He does have a point. I started out with a 25/20 jet on a 1546CP Xpress and that boat would run any where, not to mention if it did get beached it was easy to slide off. I even run that boat a few time on the Buffalo River down in Linden. There is pros and cons to everything. I will give you my list on this. With the small boat you want burn near as much gas and be able to run probable all of the Duck, if you have the time since my boat would only run about 15 or so with just me and my tackle. You will save gas in the vehicle pulling the lighter boat. You will have less chance of doing damage by running slower and being able to shut down before you get into something you feel the boat will not handle.
With a bigger boat you can get to places quicker, but also get into more trouble. The speed can be hard to control, mainly running with the current for me. It seems the bigger boats I have had slide more than the little boat did. The bigger boats do not seem to slow down as much when you just add one person and there tackle. The smaller boat would slow down a few MPH with a extra person. I like a bigger boat to fish out of because of the room and place to store tackle.
I just fished Chickasaw Trace two weekends ago and the water was so low I actually took a chunk out of the UHMW on the back part of my boat, but did not hurt the motor or boat. Not sure I would have even tried that shoal with the smaller boat, because it was made out of .088 gauge aluminum. I have wondered the past few years if I really needed the UHMW but was glad I had it then. I would say most years it is not needed on the Duck, but you know what kind of drought we have been in this year.
With all that being said. If I was boat shopping now and knowing what I know about boats and the Duck River. I would probably be looking at the G3 1656CCJ DLX. The only down fall I see with that boat is maybe the motor not being big enough and would be perfect with a flat hull with no ribs, so it could have UHMW. I have never rode in a G3 1656 so I am not sure how they perform with a 60/40. Hope all this helps and feel free to ask more questions.
