01/01/11 Is There Such Thing As The Perfect Boat?

January 2011
Sport Fishing Magazine
FOR THE RECORD
Is There Such Thing As The Perfect Boat?
By Tred Barta

I’ve spent about a half-century on deep, blue waters in virtually every kind of fishing boat imaginable. I have trolled the Northeast Canyons some 90 to 150 miles offshore, and the Bahamas flats off Cat Cay and Bimini for giant Bluefin tuna in seas a mere 20 to 70 feet deep. I’ve extensively fished both coasts of the United States as well as South and Central America, South Africa and elsewhere. Yes sir, I've been there, and I can tell you definitively that each area has a special circumstance that requires a special technique and a specific boat design.
If getting to your fishing spot represents 95 percent of the battle (running from Shinnecock Inlet, New York, out to Veach's Canyon in 4- to 6-foot seas with occasional 8-footers on the edge), well then a 46- to 65-foot battlewagon has the ideal weight, length, draft, deadrise and cockpit working area. Examples of superb boats in this category that come to mind include the legendary Bertram 54, the 65-foot Buddy Davis or any of the classic, rough-water North Carolina boats like Jarrett Bay, Mann, Briggs, Bayliss, Davis and Spencer.
If you want to fish and have a luxurious and seaworthy condo on steroids, Hatteras, Viking and Ocean all provide a fishing home away from home. But if you follow the old tradition where our family fishing heritage and innovation really started, and you consider yourself a student not only of our sport but the reasoning behind it, you'll end up on Rybovich's doorstep in the mid- to late 1950s and then at Merritt Boatworks in the '60s and '70s. The concept is very easy to understand: Blue-water fishing is all about cockpit space, quality of the wake (small wake and an absence of white water), shallow shaft angle and medium to small deadrise with the
bottom aft almost flat.
Early sport-fishing boats maxed-out at 36 to 41 feet. Were they perfect in the olden days? Let me dispel a huge myth: These boats ran into a heavy head sea like a jackhammer goes through concrete. And they weren't particularly comfortable.
Today, as a light-tackle angler confined to a wheelchair and fishing 2- to 12-pound test for most species, I find that exceptional maneuverability, a super-clean wake and a large cockpit are far more important features in a boat than creature comforts or how it runs into a head sea. These days, if it's not calm, I just don't go!
Ask 100 captains what the best sport-fishing boat in the world is. Ninety of them will go on incessantly about 90 different boats. Blah, blah, blah. The most experienced captains the ones with decades under their belt will ask, "What are you fishing for and where?"
Both modern custom and production vessels are better than anyone fishing 50 years ago could have ever imagined. In fact, the best offshore fishing boats in the world are made in the USA. But is there a bluewater fishing boat that combines condo comfort, heavy-sea capability, proper wake, adequate cockpit size, maneuverability, fuel economy and perfect fishraising qualities? I say absolutely, unequivocally, non-negotiably: No!
Considering my condition, if I were actually in the market to buy a personal fishing boat just for myself today, what would it be?
For what I do in relatively calm water, using ultralight tackle fishing for billfish and tuna, I would choose a classic 37-foot Merritt, 37-foot Rybovich or one of my all-time favorites (and what I have proudly owned previously in my fishing career), a 32-foot Forest Johnson Prowler. However, I have an announcement ... but first a little history: The 37-foot Rybovich built in 1962 and originally named Thale Kate II, then Big Pete, then Venture, Toby, Adam's Folly, rod rookie, Lil Liz and Pelegian, is now renamed Makaira. I am a part owner with my friend Jim Turner. Good luck with finding your perfect boat. I found mine.

Till next tide,

Capt. Tred Barta