Author: Colby Uva

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I've had a few boats in my life. But I will always remember my favorite one.  This boat was not the nicest or the fanciest, but boy did I catch a lot of fish on her.  

I found her on craigslist, she cost $1,000 and I sold it a year later for $1,000.  The great thing about her was it she was always ready to go and required very little maintenance.

Specs:

12 feet 

15 HP Engine

Trailer Included

Customizations Included: 

50 Gallon Live Well

12 Rod Holders

Depth Sounder

Trollling Motor Mount 

Bow Storage

Blue Underwater LED Lights

The good thing about buying a boat on craiglslist is you will often find boats that have had a ton  of work put in to them.  This little skiff probably had a few thousand dollars of work put into her. Work that I could enjoy but I did not have to pay for.  Because of this, I was able to get all of the "luxuries" (and I put that in quote because she was a jon-boat) at a fraction of the cost.  The rod holders alone probably cost more than I paid for the boat. That savings was transferred directly into time that I could spend fishing. 

Species Caught On It:  

-Redfish 

-Snook

- 400 Lb Bullshark 

- Blackfin Tuna

- Tarpon

- Sea Trout 

& More...

Average Gas Per Trip: 

$15.00

I often used this boat to target reds and snook in the Everglades.  She had a shallow draft so I could push way up onto the flats and along the mangroves.  With the low tide you would often find pockets in the seagrass where redfish and snook would duck into to escape the falling tide.   Get a gulp shrimp into there and its on!

One time Eddie and I ventured offshore to do some kite fishing.  We spooled out kite reel up with some 80Lb braid and our switched a few conventials over to kite reels by spooling them up with 20Lb mono and headed offshore.  We pulled up to the bait boat to fill up our 50 gallon live well with a few gogs and a ton of pilchards.  They looked like us like we were crazy.  We headed out of Government Cut in Miami and were on the edge in less than an hour.  We did take on about 60 gallons of water at one point on the way out of the Jetty which was nerve wrecking, but we made it nonetheless.   Once we got out we were the only boat that was able to get a kite out and within minutes we were hooked up to a fat blackfin.  

The seas were picking up, so we headed in, pulled the jon-boat over to Monty's and decided to have the tuna and a beer for lunch at 10 am.  Boy that was a day.  

Since that boat I have upgraded to different boats.  They say you don't truly appreciate something until you don't have it anymore.  Well that was true with this boat.  My next boat was a beautiful flats boat.  She was fast and she was sleek, but boy did she have engine problems.  I spent the next 6 months spending more on maintenance than I had in even purchasing the original jon-boat.  I also spent a whole lot less time fishing. 

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1 280 5 years ago