Grumpy's New Toy

It's no secret that Pure Fishing are giving away two fully fitted out Stessco 4.45 Renegades this summer, all you have to do is ring this number ( 1900-994-857) and your in with a chance. Pure Fishing Australia General Manager Phill "Grumpy" Coles, liked the look of the boats so much he thought he would throw in an order for one of his own, I managed to prize the keys out of him last weekend to put it through its paces on Lake Macquarie to see if the Stessco could walk the walk as well as looking like a tournament star in its GULP livery.

Once on board there's no shortage of room thanks to a generous beam width of 2120mm, nice wide extruded sided decks also help to make life comfortable. On the water the Renegade gives you a great feeling of security with 645mm of depth, even when your fishing on the forward or rear casting platforms there's plenty of free board and something to lean against to keep you in the boat. Sneaking around the flats and snags is a breeze with the MinKota RT55P/FP bow mount electric, I found the new foot pedal design is much easier to use than the older one I have on my own boat.

Grumpy's Stessco is fitted with a super large split live well that runs on a fully automatic aeration system, the centre divider is easily removed to cater for larger species like flathead. I kept a nice flathead alive in the well for a couple of hours with no problems before I could get a photo and release it.

The Stessco's hull handled tight turns with ease showing no bad habits as we put it through its paces. The hull features a 3.0mm bottom and 2.0mm sides and seems to ride relatively dry, the added weight of the interior fit out also adds favorably to the hulls rough water capabilities.

Just like the rest of the Berkley Pro Team , Grumpy's Stessco is powered by a 60 HP Evinrude E-TEC, this little puppy pushes the Renegade out of the hole with two on board and a stack of gear with no worries. Its quiet, clean and starts first time, every time.

The Renegade's side console is neatly laid out with plenty of room for the electrical equipment and gauges modern boaters need. There's also room left to mount other items such as VHF radios, epirbs or even a set of Berkley rod holders to store those extra Pro Tactic's

Overall I would have to say I was pretty impressed with Grumpy's new toy, its practical, comfortable and a seriously nice fishing platform that's well suited to open bay work or poking your nose out side when conditions are conducive, I certainly wouldn't mind winning one.

Captain