Hey all you folks in the Louisiana ,Mississippi and East Texas locales , we are here at the New Orleans Boat Show with the first ever showing of C Dory Boats . We have a Tomcat , a 25 Cruiser as well as the Classic 22 High Top Cruiser on display at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center . We have some Factory incentives , as well as some dealer incentives and are showing the most practical , useful family fun boat at the show ! The Bayous and lakes of the Gulf Coast as well as the Intracoastal Waterway are perfectly suited for the C Dorys and we are able to install Air Conditioning for the summer as well as offering the Wallas stove/heater combo for the winter . What could be better , a year round boat that is easy on the upkeep and does many things ! We hope to see you here in New Orleans and I will be reporting as the show goes on till Sun. afternoon . Then, next week , we are off to Atlanta for the world premiere of the Ranger 29 Tug ! That is an honor for us to be the folks that get to show that engineering and design marvel to the world first . Please join us for these events and if you need tickets e mail me and I will make it happen !

More from the Boat Shows later !

Marc

Wefings wishes everybody a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Merry Christmas To All

I would like to thank all of our customers for a succesful year and for their support . Through the slowdown in the economy you have kept us working and we truly appreciate it . There will be changes in our industry over the coming year and Wefings will try to gain more loyal customers in order to continue our growth as a cutting edge boat dealership . We have found a niche with our selection of trailerable trawlers and we are dedicated to providing the best sales and service experience that we can .

One of our goals for the coming year is to participate in the Clean Marine Retailer program . We feel that this will be a positive effort for our environment and living in the beautiful Apalachicola/St George Island area is a privelege that we appreciate . We want to keep our area pristene and this certification will “raise our conciousness” in our daily operations

Something  exciting that is coming soon is that we will be debuting the new Ranger Tugs R 29 in Atlanta and will be the first dealer to bring our popular C Dory boats to New Orleans .We are particpating  in some great boat shows to get our year off to a good start . See our boat show schedule on the main www.wefings.com site for more details.

Most of our manufacturers are offering great incentive for our customers such as the Suzuki “Gimmie Six Warranty” There are also cash rebate incentives from many of our boat builders . It is a great time to buy if you are in the market for a new or used boat or motor .

Have a safe and joyful holiday season from all the Wefings staff !

Marc Grove

Wefings service department is open and ready to service your boat with factory trained technicians. Jef and Doug attended service school with Yamaha yesterday to keep up to date and we keep as current as possible with the brands we sell and service . Our brands include Yamaha,Honda,Suzuki, Nissan/Tohatsu and BRP [E Tec] . We have all the training and diagnostic tools to be a one stop service center for your boat and motor .

A good dealer focuses on their service department as service after the sale is very important in the current business climate , and a good dealer puts themselves in their customers shoes and wants them to be recognized as a valuable and respected piece of the puzzle that makes a complete picture .

We look forward to meeting or exceeding  your marine service needs and expectations!

Marc

The Feds are at it again with their ridiculous rulings based on questionable [at best] data . The red snapper that are Rare and Endangered are already protecting the groupers by eating anything you drop towards the bottom before a grouper has a chance to eat it . “They are so thick you can almost walk on them”, that is the universal report I hear from the dedicated folks that still go offshore .Its like an echo in a canyon full of fish . Some of these folks are divers seeing the fish with their own eyes and some are fishermen that go out with hook and line regularly . This is economically disastrous [in an economy that's already a disaster] for the sport fishing community as well as the commercial fishermen that make their living on the water . Here is the copy of the ill advised and confusing interim regulation. Please make your voice heard in regards to this regulatory folly .
continue reading "Groupers off limits Feb. and March."

The long awaited Ranger Tug 29 footer is coming soon and Wefings will have the first one in the east at the Atlanta Boat Show in January [www.atlantaboatshow.com]. The details are still under wraps for a short period more , and the magazine press releases will be out soon .

We expect an innovative class leader in function and value with this fine machine . And we will enjoy the boat show season just a little more with a product that is as yet unseen . We will be in Atlanta , Stuart Trawler Fest and Miami with the boat . We hope to see you at one of those great boat shows .

[Edit: We now have a .pdf spec file from Ranger.  You can download it here.]

What a great day of fall fishing my friend Brad and I had yesterday . We went to the railroad bridge and waited for the tide to change and low and behold , caught us a mess of fish . There were a couple nice Sheephead [my wife's favorite] and a nice 17″ speckled trout ,and a 19″ redfish,  and then what we came for happened . Slowly at first then a little faster and more furiously  the hybrids showed up , and they were not small ones either . Mostly around 5or6 Lbs .

They were busting pogies on the surface , which is always exciting to see . We were fishing live shrimp which they almost never turn down . I tried a Berkely Gulp curlytail but they wouldnt touch it . Too much live stuff to eat.Truly one of my favorite fisheries . Being on the river is very peaceful and satisfying .

The C Dory 22 Center Console is a very fuel efficient ride . Its comfortable and quite fishable . We probably burned 3 gallons of fuel on our adventure . The boat is dry and comfortable. We will have a new one for sale here later this week .

We ate fresh broiled Sheephead last night and tonight I will bake whole headed and gutted hybrid bass stuffed with Moroccan style preserved lemon and garlic .Life is good here on the Apalachicola River in Panhandle of Florida .

Marc

Ok it feels like the right day to go striper/hybrid fishing in earnest . Brisk ,windy, it just feels right . Maybe look for a sheephead or 2 as well . Those are my wife’s favorite . I like them too . 2 different kinds of tackle will be on the boat . Ill have a stout baitcaster with 20Lb braid for the sheephead in the structure [bridges and logs] and a 6 Lb spinning setup for those fiesty stripes . I spoke with Charles Pennycuff [owner of Fisherman's Choice Tackle and Feed] in Eastpoint and he has some lively live shrimp and plenty of them . Thats a pretty good recipe for catching fish this time of year . Gonna take the C Dory 22 Center Console , which will be perfect with its great protection ,dual livewells , and fishbox . So, I guess Ill have to report whether we succeed with the plan or not . One thing is for sure , a day on the water is something I always enjoy .

Marc

We have some friends from the great C Dory owners group that I am a member of  [www.c-brats.com] visiting us from Utah and Texas . They spend their winters chasing mild weather and adventure with their C Dory boats and seem to have this lifestyle down to a science . We have a steady string of visitors here in Apalachicola and we always like to share a good meal , great stories of life and adventure and some time on the water if at all possible . Its a lot of fun to see how each individual boat is set up , the towing equipment used ,and to gain ideas to share with our customers for their new and well loved boats.

We also recently had our Gulf Coast Extravaganza owners group meeting which was a huge success. Pictures of that event can be found on the C-Brats site under photos ,cruises and gatherings,gulf coast extravaganza 2008 . [edit.: here's a direct link] That site is probably one of the best boating owners groups on the web with over 3400 members and some truly brilliant folks that contribute .It is decidedly non commercial and has a simple motto of “just be nice” . It makes for entertaining and very informative reading .

If you are travelling through by boat or wish to cruise the area , feel free to e mail or call for info . We love to have visitors to the area and meet folks with the same passion for boating that we have at Wefings Marine .

Marc

Whatever your leanings , please vote ! Its what makes this country great . See you at the polls !

Marc

Wefings annual Twin Vee Demo Days and The Seafood Festival is happening this weekend under the Bridge in Apalach . Wefings and N2 Deep Dive Shop as well as apalachicolaboatrentals.com will have a bunch of boats there and we will be driving the former festival queens on one of our rental boats in the parade Sat. A.M.

Its a barrel of fun with Oyster shucking and eating contests , rides for the kids , Blue Crab racing ,Country music on the stage , and of course lots of good seafood to eat !

I would be remiss to not mention the Apalachicola Bay Chamber’s Fri. night Oyster Roast . It is located in front of their office and the proceeds go to the Chamber . The excellent local seafood is provided by some of our local restaurants and there is live music on the “Wefings Stage” [our flatbed trailer] with the Joe Hutchison Band . They play great blues and a great time will be had by all . Tickets are $80.00 per couple or $45.00 apiece.  More information here .

Marc