14 Ft Carolina Skiff in intracostal?

Ridgeline66

Ten Pointer
Contributor
Is 14ft skiff ok to run in the IC? 2 people flounder fishing, some say you need alot bigger, it has a 25 mer
 
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koszman

Ten Pointer
Contributor
Seen them out there in smaller boats. Just have to be careful as you hit the wave. Go bow into the wave.
 

Crappie_Hunter

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
You'll be surprised what you see running the ICW. I would say 95% of the time you will have no problems, just look out for the larger boats and their wake as my experience has been there isn't a whole lot of courtesy given to smaller boats when it comes to passing by with a big wake.
 

nchunter

Twelve Pointer
I've used my 21' deck boat and all was good until a 50+'er rolled by throwing a 6' wake. Almost buried my bow going through it. He couldn't have been at a worse speed to make any more wake. Your 14' skiff probably has higher sides/deeper hull than the deck boat. Should be fine.
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Not only waves but wakes from other boats. If you are anchored you better pay attention to wakes from big boats and your stern. It wouldn't hurt to always have a good knife handy so you could cut and anchor rope if you needed to get away from and anchor quick.
 

bshobbs

Old Mossy Horns
In my older years I would not do it. Things happen fast and usually furious on the water. With that said, heck yea if I was still young I most likely would be in the boat with you saying, "hold my beer, watch this." :)

Going to add that this time of year isn't as bad as the summer when all the Ummie Zoomies are out. Just beware of coming and going boat traffic. Some ICW areas are not as bad as others.

Good luck
 
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Songdoghunter

Twelve Pointer
That boat is fine anywhere in the sound including the waterway. Just stay alert and if you don't already know, learn how to ride a swell. I personally wouldn't have anything over a 17 footer for trout and drum fishing and the water is polluted with 12 and 14 foot jon boats floundering. I have a 17ft Carolina Skiff and all of those boats will handle the water. That's what they were made for, not inland creeks and lakes. By comparison, check out the size of the dingys on most sailboats.
 
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GSOHunter

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I'm out in my Kayak all the time. The only thing that gives me trouble is some nice boater that thinks it is polite to back off of a plane and go by throwing off 3x as much wake.
 

hawkman

Eight Pointer
I was new to the south, saltwater, ICW, and jetskis when my buddy took my out on the sound. After getting pretty used to it, we headed up the ICW. A shrimp boat was coming down and we were heading to it. I figured it'd be fun to jump that lead wave.

Boy, did I abort that mission when I saw how big that sucker was! I'd have been a dead man. The wave was huge and there wasn't much behind it. :)
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Jumping wakes in a basically flat bottom boat? I guess with a good back some would consider that fun, with my back I would consider that days of fishing wasted getting over it.
 

hawkman

Eight Pointer
Yeah. Like I said, I didn't do it thankfully. Anyway, I hijacked this thread. Sorry. Back to the question at hand.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk
 

Firefly

Old Mossy Horns
Always be cautious in a small boat on the ICW, especially in the fall when the snowbirds are migrating with their mighty yachts. Also the Navy operates a barge like vehicle with a bridge on it, sits low in the water but leaves a terrible wake, the Wife and I encountered that thing one day near Swansboro in our Jon boat with nowhere to run to. It was kinda hairy getting over the big wake..Fishing a creek one day just off Camp Lejeune we saw a yacht at least 60 feet long going south and bogged down of course in the rear that machine was throwing what looked to be an 8 ft. wake..Some of the water it was displacing even washed up into the creek where we were anchored..Glad we were not out there on the ICW with no place to go...Just be careful out there.
 

stiab

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I have done it many times with my 16' jon boat, but the ICW (especially where it is narrow) can be different from any other black water fishing because of the displacement craft. Big boats go by all the time that are on plane, those are not the ones to be concerned about. But in the ICW you have a greater percentage of displacement craft that push water instead of riding up on top of it. They are the ones that can cause wave problems not often experienced by small boaters outside the ICW.
 
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