What Makes A Musky Boat Different, and Where to Get One

[Don Wittenberger]

There's only one U.S. boat manufacturer that designs boats specifically for musky fishing. It's called Tuffy, and they're located in Lake Mills, Wisconsin (just outside Madison). If you get on I-90 in Seattle and drive 2,000 miles nonstop until you come to the Lake Mills exit, after exiting hang a left at the light and drive about four blocks and you're there. They have a handful of dealers in Wisconsin and Minnesota, none anywhere near Washington.

Tuffy's a darn good company, by the way. They make a quality product, reasonably priced, and stand behind it. Let me tell you what their customer service is like. Two weeks after I took delivery of my new boat from a Milwaukee-area dealer, the trolling motor quit working because of a problem in the electrical panel. I was in northern Wisconsin, where you can't get ANYTHING fixed. (The local gas station wanted me to make an appointment two weeks ahead for a vehicle oil change.) I called the Tuffy factory at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon and one of their guys got in a truck and drove 300 miles and I met him in a parking lot at 9:00 Saturday morning and I was fishing again by noon and the invoice said "no charge." Tell me when was the last time you got service like that from anybody.

But I digress. You can fish for muskies from a bass boat, or walleye boat, or whatever you have. A musky boat designed for the purpose is simply more efficient, that's all. There's no need to go all the way to Wisconsin to get a musky boat if you can put up with some minor inconveniences. The reason I went is because I have family there, so I would have gone to Wisconsin anyway. By the way, there's so few boat dealers in the Pacific Northwest there's no price competition here, and buying a boat in the midwest will save you enough money to pay for the trip.

I fish for species besides muskies, and I gave a lot of thought to what boat to buy. Price mattered; my pocket isn't deep enough to buy anything I want. No 20-footer with a 225 hp motor for me. In the end, my Tuffy Esox Magnum came in at the top end of what I was willing to spend -- about $20,000 before taxes, at 2003 prices, and loaded with absolutely all the factory goodies like on-board battery charger and keel guard and a MinnKota Autopilot. I kind of worried at the time this boat might be too specialized for my other fishing, but it's such a great boat to fish from that a tournament walleye guy told me he actually likes my boat better than his Lund -- for walleye fishing.

It's not the boat you want for fishing bass or walleye tournaments. If you're doing that, you'd better get what the other guys have. It's an arms race out there.

Here's what my Tuffy musky boat has that your boat doesn't. It has a sponsoned hull, like a Livingston or Whaler, so you get a very level platform that doesn't rock from side to side when someone walks around in the boat or stands next to the rail to play a fish. It has raised side decks so you can walk completely around the boat when playing a fish without having to step around any seats or climb over a windshield. Its low sides not only make it easier to figure-8 a following fish next to the boat, and land and release muskies, but also reduces windage (i.e., your boat gets blown around by the wind less). It has a rod locker that will take 8-foot rods and is deep enough to hold a dozen rods with reels on them and a boat paddle. It has a 60-inch livewell up front and a 36-inch baitwell aft, and a large front casting deck, and an adequate (home-made) aft casting deck, and two large dry storage lockers that hold an amazing amount of gear. There are seats for three people, plus a pole seat up on the front casting deck. The center well holds a large net and several large tackle boxes plus a cooler and gym bags with raingear and extra clothing and other junk, and you don't have to step over any of it because if you want to move from the back of the boat to the front, you just walk on the unobstructed side deck.

My boat is equipped with a 60-hp 4-stroke and will do 30 mph with two people aboard. It's set up to run with a tiller from the stern -- most musky guys do it that way, instead of a console with a steering wheel -- it's all about boat control. This might not seem like a lot of motor for really big water, but I fish on Banks Lake and Roosevelt Lake and Potholes frequently, and while I wouldn't mind having a faster boat on those waters, I get by just fine. I don't fish for money, so I don't have to race the big-boat guys up the lake. It just takes me a little longer to get there, that's all. I haven't fished on the Lower Columbia yet, and you'd look at this thing and tell yourself it's not enough boat for the big waves there, but guys who use this boat on big, rough lakes in the midwest claim they don't worry about it because it bobs like a cork. Just goes up and over the waves. It's been my experience that if two or three people are aboard and we're running straight into whitecaps, we'll get a little wet, but we haven't sunk yet. The only time my boat sank was the time I forgot to put the drain plug back in.

What it boils down to is my boat possesses extreme fishability. By that I mean you can fish comfortably and efficiently in this boat, and the chores you have to perform when fishing for muskies are easier to do in this boat than any deep-V or console model, even though it's a smaller boat than many of them. Which brings up another point. At under 2,000 lbs. with motors, a full tank of gas, and a full load of gear, this boat can be towed with smaller vehicles and is easier on the gas credit card. I get about four or five days of running up and down lakes out of its 20-gallon gas tank.

I'm not saying you should run out and buy one of these. People who fish in my boat love it, and I love it, too. I'm not sorry I bought it. That's all I'm saying. Since Tuffy has no dealers here, if you want one, you'll have to go to a lot of trouble to get it. When I went to Wisconsin to pick it up, I spent six weeks in northern Wisconsin before coming back. Figured as long as I was there, I might as well do some fishing. Fished a total of 23 different lakes on that trip. I'm awfully glad I made that trip, and even gladder that I dropped back down to Milwaukee to see my parents one more time before coming back to Seattle, because that turned out to be the last time I saw my mother alive.

On the way, I stopped at the Tuffy factory to get some rock dings in the hull patched up and a few minor things fixed, all of which were my fault and none of which were the sort of items that are covered by boat warranties. They had it two days, and when I got it back, it was like new and the invoice said, "no charge."

[muskyhunter]

Don,
Ive got a 14 ft Salty with a 20 horse Evinrude. Works great for me. Holds all my gear. A net. All my rods. Two people. Its bouyant. It does the job for me. It takes me to where the fish are.
I don't know if your just bragging or complaining about your boat. Or how much it costs you to run your boat. Or if your a spokesman for the product. I can't figure that out.
I am a hard working blue collar, union worker that makes a good wage.That works hard and fishes even harder. Someday I hope to get into a larger boat. And maybe soon I will. I am just happy to have a boat and the gear and I squeeze in my fishing time.Spending time with my family and friends. And just enjoying life in general. "NO CHARGE" for that! And I didn't need a receipt.
You give good info but at times you editorialize way too much.
Remember its not the size of your boat or even how good it looks.Or, how much crap you can stuff into the boat.
Its how you use what you have!!
Todd

[Don Wittenberger]

Gee, Todd, perhaps I buttered it on too thick; but I'm sure I'm not the only fisherman in love with his boat. Remember the old joke about the personals ad?

Wanted: Woman who can sew, cook, clean house, loves to fish, and has boat and motor. Send photo of boat and motor.

A lot of old-time musky fishermen swore by the Shell Lake Guide Boat, which is nothing but a fiberglass bathtub with oarlocks and a beat-up 25-horse Evinrude hanging off its butt. Their "tackle box" was a plastic pail (they hung the lures off the lip) and you had to climb over the seats to untie the dock lines. They've been out of production for 40 years, and people treat them like family heirlooms, handing them down from generation to generation. You still see them in Chippewa Flowage country, usually under armed guard. A lot of muskies were -- and still are -- caught from those boats.

I don't work for Tuffy, nor do I get paid by them. I've gotten some free stuff from them, though. For example, they still a rear deck accessory for $500. I built my own for 10 bucks. When I asked them for some carpet remnants to match the carpet in my boat, they gave me a big chunk of carpet for free. You don't see that very much anymore in today's economy. I simply believe that when a business goes out of its way to give its customers red-carpet treatment, they deserve recognition for it. If you search the comment forums in other fishing web sites for information about boats, you'll find a lot of positive comments about this company.

[Don Wittenberger]

I couldn't finish my last comment because of an interruption. Let me say this, Todd. When I post a comment on this board, my motive is to provide information that may help someone, even if only 1 person. There's a wide variety of people in this forum and we all have different circumstances. Tiger muskies have been in Washington for 19 years, and we've had a fishery since 1992 or thereabouts, but this species has really started to get attention and the popularity of this fishery has begun to take off only in the last year or so. We don't have a musky fishing tradition in this part of the country, plus this comment board is brand new, and a lot of the people posting here are seeking information from the midwest transplants and old hands who know about this stuff.

I started thinking about boats when I read a comment by a gentleman who asked if you can fish for tiger muskies without a boat. No, you can't. Of course you can stand on a dock or bank and cast out into the water, and you might even get lucky and catch one that way. But you can't consistently catch tiger muskies without a boat for the simple reason that they're a very low density fish, are widely scattered, and move around, so you have to cover a lot of water to find them. You can't do that from a dock or bank. But a boat -- any boat -- is an expensive item and there aren't many people whose circumstances allow them to make a fishing boat their #1 priority in life. I had to wait 50 years to get mine, and even then it was an agonizing decision and a difficult one to justify in light of other things my family needs.

When I turned 18 and assumed adult responsibilities, I was away from fishing for over 20 years. When I finally was able to fish again, I spent the next 20 years fishing from an 8-foot plywood pram, and my "camper" was the back seat of whichever second-hand car happened to be carrying it on its roof at the time. That arrangement had its limitations, but it offered me an awful lot more fishing opportunities than no boat or "camper" at all. One of my musky fishing pals goes fishing only when I do, because he doesn't have a boat. We all make do with what we've got.

WDFW tells me about 16,000 anglers in this state are now targeting tiger muskies. For some of them, muskies are their preferred species. And some folks do have the ability to buy any boat they want, or at least, to buy one that matches the fishing they're doing. Going back to my comment about there being no musky fishing tradition here, and a lack of local common knowledge about boats, tackle, gear, etc., my assumption is there may be at least a few readers who might want the information I posted. It's even possible that if a sufficient number of Washington anglers get involved in this fishing and create a demand for boats and gear designed for it, we might even get a boat dealer in this part of the country interested in representing Tuffy, and that would be a good thing because it expands the available choices. Tuffy also makes some darn good walleye boats, and there's a lot of interest and participation in walleye fishing in the Pacific Northwest, as well. There are other good boat manufacturers, of course. Even in the midwest, probably more people fish for muskies from Rangers than from Tuffys, simply because Ranger is a much bigger company and a popular brand nationwide.

But, believe me, I'm acutely sensitive to the needs of folks who can't go out and buy a new species-specific boat, or any new boat. You can use a bass boat or walleye boat for musky fishing, but neither is ideal. A bass boat gives you a stable casting platform with expansive front and rear decks, but has no place to store all of a musky man's gear, and it's hard to move from bow to stern and vice-versa. Walleye boats have more interior space, but their deep-V hull design is less stable in the water, and their high sides are an unwanted obstruction. Some people getting involved in tiger musky fishing may be wondering if there's a boat available designed specifically for musky fishing, and what does it look like and what makes it different and where do you get one. My post was intended to answer those questions. And since Tuffy is the only boat builder that makes musky boats, it's an easy question to answer. And, happily for the folks who may want a specialized musky fishing boat, they're an awfully good company and they make an awfully good product and it works surprisingly well for other species as well.

There aren't too many times in life when we get that lucky. But, as I said, you go with what you've got or can get; and anything that floats can be a musky boat, if that's what you fish from.

[Don Wittenberger]

Actually, I think one of the early bass boats with the old tri-hull design would work quite well as a musky boat. If you can find one, you'd probably be able to buy it for $1,500 or less. The attraction here is the hull design that is very stable in the water, and the casting decks. They're not fast, but you don't need speed. For someone working with a small budget, I'd definitely suggest looking for one of those.

[glastron876]

While I cannot comment on anything other that what I have - a 1972 Glastron Tri-Hull w/ Open Bow - I can attest to the stability of the Tri-Hull design. I find the open bow design very convenient and the stability quite well for fishing from. I happen to have a 90hp on the back. While I did not spend alot for the boat it is a flexible usage boat - family fun & fishing fun.

While some folks out there tend to believe that they need certain boats to fish for certain species - that is not necessarily the case. Bass boats are nice, but not really needed to fish for Bass. However I feel that stability is important when moving about a boat is necessary and with more than one person aboard - I would rather worry about the fish rather than how I stand, move, and position myself in addition to playing a fish - and why I opted for a Tri-Hull design.

In the end - I do understand what Don was trying to put out there for others.
And I also agree that any person can fish for anything they wish, sometimes with limitations due to draft & profile, etc...but they can still fish. So I also agree with Muskyhunter - But I think that not only is it a "pocket book" thing, but what a person feels most comfortable fishing from as I know some old timers that love to get out there in the dingy & 5hp outboard and fish all day, only to laugh at the guy with the 30,000 dollar boat, with extravagant set-ups not catching anything more or less than the old timer in his little dingy, even though the old timer could more than likely afford something else.

[Rosann G]

Glastron876, very nicely put. Everyone has their own preferences when they have the luxury of choice. We started with an 8' wooden pram too, Don and have slowly through the years as our son grew up gotten bigger boats with more freeboard (my one request). When Bill and our son started bass fishing they needed to be able to stand and fish so we got a Smokercraft Alaskan 15' which I loved. Then as Bill bought more tackle we needed more storage places and so 8 years ago we upgraded to a Lund Angler 17' which is the most stable fishing boat I've been in. It was a major purchase for us but we love it still and it works for bass, musky, walleye and everything else too. I'm sure the smoker would have worked great for musky hunting too and we've actually bought one of them again for Bill to use duck hunting because they are so stable and we can get into alot smaller ponds with it.

[Bill G]

Hey I know that woman :d/ :d/ She can multy task very well She throws the line out sits down to read a book, then the next thing I know she's reeling in a bass or tiger Makes it look easy
Bill