Posted on May 21 2009
South Andros is an environment that presents quite a few challenges for a flats skiff.
- We fish some really skinny water, so boats need to run shallow.
- The fishery is immense, so we need to cover some ground.
- Our season is long, we’re very busy, and it’s a remote, rural environment – durability and maintainability are key.
We run 15′ – 17′ flats skiffs made by Dolphin, Mitzi and Rahming Marine. They’re powered by 55 – 60 hp Mercury outboards with tiller steer. They strike a great balance between running in shallow water and providing a good ride to the flats.
They’ve got poling platforms and padded and molded Todd captain’s chairs for anglers. These features are mission-critical for a great angling experience.
They don’t have bilge pumps, GPS, stereos or electrical systems at all. These are ‘nice-to-haves’ and they break in an environment like this.
They’re not the Ferraris of the flats fishing world, but we don’t need them to be. They just get the job done in a brutal environment for a couple thousand angler-days a year.