The Sweetest Center Console. The New 345 XSF by Scout Boats

The New 345 XSF, Center Console, Scout Boats

The much anticipated center console, the 345 XSF by Scout Boats is complete!  Scout Boat’s flagship center console debuted at the Charleston Boat Show on January 22nd and received some rave reviews.  It is Scout Boat’s largest forward seating center console. It has all the bells and whistles and the features are really just sweet.

New Grady White & Scout Boat models at Cannons Marina

New Grady White Boats & Scout Boat Models now at Cannons Marina

Grady White 192 Dual Console

Grady-White’s newly reintroduced Tournament 192 is a decidedly family oriented dual console model loaded with classic looks, value and versatility.  It’s variable dead-rise hull, the Sea V2, features an 8-foot beam and a cockpit depth of 25 inches. With a top speed of 45 mph, fuel consumption of 4.6 mpg at 27 mph and a fuel tank capacity of 60 gallons, the 192 is built for a full day of fishing or just plain fun on the water.

The 192 is designed specifically to be matched to a Yamaha mid-range 4-stroke engine to provide top performance in a very affordable yet high-value package that is equally at home on lakes, rivers or inshore waters. As with all Grady-White boats, the Tournament 192 reflects their heritage of quality, safety, reliability, value and performance.

A new flush mounted radio box comes standard with an all-new instrument panel. There’s ample, easy to access storage for water toys, tackle, skis and pretty much anything else your crew may need. A true self-bailing cockpit and oversized scuppers means clean up and maintenance is a snap.

The 192’s bow features roomy seating plus a storage area on the port side and a 44-quart insulated cooler on the starboard. Grady’s trademark oversized cup holders are placed within convenient reach from every seat. The helm has comfy seating and easy-to-read backlit switches along with a heavy-duty stainless steel steering wheel. To top it all off, a Kenwood sound system with optional MP3/auxilary radio will have your onboard guests dancing on the deck.

Behind the cockpit you’ll find two jump seats, port and starboard, each with fixed backrests. All cleats are recessed and there’s a built-in swim platform with easy to grip handles and a telescoping swim ladder.

Grady-White 230

Grady-White’s brand new Fisherman 230 is the company’s tenth current center console model that includes new, well-conceived features and improved roominess that focus on a boating and fishing family’s needs. There’s an oversized aft cockpit. The bow sports a 72-quart removable cooler with cushioned top that does double duty as additional seating for two. Tucked into the console is a stand-up head and for shade they’re offering an optional T-top. The 230 clearly meets Grady-White’s goal for a model based on value, function and versatility.

A single Yamaha four-stroke engine, such as their super-efficient 250 HP V6, is a perfect match, and the 230’s wide-beam (8’6”), SeaV2 hull yields balanced stability at almost any speed and in just about any conditions.

There’s a 35-gallon, insulated live well that can be used as a cooler, a large storage box at the transom, practical helm seating and flush mounted electronics that are easily seen. In the bow, port and starboard 101-quart insulated fish boxes also double as seating and an optional insert changes the entire bow into a casting platform

The 230’s 120-gallon fuel capacity adds versatility that makes this winning inshore fishing boat as good a match offshore.

Florida Snook Need a Break from Cold Weather

By Sunday morning hundreds of snook had died in the canals of Anna Maria Island, Snead Island and the Bradenton Yacht Club in Palmetto.

Sand bream (mojarras) died today in the upper reaches of the Manatee River near Fort Hamer. With one more night of even colder weather and a hard wind gusting to 25 from the north, a lot more snook are sure to die.

Freeze of a Lifetime Threatens Florida Fauna

By G. B. Knowles

It’s been colder in Florida. The freezes in the early 1960s killed citrus groves en masse and decimated tropical animals like snook and manatees. It’s snowed more. In 1977, on January 17, my young cousin made a snowman in Tampa. It snowed in Miami that year and was the first recorded instance of snow in Bahamian history.

But there has never been a period of such prolonged cold in Florida. For two weeks the temperatures haven’t climbed out of the 50s and many of those nights saw lows in the 20s.

Possible snow flurries and the coldest weather yet is due for this weekend and into the first of next week. Temperatures are forecast to drop to 27 in Tampa, in the city, and that means frozen teens in the outlying country.

Where Has the Sport of Fishing Gone?

It alarms me that fishing appears to be abandoning the sporting element that once made this past time great. Maybe it is because we have too many fish or too many anglers because hunting has gone the opposite direction.

The men and women who stalk big game do so now with primitive bows and arrows, cameras and even paintball guns.They’ll be reduced to spears and slings before it’s done and the entire reason for it is to put sport back into the hunt by handicapping the modern practitioner. Fishing, on the other hand, seems to be moving the opposite direction.

We’ve all seen it or been a part of it. They advertise robotic fishing lures on television as a can’t fail technique. You and I realize this is a scam and doesn’t work. But that doesn’t keep Madison Avenue from probing the current “fish at any cost” way of thinking.