wabash15

Thanks for the comment. I definitely plan on staying away from the Gulf and only plan on shallow water fishing. My main concern is wind. I get pretty dang frustrated with it and my current 17ft Javelin fiberglass boat gets pushed around fairly easily, but it sit fairly high out of the water. Would the Xpress style bay boats have an even harder time with the wind?

My buddy has an action craft flats boat. That thing can handle some chop really well and is pretty quick too. I think that boat would handle windy days better than an aluminum boat.

I live in South Texas near two larger fresh water lakes and within 30 minutes of Baffin Bay. I primarily bass fish these lakes and beat the banks (no offshore bass fishing for me), but with the droughts we've been having I expect to do saltwater fishing more and more until the lake levels rise. I've been looking for a boat that can do both freshwater and saltwater. I've been exploring aluminum center console boats like the Xpress H180b. I'd like a new boat under $35k and a fiberglass boat is pretty much out of my range. My concern: The lakes and bays down here have pretty consistent winds. Average is around 15mph to 20mph most days, especially in the spring time. Would an aluminum boat be too much of a hassle in these winds? I've never rode in this type of boat before so I'm not sure what to expect.

I recently moved to South Texas near Corpus Christi and have been fishing Choke Canyon a few times since May of this year. Haven't really gotten on any big fish, wanted to see if any folks on this site were fishing that lake regularly, especially during the summer months and had some tips.

I have a 1999 Javelin Venom 17 with a 90HP Johnson. Boat runs great but the floor is getting soft. I plan on replacing the floor with plywood and fiberglass this fall but it got me thinking about getting a new boat in a couple of years. I want a 17 to 19 foot glass boat to fish big lakes in South Texas, specifically Choke Canyon and Falcon. I'm pretty happy with my 17ft Javelin so I don't think I need a 20ft boat. I don't currently fish tournaments but would like to fish some soon. I can't decide if getting a new Nitro Z17 is better than buying a used Skeeter ZX190. I know the boats are a tad different, but having a warranty on the hull (and motor) would be a huge benefit to buying the new Nitro. My budget would be right around the $30k range. Anyone have any advice for me? Thanks again!