Salty Saturday - Risty's Skiff

Craig Rist is living the dream, so we thought we'd get the story of his flats boat project to make you all super jealous..

“In 2013 I was in Florida standing on the bow of an American flats boat for the very first time. The effectiveness of fishing from a dedicated polling flats boat such as this was a real eye opener for me and I knew it had huge potential in Australia for both salt and freshwater.

In October 2016 I made the bold decision to give my 16 foot fibreglass side console a major overhaul to transform it into a polling flats boat or Skiff as they are called in the States. Twelve months and countless hours later I finished it on the day it was pre booked for a Queensland flats fishing road trip.

In the new flats boat we were able to access tailing Golden Trevally, Blue Bastards, Permit and Barra. This is done as a team and is just as rewarding for the person on the pole as it is for the lucky one at the bow with a Meridian in his hand.

Tasmania has its own salt water flats to explore with my flats boat and the resident large Black Bream that feed on these southern cold water flats are in for a surprise.”