Fishing anyone???

[MXer478]

So, My baby is a 2006 200 select! I love my boat, love to keep it clean. Now.....I wouldnt mind going out and doing a little fishing with a few buds. I just don't want to get the boat smelling like fish or anything to mess up my seats, etc! Do any of you have any tips/advice?

 

[wish2fish]

I used to use my old 160 as a fish/ski without a problem. First you have to catch fish to get the fishy smell! I used to striper fish with live bait and never had a problem. If I did spill anything on the deck I would immediately wash it down (I had carpet). Since it sounds like you take care of the seats anything should wipe off if done immediately. One thing to worry about is in fishing you tend to stand up as high as you can. People might be on your seats with shoes/boots which can cause some wear and tear on the vinyl compared to bare feet.

Good Luck

 

[Four Suns]

Just a few comments...

Some of this has to do with what you will be fishing for. If you are fishing for a species that bleeds a lot (like Tuna) then you want to take the carpet out before you go fishing (I assume your carpet is not glued in). Blood gets everywhere with some fish species. Stripers don't bleed much so it's not as big of an issue. I take the back cockpit carpet out in my boat when we are fishing.

The big issue you are going to have to worry about is snagging hooks on the upholstory. The bigger the fish you are going after, the bigger and sharper the hooks and they can tear up stuff easily. My sedan bridge only has a simple removable bench seat in the back (which is not good for social gatherings but great for fishing) and it's been hooked a few times. I keep wine bottle corks on my hooks when transporting or storing to minimize the snagging but it happens from time to time as you probably know. I have a pair of jeans that have about 6 holes in them with matching scars on my legs from "hook ups".

You probably also want to get yourself a cooler and strap it to the back swim platform to keep the fish in since your boat does not have a fish box. If you need to have live bait, just do a search for "live bait well" on google or something and you'll find plenty of portable live bait wells you can take with you that run on the 12v lighter connection.

I wouldn't worry about it though... it's a boat... we get half of our enjoyment from fishing and the other half from cruising. I was out yesterday evening (not on the 480) and caught some more stripers and they are on the menu today for lunch for my wife and I. Yummy....

 

[Gunn]

I try to keep all of the actual fish caught on the swim platform when unhooking, etc. I have glued-in carpet, but it hasn't been a problem yet. I also use synthetic baits (Bag O Worms, etc.), and occasionally squid strips stored in the cooler.
The fish go right into a cooler of ice, if I keep them. Though this has been a rare event for us this year; maybe we'll get some good fishing in now with the cooler weather.