The Best Striper Fishing Boat

How to choose the right boat for striper fishing

Whether you're looking for a used fishing boat, or a new striper fishing boat, you should consider your options and what you personally need in a striper fishing boat before buying. 3 very important things to consider before buying a boat are

1. The waters you intend to use your striper fishing boat on

2. How many passengers will you be taking on

3. The vehicle that you will be using to tow your fishing boat

Striper Fishing Boats For Fresh Water

Aluminum Striper Fishing boats

While the fiberglass boats work equally as well for fresh water fishing. Aluminum fishing boats with their very lightweight construction are a very good option to consider for a fisherman who has a truck or towing vehicle that has a lighter weight towing capacity, and will be striper fishing on freshwater rivers or reservoirs.

The lighter weight will allow you to tow a much larger striper fishing boat with a lighter towing capacity; as apposed to a heavier weight fiberglass boat.

aluminum fishing boats are made in many different sizes from the small 10 ft jon boats all the way up to the 20 ft plus center console models.

Another advantage of th aluminum boat and it's lighter weight is, you can get the same speed and power as a heavier boat with a smaller motor hence giving the fisherman better fuel milage.
The drawbacks to the aluminum construction are, you lose some stability in windy weather conditions and the ride may not be as smooth on rough water as the heavier fiberglass fishing boat.

Saltwater Striper Fishing Boats

An aluminum boat will work for striper fishing on saltwater; however not as well as the fiberglass models. For saltwater fishing you should carefully consider your boats construction as it relates to safety. The saltwater striper fisherman often ventures much farther from land than the fresh water fisherman and is also much more likely to be stuck out in windy or adverse weather conditions. This is where a larger, heavy, more stable fiberglass striper fishing boat could save your life.

Boat Layout For Striper Fishing

Bay boat

The bay boat or center console layout is preferred and used by most serious striper fishermen for inshore saltwater as well as freshwater striper fishing. Most bay boats come with a built in bait tank and larger live wells than the boats designed for bass or walleye fishing. You can find the bay boat in aluminum or fiberglass.

No boat manufacture that I know of makes a boat designed specifically for striper fishing. however if they did, the bay boats general layout would fit the bill perfectly.

Bass Boat

The bass boat works great for bass fishing; just not striped bass fishing. While the bass boat will work ok for a striper fishing boat; it is designed specifically for black bass fishing and its general layout does present some disadvantages when used for striper fishing. Most bass boats have smaller livewells designed for smaller black bass. To my knowledge no one makes a bass boat with live baitwells; and I can tell you from experience it's a challenge to put a 50 gallon baitwell and 3 fishermen on most bass boats.

Good Luck with your striper fishing boat

Boatman