Fishing Australia

Hire boats are typically small tinnies with low power outboards that are designed to be used in enclosed waters; usually within sight of the hire shed. The folks from Boab Boat Hire changed all this by introducing much larger faster boats with families and anglers in mind. You may have seen a Boab Boat in your travels; I’ve seen plenty-their bright orange color is hard to miss!

Just a few weeks ago I finally got the chance to check out Boab properly for myself and came away very impressed.

Batemans Bay was the destination; my family and I had hired a Clyde River Houseboat which came with a nice little tinnie, but we also wanted something bigger and faster so we could zip out to sea or go skiing. So we booked in a 5.7 meter Boab Sports Rider from local franchise owner Tim Blunden.

There is the option of towing these boats to far away locations, which really opens up the options, but in this case it was launched for us and docked at the houseboat as part of their step on step off service. Tim arrived early and it was good to see he knew where it would be good to fish given the forecast; this local knowledge is extremely important for newcomers hiring a Boab.

The boat was presented in perfectly clean ship shape and looked awesome right from the word go; I couldn’t wait to give her a spin.

Being a hire boat, she had to be built tough, and this thing was a tank! Plate aluminum hull and deck, heavy duty grab rails, and more. Even the rod holders were welded in, not aftermarket screwed in jobs that can work loose-my sort of boat!

Amongst other things there was also a depth sounder/fish finder, marine radio and a complete set of safety gear.

To top things off it had a full on bait board which was solid enough to grab onto and it came complete with three rod holders and a drain pipe to keep the area clean while at work bating up. Every good fishing boat needs a proper bait board like this; the folks at Boab have really done their homework here.

As part of a standard procedure Tim had sent me a dvd that explains much about the use and safety gear on the boat. After about 5 minutes of paper work and an on water safety briefing we were all set to go.

The boat was decked out with a 90 horsepower Honda which had more than enough grunt for the 4 or 5 people we typically had aboard. The steering was a delight to use; a light and easy hydraulic set up with a dolly on the steering wheel to make it easy to maneuver when skiing fishing or docking.

The boat also came with an 8 horse power auxiliary motor, great for fishing in the shallow sections of the river, and having a second motor is always handy if something goes wrong with the first motor. Mind you this boat is inherently safer than a mates boat that’s been sitting in the shed because both motors are immaculately maintained by Tim; who is a fully qualified outboard mechanic. It was comforting to know the bloke who hands you the keys is the same guy who maintains the boats and motors!

There are several models to pick from, but in this scenario I really like the bow rider set up: you can have a few people in the front while water skiing or cruising, and then use the same area to fish from later in the afternoon-cool!

You can also use the canopy for shelter when it’s hot or cold, and it is a snug little place to get out of the wind when at anchor.

I am not sure why more families don’t buy these type of boats; they are the best of both worlds-in fact the Americans deck them out a little further and turn them into what’s known as a fish and ski.

With this particular model you can go up to 2 nautical miles to sea; which is more than far enough to tangle with the inshore flathead, snapper, kingfish and other prized species.

Some of the Boabs come with throttle restrictors so that they don’t exceed 10 knots, and hence you typically don’t need a boat licence to hire them. However the whole idea of these crafts is to be able to go faster and further than your average hire boat, so I recommend you get a boat licensee if you wish to take full advantage of what Boab has to offer.

In summary I think this is a great option for some anglers. For example for people who fish out of a boat just a few times a year, it is much cheaper to hire this boat for $295 a day (off peak rate) than to have it sitting in the shed-it’s worth over $70,000!

It was also a huge time saver not having to tow the boat from home to the bay, and not having to worry about all the maintenance afterwards; which is significant, as any one who has owned a boat will know.

The service was professional, and Tim was just a phone call away on the odd occasion we had a question about the boat.

Boabs are available for hire right around Australia, to find out more about, what boats are available, where you are allowed to tow or dive them and more check out www.boabboathire.com.au

See you on the water.

Rob Paxevanos