The combination of the outgoing tide
and incoming wind turns the waters of the Gulf of Mexico just out of Crystal River in central
Florida into a chaotic churning froth, leaving the driver of the Pro-Line 29 Super Sport center
console little choice except to put the hammer down and attempt to get on top. The twin 225-hp
Mercury OptiMaxes respond instantly, and, as hoped, they're skipping across the top of the confused
seas with a surprisingly smooth ride.
A lot of companies will tweak a design a bit to yield another model, but, in this case, the
difference in the 29 Super Sport and the 29 Sport is far more than cosmetic. The Super Sport
version could be nicknamed the 'Super Slasher' because of its performance hull that's designed to
slice through rough seas like a filet knife through a Twinkie with a 22-degree deadrise and sharp
entry and narrower 9-foot beam, compared to the almost 10-foot beam and 19-degree deadrise of its
Sport sibling.
The target fish today is grouper, and for anglers on the west coast of Florida, that's never
a spur-of-the-moment species to shoot for, because in most places on the shallow Gulf Coast, for
each foot of depth, you need to go at least one mile offshore. And around here, the rocky reefs
holding the catch of the day are in 40 feet of water, so a look at the weather forecast is prudent.
The news is a bit dicey: Although the wind is blowing moderately from the west, a front is moving
through later in the day that'll cause the wind to shift 180 degrees and really start blowing. So,
the plan is to get out early, run hard and fast, catch some grouper and sprint back home before the
wind shifts in order to avoid large head seas.
In a few miles, the chaotic chop from the tidal action dissipates, and the seas settle into
rounded two- to-three-foot swells. Running at 35 mph is a good speed to keep airtime down to a
minimum, although when they do launch, there's a pesky rattle that comes from the front-deck
hatches upon landing. That irritant will no doubt be corrected on future models. Otherwise, there's
nothing not to like about the ride. With a dry weight of 5,300 pounds, the Super Sport has enough
heft to give you a luxurious ride, but is still light enough to give you the performance that
today's anglers are looking for. The handling is very nimble, and on the slalom course between the
million or so blue crab trap buoys outside of the river, it turns like a 20-foot bowrider.
The helm on this 29 Super Sport is made for long-distance driving comfort with a pair of
optional stand-up/sit-down drop bolster seats that grip you in a vinyl bear hug. Although some
might prefer to flush-mount their electronics into the dash, Pro-Line instead gives you a large
compartment, which has a lockable, clear cover to keep things dry, with plenty of room for
instruments, like a big-screen GPS or fishfinder. The wraparound Plexiglas windshield is tall and
offers good protection, and features an aerodynamic flare at the trailing edge to deflect spray and
wind outward. There's the expected distortion to one's field of vision in the corner where it
curves rearward, but the protection seems to be worth the restricted visibility, especially on
chilly mornings like this. Above the windshield there's another electronics box for more storage,
and in the optional hard-top is the overhead life-jacket storage that makes them accessible with a
flick of the zipper. On top of the console is a flat black surface that prevents annoying
reflections on the windshield, but it could use a lip, since anglers always pile stuff on top of
the console only to have it tumble down onto the deck in rough water.
The three-spoke tilt, stainless-steel wheel feels good in your hands, and the standard
hydraulic steering allows the driver to smoothly change course. With the OptiMax (or Verado)
engines, you get Mercury's SmartCraft gauges, which keep you abreast of all engine- related
matters. A really nice feature is the Troll Control, which allows you to dial in a precise trolling
speed for perfect bait presentation. All of the accessory switches are to the right of the throttle
pedestal, which puts the Mercury controls at the right height. The only beef is that at full
throttle, the controls are pinned flush to the dash area, so you don't want to wrap your hands over
the top when you decide to jam it, or else you'll likely produce a Howard Dean-like howl that your
boatmates might mistake for mere over-exuberance.
The trick to grouper fishing is finding the spot on your chart where the little X is, and
with GPS that isn't a problem ' unless you have a newly installed device that hasn't had a chance
to be tweaked yet and has gone utterly blank. The navigational demons have even attacked the
compass, which is yielding about as accurate amount of information as 'Baghdad Bob,' the former
Iraqi minister of information, who 'triple guaranteed' listeners that there were no American
soldiers in Baghdad, while American tanks could be heard rumbling in the background. What's
frustrating is that the Pro-Line is only a few miles from the destination but might as well be 20
for all the good it does the crew. But for once, the writer aboard brings along something more
useful than a 2,000-calorie lunch: a spare handheld GPS, which takes the 29 Super Sport the last
furlong and puts the crew over the hot spot.
You don't have to worry about not having enough rod storage to bring along a large selection
of fish sticks with this Pro-Line, with four set into the gunwale and four under, along with four
additional holders in the optional T-top. There are also four holders in the back of the standard
leaning post, which also gives you a huge four-drawer tackle compartment, knife and pliers storage,
and a couple of cupholders to boot. The optional twin drop-down bolster seats configuration ' which
today's model is equipped with ' doesn't have the rodholders or tackle boxes, but instead has a
Igloo 94-quart cooler and a shotgun rail for hanging on for dear life when running. These two
configurations give two different types of anglers a clear choice: If you often find yourself
fishing in nasty conditions like those encountered by tournament fishermen, then you'll want the
bolster seats and grab rail, but for those more casual fishermen who tend to wait for better
conditions, the standard leaning post with the tackle rigging station is certainly the way to go.
There's no suspense as to whether or not the fish are biting as the first cut bait is
dropped to the bottom of the jade-green water. Almost immediately the rod doubles over, and the
angler works furiously to win the battle of the first five feet, because in grouper fishing that's
the whole game. If you can't extract a fish from the rocks in the first 10 seconds of the fight,
you've lost. After some huffing and puffing, a legal-sized gag grouper is hoisted over the gunwale
and placed in one of the two 15-gallon fish boxes on either side of the cockpit. If anglers are on
a serious meat run, like a week in the Bahamas, there's a cavernous, 113-gallon fish box on the
centerline of the bow, which is deep enough to hold a 5-gallon bucket standing up. There are two
additional, lockable, drainable rod-storage compartments to either side that form the raised front
casting platform, and just in case you need more storage, there's one more compartment just forward
of the center console (just how much stuff are you bringing along?). That's before you take into
account additional storage available in the center console, which also holds the standard portable
head.
The fishing cockpit is plenty big at 101 square feet to host all your fishing buddies at the
same time. The gunwale height is up to 30-inches tall, so you can plant your thighs against the
side to lean into a fish, but it's not too deep that you can't reach over to grab a fish. Although
it's only being used to hold frozen bait today, the livewell, which resides under the stern bench
seat, is an ample 45 gallons. There's a raw-water washdown for post fish cleanups, and access to
the swim 'platformettes' astraddle the twin Mercs is via a transom door. For water lovers, there's
a stainless-steel boarding ladder and grab rail.
After handling the fish and re-baiting, it's nice to have a standard freshwater shower hose
in the transom, fed by a 15-gallon tank, to spritz off your hands before resuming the fishing,
which is showing no signs of letting up. Joe Bertine, who is handling the guide duties today, is
Pro-Line's head water-test engineer and is in the process of hauling up another gag grouper in the
five-pound range. Only minutes later, the third member of the crew, Dan Clymer, another water-test
engineer, hauls in a keeper red grouper.
They catch two more grouper and a monster grunt, which the writer manages to lose in an
inept demonstration of fish juggling, and just when you think you're going to sink the boat with
fish, the bites stop. Notwithstanding Clymer's huge fish that breaks him off (probably a 150-pound
goliath grouper), the fishing is over. And in a way it's good, because they need to hustle to beat
the weather.
On the way back in, it smoothes out enough to run top speed, and the GPS reads 58 mph, not
bad considering they've only put a modest dent in the 192-gallon fuel tank. The twin 225-hp
OptiMaxes push the 29 Super Sport to plane in just a little more than five seconds, and it hits 30
mph in 7.4 seconds ' pretty darn good considering that this Pro-Line has a max horsepower rating of
600 hp. Put a pair of Mercury's supercharged 275-hp Verado engines on the back, and you would have
a real rocket ship.
When they sight land, on cue someone flips the toggle switch on the wind, and it starts
absolutely howling. In an extremely rare occurrence of good timing, it's a milk run back to the
dock. Manufacturer's suggested retail for the 29 Super Sport is $101,254 with twin 225-hp
Optimaxes, and the price goes up considerably by the time you start adding in options like T-top,
drop seat bolster helm seats, electronics and outriggers. But Pro-Line has been upgrading its
product over the years by offering more value with items like its 10-year warranty, colored hulls,
and no-wood construction, and now finds itself edging into the premium boat category, and the 29
Super Sport does nothing to hurt that strategy.