Off Topic Pontoon Boat?

[Wilker Tim]

My Galaxy 17 has been super reliable, caught a lot of fish and has never left me stranded out on the lake. It even towed a 23' Trophy in from 60' of water yesterday without missing a beat. But as I'm approaching retirement and will be able to spend more time on the water, it's time to move up to a new and larger boat. Ideally I'd like a 21' Striper but this brings me to my question. I've talked to a couple people who have pontoon boats and they rave about how much room they have, how stable they are even with a 2 0r 3 foot chop and how easy they are to set up for fishing. So why don't I see more pontoons out on the lake? Is it just that they aren't as "sporty"? Are they the "minivan" of the watercraft world? I'd appreciate a few comments as to why I should buy a traditional boat and not a pontoon boat. TIA, Tim

 

[Teddy69]

My Galaxy 17 has been super reliable, caught a lot of fish and has never left me stranded out on the lake. It even towed a 23' Trophy in from 60' of water yesterday without missing a beat. But as I'm approaching retirement and will be able to spend more time on the water, it's time to move up to a new and larger boat. Ideally I'd like a 21' Striper but this brings me to my question. I've talked to a couple people who have pontoon boats and they rave about how much room they have, how stable they are even with a 2 0r 3 foot chop and how easy they are to set up for fishing. So why don't I see more pontoons out on the lake? Is it just that they aren't as "sporty"? Are they the "minivan" of the watercraft world? I'd appreciate a few comments as to why I should buy a traditional boat and not a pontoon boat. TIA, Tim

I see a few out of Burwell I think they would fantastic lots of room extremely stable I think the issue is towing they are big and wide to tow I think that’s likely the main reason they more suited to be docked for the season then towed around all summer not to mention they take more room in the driveway also

 

[Trevor M]

My wife's uncle has both a pontoon and I believe it's an 18' Legend near Rondeau somewhere. I think he has used both to fish with but which one depends on what he's going out after. I think he uses the Legend for walleye and bows, and maybe the pontoon when he's taking his grandkids out for perch in the bay.

 

[Tacklebuster]

Saw a pontoon from Port Stanley out at 64 fow on Thu.

Was a beautiful day, but I wonder how it would handle 3 ft chop, especially on your port or starboard?

Saw one parked at Bronte, twin 200 hp or something in that range, seems crazy to me.

 

[FrankTheTank]

Ive always figured that with so much boat out of the water they would be hard to controll in wind and chop but thats just my geuss

 

[Noth n yet]

I fish out of a 22 ft tritune very stable takes big waves and water very well and doesnt beat the sh*t out of you all l can say go biggest hp you can and that it can cut back enough to troll

 

[Wilker Tim]

I fish out of a 22 ft tritune very stable takes big waves and water very well and doesnt beat the sh*t out of you all l can say go biggest hp you can and that it can cut back enough to troll

Sounds good, what's the top speed of your 22'?

 

[headedtowater]

I have a 24 ft twin toon. Best fishing platform I have fished out of and that’s including bass boats up to 19 ft deep v aluminum. I have owned all other than a large fibreglass type boat.

Boat is setup to run a twelve rod spread with big boards riggers and Dipseys

Have been in all types of waves from 2 up to being caught in 6 ft with odd 8.

Boat handles extremely well in large water due to the length. Rides the waves so you don’t get the pounding. We call it a fishing dock

Biggest issue I have is speed, 115hp two stroke gets me 20mph loaded with gear and guys on calm water. We are not setting any land speed records but gets us there and back.

I am sure it is possible to fabricate something but I haven’t. hard to put kicker on for safety factor. Thought is always there, big one dies I’m dead in water.

Wind wise the twin toon I find sits lower in water less flotation and is therefore less effected by the wind compared to the Tritons I have been in.

We trailer it everywhere, dry weight is 2500lbs. Not hard to tow and never had any issues.

Full recommend it for lake fishing, bought ours in the states and is a four position fishing model,

Got an older model so I can setup how I wanted it to be, removed pop up room at back and have about 4.5 ft by beam fishing platform

 

[Noth n yet]

Speedy 38 clicks with 90 hp yamaha not big enough like l said go as big of hp you can as long as it can idle down enough for trolling speed

 

[reeltime]

I do fish on a twin pontoon but I still prefer my 17 Lowe
very comfortable on the pontoon , just too cumbersome for my liking

 

[fireram]

We borrowed a 7 year old tri toon with a 175 etech this weekend.
It will do about 30mph wide open and stays on plane down to about 15mph at a fuel sipping 2500rpm. I’ve been out in 3ft waves and it is a nice ride.

It’s not a fishing setup, more luxury cruising. The mount for the riggers had to be custom made, but it works. And no troll motor. So no backup motor.

The controls that came with the etech have a de-tent in the throttle arm. Makes it very hard to finess trolling speed between idle @ 1.5mph and 3mph. The throttle leaver likes to snap back to idle position instead of staying at about a 3mph setting. I could get it to stay around 2.5mph Saturday but try and go just a couple hundred rpm faster and it would click past and be too fast, or snap back to idle and be too slow.

If I was buying new. I’d prob still go with a v hull aluminum of some brand.
My lottery winning gift to me would be a kingfisher half hard top.

It’s clear to me from all the “ best boat“ discussion on here over the years the only real solution is to have multiple boats, one for each kind of fishing and weather.

That said. I doubt you’d be disappointed with a pontoon, just figure out the rigging before ya buy.

 

[Hammertyme]

We have a 22.5 tritoon with a 150, 32 mph top end and trolls with no problem. Only took 1 trip on a buddies pontoon to get us hooked. Many manufactures make fishing models now. I would recommend them.

 

[Justhunt]

Yes pontoon good fishing vessel. You can be fishing and your wife can be relaxing in the sun or shade with a top Up or down and you still have lots of room in the back and lots in the front.

 

[Justhunt]

Two riggers set of trees you can run 10 rods no problem.

 

[Wilker Tim]

Thanks for all the replies. So many positives of owning a pontoon, but no trolling motor is a real deal breaker for me.

 

[Heitman]

Thanks for all the replies. So many positives of owning a pontoon, but no trolling motor is a real deal breaker for me.

I don't know for sure but I think you can get an electric trolling motor for a pontoon.
I don't have 1 but my wife wants one, she just doesn't want to spend the money yet.

 

[Hammertyme]

Thanks for all the replies. So many positives of owning a pontoon, but no trolling motor is a real deal breaker for me.

Why do you think that you can't mount a trolling motor on a pontoon boat? You have to mount behind one of the outside toons. I had one on my tritoon and took it off because there was really no reason to have it. Not much of a fuel savings with the new 4 strokes

 

[Wilker Tim]

Why do you think that you can't mount a trolling motor on a pontoon boat? You have to mount behind one of the outside toons. I had one on my tritoon and took it off because there was really no reason to have it. Not much of a fuel savings with the new 4 strokes

I'm not thinking of the fuel savings but more of the safety and peace of mind of a secondary motor in the event that the main one fails.

 

[Josh Roelofsen]

Easy to mount a

I'm not thinking of the fuel savings but more of the safety and peace of mind of a secondary motor in the event that the main one fails.

I personally haven't seen it done but it would be quite easy to rig up or fabricate a mount for a kicker on most toons. As long as the pontoons themselves don't extend beyond the rear deck more than a few inches there's plenty of mounting options. If that's your only concern I wouldn't let it stop you.....

Cool to see so many positive responses on their big water fishability! There's one docked above the train bridge at Stanley with twin 400's on it that I would love to take a ride on They've come a long way from the underpowered floating docks of the past.....still not my thing but I can definitely see the appeal.

Josh

 

[Hammertyme]

I'm not thinking of the fuel savings but more of the safety and peace of mind of a secondary motor in the event that the main one fails.

My next one will likely have twin 100's on it