HookedOnFishingBoats.com

The 2150 provides the smooth ride cat lovers yearn for.

Pro Sports had built a wide range of boats before they fell victim to the current economy, and some models were significantly better then others. One such stand-out was the 2150 BayKat. A fishing buddy of mine bought one in 2007, and after running this boat in a wide variety of conditions in both bays and offshore up to 30 miles out in the Atlantic, I flat-out love this boat. Yeah, it stinks that Pro Sports went down. And no, no one’s currently building this boat (though as recently as a month ago I did see a new one advertised as new. Considering how slow boat sales are right now, there’s a good chance of finding left-overs for some time to come.) But this hull is so darn impressive it merits a close look, anyway.

First off, it has the traits that make some anglers die-hard cat lovers. The 2150 is astonishingly smooth and dry, whether in large or small seas. On one adventure in Tangier Sound we had an incredibly nasty three foot chop following us as we ran south to Spring Island, on the hunt for speckled trout. The water was so wind-whipped it was the color of chocolate milk, so we turned and ran east in a beam sea, for hotspot number two, and maintaining 35-mph was a piece of cake. When the bite turned off we zipped back into the sound and ran right into the teeth of it, which is actually one of the most comfortable directions for this boat. The compression tunnel gets up and over the waves easily in a ride that’s fully planning yet maintains more hull contact with the water then most other planing cats. It’s solid, too, without the rattles and vibrations exhibited by some of the Pro Sports line-up. It does, however, have a shared quirk that several cats with extremely fine entries suffer from: at speeds between two and eight miles per hour, the bow has low buoyancy and even less hydrodynamic lift. So, when you’re putting into seas of three feet or more it tends to eat the top off of a wave every now and again. No big deal—the cockpit clears in a few seconds—but it does get you gear and your feet wet.

The fore and aft casting decks have plenty of room to get busy.

Fishability is another strong feature on the 2150, with dual insulated fishboxes in the bow, eight vertical console rodholders, and four more in the gunwales. The foredeck is large and smooth, perfect for either fly or spin casting, and the aft deck also has plenty of standing room. Trollers will find that you can run small planer boards off the console grab rail, but there’s not enough height for full-sized boards. Drifters will enjoy this boat’s stability; there’s no snap-roll, and jigging in a beam sea is notably more comfortable then it is on a deep-V boat.

LOA – 21’6”

Beam – 8’6”

Draft – 12” (engine up)

Dry weight – 2,000

Fuel capacity – 66

Max. HP – 250

Price – You’ll see them range between the upper 20’s and low to mid 30’s

Observed performance notes w/3 people and half load fuel, single 150-hp Yamaha F-150 four-stroke outboard, swinging a 14 1/4” x 17” three bladed stainless-steel prop: