WaterfowlForum.Net

Hey guys... Long time reader first time poster!

I've been a field and marsh guy most of my hunting career but d/t a recent move and limited property to hunt I picked up a boat for open water hunting. It's a 18' starcraft with a 90hp outboard and side counsel, gutted with decoy shelves and open floor and custom aluminum spray shield/blind. I'll post a pic as soon as I can.

My question is what kind of success can I plan on having hunting directly out of the 18' starcraft. I don't know if I need to or want to invest in a layout boat simply because I'll be hunting usually with only one other person. My hunting will be taking place on the bay of Green Bay, Lake Winnebago, and pool 9 in the Mississippi.

Lots of hunters have lots of success hunting from a boat. Best piece of advice I can give you is don't under estimate camouflage. Grass the hell out of that thing and when you're done grass it some more.

Here's some pic's of the rig... Would you still brush the hell out of it?

Oh forget everything I said. I didn't see this was in the diver section. You should be just fine in that!

Is that flints boat?

You can kill out of that just the way it is

The Duck Hammer wrote:Is that flints boat?

No. His was much smaller.

Nice rig, just make sure all your safety equipment is up to snuff.......lifejackets, a throwable ring or cushion, etc. Hunting out in the deep water makes for new dangers, good luck!

Yeah... I'm paranoid about safety so we are definitely up to snuff in that department. Plus in WI law requires most of your safety equipment for this large of a boat... fire extinguisher, one throwable preserver, and one for each occupant, flares, orange smoke signal and whistle/horn... I've also purchased a PLB, strobe, and portable weather radio... you can't be too cautious on the big water...

DukMan wrote:Yeah... I'm paranoid about safety so we are definitely up to snuff in that department. Plus in WI law requires most of your safety equipment for this large of a boat... fire extinguisher, one throwable preserver, and one for each occupant, flares, orange smoke signal and whistle/horn... I've also purchased a PLB, strobe, and portable weather radio... you can't be too cautious on the big water...

Sounds like you're in the game! I could use a couple more items myself for some of our bigger water routes to the marsh holes

So I'm up in the air right now about what I'm going to use on my boat for a kicker... do I put my 7.5hp Chrysler on the back which has never let me down and one pull starts like a champ.... or spring for a 101lb thrust engine mount minn kota 36v system... this would also allow me to pick up ducks quietly without starting up the main motor...

Thoughts?

Stay with old faithful

Bad17 wrote:Stay with old faithful

X2

So long story short I had trouble mounting the 7.5 hp motor I had due the configuration of the blind and current outboard. I decided to go with a 80lb thrust 24v EM Minn Kota. I will post some pictures and updates on how is works shortly.

Mounted the motor and took it out... Got about 4mph out of it with about a 1.5' chop in the bay... I didn't think that was too bad.

I would still have supplemental camo available. Those colors wouldn't work well here where all the cattails are still bright green. Match surroundings with camo. I carry 4 lengths of painted conduit with me, sometimes the cover isn't tall enough so I push the conduit into the bottom, spread a piece of leaf o flage over it and fill it with the local growth. Then I pull the boat right under the leaf o flage, which has a slit in the top to shoot out of.

I have two military surplus camo nets... 8' x 20' brown/green. I drape them over the edge of the boat then clip on some Avery realgrass, which I zip tied in clumps to clothes pins for easy set up and removal. I match the realgrass to the surrounding environment. I will post a picture of it all camo'd out in a week or so, to give you an idea of where I'm at.