Hi all

I figure there has to be a fair amount of experience with duck boats around here.

I am looking for something that could hunt 2-3 hunters on a rather large lake in Minnesota- well over 1000 acres. There are a few deep spots in the lake, but most of the lake is well under 1' deep. The underlying lake is probably half peat bog to be honest, and has silted up quite badly over the years from tiling and ag runoff, but my place is on a rocky point, and probably on the deepest spot on the lake. This lake usually has a lot of thick weeds, both emergent/cattails and submerged, and I have not been able to plane any of our small boats except for right after the year they killed off the submerged vegetation by drawdown and poisoning the fish.

Traditionally, I and my family hunt this lake, which I have a cabin on in 10-12 foot aluminum boats with 8 horse outboards. My brother wants to start hunting 2 to a boat, and if I am lucky, with a bigger boat I could get my 76 year old dad back on the water. Some other hunters have been using mud motors on this lake for some time, and the state has started to make noises about banning them here because of the bad behavior (ruining cover, chasing up resting birds, etc.) I kind of think it would be my luck to get a good boat and be told it was now illegal, but whatever, if I can get dad out even one more time, it would be worth it.

Anyhow, that is what I am looking for.

What should I be looking at, given that my brother is not a real mechanical guy (I am not either, but I don't have issues with it)

Mud motor?

Beavertail motor?

Type of boat? Brand, size, something I should consider?

Type or brand of blind?

I would prefer something that I could reverse, so I'm not tearing up the reeds in front of my place- but outboards plug up like crazy and the water intakes are always plugged with weeds to the point that I have replaced motors about every 5-6 years.

Any suggestions?

We use a boat developed for the Colorado River Delta in Baja California. It's a custom design by Bob Polk and only a handful were built in the 80"s. Mine is 30 years old and is solid as a rock. The hulls are fiberglass compressed over a thin foam core making the 14ft hull light yet really strong. We bounce over rocks and stick ups. The hull weighs around 175 pounds and hunts two with a dog very well and a third hunter can be accomodated. We run 35-50hp jet out drives. Weeds can be a problem but if you have an inch or two of water on top of the weeds you can fly over the surface. The jet plate is easy to clear and off you go. The boats run in inches of water when on plane. The jets are a lot safer than mud motors with dogs and hunters. We now hunt backwater areas on the Colorado River. One of our friend does run a mud motor on his and it works great. He is over weight and out of shape and can't get out of the boat to clear motors etc. We get solid sheets of duck weed and I always can find a path across the marsh. We buy these boats whenever they are available. 10 are in our hunting group have them and we have two extra boats now. We have one for sale. Boat, 35hp jet motor and trailer in good shape. It is a stick steer model that drives from the front of the boat. Really trick. We also have a 13 ft. Blackjack in new condition with a 35 jet and trailer. This is a tiller drive boat. My friend is selling the Polk for around 5500 and the Black Jack for around 4500 but will consider offers. These are really cool boats. We can send pictures.

lb

Post a photo please.

john boat and a pair of oars

Check out Duckwater Boats out of Dover Ohio and talk to the owner Steve Hoover. Tell him Capt. Jack sent ya and he'll take good care of you and be straightforward. Good luck in your search

Here are a couple of pic.s of Lowell's boat.

That's him in the second picture. You can see how stable it is; he weighs well over 200lb.

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Thanks for the pictures Brett. The 14 ft. Polk tunnel hull jet drive boat for sale is on San Diego Craig's list under "Boats/duck boats." You find some good info there. The tunnel feeds clean water to the jet that sits up tight in the tunnel hull.
lb

There are jet drive outboards that run in very little water, we rent them when fishing the Colorado below Lake Powell. I would think you could mount one on about any of the traditional duck boats. That would make a very nice setup.
Hunting out of a boat even with 2 hunters can be difficult, 3 would be a real safety concern.
C.G.B.