Pontoon Fishing. Why not?

[KMixson]

theres a guy near by here that makes pontoons that are 8x12 and 8x10 there not real big they look great. fairly cheap I would love to have one take the family out catch a mess fish and cook them on grill lisen to the nascar race never leave to boat

All the while lying on the deck. Cool.

 

[BloodStone]

Personally I think that 1); they're ugly-a fancied up, glorified barge imo. 2) The maneuverability on the water must suck majorly. Not to mention how they are in really rough water? And 3), continually trailing those hulks (16'-24') can't be a cake walk. I Can't even imagine the kind of horsepower power it would take to yank one of those suckers up & out of the ramp successfully (16'-24'). 4) Pushing them through the water must be substantial since there really is no bow to speak of. And 5); If pontoons were really "all that & a bag of chips", then why aren't more of them used in tournaments (not just talking bass)? I suppose if you have a big family these glorified rafts may be the way to go but, you & a buddy or two..no way! Just my 2 cents..

 

[Crankworm]

I've stayed out of this thread as long as I could. I am fortunate enough that both my parents and my inlaws have cottages on lakes, they also both have pontoons. I think they are great to fish out of, it only takes a second to fold the top down. The inlaws toon is older and a little redneck. It has the helm and a captain chair to drive but no other funiture except lawn chairs that makes for a really big fishing platform. I usually throw my transom mount minnkota in the truck and I clamp it to the front of the deck and run it in reverse to pull me along nicely. instead of a power pole I just use a mushroom anchor if I want to stop. All that being said I couldn't imagine trying to launch and trailer a toon every time I wanted to go fishing. They are big and wide and wobbly going down the road. Heres the best pic I could find of my pontoon adventures. Yea I know my gut is pretty pasty white

 

[Pops14]

Bloodstone, They actually dont handle bad even on fairly rough water and like I said before I pull mine with a 98 Jeep Cherokee with a 3.0 six cylinder with 200,000 miles and have no problems pulling it out

 

[MrSimon]

I know this is an old thread, but I fished out of a pontoon boat this past weekend for the first time.

I'm a die hard tin V-hull guy ..... but now I don't think I'll ever buy another one.

I LOVED THE PONTOON BOAT!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had 7 guys out there with no issues.
The ride in rough water was a LOT smoother than my 16' v-hull.
There was plenty of room to cast, move around, sit down, lay down, etc etc.
The sun shade was super nice.
It runs even shallower than my v-hull.
It was plenty fast enough with a 75HP Tohatsu.
It was no harder to tow/launch/recover than any other boat.

We found one drawback. It was windy and the boat catches a lot of wind. We just used anchors to slow the drift and it was fine. If I had my own pontoon, I'd mount a high end remote controlled trolling motor and that would solve the wind issue.

I have a cottage on a lake in NY, three young kids, and a wife. Can you guess what I'm already shopping for?

 

[Tallpine]

We just sold our 20' pontoon but I have to say it was great for certain types of fishing. Lots of room for a group to fish out of and very stable and comfy. Yes not as easy to launch and maneuver but you will be so relaxed after a day of fishing it's worth it. A lot of the guides on the lakes here in Central Oregon use them for trout fishing. They are very good fly fishing platforms. The only reason we sold ours is my Dad is 83 and i'm in a wheelchair and it was a lot for us to deal with.

 

[lovedr79]

you're getting a pontoon! they are great to fish out of, great if you have kids too! they are also hard to turn over in the water.

 

[huntinfool]

If you want a laid back type of fishing they are great.

But for a serious angler, you need Storage for all your gear (which a toon has), you also need maneuverability ( which a toon doesn't have) and speed (which a toon doesn't have)

Analogy:
why doesn't she get a mini van to race the Daytona 500. Sure it will work, but its not the right vehicle for the job.

Most areas I fish I can barely get my boat into, let alone a toon.

That's about all I got.


Good luck.

 

[Jim311]

They suck in shallow water, can't handle a chop, catch wind like a sail, and basically just do everything badly except for allow you to carry a lot of people.

 

[WiskeyJaR]

What kind of pontoon boat is she looking at? The little pontoons folks use around these parts can get ya into some tight and swallow spots, and rivers, but may not be "big enough" for open lakes, and yes they are like sails. Most are single person boats with a few 2 persons floating the bigger rivers.

Have floated a couple rivers here in oregon with a friend and his Fish Cat 13. My 12' jon boat has ton more space for 2 folks AND a dog to fish, hunt, or whatever. Will go anyplace his pontoon will go, as long as the water allows motors, pontoon is easier to row then me jb.

Now ifn your talking them big party barges, have no experience with them.