of the way when landing a fish.

During late spring through early fall I chum, liveline, troll some (only 4 rods and lighter rods) and light tackle jig. The main problem I had was where to put the rod holder mounted bait table. When it was on either gunwale people had to move to let someone get to the bait table or go to the other side of the boat to get bait. The solution to this was to add an inexpensive clamp-on rod holder back behind the transom seat in the motor well to hold the bait table. The center location makes it easy for all fishermen to access it and not get in each others way.

While during the spring and fall I love having the below deck fishboxes for big unhappy fish, during the summer I have gone to just using a 70 qt cooler. The cooler holds bait as well as the fish. This allows me to lift the cooler out so someone can start cleaning the catch and everyone else can clean the boat.

The performance of the boat with respect to speed, RPM and fuel consumption has not varied much since the first year I had it. I started targeting flounder this year and I troll for them. This requires very slow speeds (1.8 mph) which it does easily. My normal trip this year has been 20 – 25 miles. I use about 10 – 12 gallons of gas. I have to admit I used to watch the Smart Craft and keep GPH at about 10 – 11 but that has move up a bit to 11 – 12.

As I said before the primary use for the boat is fishing, however, when the wife and I have friends onboard I find the seating in the boat to be very versatile. The port side seat flips up as well as the transom seat. It makes for a pleasant cruise with friends.

The wife only comes out a couple times a year. There are not many women on the boat often. I did unplumb the porta-pottie to gain more floor space in the cabin. The caps for the openings on the porta-pottie can be found at Home Depot. One is a PVC cap and the other is a garden hose cap. This provides me the flexibility to be able to move around easier and when I do have a lady on board I can put it back in. When I do put it back in I do not replumb I just pull it and dump it in the head at the marina. Works for me.

There really have not been any problems with the boat. I had one time last year when he motor seemed starved for fuel. It would start but not accelerate when I hit the throttle. After I waited about 5 minutes it was fine. The same thing happened this year. It seems that there was a recall on some fuel system components that were fixed under warranty.

posted 09-28-2009 07:19 PM ET (US)            

I was very surprised to hear about trolling for flounder. When seeking flounder in the Bay we always just tried a drift over oyster beds at nine feet. That always got the job done.
I'd love to learn how to troll for flounder as that is a plentiful species here in the Mobile Bay where I now fish from my Dauntless. The nine foot rule does not seem to work here. Most of the flounder we take are from shallower water.

posted 09-28-2009 10:05 PM ET (US)            

I use a regular flounder rig with a minnow and squid sandwich. I fish ledges that can start at 14' and drop to 40' in two boat lengths. In order to maintain contact I use a 10 oz. weight on the flounder rig clip. The weight and letting out line allows me to maintain contact with bottom. The rods I use are 7'spinning rods with Okuma Avenger 30ABF baitfeeder reel. The reels have 20# braid on them.

I troll along the edge between 18'- 28'. Depending on the wind and tide SOG can be between 1.7 mph and 3 mph. The anglers hold the rods and lift them just enough to raise the weigh slightly and then thump in on the bottom. The braid allows you to distinctly feel the weight hitting the hard bottom.

Trolling allows me to keep the boat on the ledge and not having to rely on the current or wind. I used to drift for them but find that trolling allow me to stay in the sweet spot longer.

posted 09-29-2009 07:53 PM ET (US)            

During the spring and fall trophy season the fish we are after are 38" to 50" stripers. We use planer boards which are towed by the boat. Each planer board is attached to my hardtop by 100' of .095 weedwacker line. Rods will be deployed along the 100' of line and I will explain how later. The fish will either go deep to avoid the boat or out to the side. Obviously the planer boards are meant to target the fish that go to the side of the boat.

Towing planer boards allows me to cover about a 150' swath of water accounting for the drag of the boards.

The lure, usually a parachute with a 9" shad, is attached to a 20' leader. Could be a single or tandem rig. The leader attached to the rod line.

I will fish 4 rods off of each board. The rod line is attached to the weedwacker line via a clip with a carabiner on it. I let out 50' - 80' of line. I put the line into clip and put the carabiner on the weedwacker line. The drag of the lure and the down angle of the weedwacker line to the planer board allow the carabiner and line to travel down toward the planer board. The first rod out goes all the way down to within about a foot of the planer board. The next about 15' from the first. I follow the same procedure for the other two rods.

The spread looks like this:
- 4 rods on the starboard planer board line
- 4 rods on the port planer board line
- 1 rod from the center roof rodholder
- 1 rod on the starboard corner rodholder
- 1 rod on the port corner rodholder

The center roof rodholder rod will be back about 300'. The two corner rods are about 50 - 70' with heavy sinkers and umbrella rigs.

Now for landing the fish. Remember I have two rodholders on each gunwale plus the one back by the motor. When a fish hits the planer board lines the line goes straight back. I will move the corner rod to the rod holder by the motor. This clears the whole gunwale to land the fish.

Now you have to get the planer board rod back in the water. You adjust the rods closest to the boat down the weedwacker line so they are spaced correctly. You have to remember to move the rods up to fill in the space left by rod that got hit(critical to avoid crossing lines). Redeploy the rod that got hit just like the other and put it in the bottom rodholder. It will now be the closest to the boat.

I know you are saying this is a lot of work and complicated. It really is not that bad. It takes me about 30 minutes get them all out with help from the crew. During the spring we get winter jellyfish (we call them snot because that is what they look like) and they foul the lures. You do have to do the whole process in reverse to get them in and clean them.

It does catch fish. The planer boards get hit a lot.