My Custom Fishing Machine 18'-0" Flat Bottom

[Poormans Boatright]

Flatbotm, not sure which model plasma you have but you might can try this one.
https://store.weldersource.com/132658.html

 

[Flatbotm]

I've got the spectrum 625. That one doesn't say models but it says it's for miller so I'll give it a try. Thanks for the link.

 

[Poormans Boatright]

Alright, back to the fillet table, It's been awfully hot here in Texas so I haven't been overly motivated to get back in the shop and work. Here's what been done on the little table the last few days. I should be finished with it on the next update, I am waiting on some more of the Alweld o.d. paint to come in also. Here I finished welding the table up and cleaned it up, I ground down the corners because I wanted a smooth contour radius, I had some left over fittings from a tower project and thought, Hey I could use one of these for the mounting point. I want the table to be able to tilt slightly when being used to cut fish to allow blood to drain overboard, but I wanted it to be flat when I put my grill on it. Since it was already prefabbed I had to mill some 1/2" aluminum flat bar down to fit within the ears. I then tig welded the mount to the bottom of the table. This should work just fine, I think.

 

[BearwoodBoats]

Hey, Great looking Boat
Only one thing missing 50 Cal Browning Machine Gun.
God, Guns, Guts (Keep) America Free
Later

 

[Poormans Boatright]

Ha, Ha, Thanx Bearwood, I am glad you like my boat. I really appreciate a nice compliment.

I have been working a 7-12 work schedule the last few weeks and haven't been able to finish the cleaning table. I have this weekend off so maybe I'll get er done. Gonna try to get in some surf fishing also. Look for an update this weekend.-Rod

 

[Poormans Boatright]

Got to get in some fishing this past weekend. We had our first cold front last week which should start off the flounder run, I decided to try to go after some flatfish. Well, I thought the flounder would have been on the move, but that wasn't the case as I only wound up with 2 flatfish. I will get better as the weather gets colder, I'll get em then. Here's some pics of the trip.

 

[richg99]

Well done. I just stumbled on this thread. Great job on the boat. Nothing wrong with a couple of flounder. Hope to see you in West bay one of these days. Rich

 

[aeviaanah]

Great mod here man! Just flipped through all the pages and I am impressed. Did you make the jack plate? If you get a minute will you snap a few more pictures of it? Possibly explain a bit more about it. I am a metal fabricator myself and am lookin to make on soon.... Take care! Ill be back!

 

[Poormans Boatright]

Thanx for the compliment Rich, and yes you might find me out in West Bay/Jones Lake area. If you recognize the boat give me a shout.

Also thanks, aeviaanah for your compliments. As far as the jackplate goes, no I did not make it, it is actually a power lift. I bought it from a guy for (I think $75.00) it had a burnt up motor, so right now it is not working. I bought a small mercruiser trim pump that I plan on mounting in the boat and run hydraulic lines to it. I can take detailed pics if you want, just let me know.

 

[fool4fish1226]

Nice project and pretty flatties =D>

 

[Poormans Boatright]

Thanx for the compliment fool4fish.

We had another cold front blow through Thursday, so me & a friend decided to see if the flounder are turning on. Turned out to be a good trip, we ended up with 5 keeper flounder and 3 specks. We must have caught at least 15 flounder but most were undersized, also we caught around a dozen specks but again under the 15" minimum. I caught 1 undersized red also 19" a little shy of the 20" minimum. With November coming on the bigger females will start to move out and we should see larger fish, but ordinances only allow 2 fish per angler during November. Here are Fridays pics.

 

[richg99]

Good going. I love the way flatties fight. Rich

p.s. do you do any side aluminum welding? I have a broken skeg I need fixed. RG

 

[Poormans Boatright]

Rich, yes I do welding on the side, I can fix the skeg. Send me a note to my message box and I will give you my cell#.

 

[BOB350RX]

i have read this entire build before but i still find myself going back and looking at it, nice flounder i wouldnt know what to do with one if a had one, dont get much salt water in ohio....lol nice going man!!!

 

[Poormans Boatright]

What no flounder in Ohio Bob350rx? Sounds like ya need to take a trip to the coast sometime. Thank you for the compliment, I'm glad you find my build interesting. _Rod

 

[vahunter]

That's one, downright, awesome rig! And heck of a nice job on the fab work!!! Love it!

 

[Poormans Boatright]

Thank you vahunter, I appreciate your kind words. I've been a welder/fabricator for 20+ years, so this kind of work comes rather naturally for me not to mention it helps to have a shop with all the right equipment to do the job.

If any of you guys are from the Houston/Galveston area I'd be happy to help with any fabrication needs for your rigs. Just ask._Rod

Also, I never did finish my onboard/portable cleaning table as I took time off to flounder fish. I will get to it soon and post pics if anyone is interested.

 

[Poormans Boatright]

I wanted to go fishing this past Friday but the winds are really blowing here on Galveston Bay making it impossible to use the boat. So I decided to go Galveston Yacht Basin and fish off of my nephew's boat, a 42' Bertram, he turned the boat around in his slip where we could fish off the back. This was the ticket. The yacht basin is starting to turn on with flounder.

I only took with me 1 dozen mullet for bait as this usually works good for flounder. I used flounder pounders and norton sand eels also. There were really big sand trout working the sand eels, I have yet to catch sand trout feeding as aggressive as these fish were this weekend. My wife showed up later that day and I put a piece of cut bait on a rod for her, she caught a sandy and I set my curado on a castaway rod against the transom of the boat with the lure dangling about 4 feet below the water line then all of a sudden something hits the suspended lure as I watched in disbelief my rod/reel go over the side. I tried to cast in the direction of where it went over several times but no avail, then I thought this is a offshore cruiser there's gotta be some big tackle on here. Sure enough he had some big trolling lures so I took a huge treble hook off one and with a heavy sinker I tied it on my Garcia and it only took about 4 casts and I snagged my line or a line. I start pulling on the line and sure enough here comes my curado from the depts, then I start reeling it in and it has the sand trout on it that took it over. Oh we laughed so hard after that, my sides still ache.

While I only retained one flounder that day, I released 1 and lost 2 nice ones and kept 9 nice sandys also. I went back Sat. and we retained around 6 that day but I forgot the camera. Thinking bout going back Wed. Here's the days pics.

 

[richg99]

NIce, well done.

Must be nice to have a yacht to fish off when the wind blows. I was blown all over last week twice near the 2004 bridge above chocolate bay. One little rat red is all I had to show for it, too.
Rich

 

[Poormans Boatright]

Yea Rich, this boat is fabulous. We go offshore on it, but it can get quite expensive at times, depending on how far you go out. The 2 diesels can burn a lot of fuel. I went back to the boat Wednesday and threw soft plastics, the flounder action slowed a bit as I only seen 4 other fish caught. The sand trout action even slowed down, we only ended up with about 13 sandys. Here is part Wednesdays take, my friend was still reeling them in as I was cleaning them getting ready to go home for the day.

The nice thing about these trips to the parked boat is that it costs me nothing to do. I paid for my beer n ice and that was it.