I am starting to look for a jon boat that I could hunt out of with a blind if I needed to - not just get to my spot with. What would you say is the minimum size to do this safely? I fished out of a 1648 welded Grizzly over the weekend and surprised by its stability, but also don't know what to compare it to.

Leave the blind at home.

I’ll have a Lowe 1752 with 50hp Merc for sale this summer. Will ask $4000

Check out my GatorTail 1854 boat/motor in the classified section. It'll do it all.....

i hunted out of a 16x48 with a 25hp outboard for years in north texas. it will do everything you need it to do. put a SS prop on it and you wont have to worry about stumps as much. As far as a blind goes, they are great when we have water and the lakes are full, but more times than not it seems like you'll be hunting mud banks and will have to ditch the boat a few hundred yards down the bank. 16x48 will be plenty stable and still handle some rough water if you need it to.

Sense you mention a blind I assume you will have company on your hunts as alone there is always enough cover to hide 1 person it seems. That said you have all you need in that boat " IF YOU ACCEPT BEING LIMITED" on some days...which probably means having a good time with no ducks to shoot at. NTX lakes can be windy and stumpy and those 2 considerations along with you might get beat to your primary spot and have to go to other backup spots ....a larger boat is always a welcome over the smaller ones.

I have a 1652 and it sure feels small when the wind kicks up, its dark out, and I have to cross open water.

I prefer 1848 minimum...wider is better. There was a massive difference when I went from a 1640 to an 1848. Especially if you get a mud motor. If you're headed out on the main lake you'll really appreciate being able to go out more days. When 10mph is your max to feel safe it really limits the hunting days and time windows.

Go out with some folks with different sized boats and see what you like.

I am looking at the Excel cc shallow water viper because I want a boat I can hunt and fish out of. The Viper F4 and the Shallow water F4 look good if you want to run a mud motor.

I say all that cause I have hunted out of my 15/40 for the last 2 years. When its calm and I'm alone or with only 1 person things were fine as long as I did not hit a stump BAD. I hunted once last year and the forecast was 10mph wind or less. Well guess what...the meteorologist are not perfect! The wind picked up to a little over 15mph and I had to cross open area of lake to get back. NOT FUN! I was alone thank goodness and felt like the USS Minnow (Gillagans Island) When I got back to ramp a 18 ft Prodigy had just got back and those dudes were SOAKED getting back themselves and they looked at my rig and just shook they head and laughed.

The moral of this story is....I'm having a 20/54 being built as I type this!

I hunted and fished solo out of a 14’x36” jonboat with a 6Hp longtail for decades. Before the long tail it had a 5hp evinrude. It’s amazing what you can do when running two 500gph bilge pumps off a large deep cycle battery.

I upgraded to a 17’x54” self bailing mud Hull a few years ago. Love it! It’s amazing what you can do when you don’t have to worry about your bilge pumps clogging and not pumping your boat dry.

Personally, I’d live a small planing layout boat at some point.

I use a 16 ft jonboat with a 15 hp outboard with a blind built on top. It will get two people and gear back and forth decently just not very fast. It can get pretty sketchy in the wind. We stopped using the blind and just park the boat and use mud stools. Even with the blind, the birds seemed to notice the boat pretty easily.

I just posted my boat on Craig’s list today. It’s an 18ft g3 with a 90 hp that I use to hunt and fish. Couple of thoughts:
1. Get a big boat. These lakes get rough in the wind. I can manage 2ft waves but it’s not fun and slow going.
2. Get a mud motor if you want but I fish out of mine so wanted an outboard. I use a setback plate and tilt and can run my boat until 12 “ then can drop my trolling motor and get a little further.
3. I have an aluminum prop, 2 in fact to avoid destroying my lower unit. It’s easier to fix a prop than replace a lower unit.
4. I have a blind on my boat but prefer to park it and hunt from the shore in the flooded vegetation. If the water goes back to drought stage there won’t be any flooded brush so enjoy it while you can.