HookedOnFishingBoats.com

I love boat testing gigs in Texas. I go down there regularly for Texas Fish & Game magazine, and it seems like everyone who lives down there is riddled with southern hospitality. It’s impossible to have a bad time. On top of that, the folks at TFG always bring me a great selection of cool boats to run. One stand-out: the Blackjack 224. Lay your eyes on the bow of this boat, and you’ll notice some Carolina Flair. Not only does this make it look broader and more aggressive that most bay boats, it also throws spray out and away from the boat, providing as dry a ride as possible. Now direct your eyes to the stern. You’ll see tumblehome at the transom, where the hullsides are slightly rounded and are complimented by a spray rail. It’s a traditional design feature lost soon after most production builders went from wood construction to molded fiberglass, and these days you usually see it only on custom-made cold-molded boats. Details like these are what gives the Blackjack 224 class—something missing in the vast majority of vanilla-flavored bay boats.

Compared to other bay runners, the Blackjack is built with a little more tilt towards rough water ability and a little less towards shallow running. It needs about a foot of water to float. But between the flair, an aggressive 15-degree deadrise, a warped, modified V hull, and a fiberglass stringer grid injected with foam, the Blackjack can laugh at conditions that would leave most bay boats sitting at the dock. On top of that the Blackjack holds a whopping 70-gallons of fuel, so popping through the inlet on nice days is an option.

More touches of class: The Blackjack has dedicated drift anchor cleats mounted amidships. Hatches are compression-molded foam-cores, so they look flawless inside and out, and have insulating value. Check out that intake manifold system: instead of multiple through-hulls for pumps and whatnot, the Blackjack has a manifold that sits under a shelf in the starboard side aft deck. This manifold services all of the water intake systems, like a sea chest system works on high-end yachts. And don’t forget to look at those rodboxes, too. They hold up to seven rigs, and are 9’ long so even the fly guys have a place to stow their sticks.

Low points? I’m at a loss. I can’t even rant about the price, because this rig sells in the upper 30’s. Even decked out with maximum power it barely breaks 40 thou, which really isn’t bad in this day and age.

Observed performance notes w/ 2 people and half load fuel, single 225-hp Yamaha F225 outboards swinging a 14 5/8” x 23” three bladed stainless steel prop: