# Smallest boat youve ever seen offshore?



## DFoley (Sep 11, 2007)

This last weekend I was at the North Jetty in Port A BSing with friends and gettin a tan and watching boats go through. We saw a few 30 + ft sportfishers, twin outboard boats etc. Then we saw a boat no bigger than 16 ft with a tiller heading out rather slow, past the jetties heading east. I had to do a double take, im not sure where he was going but there was 3 people in the boat. Thats just nuts because it wasnt the calmest but it wasnt rough either. 
Kinda reminds me of the time we saw a 16 ft scooter cc at Hospital rock, it was covered in gas cans it looked like haha.

Lets here your story...


----------



## Brian Castille (May 27, 2004)

In 1997, we were 22nm out of galveston in August on a slick, calm day. No lie, there was a 14' jon boat with two guys tied up to a rig out there catching small snapper on trout rods. I am not sure about motor size, but it looked like a 9.9 HP with a tiller. I sure hope those guys made it in that day.....


----------



## CoastalOutfitters (Aug 20, 2004)

We saw 4 highschool kids in a 20' CC with a single outboard pull up to the quarantine station in the Bahamas.......from Jupiter Fla. it's 62 miles ea. way, they said they do it all the time and their buddies bring jetskis across w extra fuel in cans on the hood.

wonder if the parents knew ?????


----------



## mastercylinder60 (Dec 18, 2005)

Brian Castille said:


> In 1997, we were 22nm out of galveston in August on a slick, calm day. No lie, there was a 14' jon boat with two guys tied up to a rig out there catching small snapper on trout rods. I am not sure about motor size, but it looked like a 9.9 HP with a tiller. I sure hope those guys made it in that day.....


and that was just their first stop on their way to boomvang.


----------



## CajunBob (Feb 24, 2008)

*Over loaded*

Last summer and friend and I was out 43nm from Freeport out by the 424 rig and we had a 16ft skeeter bass boat with 6 people and the driver go past us . It was a calm day but some people just like to take chances with living. Stupid stupid.


----------



## DFoley (Sep 11, 2007)

I never get tired of the boomvang jokes  

CoastalOutfitters that is just nuts, i was over there not long ago and it got ROUGH on the way back in.


----------



## wascoach (Sep 17, 2004)

*Iddy Biddy Boats*

Several years ago I was out around 42 miles with Capt. Dave Douglas when two bass boats - not big ones - were heading toward shore and stopped at the same rig we were on. They tied to the rig and started scrambling all over the thing. They turned out to be two boatloads (and I do mean LOADS) of Cajuns - old men, girls in bikinis, little kids, granny ladies, surprised they didn't have their dogs with them. Don't know where they came from how far out they had been but it was over the horizon from the rig. Anyway, we headed toward Freeport around 4:00pm in reasonably good seas (for the 42' Thunderfish) and got back to the jetties well after dark, using GPS and radar. The crazy Cajuns were still climbing around on the rig and fishing and drinking beer when we left and I have no idea what happened to them but it came a pretty good squall that night so they may have spent the night on the rig?? True story!


----------



## country7 (May 27, 2007)

yeah i saw a nitro bass boat at the buc's 2 years ago and the guy was buy himself, yes it was 2' but still 28 miles in a long way in a boat with NO sides


----------



## Stuart (May 21, 2004)

One summer back in my teens I worked on the 230 ft plus Nicor Power out of Morgan City. We'd see 16 ft jon boats pretty regulary. I remember one time a pretty bad summer squall came up on us on our way back in. We had two or three small boats trying to take cover on our leeward side. You see crazy stuff out there for sure.


----------



## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

In the late 70's, my friend and I took his 18' deck boat about 15 miles out many times. While near the 12 mile rigs once, we saw a 14' Boston Whaler with tiller steering, just like the one in "Flipper".


----------



## backlash (May 29, 2004)

we were 40 miles out of Freeport headed to a rig when about a mile from it we saw a 18' Baystealth headed towards the same rig. The seas were not flat by any stretch of the imagination. There were 4 guys on that boat and they were flying. They had to have been getting the living **** beat out of them. What was bad was they beat us to the rig.


----------



## Wading Mark (Apr 21, 2005)

I once saw some guys tarpon fishing off HI in a 13' whaler. That's a 35 mile trip one-way from Galveston.


----------



## Captn C (May 21, 2004)

In the 80's my dad I were running out of Matagorda when I spotted what I thought was two guys in the water. That was until we seen the little flat bottom boat they were in. It was just long enough for a cooler between them and the motor was little. We seen them later on the way back in, they were fishing a rig. The boat was so unstable (the water was rough too) they couldn't stand to fish. My dad ask them hold long it took to get out and the guy in front replied, "a looong time!"

I was thinking it was 12'er no more than 14' for sure. The rig was 12 miles out as I recall.


----------



## Cat O' Lies (May 21, 2004)

Here comes this thread again!! Just waiting for the criticism to start!
(Popcorn is popping)


----------



## DFoley (Sep 11, 2007)

Cat O' Lies said:


> Here comes this thread again!! Just waiting for the criticism to start!
> (Popcorn is popping)


yeah, im sorry. I didnt relize there was 3 other threads on this subject.


----------



## jumpingdorado (Jul 30, 2007)

Last year I seen a 20ft patoon boat tied to a rig about 20nm out of freeport with 2ft seas.


----------



## surfwalker (Jul 14, 2006)

I saw a guy fishing at that 1st little rig out 3 or 4 miles in front of crystal beach in a 15 ft flatbottom with a 25 hrs johnson on it????? and ive seen people at the 7 mile rigs off freeport in a 16' tri-hull in rolling 3s scarey!!!!!!!!!!! Braver-n-me


----------



## Animal Chris (May 21, 2004)

I used to fish the roccks (Hospital, Bakers and Southern) out of Port A, from a 17' Mako in July, August and September.


----------



## Freshwaterman (May 21, 2004)

Someone posted a video here of a guy in an inflatable out by a rig catching king fish. I don't think that raft could have been any loger than 8 feet with an old 5 hp outboard.


----------



## Swells (Nov 27, 2007)

LOL, well I can say motoring out there in a dinghy is perty foolish, but the idea of a big boat taking little dories (and now yaks) out there has been around at least 150 years. Ah, the thrill of launching a little boat from the mother boat out at Boomvang and fighting a YFT ... could you handle it?


----------



## Wakerider1424 (Nov 25, 2007)

BondBroker1 said:


> Someone posted a video here of a guy in an inlatable out by a rig catching king fish. I don't think that raft could have been any loger than 8 feet with an old 5 hp outboard.


Yeah this is it. We have done 15 miles in a 16' john boat many a times. This is the link(8ft zodiak) www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TIQHqf6TVo


----------



## Gatorman23 (Jul 10, 2006)

*I take my 14' boat to the jetties every chance I get*

I dont see a problem taking a 14'boat out to the jetties. NOW ...it does depend on wind and wave height...LoL. I have surfed a many swells back into the bay.
My boat is a sturdy alum. V-bottom...with 25 HP johnson(1971). Im almost
50 ..I think I can make good choices.


----------



## Freshwaterman (May 21, 2004)

I have been 50 miles offshore West Africa and seen guys in a dungout canoe paddle up. They just wanted a little fresh water and salt. We gave them one case of 1.5 ltr plastic water bottles and 10# of salt in a plastic bag. They were drying salted fish on the legs of a nearby platform and had run out of water and salt. We traded the water and salt for some fresh caught snapper.


----------



## ding-a-ling (Jul 29, 2005)

Years ago I always got a kick out of seeing a guy in a Hobie cat with a 5 hp "kicker" trolling some 7 mile rigs off of Mustang Island. Just sitting on the middle canvas part reeling in kings, guess if his motor goes out, you got the sail.


----------



## sparrfish (May 14, 2007)

*17 Montauk*

Ive seen a couple jon boats at the first rigs off of freeport a few times. I ran my boat, Boston Whaler 17 Montauk, out of the jetties in what I thought was going to be fairly calm conditions, but ended being 4 to 6 footers. Lets just say I checked the weather more carefully. Im 16 and just last summer I was in a couple squalls while I was offshore and the boat handled fine as for jon boats that would not be my preference.


----------



## Bill Fisher (Apr 12, 2006)

more reading on the topic..... http://www.2coolfishing.net/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=70652&highlight=smallest+boat and http://www.2coolfishing.net/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=112367&page=1&pp=10&highlight=smallest+boat


----------



## Tankfxr (Dec 26, 2007)

Worked on a platform 5miles off the beach about 17 miles of packery channel. Had one guy out there nearly every weekend on about a 10 maybe 12 ft zodiac. Numerous times we had people out there in kayaks. Just seems like a long way to paddle if the wind picks up or a storm comes up. One of the guys on a kayak caught about a 3.5 to 4 ft ling and tha thing was pulling him all over the place.


----------



## TX CHICKEN (Jun 4, 2004)

Back in the early 80's we were fishing about 5 miles out of Port A and saw 3 guys in a 14' jon boat cach a sailfish--it was crazy watching them scramble around while the fish was going nuts. They landed it and we saw them back at the docks later.


----------



## A Salt Weapon (Jan 23, 2006)

About 10 yrs ago I was fishing WC294, about 30 NM out of Sabine, when up comes a flat bottom aluminum, probably about 18 ft. w/ 4 very sizable guys in it. They were so big, that they couldn't stand up in the boat for fear of turning over.
Man, could you imagine having to _SIT _all day in a small boat......OFFSHORE??? OUCH!


----------



## catchemdallas (Jun 11, 2004)

we go out regularly in a 19 cape horn with a single engine. we have been out to falcon before. 

i personaly have thought about a twin vee 14 cc with twin 4's or something.


----------



## Haute Pursuit (Jun 26, 2006)

We saw an old 14' Glastron tri-hull tied up to the A-19 rigs about 40 miles from Gorda last year. They were actually tied to the rig with no hook and were taking a pretty good beating. You could here the glass scraping against the steel and barnacles pretty often. Four adults on board that little boat.


----------



## Koolero (Jul 12, 2006)

*Do What Ya Gotta W/ What Ya Got !!!!!*

Before I got the Contender I regularly took my 19' alweld out to 202, 255 an buc field. Its got a 115 yammie, raymarine A65, sits on a tilt trailer so I could launch or land right off the beach. Tore up snapps,kings n ling !! All 4 under $100/trip including beer ! With gas being what it is I might have to keep takin her out !!!


----------



## redfish bayrat (Feb 17, 2006)

My BIL and I took his 16 ft Marek plywood skiff 8 miles past the standpipe in Port A to a weekline. This was when we were much younger (1976). Loaded the boat with kings and dorado. Came back in with about 8 inches of freeboard. Had a 25 Evinrude pushing us. We didn't calculate the weight difference between fish and beer very well.

Ask you dad about Doyle Marek in Port A. See if he remembers anything about his boats.


----------



## Hotrod (Oct 11, 2006)

Brian Castille said:


> In 1997, we were 22nm out of galveston in August on a slick, calm day. No lie, there was a 14' jon boat with two guys tied up to a rig out there catching small snapper on trout rods. I am not sure about motor size, but it looked like a 9.9 HP with a tiller. I sure hope those guys made it in that day.....


Brian I think I may have seen those guys. Around 1997 when I had just bought a 17 ft Hydra Sports CC, me and my wife were at the N. Jetty and saw this jon boat come in from offshore. Loaded with about 6 gas tanks in the middle they ran out of gas at the boat cut. Someone else pulled them in. It was a calm sunny day that day.


----------



## BF (Jun 7, 2007)

When i was growing up we went every where in a 15' Boston Whaler had a Evinrude on the back donot recall h.p--we used to run out about 26 miles & never had a problem.
I can also recall it never seemed to be rough offshore can remember days just slick calm.
We would load that whaler with tanks & fishing gear & go


----------



## mule76 (Feb 5, 2006)

We were running a 36' tiara a few years ago on a day with big rollers (6'), but no chop. One of those days that I couldn't believe i wasn't surfing. We were abt 30 miles or so off and came up ontop of a peak and were looking down into the trough, and there was a jon boat with two guys looking back up at us. We went by them at abt ten yds and they were hollerin all sorts of nice things to our party. I just waved and figured that since they were headed out, they were ok. They would have had to have a serious attitude adustment if they need rescue. I don't know where they went but it was insane that they were out there.


----------



## DatDude (Oct 3, 2007)

surfwalker said:


> I saw a guy fishing at that 1st little rig out 3 or 4 miles in front of crystal beach in a 15 ft flatbottom with a 25 hrs johnson on it????? and ive seen people at the 7 mile rigs off freeport in a 16' tri-hull in rolling 3s scarey!!!!!!!!!!! Braver-n-me


 I've seen yakers out at that rig.


----------



## IBreeling (Feb 27, 2008)

This past summer I ran into Chris Sessions from Corpus Christi on a 14' Zodiac with a Yamaha tiller at about 20 miles from the Packery Channel. He said that he wanted to go further out to the next rig that was about 10 more miles out.


----------



## yakfisher (Jul 23, 2005)

17'-ish flat bottom jon boat at the city service platforms


----------



## Luco (Sep 21, 2006)

*check out this pict*

This picture was taken about 25 to 30 miles out of Texas City last year.The motor looked like about an early 70s 15hp. That is not a v bottom, but about a 16ft flat bottom with low sides. All I can say is [email protected] of STEEL!!!!


----------



## fonz (Aug 18, 2004)

*maybe???*



mule76 said:


> We went by them at abt ten yds and they were hollerin all sorts of nice things to our party. I just waved and figured that since they were headed out, they were ok. They would have had to have a serious attitude adustment if they need rescue. I don't know where they went but it was insane that they were out there.


I think your went by a little too close??? Either way it was insane that the were out there....lol


----------



## Dean'O (Jun 22, 2005)

We went to the Charlies (42-43mi) out of freeport in my 23' Ranger bay boat.

Pick and Choose the days and as long as no mechanical problems come up you should be OK.


----------



## Lee Brumlow (Jun 21, 2007)

*Top this one*

A few years ago while fishing the 393 rigs (25 -28 miles out of Freeport) we saw 2 guys come out on jet skies. They didn't come to fish. They proceeded to do circles and do-nuts around the rig. I was not very happy!


----------



## birdman77520 (Nov 19, 2007)

*Can't say that I would do it again!!*

Was in the USN stationed in Key West, Fla. in 1972, and had bought a 17' fiberglas boat with 80 hp Johnson from a widow who's husband had just passed...all fishing tackle etc....after $500(a small fortune then) in repairs at the local boat spot, we carried that little boat several times 80 miles to the Marquesas Islands and back, but had mangrove islands all the way mostly 3'-20' deep...dove and fished for 2 days or so each time....and yes, had 6gal gas cans everywhere...ran out once in the KW Bay on and outgoing tide....jumped overboard and towed the boat swimming over to Christmas Tree Island and waited till the tide was incoming....chuckle...then paddled, swam towing till we got back!! Youth is wasted on the young....The Ole Professor JT from Baytown:clover:


----------



## CopanoCruisin (May 28, 2006)

Well, what does the people in big boats do when the ship is going down? By golly, they get in them there little ole boats...............................LOL


----------



## Power Fisherman (May 23, 2007)

Here are some photographs from our trip out 6 miles offshore in an 8' boat. I am the camera man, and the gentleman running the boat is Shawncy Perez, winner of Sharkathon 2007.


----------



## Wedge (Apr 29, 2005)

I have trolled outside of the Freeport jetties about ten miles out and about 5 miles off of the beach (Middle banks) in my 19 foot deep-sided bay boat. There were ice cream conditions though and I never went further out than I felt comfortable. My wife knew where I went and I left my plan with a buddy also. I had two cell phones from different companies and a radio. My safety was in place before I ever considered it. It was an awesome day with limits of king fish and snapper. A little common sense, good equipment, and a safety plan are essential for any fishing trip.....let alone deeper water in God's big pond.


----------



## Ono Loco (Aug 4, 2005)

having an offshore boat doesn't make you a master mariner.. many "offshore" boats have found there way to the bottom due to faulty hose clamps..


----------



## Swells (Nov 27, 2007)

CopanoCruisin said:


> Well, what does the people in big boats do when the ship is going down? By golly, they get in them there little ole boats...............................LOL


LOL, an offshore vessel can little boats on it, but a little boat can't have ships on it.


----------



## BigMikes809 (Oct 23, 2005)

Brian Castille said:


> In 1997, we were 22nm out of galveston in August on a slick, calm day. No lie, there was a 14' jon boat with two guys tied up to a rig out there catching small snapper on trout rods. I am not sure about motor size, but it looked like a 9.9 HP with a tiller. I sure hope those guys made it in that day.....


" I sure hope those guys made it in that day....."

Why? you know what kind of damage those guys could do to the gene pool?

BigMike


----------



## Mr. Tuffy (May 5, 2005)

*Yup that's a sailfish...*

...


----------



## DatDude (Oct 3, 2007)

Mr. Tuffy said:


> ...


 What is that guy sitting in a tube.


----------



## Unbound (Jul 12, 2004)

DatDude said:


> What is that guy sitting in a tube.


Because it's too difficult to stand up on. :rotfl:


----------



## lordbater (May 21, 2004)

Mr. Tuffy said:


> ...


I believe that is from that Florida billfish charity tournament. I think they are allowed to use up to 2 tubes for their contraption, seems to me I remember one guy putting his son's go cart on top of a couple of tubes for the contest..

I've seen some cats in a 16' jonboat spear fishing about 50miles out..

a


----------



## lordbater (May 21, 2004)

Here's the picture, maybe 18'


----------



## rockhound76 (Feb 22, 2007)

I had a friend back in New Orleans who would regularly take his bateau out to fish the rigs. I'm thinking it was no more than 14'.

The "tube" photo cracked me. That one contraption that brings new excitement to the idea of landing a billfish (or any spined, sharp-finned or billed critter).

Of course, with all those hooks in the water, the risk is pretty well already established.


----------



## lordbater (May 21, 2004)

Here is the information about that tournament of tubes

http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/article.jsp?ID=21012644


----------



## Swells (Nov 27, 2007)

These folks don't go way out ... but surfboard fishing is a blast! I've tried and and ... well the sharks did give me the creeps. /sammie

http://www.fieldandstream.com/article_gallery.jsp?ID=1000014419


----------



## mredman1 (Feb 4, 2007)

*Beware!*



FlakMan said:


> I have been 50 miles offshore West Africa and seen guys in a *dungout* canoe paddle up. They just wanted a little fresh water and salt.


Anyone in a canoe made out of *dung* needs more than fresh water and salt!!!

Mike


----------



## Johnboat (Jun 7, 2004)

*the "Pinta"*

Flag: Portugal
Circa: 1492


----------

