netboy

Well I was pretty fortunate that I worked for a major oil company that got gobbled up by a bigger oil company. That bigger oil company had tried a hostile takeover of our oil company a couple of years earlier that didn't work out. So our board of directors put sort of a "poison pill" into any takeover deal. Worked out great, I retired at 54 1/2 with healthcare and got a really nice offer to stay with the new guys but with the :"poison pill" package deal decided to just leave.

Well with the power you have I bet it doesn't slow you down much. Reminds of a guy I talked to at the ramp before a redfish tournament that had a 300HP on a flats boat. He said "I don't know where the hell we are going, but I want to be the first one there".😁

Oh I forgot to mention that some of our trips down on the Laguna were much longer engine time. During late summer and fall the redfish school up on the flats and the best way to find them was a method we called "reconnaissance under power" or RUP as the locals called it. Basically you would run the boat on slow plane and stand on the center console and hang on to what was called a "burn bar" on top of the console. You could then see the schools of reds as they pushed a large wake in the shallow water. You make a wide circle around them and shut down and when they came everyone on the boat got hooked up. On those days you may well be running 4 or 5 hours. That was 10 or 15 years ago. Now they make custom tower boats (with tunnels much to Wrench's dismay) to get higher sight advantage and run the shallows. Here is a video... Running up on a school of redfish in the Lower Laguna Madre - Bing video Also a pic of the new breed of tower/tunnel boats down there and these things are crazy fast.

Actually I had no problem adjusting...

That stuff is incredible. Had a friend with an Air Ranger airboat that I duck hunted with a couple of times that had poly on the bottom and he could run that big rig over dry land.

Actually the trip through the canals was quite relaxing. When we had company we would always do a booze cruise in the evening to look at the houses. Padre Isles is one the largest waterfront communities in the US with approximately 15 miles of canals and over 5000 homes and condos. Sometimes we would see some interesting "sights" at night when folks forget to close their bedroom window coverings.

Probably more like 2 hours per trip as we lived in a large subdivision on the Laguna. I had about a 1.5 mile trip through the neighborhood canals at idle speed before I got into the Laguna and then usually around a 8 to 10 mile trip each way to the better fishing/hunting areas. Not to mention the frequent "grass is always greener over there" moves to new locations where the redfish will be stacked up like chord wood (usually didn't pan out). Probably averaged 5 to 6 days a week fishing or running to my duck blinds during the season. Wife loves to quilt so she kept busy. I would usually go out early and be back for lunch. Pretty much on the same schedule up here. Just got back from a wade at Roundhouse shoals a couple of hours ago, fished the Narrows yesterday and Wildcat the day before. Also we had LOTS of company come to Corpus for the fishing and hunting and the kids would come use the house and boat when we went on vacation.

I had over 6,000 hours on my 2002 Suzuki 140 when I sold the rig in 2017 and never stranded.

Rule number 1 in South Texas boat running... don't throttle back until you have a least a foot of water under you.

Wrench, if you can show me a video of a non tunnel hull prop rigged boat that can match the shallow running performance of the tunnel hulls in the 3 videos I attached then I will admit you are right.

Well than I guess the guys at Supreme boats and Topwater boats here on the White river haven't got your message. What are those strange little tunnels doing on their boats????

Well bottom line is that a tunnel hull will run shallower than an a non tunnel.

Once again.... There ain't no gravel or rocks down there. Whole point of this discussion is "necessity is the mother of invention". The South Texas guys have modified shallow running outboards over the last 60 years and have come up with some great innovations to get you where you want to go. I think Double xx has a good idea also.

I almost forgot this old video that my neighbor, Matthew took running his boat in water that was less than a foot and some less that 6 inches... This is where we fished. Skinny water running shallow laguna madre flats - Bing video

Here is picture of a typical South Texas skinny water setup. The jack plate not only lifts the motor higher but sets it back about 8 inches from the transom. The prop sucks water up thru the tunnel and the compression plate keeps the water on the prop. Once on plane you can jack the motor higher where the bottom of the skeg is actually higher than the hull and still run. These boats are rigged with low water pickup nose cone to keep the water flowing. Here is a video of one running over a 4 inch sandbar, which is common down there to get to some of the better fishing areas. (1) New Water Boat Works IBIS - YouTube Another good one... (1) Shallow Water Hand Off - YouTube

Well your scenario is probably great for spin fishing but when you have 2 clients that want to sling double hook streamer flies you need some separation and you want to be the lowest profile in the middle of the boat or you are going to be digging a few hooks out of your head.

No gravel in the Laguna. Mostly hard sand bottom.

Forgot to mention that most of these boats are rigged with a large compression plate and a low water pickup nose cone. Shallow Runner nose cone kit (bobsmachine.com)

Here is a video of a south Texas shallow running tunnel hull. Unbelievable - Bing video

I have to disagree with this Wrench. Previously I lived on North Padre Island on the Laguna Madre in South Texas. That is a very shallow bay system with an average depth of around 2-3 feet. To get to some of the better fishing areas I had to cross shallow areas that were less than a foot in depth. I had a 20 foot tunnel hull skiff with a Bob's Hydraulic jack plate and could run that boat over 6 inches of water on plane with the jack plate raised up. Most all the boats down there had tunnel hulls. Once up on plane they will run way shallower than a boat with no tunnel. The tunnel shoots water up to the lower unit and when you jack the plate up it will run scary shallow. I had a 140hp Suzuki prop drive. I can only imagine what it it would do with a jet drive but jet drives wouldn't work down there because there was so much floating seagrass to clog up the intakes. If I get a new jet boat up here it will have a tunnel.

Most all the fly fishing guides here on the White drift fish with one client in the front of the boat and another in the stern. The guide sits in the middle and controls the drift with oars typically working the edges of the river and keeping the boat parallel to the bank. I have rowed 3 or 4 different river Jon boats and I can say that the drift style hull was much easier to control as that is what they are designed to do.

I have 2 friends that have XX drifters and both of them love the boats. Danny has his rigged with a 60/40 Mercury jet and Bruce has his with a 30hp Mercury prop motor rigged with a hydraulic jack plate. I have fished on Bruce's rig and was very impressed at how easy it was to row and how it handled under power. They are built like a tank and laid out very well inside. Their shop is the cattle pasture just across the road from the Ranger boat plant here in Flippin. Here is a recent video that shows lots of the features... (1) Facebook

I haven't heard of any plan to stock more. Hopefully some stay put in the C&R area so they don't end up in hot grease.

Forgot to mention that they are moving down the river. I have caught 2 around Wildcat and 1 just below the Cotter access.