Pro-Line 35 Express Review Oakland CA

I need more hooks! I've been sharked again, the third time in as many drops, and I just lost the last grouper rig on the boat. That means tying one from scratch, so I flip down the tackle station hatch, which happens to do double-duty as a seat back for the aft-facing bait-watching seat, and start ripping open drawers. There are three big ones, then five tackle trays, plus slots for tackle wraps and hook racks. I go through the compartments one after another until I find the tackle I need. It takes a while. News Flash: The tackle station on Pro-Line's new 35 Express will house as much gear as the largest tackleboxes in Outdoor World.

FISH-O-MATIC The plentiful tackle stowage shouldn't come as a surprise. Pro-Line is known for building fishboats, and since this is its new flagship model, you'd expect it to have some fabulous features. Yup, the livewell is as bodacious as you had hoped. It holds 45 gallons, is finished in buff blue inside (which helps calm baitfish, so they don't swim head-first into fiberglass and beat themselves up), and the top is supported by gas-assist struts. It's lighted as well, but the light is white, and when I'm fishing after dark, I prefer not to lose my night vision each time I look inside. The bulb should be replaced with a red one.

The macerated fishboxes are supersize and will hold a 100-pound tuna-which is the sort of challenge I wish I had during our test, but no matter, we still had enough action to give the cockpit toerails, under-gunwale rodracks, gunwale-mounted rodholders, side-mounted hardtop rodholders, and coaming bolsters a thorough workout. Sure, all these things add up to make a day of fishing more comfortable and effective than it would be on a bare-bones boat. But the best fishing feature of all is sheer space. As you might expect, a supersize outboard boat yields a supersize cockpit.

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