trolling flat bottom fishing boats 500 lbs capacity

Bottom line is that four gunwale-mount rodholders just does not cut it offshore and you’ll need more than that to get it done. It’s a corporate bean-counting thing, plus manufacturers are trying to expand their appeal with family friendly craft, so they are installing cupholders where rodholders used to be (there are interesting combo rodholder/cupholder options now available). It’s no secret that most of the factory fishing boat setups follow the usual decades-old, cookie-cutter approach when installing gunwale-mount rodholders – usually two per side and that’s it. The focus of this article will be on how to set up your 21 to 27 foot fishing boat to compete with the big boys, at a fraction of the cost. The lesson to be learned here is that small can typically fish VERY BIG and you don’t need to own a 35 to 40 footer to bend the rods when trolling out on the briny. I can honestly say that in the five seasons that I have owned it, this boat has caught and/or released its weight in tuna, dorado and other pelagics. My current charter boat is a 2006 EdgeWater 228 CC, with a dry weight of 3,000-lbs without power. The other 18 ranged in size from 22 to 27 feet.

Two of these were under 20-feet in length. I have owned or leased 20 boats since 1980. Here’s what you need to do and know to set up your 21 to 27 footer for maximum offshore performance.

Trolling flat bottom fishing boats 500 lbs capacity