It’s no secret that increasing your elevation on a boat adds a distinct advantage to your ability to see objects both on the surface and below the water. Anglers have used this fact to their advantage for many years to improve sight fishing effectiveness. Offshore boaters have long enjoyed the benefits of raised bridge and tower combinations for spotting distant fish but anglers plying inshore coastal waters and on the flats have relied more on stealth, good polarized glasses, and a little luck to get close enough for a cast without spooking fish. Action Craft Boats of Cape Coral, Florida offers inshore anglers a solution inspired by the Gulf Coast raised helm style boats popular on the Texas flats. The GCX 2050 combines the raised helm concept “shoal boat” style with a more open water friendly hull design that is suitable for bays, beaches, and skinny waters alike. The simple addition of a pipe fabricated helm tower to this beast of a flats to bay hull takes your visibility to the next level. The design process was clearly well thought out on this model, providing an elevated yet stable tower that doesn’t swallow up any usable fishing or storage space. A single driver sits above a gunnel to gunnel width bench with fold up seating for two below. The forward tower legs accommodate an additional wide comfortable seat with a backrest and a drink cooler fits neatly, dead center behind this seat. From a visibility standpoint, once you ride in this raised position it’s awfully hard to go back to deck level if you enjoy sight fishing. The ride of this boat is very solid and stable yet soft and comfortable, even from the raised helm.
As a fishing platform the 2050 GCX lacks nothing you’d want in a coastal boat. Up to four live wells are capable of holding enough bait for even the most hardcore live baiter. The foredeck features two very large storage compartments as well as an anchor locker and an additional large storage space…
