...for fishing the sky, snoqualmie, snohomish, maybe the sound and Oregon's tidewater sections? I don't have the $ for a tricked out boat so it's coming down to a drift boat with a motor, a smoker craft or m a y b e something like the alumaweld talon. What do you guys and gals say? The bulk of my fishing would be on the snohomish, the sky and the snoqualmie.

Did I mention that $ was a huge factor??

drift boat

I would get a Drift Boat

Bank,

Been contemplating much the same question...but the Skagit is our home river.

Can't afford any of the nicer motorized craft..they are beautiful..no doubt, but spendy and there is add'l maintenance that goes with that investment. Parts break...its a fact if you use the boat sooner or later parts go bad.

After looking at just about every option, including and most importantly the financial side, we have chosen to go with the drift boat.

Cost effective..about 1/3 the cost of any decent motorized craft...gets you to all the good water, and it won't break down on you and take more $ to repair.

I have a boat with a nearly new 90 hp. Johnson on it...set up for lakes and the closer in areas of the Sound. It is going to be sold and a nice new ClackaCraft will be paid for in full at the time of purchase...no payments for me, I hate the things. (Payments, that is).

You can also fix-up a DB with some real nifty goodies, and running a jet-sled won't take an ounce off your middle...a DB will (in my case I hope so!)

Hope that helps...I've done all the research and that's my conclusions.

Mike

BOD,

Our affluent and high tech society tends to overlook some tried and true solutions that have well served needs. 15 years ago there were more outboards than jet units on boats on the Skagit River, and tons of salmon and steelhead were hooked by anglers on such craft. You need to think about where you're driving if you like the lower unit, but the record shows it was commonly done. The average Skagit boat used to be 16 or 18' by 54 or 60" bottom (built from plywood) with 40 to 60 hp outboard. I've had a couple friends with Hewescraft 14' river-runners (it's almost 15' by 48" bottom) sporting 25 hp outboards, and those were serviceable craft. I use to use a 25 hp on a 14' Lund. Admittedly, I haven't seen those kind of boats on the Sky or Snoq or Snohomish (I don't fish there), but I think they would serve, although you wouldn't be able to navigate the upper Sky.

A boat like that also does Puget Sound duty.

This reminds me of an old fisheries creel census story from the late 70s, early 80s on north Puget Sound. Anglers from many, many boats were censused, from the smallest tub that would float a fisherman to near frigates. The highest catches of chinook salmon correlated with usually solo anglers using boats that averaged 15' long and powered by 15 - 25 hp outboards and using mooching gear. These were the guys who did one thing and did it well, far outfishing the rest of the recreational fleet by nearly an order of magnitude. The upshot is that the fish won't ever know how much or how little you spent on your boat.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.