Florida Sportsman's Boat Buyers Guide 2025.
January 23, 2025
By Jeff Weakley
What type of fishing boat best fits your budget, your lifestyle and your fishing goals. Take a look at these new boats designed to get you to the fish in freshwater, inshore and offshore.
KAYAK Hobie 2025 Pro Angler 14 Hobie 2025 Pro Angler A kayak is a boat? For sure it is! One of the major kayak manufacturers, Hobie, recently released an updated model enhanced to accommodate bow and stern motors, battery storage and wire management. The rotomolded polyethylene 2025 Pro Angler 14 continues to provide the full range of propulsion and feature set consumers are used to in the Pro Angler series. Also available in 12-foot models, and in both 180 and 360 MirageDrive configurations.
LOA: 13' 8" Beam: 38" Weight: 144.5 pounds fully rigged Power: MirageDrive 180 pedal drive; paddle; motor options sold separately Base price: $4,799 FLATS BOAT Maverick Mirage 17 HPX-S Maverick Mirage 17 HPX-S One of Maverick Boat Company’s specialized poling skiffs, the Mirage 17 HPX-S edition is designed to float in 6 inches, but also run the chop out to oceanside flats for tarpon and more. “It’s light and spins fast on a pushpole, so we can get in front of fish,” says legendary Florida Keys guide Capt. Rob Fordyce. “Driest hatches I’ve ever seen. Fuel economy, roomy, quiet…”
Length: 17' 8" Beam: 6' 2" Draft: 6" Weight (approx. w/engine): 1,175 pounds w/F70 Fuel: 19 gal Deadrise: 1 deg Max HP: 70 Base price: $69,717 w/Yamaha F70LA BASS BOAT Skeeter ZX200M Skeeter ZX200M Contemporary features and classic design of a southern bassboat are on display in this price-leading model for Skeeter. Carpeted decks, hot-foot throttle pedal, Minn Kota Fortrex Trolling Motor and Humminbird Helix electronics are all standard.
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LOA: 19'6" Beam: 95" Draft: 16" Weight: 2,020 pounds w/power Fuel: 36 gallons Max HP: 200 Base price: $61,595 w/VF200LB SINGLE ENGINE CENTER CONSOLE Sailfish 232 CC Sailfish 232 CC A new model from Sailfish in the popular single-engine trailerable center console class. Highlights include port and starboard transom boarding access with built-in swim platform, chaise-style bow lounge seats, full-height windshield, twin 10-gallon livewells, carry-on cooler with slide, and more.
Length: 23' Beam: 8' 6" Draft: 18" Weight: 5,065 pounds (wet with engine) Fuel: 108 gal Base price: $102,364 w/Suzuki 200 HP BAY BOAT Skeeter SX221 Skeeter SX221 Versatile proportions and layout for running to remote backwaters and casting lures or live baits to anything from reds to tarpon to largemouth bass. Twin livewells, leaning post with storage and 45 qt. Engel cooler, removable windshield and Skeeter’s limited lifetime structural warranty (10 years transferable).
Length: 21'6" Beam: 98" Draft: 10" Weight: 2,300 pounds w/power Fuel: 46 gallons Max HP: 200 hp Base price: $63,100 w/F150XC HYBRID BAY/OFFSHORE Contender 29 Bay Contender 29 Bay Fish far, fish shallow: Maybe you can have it all? Contender, a leader in building offshore and bay boats for Florida fisheries and beyond, debuted this new model at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.
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Length: 29' Beam: 9'6" Draft: 16-18" Weight (loaded): 7,200 pounds Water: 25 Gal. Deadrise: 15.5 DEG Fuel: 185 Gal. Max HP: 700 Base price: $239,000 w/power MULTI ENGINE CENTER CONSOLE Cobia 265 Open Cobia 265 Open Offshore fishing platform with lux touches. Forward seating, yes, but also space to walk completely to the bow. Helm accommodates two 16-inch flush-mounted screens, under integrated hardtop with tempered glass enclosure. USB outlets, clever storage all around. Thirty gallon livewell and twin 46-gallon fish boxes.
Length: 26' 5" Beam: 9' 5" Draft: 21" Weight: 6,450 pounds (approx. w/power) Deadrise: 21 deg. Fuel: 161 gal. Max HP: 500 Base price: $170,433 w/twin Yamaha 150XSA Robalo R300 Robalo R300 Long-range family fisherman with bonded electric folding front windshield and side windshield glass. Fiberglass console door. Twin aft insulated fish boxes (70 gal. each) with overboard drains and discharge pumps. Electric transom seat folds flush into transom wall. Freshwater system with overhead shower in hardtop. Twin bow insulated fish boxes and twin insulated livewells (28 gal. each).
Length: 30' 6" Beam: 10' 6" Weight: 9,000 pounds w/twin 300s Fuel: 280 gal. Max HP: 700 Base price: $247,995 Stingray 253CC Stingray 253CC Good example of the family amenities being built into the popular twin-engine 25-foot class center console, a proven size range for offshore fishing. Comes with fiberglass hardtop, enclosed head, pressurized transom shower (great for diving or just cooling off) and more.
Length: 25' 3" Beam: 111" Draft: 18" Weight: 5,600 pounds approx. w/t win 200 HP Fuel: 128 gal. Max HP: 400 Base price: $165,957 (w/twin Suzuki 150) Dusky 33 Dusky 33 Proven ventilated step-hull design and all-composite, hand-laminated hull for long-range performance and long-term durability. Available in an array of power configurations (deck layout and fishing accessories, too) but perhaps most popular with twin outboards mounted on the Dusky Drive.
Length: 33' Beam: 10' 10" Draft: 20” Weight: 7,000 pounds Fuel : 250-322 gal. Max HP: 900 Base price: $230,000 CATAMARAN Caymas 34CT Newest model in the Caymas lineup, with Ride Dynamic Ventilated Stepped semi-asymmetric hulls and aggressive bow flare. The 34 CT contains six insulated and plumbed storage boxes connected to macerator pumps. With two storage compartments forward, two mid-ship, and two in the cockpit floor, you can choose the space for storage versus fishboxes. A 65-gallon transom livewell is standard, with options to add two 25- gallon livewells, as well as plumbing the two after insulated storage boxes as livewells, for a total of five bait tanks all fed by a Hooker sea chest and Hooker electric pumps.
Length: 34' 3" Beam: 10' 10" Draft: 27" (engines up) Weight: 11,800 pounds w/o engines Fuel: 436 gal. Max HP: 1,000 Base price: $449,995 w/twin Mercury 400 Verado This article was featured in the December-January 2025 issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Click to subscribe .