From reels singing at that first bite to your crew celebrating after a leader touch, the adrenaline rush of catching big fish is incomparable to any other recreation. From the dawn of modern boat building, crafting the perfect sportfishing boat has been the lifelong plight for many custom and production builders. Just like your bait presentation needs to be perfect for the species your targeting, so do the details need to align on your sportfish to comfortably take you to wherever fish are located.
As one of the oldest Viking Yacht dealers in the world and sponsors of major Northeast fishing tournaments, there is no better team to assist you in purchasing a sportfishing boat or selling your existing one.
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Buying A Sportfishing Boat
When choosing the right boat for your needs, it is important to have a conversation with a professional yacht broker with experience in sportfishing yachts. Everyone has different factors to consider when selecting the right sportfish including the range you want it to have, whether or not you will be fishing in tournaments, open flybridge or enclosed flybridge, horsepower needed, and of course, how much you want to spend.
Facts About Sportfishing Boats
- Sportfishing Boats range from 35 feet to over 100 feet in length.
- According to SoldBoats.com, there were over 1,600 sportfish boats sold in the U.S. last year that were over 35-feet.
- The price of a sportfish can range from $75,000 for a smaller, older vessel to well over $10 million for a boat like a Viking 92.
- Typical features on a sportfish include a cockpit with a fighting chair, large live-wells, outriggers, and a transom door for pulling in large fish.
- Production sportfish builders produce larger quantities of boats and offer semi-customization options. Examples of production sportfish builders are Viking, Bertram, Hatteras Yachts, and Cabo Yachts.
- Custom Sportfish builders often take a year or more to hand-build your boat from scratch and to your specific requirements. Custom boats are often more expensive. Examples of custom sportfish builders include Bayliss, Buddy Davis, Jarrett Bay, Merritt, Rybovich, Spencer Yachts, and others.
The below video is a walk-through tour of a Viking 52C that was sold through SI Yachts.
Many people ask, "Why are sportfishing boats so expensive?" SI Yachts Viking Brand Manager Rich Lucas explains what goes into the production of this type of boat, "There is so much that goes into the production of a sportfishing boat before the physical construction even begins. There are hundreds of man hours spent on computers designing the shape of the hull to reduce planing or increase speed. Many builders also use a resin-infusion process, which the higher quality materials used, the more expensive the boat will be." Rich went on to discuss the price of engines, high-end electronics, and the best equipment money can buy. All of this in pursuit of a fish!
If you would like to speak to one of our sportfish experts, please contact our main office at 1-718-984-7676 or via email at Sales@SIYachts.com. Not seeing what you like on the market? Our team knows about boats not yet available for sale and can ensure you're the first to know about it. We have the ability to take your current boat in on trade as well, towards the purchase of a new boat.