Garmin has debuted two new series of multifunction displays—GPSMap Plus (pictured) and EchoMap UHD. The Plus series brings increased engine-integration and OneHelm third-party-integration capabilities to 7- and 9-inch displays. The new series allows anglers to monitor their outboards as well as critical onboard systems on one screen. The UHD series is a new line of midsize (7- and 9-inch) keyed and touchscreen-with-keyed-assist combos that come with built-in support for Garmin’s Ultra High-Definition scanning sonar and Panoptix LiveScope. Both series are available with preloaded BlueChart g3 cartography. UHDs cost $499.99 to $1,149.99, and Plus units cost $899.99 to $2,899.99.

The post Garmin GPSMap Plus/EchoMap UHD appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Lumishore says the Lux Lighting Collection is the world’s first marine-grade, fully color-tunable DC smart lighting. The system includes new strip, neon flex, down and courtesy fixtures. All can be centrally controlled from compatible multifunction displays, a Lumishore touchscreen display, switches and any internet-capable smart device. Control vessel lighting with a simple palette wheel to select color and a horizontal slide bar for intensity and white balance or use optional presets and effect modes. All units can be mounted above or belowdecks. Pricing varies per style and model.

The post Lumishore Lux Lighting System appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Pettit Marine Paint has released two multiseason bottom paints—Odyssey HD and Trinidad HD—that are covered by an 18-month hull-defense limited warranty. Odyssey HD combines controlled polishing ablative technology with a high copper content to handle the toughest marine environments coast to coast. It’s compatible over most finishes, is compliant with federal VOC (volatile organic compounds) regulations in all states and does not build up over time. Trinidad HD provides dependable in-water antifouling protection while meeting the 330-grams-per-liter VOC regulations. The product features a high-copper load, does not require movement and works well at the dock or underway. Pettit does not set retail pricing, but online rates ranged from $195 to $230 per gallon.

The post Pettit Odyssey HD/Trinidad HD Bottom Paints appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Make a habit of checking the caulk seams inside your boat, such as at the joint between the deck and center-console, as well as other junction points. Designed to seal out water and debris, the marine sealant used to caulk the seams won’t last forever. Eventually, it will deteriorate and start to peel away. When that occurs, you need to remove all of the old sealant, then apply a fresh bead. The plastic Caulk-Away tool from Star brite (about $12.50) eases the task of removing aging sealant from corners and where two boat surfaces meet at a square angle. Once you clean up the surface and apply sealant, use Star brite’s Caulk-Rite tool (about $13) to create a smooth, clean finish along the caulk seam.

The post Recaulking Seams Keeps a Boat Watertight appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

The most successful offshore anglers never leave the dock without pitch baits. Dead or alive, those baits can turn a fair day of fishing into an unforgettable one.

“Every single day I go in the ocean, if there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of catching a marlin, I’ve got a pitch bait on. All day, every day,” says Capt. Matt Carter, who once ran charters out of North Carolina’s Oregon Inlet and now skippers private boats.

Carter, who fishes from Montauk, New York, to Mexico, always keeps pitch baits rigged and ready because many fish show up unexpectedly. The baits also tempt fish that appear in a trolling spread or behind a daisy chain but show no interest in eating.

“If a gaffer dolphin comes in, you need your pitch bait to be able to catch it,” he explains. “If I’m fishing a 9/0 or 10/0 tuna bait, I promise you that if he comes in on a teaser, he’ll hit that pitch bait. And how many times are people tuna fishing and a small blue marlin or white marlin comes in and is all over the spreader bar, and everyone’s looking at it?

“They have the mindset, ‘We don’t need a pitch bait; we’re not marlin fishing.’ What do you do when that gaffer dolphin comes in? Or that sailfish? You know how hard it is to hook a sailfish on a big lure? I always have pitch baits ready to go if a sailfish, whitey or a blue comes in. I want to make the most of that opportunity.”

Widespread Appeal

Pitch baits prove popular from coast to coast. California tuna fishermen, such as Capt. Ty Ponder, a private boat captain and Rapala pro staffer from San Diego, use live Pacific sardines. Spanish sardines rank as the No. 1 pitch bait for Florida captains such as Casey Hunt of Key West’s CN-it Adventures. A threadfin herring ranks as his second choice. Carter’s go-to pitch bait is a dead ballyhoo, which matches what he’s trolling.

“All trolling guys, whether they’re fishing for blue marlin, white marlin or sailfish on the East Coast pitch dead baits, and all live-bait guys pitch live baits,” Hunt says. “Most boats are set up to always troll or always live-bait. But if you’re trolling and you have some live bait, it’s a great weapon.”

Whether you pitch live or dead baits, always have a bait ready, and immediately drop it into the water when a fish shows, especially when you already have one fish hooked, captains say.

“If you’re fighting a sailfish, cast [a sardine] toward it, and a lot of times you’ll hook another sailfish right away,” Hunt says, noting that the technique works with other species, most notably dolphin, but also wahoo, tuna and marlin. “Even before you release it, have a guy cast a bait toward that fish.”

When he trolls at 15 knots for wahoo, for instance, he’ll slow the boat once he hooks a fish and ask an angler to cast a live goggle-eye with a wire leader, in case there’s another wahoo around. With dolphin, he waits to pitch a livey until the fish obviously snubs the trolled baits.

If he finds a school of dolphin, Hunt starts casting lures or jigs. When the fish lose interest, he switches to chunks of ballyhoo or bonito. When they stop biting the chunks, he deploys liveys. And before leaving a dolphin school, he drops a live goggle-eye deep, well below the school, in case a larger fish still lurks.

When targeting tuna, Hunt will watch for the first jump, “then just throw everything you’ve got in your spread, because the more baits you have in the water, the better,” he says. “We do a lot of that, or we cast popping plugs. That kind of gets blackfin and yellowfin tunas fired up, then we cast baits.”

Hunt says he also has tossed pitch baits to white marlin out of Harbor Island in the Bahamas. “We’re pulling baits, hook a white, and as he’s getting close to the boat, we flip out live goggle-eyes and hook another.”

Pitching Sailfish

Florida captains use pitch baits most often for sailfish because the sails usually travel in pods.

Hunt also keeps at least one live pitch bait handy, hooked to a spinning outfit, for those times when sails pop up in a kite spread or when he spots a free-jumper.

“If you see one free-jumping, basically lock up all your reels, speed up the boat, and pull all your baits over to where you saw him,” he says. “If I know there are a lot of free-jumpers around, I like bridling kite baits through the nose. If we have to pick them up, it’s easier if they’re hooked in the nose instead of the back.

“If you’re running along and see a sailfish jumping, try to get ahead of him and cast three or four baits at him, even if he goes down. He might come back up and bring more fish with him.”

Marlin Readiness

When he’s trolling for marlin, Carter never knows what might show up in his spread, so he always keeps two sizes of pitch baits on his boat. If the big blue appears but doesn’t eat, he pitches a horse ballyhoo on a 10/0 to 12/0 circle hook behind a Mold Craft chugger lure, a tactic that has caught 600-pound marlin. His smaller pitch bait for small marlin, sailfish and dolphin is a naked “dink” ballyhoo on a 7/0 circle hook.

“Every time I hook a fish, pitch baits go in the water,” he adds. “Everybody’s prospecting. We make 20 or 30 pitches every single day. Don’t be scared to throw it. I think a lot of recreational anglers don’t take advantage.”

When a blue marlin comes up in Carter’s spread, he slowly pulls the teaser to the boat. As the teaser comes in, his mate puts a pitch bait in the water. One tip for hooking a blue on a pitch bait: Don’t let it get too far behind the boat.

“You never let the pitch bait get past where the squid chain would be,” Carter says. “People have a tendency to drop back and back. I always keep it near the back of the boat, and I make the fish come to me. If he’s inside the short-rigger distance, then you’re way better off. Too far back, you can’t see how to feed it.”

He recalls one MidAtlantic tournament he fished, when he had a white marlin doubleheader on the two flat lines. His mate was hauling in a daisy chain when Carter glanced at the outside teaser and saw a 400- to 500-pound blue marlin.

Says Carter of another trip: “One time in the Dominican Republic, we hooked two white marlin, and as we caught them on the turn, we had the baits going out and hooked a sailfish. “As we were hooking the sailfish, we pitched a bait to a blue marlin. So we literally caught a grand slam in one turn.”

Targeting Tuna

Ponder says West Coast anglers typically target yellowfin tuna and yellowtail with pitch baits—although in the past three years, bluefin tuna to 300 pounds also have made the hit list.

When tuna fishing, he runs 10 to 100 miles offshore, where he focuses on known ridge areas or high spots. There he looks for kelp paddies and what he calls floating structure, which attract bait and gamefish. Temperature breaks of 1 to 3 degrees often draw bait to the cooler side; the gamefish stay along the warmer, clearer side of the break. In Southern California, a typical break might transition from 63 to 65 degrees or 65 to 67.

Ponder also looks for dipping or diving birds. During summer, pods of feeding common dolphin can indicate tuna. And he always keeps an eye out for surface-breaking tuna. When he finds promising conditions, he often trolls feathers—real and plastic—as well as deep-diving Rapala X-Rap -swimming plugs.

“As soon as somebody gets a bite, the first thing we’re going to do is start chumming,” says Ponder, who tosses out one or two live sardines at a time to keep the school close.

He prefers to rig a 6- to 10-inch live sardine for pitching, although he also uses anchovies and mackerel. Ponder notes that it’s critical to handle a bait with care, taking it out of the livewell with a bait net so that it looks good, retains all its scales, and remains lively.

“When you pitch it in the water, you want it to run away from the boat immediately. That’s going to be ideal,” he says, adding that an underhand pitch works best. “An overhand cast stuns the sardine when it lands, and it doesn’t run. With an underhand pitch, the sardine is more likely to run away from the boat. If it runs hard, it’s likely to get bit.”

If the bait doesn’t swim away, Ponder doesn’t soak it. “I immediately flick it off [the hook], and I go right back to the well and get another bait. I want a bait that’s fired up and swims away to get that reaction bite.”

Read Next: How to Snell a Hook

Feather the line as the sardine swims away to keep in touch with the bait. “I hate to see guys feeding line, and they get a bunch of slack, and they’re not feeling their bait. They feed out 100 yards, and they don’t even know that their bait is sitting straight under the boat.”

Even when pitching dead baits, keep that connection and you’ll score more hookups. With time, experience and dedication to the details, you’ll perfect that all-important sales pitch.

Sticks and Rigs

Capt. Casey Hunt of Key West, Florida, who kite-fishes with 20-pound Accurate conventional reels, suggests a 7-foot spinning rod and any brand of reel that holds 400 to 500 yards of fishing line for pitch-baiting.

He ties a Bimini twist in his 20-pound Momoi Diamond or Diamond Illusion main line, creating 10 inches of doubled line. With an Albright knot, he attaches a 15-foot leader of 30-pound Momoi Diamond fluorocarbon tied to an Eagle Claw 5/0 or 6/0 circle hook. He hooks or bridles live pitch baits through both lips so that the baits don’t fly off when cast.

While Hunt runs along a color change to set up a drift, each of his anglers stands ready with a baited spinning outfit. The prepared baits swim in either a 5-gallon bucket of water or a livewell. If Hunt sees a free-jumper, he can maneuver in front of the fish to let the anglers cast.

To catch tuna in the 20- to 50-pound class, Capt. Ty Ponder of San Diego uses a 7-foot, 6-inch Okuma PCH Custom extra-heavy, 30- to 60-pound rod with Okuma Cavalla conventional two-speed reels in size 5 or 12.

He typically fishes 65- to 80-pound Sufix braided line with 6 to 100 feet of 30- to 50-pound Sufix Invisiline fluorocarbon leader. He uses shorter leaders to maintain sensitivity to the bite but extends them if fish grow skittish.

Ponder attaches the braid to the fluorocarbon with a John Collins knot, also known as the Royal Polaris knot, which he likes because it’s slimmer and seldom fails. He upgrades his tackle appropriately when bigger bluefin tuna come around.

He uses a San Diego jam knot to attach a VMC circle or J hook, which he matches to the size of the bait. “I personally never set the hook on a tuna, even with a J hook. I just reel the line tight and lift the rod tip.”

Ponder often nose-hooks live sardines when pitching them for tuna and yellowtail. He also hooks sardines in the back, just ahead of the dorsal fin, which makes them “look like a Rapala.” For a third option, he hooks the sardine in front of the anal fin so that the bait swims down and away from the boat.

Private-boat skipper Capt. Matt Carter uses 20- to 30-pound-class custom rods with Shimano Talica 20 or 25 conventional reels. He attaches 30-pound main line with an 80-pound top shot to a ball-bearing swivel crimped to a wind-on leader of 60- to 80-pound fluorocarbon. He snells the leader to a 7/0 circle hook baited with a dead, naked ballyhoo.

Carter keeps the rods handy in the rocket launcher or tower-leg rod holders, and the rigged ballyhoo rest in pitch-bait tubes filled with ice and salt water to keep the baits fresh. “Nothing’s worse than fishing all day and having the fish of a lifetime come up, and you’ve got a bait that’s been drying in the sun,” he says. “They won’t eat it.”

Carter notes that the tubes can be attached to a tower rod holder, a fighting chair or a rocket launcher, so they’re always in the right place when the time comes.

“No matter what you do, you have to get in the habit of having that pitch bait in the same location every time,” Carter says. “You don’t even have to think about it. My mate hears ‘right teaser,’ and he goes straight to that rod every time.”

The post Proper Use of Pitch Baits appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Reducing glare from onboard lights helps preserve your night vision for safer boating when fishing in the dark. One common source of glare is the all-around white overhead navigation light mandated by the US Coast Guard. ­Hardtops and T-tops block a good bit of the light (particularly on the foredeck), but some white overhead beams still create glare in the aft cockpit. Perko’s Light Glare Shield (about $15) easily clamps to a ¾-inch-diameter light pole directly under the white light to block ­illumination from blasting the aft cockpit, yet the light still alerts other boaters to your presence. The plastic piece is lightweight, minimizing stress on the pole while underway.

The post Avoid Deck Glare with the Perko Glare Shield appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

When a console interior or cabin remains closed for any length of time, it can develop spots of mildew and mold, as well as a musty smell, due to condensation. Leaving such a space open to air it out can prove impractical because a sudden rain might leave it wetter still. Fortunately, there are simple devices to help keep boat interiors dry. For example, the Davis Air Dryr (­available in two sizes, starting at about $70), the Golden Rod ­Dehumidifier (three sizes, starting at about $29) and West Marine’s Air Dryer with Fan (about $100) use 120-volt AC power to dry air in confined spaces. Star brite’s No Damp Ultra Dome (about $18.50) and the Marykate Moisture ­Control Bag (about $30) use absorbent crystals to draw moisture from the air.

The post Air Dryers Dehumidify Boat Cabins and Consoles appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Designed by longtime catamaran builder Forrest Munden, the Sea Cat 260 performs dual fishing duties inshore and offshore. The boat draws only 14 inches, but offers big-water capability, Sea Cat says.

The large forward casting platform (trolling motor optional) features room for three anglers to fish. Heading aft, you’ll find two 7-foot fish/rod boxes recessed in the deck that are plumbed with overboard pumps and drains. The raw-water washdown system comes with 20 feet of coiled hose and a nozzle.

At the transom, the 260 comes with two lighted 25-gallon livewells and a fold-down bench for two. Two large bilge-access areas make it easy to service belowdecks pumps.

The console can accommodate two 12-inch electronics displays. All upholstery is custom-fabricated by Llebroc Industries.

Options include a custom fiberglass top, SeaStar EPS steering, forward livewell, a 10-gallon freshwater tank, and additional rod holders. The 260 carries 120 gallons of fuel and can handle twin outboards from 140 hp to 300 hp, for a maximum of 600 hp.

Specifications

LOA: 26 ft.

Beam: 8 ft. 6 in.

Dry Weight: 4,900 lb. (w/o engines)

Draft: 1 ft. 2 in. (hull only)

Transom Deadrise: N/A (cat)

MSRP: $139,997 (w/ twin Suzuki 140s)

The post Sea Cat 260 First Glance appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Disgusted, I watched the brief video on my monitor.

“This is the reality,” says the narrator, Capt. Eric Newman, a top guide out of Venice, Louisiana, with the outrage evident in his voice. “This is what happens when pogy boats come around.”

The camera zooms in to the white belly of a floating redfish.

“Bull red, dead. There’s another out there,” Newman says. The camera sweeps, zooms in. “Another one out there, dead.” The camera moves, zooms in. “Another one out there.” Again the camera zooms in.

“Dead redfish all around us.” The video zooms out to reveal bloated white bellies bobbing at the surface. This is just off a beach in the Mississippi River Delta. “That’s our brood stock,” Newman adds, shaking his head.

He makes clear that this is no isolated phenomenon, but rather a regular event. “It’s because of those guys, over there,” he adds as the camera pans to a big menhaden factory-reduction vessel pushing into the shallows, black smoke pouring from its stacks.

If you suspect any of this is hyperbolic, type “sportfishingmag.com Louisiana menhaden” into your search-engine bar and see for yourself.

How can this be? How can a commercial purse‑seine fishery be allowed to kill so many large red drum in pursuit of pogies?

As with so many aspects of fisheries management and all the politics that convolute the process, it’s complicated.

The first piece of the puzzle is jurisdiction. While there is some regional, inter-jurisdictional regulation, the harvest of Gulf menhaden—which occurs mostly within state waters—is not determined federally. Rather, Louisiana pogy management is up to Louisiana, where well-financed menhaden-reduction-industry lobbyists can heavily influence politicians. In recent years, only two menhaden-reduction firms have fished Louisiana waters: Omega Seafoods (recently declared out of compliance with federal law for overfishing Chesapeake Bay menhaden) and Daybrook Fisheries.

These two companies account for most of the state menhaden catch, and that means for most of the entire Gulf of Mexico catch because 90 percent of all Gulf menhaden swept up by seiners are taken off Louisiana.

That also means that the state is allowing two foreign-owned commercial-fishing firms to kill our redfish: Omega is a Canadian company and Daybrook is South African.

Beyond the dead bull reds that guides like Newman as well as private boaters find floating around menhaden operations, there’s the question of volume. What sort of numbers are we talking about?

Believe it or not, no one knows how many redfish are being killed by pogy boats in Louisiana waters. That’s surprising in a state where redfish are so iconic and as important as gamefish, and in a state that has in many respects done a good job of managing its fisheries.

The only reference to bycatch for this fishery I could find—stated in both federal and state documents—says: “In Louisiana waters, anyone legally taking menhaden shall not have in their possession more than 5 percent by weight, of any species of fish other than menhaden and herring-like species.”

Best-case scenario, that’s still a lot of dead reds and other species of fish, if one figures 5 percent—or even 2 or 3 percent—of three-quarters of a billion pounds, since that’s the volume of pogies that these two foreign operations remove from Louisiana waters each year.

But the actual scenario is much darker in that this “restriction” neither measures nor limits all fish (like those floating bull reds) not retained, but tossed back over, dead, as tons of fish are pumped into the steamer (carrier vessel). So Louisiana allows Omega and Daybrook boats to kill unlimited numbers of redfish, seatrout, croaker and everything else that gets trapped in their huge seine nets.

Perhaps that’s not surprising for a fishery that, unlike almost any other major commercial fishery, has no limits—period. That is, Omega and Daybrook operate here with no harvest quota (TAC, or total allowable catch) on menhaden. There are few fisheries in this country so unrestricted, where the sky’s the limit.

At the same time, there are few other major commercial firms that are also so unaccountable. Under the nation’s fishery law (Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act), any commercial fishery with three or fewer harvesters is not required to reveal its harvest data. So fishery managers simply take the word of Daybrook and Omega when it comes to harvest (let alone bycatch) data of menhaden, a forage species and filter feeder critical to the Gulf’s ecology.

Anglers have expressed other concerns as well, including the damage that these 200-foot floating fish factories might do environmentally when they churn up water just a few feet deep up against beaches, as well as the harm done to the state’s recreational fishery, not only from all the gamefish left behind in their wake, but also the wanton disregard for recreational boats already on the grounds, fishing, when these operations chase them away, as happens far too often. How is all this affecting recreational fishing in a state where that sport is worth an estimated $2 billion annually?

Except for Virginia, not a single Atlantic Coast state allows any reduction fishing for menhaden, having recognized it as an ecologically destructive industry. In the Gulf, ditto for Florida; Alabama, Mississippi and Texas have at least some restrictions on the books. But Louisiana imposes few limits on pogy boats.

Hopefully, sportsmen’s organizations will become increasingly engaged with this issue in coming years. It’s certainly on the radar of the Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and the Coastal Conservation Association. A very active group that has made a difference in the issue of menhaden-reduction fisheries in the Atlantic, Menhaden Defenders is, at press time, developing a campaign to deal with problems in Gulf reduction fisheries (menhaden​-defenders.org/gulf).

It’s past time to limit foreign commercial netters in the Gulf from getting away with murder. As Newman says, in reference to the menhaden-reduction operations: “We have an amazing sport fishery here in Louisiana. But if this keeps happening, ‘Sportsman’s Paradise’ is gone.”

The post Menhaden Seiners Killing Louisiana Red Drum appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Tearing across the ocean at 45 mph this past September, I surveyed New Jersey’s posh Atlantic City skyline like a lucky gambler on holiday. Aboard the newly launched Valhalla Boatworks V-41, I realized this must be what it feels like to beat the house and run away a winner, chips spilling from my pockets. How could it get any better?

Built by Valhalla Boatworks, a freshly minted extension of the renowned Viking Yacht Company, the V-41 ranks as the flagship of this new luxury lineup, which includes the V-33 and V-37. Some might argue that the mega-powered center-console market already overflows, but the V-41 is different, breaking new ground in design, accommodations and performance.

Impressive Pedigree

The V Series is the result of the cooperative effort of the Viking Design & Engineering team and Michael Peters Yacht Design, with Viking incorporating specific deadrise, bottom-rocker shape, strakes and chines into a bottom that utilizes MPYD’s patented Stepped-V Ventilated Tunnel. The running surface reduces drag while increasing speed, efficiency and stability. The Viking team also utilized its 55-year track record to incorporate topside style and function long revered by offshore anglers, who relish putting their own signatures on boats.

The V-41 can adapt to eight -different power choices, including a variety of options from Mercury and Yamaha. Each semi-custom build comes with an endless list of possible fishing features, colors, seating and upholstery choices, electronics, and other enhancements.

Underway, the running surface sweats the details and makes the boat a pleasure to steer. The double-stepped hull with the tunnel on centerline creates two vertical walls or strakes that act like keels. When changing course, the hull sticks to the water without sliding.

The auto Zipwake trim controls deliver a confident feel at the wheel and an urge to keep pushing the throttles. In the back bay my test boat, skippered by Viking’s Ryan Higgins and powered by a quad set of Mercury Verado 400s, ripped to a top speed of 73 mph, according to the Garmin GPS.

When I took the helm, I fell a step behind the beat, tagging 70 mph. With more time at the wheel, I believe I could improve on my number. The Mercury power-assisted hydraulic steering controls delivered a slick and seamless response, while the joystick steering eased the task of docking.

Fishin’ Mission

While the V-41 makes an excellent all‑around center-console, its true mission lies in bluewater fishing. It’s designed to take you offshore and serve as an unmitigated tournament contender with its countless top-line accessories and options. For instance, a Hooker sea chest/livewell system with a variable-speed pump pushes water to optional pressurized wells in the forward lounge or in the cockpit sole, and to a 90-gallon well in the transom.

Valhalla lined the fiberglass coaming with rod holders, and more rods stow in the custom fiberglass hardtop, the back of the observation mezzanine and in the forward lounge area. Gunwale height measures 28 inches aft, 30 inches amidships and 35 inches in the bow.

Hustling forward with a bent rod is a breeze with 24 inches between the console sides and the padded coaming bolsters, which completely line the interior. I found the absence of clutter in the bow quite welcome: The open space helps whether you’re dealing with a jumping sail or tarpon, working the anchor or simply grabbing a line to set on the recessed cleats. A low-profile bow rail enhances security.

Standard insulated fish boxes in the bow, stern and alongside the console come plumbed to sumps and are pumped overboard. Deep gutters drain water from the deck and divert it overboard. A Seakeeper 3 gyrostabilizer fits neatly beneath the cockpit sole in an engineered space, and forward I found an electric bow thruster.

Plush Touches

If you desire bow seating, Valhalla offers optional molded-fiberglass lockers with cushions and removable backrests that fit nicely around the 182-gallon fish box in the sole. The seat units cleverly mount to the deck with hidden fasteners on internal flanges that help keep the contents dry.

The helm console on the test boat featured a ProCurve glass windshield that looks sharp and does an equally impressive job of diverting spray and breeze. My test boat came with optional Release Marine seats, comprising three teak helm chairs with four arm rests, electric slides and flip-up bolsters.

Between the heady speeds, the low hum of the big Mercs and the plush seats, this boat makes a short haul out of long rides to the deep. Special touches to the upgraded upholstery added to the experience as did the Release Marine teak helm pod and faux-teak-painted toe rail. A factory-installed electronics package facilitates turnkey delivery and looks sharp in the black acrylic helm panel along with a row of Bocatech 12-volt switches under the displays for accessories and other equipment.

Built into the forward portion of the console on the port side, a fiberglass door offers a 20-inch-wide entrance. Inside, an electrical panel door offers easy access to the back side of the helm, electronics, house and engine batteries. Interior headroom measures a gracious 6 feet, 5 inches, and I found a molded vanity, sink, electric head and a retractable shower wand as well as ample room for rod stowage.

Built for You

The V-41 sports molded fiberglass composite construction with closed-cell foam, a resin-infused structural stringer grid with: integrated wire chases; a molded fiberglass liner; three coal-tar, epoxy-coated aluminum fuel tanks; stainless-steel through-hull fittings above the waterline; and titanium fittings below. The high-performance gelcoat is available in seven colors to personalize your boat. A seemingly endless array of custom optional equipment ensures no two V-41s are likely to look the same.

Read Next: Viking 37 Billfish First Glance

In a sea of familiarity among big center-consoles, the V-41 resides in a class by itself.

Performance

Power: Quad Mercury Verado 400s

Load: 350 gal. fuel; 49 gal. water; three crew

Top Speed: 73 mph @6,850 rpm

Time to 30 MPH: 7.0 seconds

Best MPG: .98 @ 45 mph (4,200 rpm)

Hull

LOA: 43 ft. 3 in.

Beam: 11 ft. 7 in.

Deadrise: 24 deg.

Weight: 18,533 lb. (w/ engines, full load)

Draft: 3 ft.

Fuel: 557 gal.

Max Power: 1,600 hp

MSRP: $792,810 (as tested)

Valhalla Boatworks

New Gretna, New Jersey

609-296-6000

valhallaboatworks.com

The post Valhalla Boatworks V-41 Boat Review appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.