Surfing Waves

so this question has probably been brought up many times. i've been wanting to add a fish to my arsenal of 1 board to get my quiver to 2 boards since we have a lot of sloppy surf in the summer up on the central coast. i know fish are more bouyant and whatnot, but i didn't know if there was a general rule of thumb on board sized and what not. i'm 6' 2" and about 200 lbs. been surfing for a few years now so experience isn't too lacking, just wanted an estimate on what size i should look for.

what are the dims of the board that you are riding now?

6'8x20x2.5 it was my first short board i got after longboarding for years. i'm pretty competent on the board, it's just starting to get boring, i want a little variety.

i was actually looking at a used bruce jones superfish 6'3x21.5"x2.75" or something along those lines.

i recon that should be alright, im 6"4 and 194lbs and both of my normal shortboards are 6"4 x 19 x 2.5 so you should be fine. it might take abit of getting used to because its much shorter than your 6"8 but the dims of the board you want will give you plenty of float, i would say you should be fine.

im thinking of the same thing.i hate summer surf!
but im just about 5'8 and weigh 125
what would u reccomend? my shortboard is 6'4x19 3/4x2 5/16
? help a kid outt

^ i'm about 5'9", 140 lbs and i have a 5'6". i forget the width, something around 20", and the thickness is i think 2 5/8" or thereabouts. i dunno, but it floats me more than enough. you might even be able to get away with like a 5'4" depending on your abilities

RustyG wrote: i'm 6' 2" and about 200 lbs. been surfing for a few years now so experience isn't too lacking, just wanted an estimate on what size i should look for.

Just a personal opinion here, and maybe loads of other people will come on here to disagree, but I dont think a real fish works all that well for a tall/heavier surfer.

A 'real' fish only works when its pretty short (<6ft), and there is a limit to the amount of float it can give you before it starts to feel 'corky'. So a heavier rider ends up going either too long or too thick for it to work properly.

I ride a shortboard/fish hybrid which works pretty well for me, but at 6ft and 80kg, Ive never felt comfortable on a proper fish.

Just my ignorant and uninformed opinion

vandangos wrote:i recon that should be alright, im 6"4 and 194lbs and both of my normal shortboards are 6"4 x 19 x 2.5 so you should be fine. it might take abit of getting used to because its much shorter than your 6"8 but the dims of the board you want will give you plenty of float, i would say you should be fine.

awww.. why is everyone so damn tall?!!? LOL
im only 5'8'' if that

thanks for all the input guys, i put the board on hold and am gunna go down and check it out thursday, see what the guys at the shop say.

hey would a quad or twin or tri be best?

^ depends on how you wanna surf. i love my quad, i haven't ridden a twin, except for a broken thruster foamie we use on our surf lessons sometimes. quads and twins are pretty loose, but i really like that. quick down the line and through the flats. if you want a more traditional fish, go with the quad/twin. thruster fish i guess are better for sharp turns. quads and twins are more kind of arcing, cruising. from what i gather. correct me if i'm wrong

hmm the whole reason i want something fishy is to be able to get some tricks off in that small n weak mushy stuff.or do u think i should go for a thicker shortboard? mine right now is 6'4 by 19 3/4 by 2.3
i have no idea

yeah, you could probably do it with a thruster fish, i just use mine as more of a cruising, just stand there and let the wave do the work, turn when i have to board. but i guess that's just more of my style too, not into the hacking and erratic stuff. probably a bit thicker and wider shortboard would work for what you want. talk to a local shaper and see what they say

Good rule of thumb is to get as fish that is around 4 inches shorter then your everyday board. I think if you have a thruster fin setup then you are just surfing a swallow tail at that point.
Could be wrong.

sebastiansurfer wrote:hmm the whole reason i want something fishy is to be able to get some tricks off in that small n weak mushy stuff.or do u think i should go for a thicker shortboard? mine right now is 6'4 by 19 3/4 by 2.3
i have no idea

lost... rocket

nj i was convienently looking at one of those but too much$$$$$$$$$$$
(i highly doubt id find a used one)

im gonna pick one up before next summer, i havent rode one yet but a friend of a friend has one and says it does what its supposed to do.