announced today that they’ve begun to release weekly reviews of skiffs and other flats boats. With the onslaught of new boat builders in 2017. Skiff Life says, “With so many skiffs and flats style inshore boats on the market today, a voice is needed to week through the choices to help our fans find the right boat for them.” Skiff Life released Volume 1 of their popular Living the Skiff Life article that acts as a primer for purchasing a skiff, flats boat or other inshore style fishing boat.

Following up on this skiff related article are a series of features that highlight specific boats, their specifications and in some cases pros/cons of a particular builder or boat. Skiff Life plans on following many of the top inshore skiffs such as East Cape, Hell’s Bay, Maverick, Skimmer Skiffs, Action Craft and Bonefish Boatworks to name a few.

While many of today’s boat builders use the same materials such as fiberglass and resins, their build methods and the quality of these skiff building materials vary greatly. Topics such as vacuum bagging vs. old school fiberglass lay-up and vinylester vs. epoxy resins will be discussed to try to give the prospective skiff buyers an idea of what is involved in building a flats boat and why the prices vary so greatly on today’s inshore boats. With an entire new slew of boat building materials such as kevlar, carbon fiber and basalt available to choose to build a boat with, it’s important to find a builder that understands these materials and their proper use in skiffs to avoid delamination and faulty product failure. Visit Skiff Life under their Boats We Like section to see more.

With so many choices of flats boats & skiffs, there is a skiff for everyone.

What is Living the Skiff Life?

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Tides and Living the Skiff Life come hand in hand. Knowing the tides in your location can make or break your boating experience for that day. Knowing the tides allows safe passage in tight channels while also timing fishing trips to locate when maximum water is moving as that is when fish are feeding. Yes, fishing on outgoing or incoming tides vastly increases your chance of fishing!

Skiff Life has just released Volume 1 of an inshore fishing guide that provides valuable insight into choosing a fishing boat. The article is called Living the Skiff Life Volume 1. This fishing guide covers basic Carolina Skiff style flat bottom boats like the Sundance as well as more user specific flats boats like the technical poling skiff by Skimmer skiffs. Inshore fishing can range from ankle deep water to nearshore fishing in 30-60 foot depths depending on your location so it’s important to pay close attention to the fishing & boating you plan on doing and then choosing a fishing boat to match as best you can. You are not going to want to take out a Carolina Skiff type flat bottom boat out in 60 Feet of water in a weather advisory for example. Pictured here is a Sundance Carolina Skiff style boat with a flat bottom:

Skiff Life said their new Living The Skiff Life column will be a regular article series with goals to cover all manner of boats and their use to help educate fans in choosing a boat for sale. Skiff Life plans to use real world experience from fishing guides and fans of their social media sites like Skiff Life Twitter and the popular Google Plus Skiff Life account. Skiff Life features contacts and fans from all parts of the U.S.A. so they said they will focus on specific regions and fishing styles to help everyone. For example, those Living The Skiff Life in Alaska will run an aluminum style boat with an Outboard Jet Drive due to their running rocky rivers that no prop could ever stand up to. That same would be disastrous in South Florida where the seagrass would quickly clog the jet drive. If a person is more inclined to enjoy many people on their boat or an occasional trip offshore, the technical poling skiff may not be the best choice in that it’s meant to silently stalk fish in shallow water and can comfortably handle 2 people like you see in the photo below.

The secret to choosing a boat is that no boat does EVERYTHING well. Luckily, there are a tremendous amount of boat manufacturers to choose from. Skiff Life’s Living The Skiff Life series of articles aim to help navigate those waters to help decide what boat is right for you by weighing the pros and cons of every boat by analyzing their features and how to best use them. Once thing we know for certain is that when you stay inshore and nearshore the cost of gas decreases tremendously and the ability to experience the ocean’s bottom and all the wonder it has to offer. Here is a link to Skiff Life’s

Living the Skiff Life

feature.

NesTides, the most respected Tide App for fishermen

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Using real-time NOAA tide data on a saltellite map, NesTides is the most popular tide and weather software voted by fishermen 3 years running.

Choose your device:

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Storm Surge tracking with NesTides NOAA Tides Editions

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Tracking Tides with Storm Surge

One of the most damaging aspects of a Hurricane is the effects storm surge can have in relation to an area’s tides. Using a tool like Nestides Gulf of Mexico Tides Edition or Florida Tide Tables by NOAA can help you gauge how high a tide is scheduled to be in your area and then factor the time the storm will begin affecting your area. One thing is for sure, you have an especially high tide during a tropical storm or hurricane when it hits, you can rest assured storm surge is following. In some cases even a low tide can be equally devastating depending on how the wind blows (literally). What is more dangerous about storm surge is that it can be delayed and catch people when their guard is down. One thing is for is that you MUST be prepared and usually have some degree of notice as to when the storm will reach your area. With the help of Tides software to show normal predictions you can be that much more prepared.

Purchase Tide Tables for your area here: