Flats boat duck boat

R

Robby Stubley

New member
Anyone use a bay/flats boat to hunt from or transport their gear to and from hunting? Picked up a Hewes 18 Redfisher last spring, and while I have a small fleet of duck-specific boats, I'm looking forward to being able to make longer runs on bigger water with the Hewes. Most likely I'll just use it for transport and then hide it with an old parachute and some camo netting, but does anyone have any experience actually hunting from a similar style boat?
 
Robby, it will work fine. Lots of people hunt the sounds here with white fishing boats. Some with 24' plus fiberglass v hulls. The ducks don't seem to mind a white fishing boat anchored a ways down the bank. They get used to the white boats, commercial fishing. This February on youth day we walked back to the boat and there were several hundred redheads rated up sleeping beside our 21 ft white Carolina skiff. Looking at pictures of your boat it looks like it might be hard to keep the decoy bags from falling out if your had to put the on the raised decking. Ratchet straps should help. I strap bags on the casting platform when I take a group of us hunting. I'm sure the safety of a bigger boat will out weigh any inconvenience of the layout of your flats boat. Good luck
 
Josh, thanks for the response. My boat fishes (and I'm assuming hunts) larger than it really is, and I have no concerns whatsoever about being able to carry 1-2 hellbenders stacked on the bow, and 100+ decoys and gear. I'm looking forward to giving it a go come November. I'm used to hunting smaller, sheltered water with horsepower restrictions, so being able to run the bays and avoid the crowds during the "busy" part of the season should be a nice change of pace.
 
you and I need to talk.....mainly cause I need to know which Bays aren't crowded during the busy part of the season.....I hunted the Gulf for the first time in several years last season and was STUNNED at the number of hunters....groups on every point and the late comers stacked up on the shorelines in between....it was insane, and especially since back in the old days if you saw another hunter you plotted with him where each of you would set up in the hopes of keeping birds from rafting up on the next major loafing spot that you weren't set up on.....


I hunt he same boat you do, (though I am bringing a bigger boat with me from Washington to use as a blind boat)......on those days when the GUlf is calm enough to allow you to use the Benders as layouts in open water you'll do well out in the open water.....we had a couple of good days like tat last season but also watch full sized layouts swamped in unexpected bad weather.....(which is why I'm bringing the bigger boat........


You're in Thomasville....DaniBeth is in Tallahassee and she and I hunt her area frequently......give me or her a shout and one of us can tell you what we're doing when we hunt out of the Redfisher......


Steve
 
Steve, I'll shoot you a PM. We've talked before on other FL forums...I think the username I used on FL Waterfowler was DuckDawg. I'm the guy who killed the leucistic Fulvous whistler a few seasons back, and we exchanged a few PM's. Crowded and uncrowded are terms I use loosely in this area, and I try to avoid the more popular coastal areas like the plague. I've hunted out of my hellbender quite a few times as an open water layout boat, both on the coast and on the lakes, and agree they're very effective on calm days that allow for that style of hunting.

The world needs a few more lawyers, so my time is split between home in Thomasville, and Oxford, MS (Ole Miss Law). I'll gladly give either of you a shout whenever I'm back hunting in this area though, and will be here working and fishing all summer.
 
Ahhhhh....I remember that duck.....


Drop me a note....we had a totally zip year last year with STA and Goodwin draws and as a result spent the season split between Bluebills and REdheads off my dock and a mixed bag in the Panhandle....will definitely be spending more time in the Pandhandle this coming season....I'm bringing my diver rig from Washington with me in the move plus my big boat which early season will be great for an open water boat blind and then later as a tender......




Shoot me a note and we can talk...




Steve
 
Robby,

You'll be just fine.

I've been hunting my flats boats for (20) twenty plus years using an old Korean War camo chute & some palm fronds.

(100) one hundred Dekes, (1) one layout & (2) two hunters will be no problem.

If you plan to hunt out of it at times, check out www.wanganchor.com & try both the bow & stern mounts.

I've got them on (3) the of my boats & the work great!!!

Call if you have any questions on the Hewes, we've restored (3) three over the years from the stringer up. Normally though, it's the electrical under the console that takes a dump first.
 
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Thanks for the response, Jeff. Parachute, camo netting, and fronds were my gameplan should I decide to hunt a few guys from the boat and leave the layouts at home. Aside from the beam (and the fighting lady yellow hull/white deck), she shouldn't be much more difficult to hide than a large duck boat. With regards to the wiring, my Hewes is an 04 and hasn't had many issues. I've replaced the bilge, a live well pump, and I did some minor electrical repairs and rewiring when I picked her up last spring up in SC. Hard to beat the ride and performance of a Hewes, but they aren't winning any awards for electrical wiring and organization under the console.
 
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