air boat/outboard motor combo

[boscoe99]

Was watching Lone Star Law. Guy had a boat with an F50 Yam on the back. Above the motor, where a poling platform might normally be, was a small motor with a propeller. Is this to get them into shallower water than they can get to using the main motor?

[99yam40]

flounder gigging at night.
the air prop pushes the boat slowly across shallow water as you look for flounder.
some have a way to direct the air, others just push straight and you use your long gigs to gide the front of boat by pushing to one side or the other.

my gigs were 3/4" aluminum conduit 10' long.
prongs on gig were sharpened 3/8" ss all-thread (3 of them)

[99yam40]

back before CFL and LED lights we used 12v incandescent light bulbs run off of batteries .
the air motor usually also turned an alternator to keep the batteries from draining too fast.

Many years ago I would hang a gas colmen lantern off the bow of a 12 ft aluminum boat.
brother and I would pick up 50 flounder in a few hours. limit was 25 per person I believe back them.
now we are allowed 5 per person/

now a days I do not think I could keep my brother awake long enough for the sky to get dark enough to even try to flounder gig

[boscoe99]

Is the motor turning the propeller usually just run at an idle RPM?

I don't see how we have any fish left. Too many ways to find them and kill them.

[99yam40]

depends on wind speed and direction.
you can move as fast as you want to.
you need to react when you see one, to hit it properly and swing it back into the boat
there is a throttle cable to adjust as needed.

sad part is that the commercial side does not have the limits the recreational does so they are out there all of the time without much restriction

[robert graham]

Wouldn't an electric *****ing motor work here?....give some directional control?...

[DennisG01]

Wouldn't an electric *****ing motor work here?....give some directional control?...

Don't know much about this type of fishing, but I would imagine that a troling (had to spell it wrong) motor would stir the water up too much. Maybe would prevent the boat from getting into really skinny water, too? Or get caught in weeds?

I'd be curious to see that OB/Fan setup!

[99yam40]

the water around here is not that gin clear you have in most other places. we have the brazos River, and other creeks and rivers that dump a lot of silt into the bays, so we run in real shallow water most of the time to be able to see them bedded up on the bottom.
E T Motor cannot get shallow enough and as was said stirs up the bottom also

[99yam40]

not sure if this link can be put here or not, but it shows how some build a flounder boat for gigging
https://discussions.texasbowhunter.c...d.php?t=363408

[DennisG01]

Thanks, Yam. That's a neat setup.

[99yam40]

back in my younger days I spent many nights flounder gigging while wading/walking and gigging out of a boat.
some times you had to cover your mouth and nose to keep all of the bugs out that were attracted to the lights.
and some times they were blood sucking sketters.
we complained a lot, but kept going.
I will not deal with those bugs any more.
I do not flounder much anymore

[boscoe99]

How about dealing with sting rays?

[99yam40]

as long as you do not step on them they will not stick you.

never walk back thru the water you stirred up, they will tend to follow you looking for stuff you kicked up while walking.
slide you feet( do not lift your feet and come down.
bring you toes down 1st.

in a boat you have no worries, unless you stick one with a gig