I will be moving to Naples this year and would like to get a small (14 ft) fishing boat for inland bass fishing.  Would plan to fish the Golden Gate, Alligator Alley, Trafford Lake, the Everglades, and any other local waters I could.  What would be the best boat to get to be able to do all (4) venues and similar.  Regular Vee-bottom, Semi-Vee bottom, or flat bottom?  What size motor would be the best?

Larry I do not know the specific area, but I would probably start by upping your boat choice to something closer to 16 or 17 foot for better stability.  I would probably go for a mod vee hull.  Horsepower is up to you, it could be a 9.9 all the way to a 75 hp depending on the boat. I might look at a boat like this where you could chase some bass and some saltwater fish.

There are plenty of options but here is one example.  It is an Alumacraft MV 1756 AW CC

My brother in law is moving to the greater Fort Meyers area and I have been looking at fishing the river and the series of canals coming out of The Big O and ending at sea at Fort Myers.  A boat like this might be a good all around workhorse for you. I would go with a saltwater series trolling motor though.  I run a standard Lowe bassboat and live on the Chesapeake Bay. I too have gone with a saltwater series Minn Kota Riptide Terrova. I fish rivers like the Potomac and the Upper Chesapeake, where the top of the bay and the Susquehanna River meet. It is all a mix of tidal water. We chase bass, crappie, perch and striper mostly. Of course you can never forget the big blue catfish that now roam our area bigtime as well as the snakeheads that have made the bay their home.

Bass tracker tx17 would be perfect for those areas,depending on how much you want to spend, will depend on the year of  the boat and horsepower,there is plenty to choose from on Craigslist.

On 4/3/2018 at 9:36 PM, fishnkamp said:

Larry I do not know the specific area, but I would probably start by upping your boat choice to something closer to 16 or 17 foot for better stability.  I would probably go for a mod vee hull.  Horsepower is up to you, it could be a 9.9 all the way to a 75 hp depending on the boat. I might look at a boat like this where you could chase some bass and some saltwater fish.

There are plenty of options but here is one example.  It is an Alumacraft MV 1756 AW CC

My brother in law is moving to the greater Fort Meyers area and I have been looking at fishing the river and the series of canals coming out of The Big O and ending at sea at Fort Myers.  A boat like this might be a good all around workhorse for you. I would go with a saltwater series trolling motor though.  I run a standard Lowe bassboat and live on the Chesapeake Bay. I too have gone with a saltwater series Minn Kota Riptide Terrova. I fish rivers like the Potomac and the Upper Chesapeake, where the top of the bay and the Susquehanna River meet. It is all a mix of tidal water. We chase bass, crappie, perch and striper mostly. Of course you can never forget the big blue catfish that now roam our area bigtime as well as the snakeheads that have made the bay their home.

Thanks very much for the suggestions.  Will be coming down in a few weeks to look around, buy a condo, select a boat, and maybe catch a bass.  Larry