Bulking Up
Brian Turner owns multiple businesses on Florida’s west coast. When he wants to fish for marlin and sailfish, he takes his outboard-powered center console about 130 miles to “The Steps” in the Gulf of Mexico.
“I like to go fast, and I don’t get a whole lot of time off,” says Turner, 43, of Bradenton, Florida. “I’ve always liked the speed and the fishability that come with the center console.”
He got his first center console, a 42-foot Yellowfin, about five years ago and last year had the company build him a custom carbon fiber version with triple 350-hp Yamaha 4-stroke outboards. Haulin’ Grass runs at 65 mph in good conditions and at about 55 in rougher stuff. “I’m trolling for marlin in two and a half hours,” Turner says.
During the last decade, a growing number of anglers have moved into larger, faster, more nimble outboard-powered center console fishing boats. “It’s all about fishability, performance and fuel economy,” says Yellowfin Yachts president Wylie Nagler. “I can cover more distance and fish more miles in the same day.”
The bigger-is-better trend has been in vogue for some time with both open boats and outboards. It’s been a chicken-and-egg relationship. Larger boats spurred the development of larger (and mulitiple) engines. Greater horsepower led to bigger boats.
“Engine development guided or was a major factor in the
