Bimini Tops and Koke fishing

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Full_Monte

Full_Monte

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 10, 2008
Messages
734
Location
California
I really like a little shade while on the boat, but the Bimini gets in the way of fishing. There are so many poles and straps to negotiate around when you get a fish on, it can get challenging. Have any of you figured out a good solution to this? I operate a tiller-style outboard, so my Bimini is towards the stern of the boat. The wife likes the sun, so she sits up forward.
 
The SmokerCraft came with one, but it never got used and ended up selling it. Their just in the way as far as I'm concerned, and act like a sail when the wind kicks up.
 
There's no way around it. I have a 14' aluminun and there's not a lot of room to begin with. With the bimini up its really tight. However, fishing with the top in the middle of summer is the difference between staying out and going home. I'd rather be able to stay out longer and deal with the top then go home. What I do is leave it down until the sun is nearly unbearable (when I would think abut going home) then put it up and I can get 2+ more hours in comfortably.

As an altenate idea I've seen boats using large patio umbrellas. Wouldn't work for my boat, but for a larger boat may be an option. Cheaper too,and no side straps or braces to deal with, just one middle pole.

Old School
 
I have a bimini on my G3 and my son's chaparral they snap to the windshield and go up then back (over 6ft of head room) to get past the straps we have added one more brace we can fish five poles out of the boat and the top is not in or way
 
Its going to be a while before I can get to the boat and take a picture with the tops up, but I have two Bimini's. One forward, one aft on a 16' Jon boat with a 35 horse 4 stroke. Those two Biminis cover the entire boat.

We use the fore and aft Biminis when its just too darned hot to fish in the sun, but drop the forward one when fishing. The aft Bimini has all the straps and the rear ones are hooked in solid, but we use just one strap we put dead center on the forward cross member. It runs to the deck shackle on the bow and is tied with a simple slip knot. "FISH ON!" means pull on the slip knot, dropping the whole works aft across the top of the motor clearing the boat for a trophy Kokanee. :rolleyes: We keep it full up when fishing and just use the Minkota for trolling.
The Minkota runs on a dry cell Odyssey battery. That battery and charger were a cool $480.00, but worth every cent. I can get a full 12 hours of fishing running the Minkota on the highest speed, which I never do of course.
The charger is dedicated and recharges the battery in just two hours to full.
It can't be used on regular 12 volt batteries. The charge is incredibly fast and strong and a standard 12 volt will simply burn up. Fast.
It gets transferred to the propane generator here at the house during the winter. It won't freeze and has a three second burst of 2,400 cold cranking amps on startup.
Its been a good investment for the boat.

Pierre
 
I have over 6' head room. Poles get in the @#$%^& way. But can't do without it at times. My skin doesn't get along with big red. Or I'll have to keep covered. My chest is as white as my cheeks. Looking to add on to it so I can get out on some of them blustery cool days up at the Gorge. From the top down to the windshield and down on the sides. Wind breaker. Thats the best time of year to have em'. Fall going into early winter or until ice on. Its either be brave or just plain stupid. I usually fill in the latter part. The price you pay to want to fish! violin
 
Hey Monte - On my original aluminum boat similar to yours I put in a track sliding system for the bimini top which worked pretty good. With this in place I could slide the top back and forth, front to back and then used fixed strap mounting points for the back straps in front and back. I don't recall the manufacturer of the tracks but they were just right to screw into the gunnell at midpoint of the boat. Overall the top was a bit in the way if you were going to hand a pole to somebody up front but it helped keep cooler and meant more fishing. Here's a couple of pics I dug up just before I sold it in 05.

Kevin
 

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I thank you for your ideas. I take a couple of medications that make me really sensitive to the sun, so the thought of getting rid of the Bimini is not too appealing. It's good to know that I'm not the only one who has wrestled with this problem. I'm going to have to think about it for awhile....
 
zfk55 said:
Go here, down at the bottom of the page.

http://www.foreandaftmarine.com/biminitopHARDWARE.htm

We have them all along both gunnels, but........ be advised..... It takes two different sized Bimini tops to work on most boats since the gunnels are wider at the stern and taper toward the bow and change the overall width fit.

Pierre
Click to expand...

This was definitely a track mounting issue / consideration as on that Gregor and probably Monte's there is only a short area that is relatively straight and you won't bend the tracks. It worked out since the front and rear points were straps so overall one size bimini top could be used when I did it.
 
My Bimini isn't as tall as High Tech's was. I can't stand up under it. The gunnels do curve, so any straight track would have to be short. I have sometimes disconnected a single strap either in the front or rear to give more room for fighting fish, but it's at best a temporary aid.
 
justfish said:
I have a bimini on my G3 and my son's chaparral they snap to the windshield and go up then back (over 6ft of head room) to get past the straps we have added one more brace we can fish five poles out of the boat and the top is not in or way
Click to expand...

Where did you get the additional brace?
 
Hi Monte
My set-up is similar to justfish. One that snaps in front to the windshield and the rear is held down with two straps. I've had to fine tune the permanent support mounts until I finally found the ideal set-up. If I get an unruly fish that wants to swim around the boat or the wind suddenly picks up I simply disconnect the two rear straps and the entire top will fold quickly and nicely down in front of the windshield and be completely out of the way. Gee, I really LOVE my SmokerCraft.
One more thing. I tried the adjustable tracks and they didn't work for me so here's my offer to you. If you want them, their yours. Just send me a PM with your address and I'll send them to you.
 
SmokeOnTheWater said:
Hi Monte
My set-up is similar to justfish. One that snaps in front to the windshield and the rear is held down with two straps. I've had to fine tune the permanent support mounts until I finally found the ideal set-up. If I get an unruly fish that wants to swim around the boat or the wind suddenly picks up I simply disconnect the two rear straps and the entire top will fold quickly and nicely down in front of the windshield and be completely out of the way. Gee, I really LOVE my SmokerCraft.
One more thing. I tried the adjustable tracks and they didn't work for me so here's my offer to you. If you want them, their yours. Just send me a PM with your address and I'll send them to you.
Click to expand...

Smoke,
That's very generous! I'll try them out! Thanks! PM follows.
 
Hi,

I've got Tracker Tundra 18' with a Bimini top that I can walk around under on the upper level and I'm 6'1" tall. It looks kinda stupid being sooo tall, but on the hot days it can add several hours to the day. I always coach my fishing partners on how to quickly get it out of the way if necessary. Since it is more or less centered on the boat it really hasn't been a problem for Kokanee but Chinook salmon are another issue. The bimini covers about 60% of the boat and has fixed mountings.

MG
 

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