Your boat?

[fishmor]

Anybody on here fish out of a pontoon?

[fishinwrench]

I have built and rigged a bunch of them specifically for fishing, and their owners love them.   Mostly they are setup for drifting for cats, or for chasing whites, hybrids, and crappie. Not good for bass fishing at all.

If a toon is designed for serious fishing then they do GREAT, but fishing from one that is a pleasure craft with a trolling motor.....just doesn't work. I'd rather be on the bank.   

[Fish Hound]

11 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

I have built and rigged a bunch of them specifically for fishing, and their owners love them.   Mostly they are setup for drifting for cats, or for chasing whites, hybrids, and crappie. Not good for bass fishing at all.

If a toon is designed for serious fishing then they do GREAT, but fishing from one that is a pleasure craft with a trolling motor.....just doesn't work. I'd rather be on the bank.   

fishinwrench, for my next boat I have been considering a pontoon for fishing as now have some grandkids to take so want the extra room. Are there any "off the shelf" that are already set up like you would do? If I got my hands on a pleasure one could you give some do's and dont's of getting one set up for fishing? Thanks

[fishinwrench]

There probably is but none that I know of off the top of my head. Most "fishing toons" are just pontoons with a couple pedastals up front and a trolling motor. 

In my opinion if you are going to seriously fish out of it under various conditions then the console needs to be moved to the center, the railing needs to be lowered front and back,  the solid panels need to be removed and replaced with netting or something that doesn't act as a sail in the wind,  there needs to be friendly storage areas for rods and fishing gear, the front deck area needs to be beefed up to handle a SERIOUS trolling motor mount, it needs a REAL livewell, not just a box that holds 8" of stagnant water, and seating needs to be portable so that you can fish 360° around the console.   The trailer needs to be a good fit and not any higher than is necessary for towing so that launching/loading isn't such a PIA. 

Word of warning:  A toon that is a joy to fish out of is NOT going to be liked by your wife.  Not at all.  She is going to hate it.

[Fish Hound]

 

19 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

There probably is but none that I know of off the top of my head. Most "fishing toons" are just pontoons with a couple pedastals up front and a trolling motor. 

In my opinion if you are going to seriously fish out of it under various conditions then the console needs to be moved to the center, the railing needs to be lowered front and back,  the solid panels need to be removed and replaced with netting or something that doesn't act as a sail in the wind,  there needs to be friendly storage areas for rods and fishing gear, the front deck area needs to be beefed up to handle a SERIOUS trolling motor mount, it needs a REAL livewell, not just a box that holds 8" of stagnant water, and seating needs to be portable so that you can fish 360° around the console.   The trailer needs to be a good fit and not any higher than is necessary for towing so that launching/loading isn't such a PIA. 

Word of warning:  A toon that is a joy to fish out of is NOT going to be liked by your wife.  Not at all.  She is going to hate it.

Fishinwrench, are you saying after 30+ years of marriage there are STILL things I can do that she will hate? I thought after the 20 or 30 from last week I had finally finished that up.

[fishinwrench]

Oh yeah!  

Buy a pleasure toon and she'll be out there on hands and knees helping you clean it.

Rig a fishing toon and you'll hear her say things like... "oh he's out there messing with that STUPID BOAT".

I know all about women's relationships with boats. The only reason that dual console bass boats are so popular is because guys have to sell them to their wives before they can buy them.  Do you really think a guy cares how comfortable and safe his guy friends feel while out fishing?   Pfffft!  He'd much rather have that extra space in his boat, but the lil'woman would have never gone for that, even though she may only ride in it once or twice per year. ☺

Even women that truly love fishing.... They want that stupid console.

[Old plug]

I have had this itch to buy a pedal pontoon and cnvert it into  a little fishing platform for just fishing around the immediate area.

[snagged in outlet 3]

2 hours ago, Old plug said:

I have had this itch to buy a pedal pontoon and cnvert it into  a little fishing platform for just fishing around the immediate area.

Pond Prowler

[rps]

Ken Greenwood out of Holiday Island fishes walleye from his modified pontoon. Think fancy ice house complete with resealable holes in the floor.

Chuck, the man who taught me much about the upper end, always used a pontoon.

[rumrunner]

I have a misty harbor set up for fishing.It has 4 swivel chairs up front,2 in the back.2 decent live wells and a rodlocker.It also has the enclosure that we put a porta potty in .One couch and a sun deck.We still do plenty of family and partying on it.It s great for the grandkids.Not what FW described but works great for me.There is a small table that can go between the 4 chairs up front and a tm.We ve caught alot of fish from it on Truman.The model is 2285fs I think.