Jet ski fishing

[Wood Spinner]

Hey I just sold the Sea Ray and am now looking into making a jet ski fishing rig. Does any one have any experience fishing off one?
I am thinking a 3 seater because they are bigger and will hold more weight. From what I read it looks like great range especially if you carry an extra few gallons of gas.
Some of the U Tube videos look like it will be a real hoot and not a high fuel cost. I am hoping to find a 4 stroke close to $ 3000.00 at the end of the summer.
So what do you think ? Besides I may be a little loco.

 

[Wood Spinner]

I forgot to ask . Do any of you have a good one for sale in my price range?

 

[azfish]

Bill why not just get a sea doo sportster, I think top speed is 50 knots plenty of room. Plus its fast enough to get back in if weather starts to get bad.

 

[Stuart]

Check out Jet Ski Brian's site. He has a bad-ass new fishing jet ski. And, he's been doing it for years. Lots of do-it-yourself info on building your own fishing ski.

Jet Ski Brian::

 

[moore_rb]

I used to launch my jet-ski at Lee's Ferry and use it to run up-river way back in the day...

You should have seen some of the incredulous looks I would get from the snobby Orvis Fly-fishing crowd. I loved every minute of it.

Bill- my best pieces of advice-

1) Like you said- get a 3-seater for stability, fuel capacity and range.
2) Get a four stroke for reliability, MPG, and ease of maintenance. 2-strokes are for going fast.
3) Yamaha's and Hondas have the best keel design for stability in rougher water, IMHO. Sea Doos and Kawasaki's are performance inspired hulls better oriented for speed and maneuverability.

Finding one will be easy - Craigslist is LOADED with jetskis for sale

 

[rockyptjoe]

I used to launch my jet-ski at Lee's Ferry and use it to run up-river way back in the day...

You should have seen some of the incredulous looks I would get from the snobby Orvis Fly-fishing crowd. I loved every minute of it.

Bill- my best pieces of advice-

1) Like you said- get a 3-seater for stability, fuel capacity and range.
2) Get a four stroke for reliability, MPG, and ease of maintenance. 2-strokes are for going fast.
3) Yamaha's and Hondas have the best keel design for stability in rougher water, IMHO. Sea Doos and Kawasaki's are performance inspired hulls better oriented for speed and maneuverability.

Finding one will be easy - Craigslist is LOADED with jetskis for sale

All of the current manufacturer's 3 seaters have excellent stability....but would have to disagree on your order of preference for rough water......( I've ridden Seadoo in Penasco, out to Bird Island, and even out to Catalina Island from Long Beach)
1. SeaDoo/Kawasaki
2.
3. Yamaha
4. Honda (does Honda even make a true 3 seater???)
:stir:

They are all self righting if you roll, ..... The closest I've ever come to rolling mine was riding 3 up, making a very sharp turn at slow speed, without giving enough throttle....we all slid off, and the jetski righted itself.

If you get the 4 strokes WITHOUT supercharger/turbos, they have decent fuel economy...but don't expect much over 7-8 mpg. Most have 14-16 gal. fuel tanks....a couple of the new models have even gone to bigger tanks. There were a couple models made that were even bigger then a standard 3 seater....I think Yamaha called theirs an SUV or something like that...with a bigger tank. I rode my 4 stroke supercharged Seadoo out to Bird Island, tooled around a little bit out there, and still had fuel left when I got back. My daughter's 2 stroke, fuel injected/direct oil injection, has even better fuel economy then my 4 stroke. The trip out was pretty calm, doing about 35-40 mph, the return was slogging into heavy seas... about 15-20 mph.

I've seen a few interesting rigs for fishing....just Google "jetski fishing rigs".....