Must have Pontoon accessories

[johnr]

He could spruce up Nana for those warm days on the toon:

Haha, gross

 

[Rowdie]

If you want to seriously fish on a pontoon, GET A KICKER on it. They make mounts have one installed AND GET A KICKER. You should get a good trolling motor up front also.

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i've had 2 toons, the last a 22' tri... only went back to a boat cuz i fish sak almost exclusively, and the wind is blowing 10 at 5 am and only goes up from there... i traded cuz i just couldn't slow down enough to fish the way i wanted to (jigging, rigging, or spinning speeds at anything over 15 mph with big lake waves)...

fwiw, i have 2 of the biggest digger anchors, and they wouldn't hold in winds over 10 mph with a 5 to 1 rope length ratio... if you go off the 2 front corners anchored into the wind, it would sway enough to loosen one of them up and the other couldn't hold it... a short rope and chain would probably work better i think but was too heavy for me to jack around...

a 112 will pull you most of the time - well it would on my 22'...

at least 2 of the biggest drift socks you can find will usually keep you fishing if a side drift works...

if using a bow mount electric, the biggest batteries you can fit...

loading is a breeze for any good operator - gotta go with kurt on that 1... like anything else, the learning curve will be short and steep if you do it enough, but i used to load in rolling 3 footers a lot without any issues - just couldn't fish the way i wanted to in them...

the inner guides are awesome, and if you hit 1 hard, you're only gonna bugger up the inner side of of a tube no one ever sees anyway - not like a gouge out of glass or paint on a gunnel...

as far as things to give him - give time instead of trinkets if you can... the older you get, the more important that becomes...

hope you guys make some memories on it...

How big of motor did you have on your toons? IF its too big you would need a KICKER. I know some guides around Mobridge that use big pontoons to guide. Guess what, they have kickers rigged to them. Boat controll is crucial, learning to SLOW down can be hard. A KICKER will give you amazing control. You can use it to push into the waves and steer with troller.

 

[raider]

If you want to seriously fish on a pontoon, GET A KICKER on it. They make mounts have one installed AND GET A KICKER. You should get a good trolling motor up front also.

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How big of motor did you have on your toons? IF its too big you would need a KICKER. I know some guides around Mobridge that use big pontoons to guide. Guess what, they have kickers rigged to them. Boat controll is crucial, learning to SLOW down can be hard. A KICKER will give you amazing control. You can use it to push into the waves and steer with troller.

i don't guide, i fish, and take people fishing... when these guides have clients out on toons, i doubt they have time to fish unless anchored or pulling rigs on a nice day... i already had a 112 with remote to run and wouldn't be able to run a kicker at the same time and still fish with a rod in my hand... a kicker on a toon would be useful for pulling cranks or straight line trolling STRAIGHT into the wind or backtrolling against it... you basically have either 2 or 3 bows with a flat 1/2 sheet of plywood right above it catching the wind... they do not cut the wind, they react to it one direction or the other...

for motors i had a 20' with a 115 and a tri with a 150... probably had a few hundred hours fishing on toons and a few thousand hours running deep v fishing boats the past 40 years... if a kicker would have fixed my problems, i'd still have a toon - loved it...

i was just giving honest feedback to the op - nothing more...

how is your toon configured and how does drift in 3 footers???

everyone "knows a guy"...

 

[Kurtr]

If you want to seriously fish on a pontoon, GET A KICKER on it. They make mounts have one installed AND GET A KICKER. You should get a good trolling motor up front also.

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How big of motor did you have on your toons? IF its too big you would need a KICKER. I know some guides around Mobridge that use big pontoons to guide. Guess what, they have kickers rigged to them. Boat controll is crucial, learning to SLOW down can be hard. A KICKER will give you amazing control. You can use it to push into the waves and steer with troller.

who is running the kicker the one I know of doesn’t have that boat any more an no kicker and none of the guys in Akaska have one . Slowing down is easy back troll sock or 2 out the front even easier with a tri toon

 

[Rowdie]

Followed Jess Schilling and his dad for two miles coming back to weigh in a tournament. They had a big 250 on a Tri toon with a kicker.

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This was a few years ago, they may have upgraded. But the fact that those boys rigged up a kicker on one says something. Trust me. I grew up on a pontoon. Being able to throttle down is key. The best way is with a kicker.

 

[Kurtr]

Followed Jess Schilling and his dad for two miles coming back to weigh in a tournament. They had a big 250 on a Tri toon with a kicker.

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This was a few years ago, they may have upgraded. But the fact that those boys rigged up a kicker on one says something. Trust me. I grew up on a pontoon. Being able to throttle down is key. The best way is with a kicker.

that’s been over 8 years ago now that Jess got rid of that pontoon. It was a blue premier with a Yamaha 250 and 15 horse kicker. They have never owned another one with a kicker on it. Chad has a 150 on the one he just got rid of along with Buckley neither have a kicker I have ran both guiding for them.

 

[Allen]

i've had 2 toons, the last a 22' tri... only went back to a boat cuz i fish sak almost exclusively, and the wind is blowing 10 at 5 am and only goes up from there... i traded cuz i just couldn't slow down enough to fish the way i wanted to (jigging, rigging, or spinning speeds at anything over 15 mph with big lake waves)...

fwiw, i have 2 of the biggest digger anchors, and they wouldn't hold in winds over 10 mph with a 5 to 1 rope length ratio... if you go off the 2 front corners anchored into the wind, it would sway enough to loosen one of them up and the other couldn't hold it... a short rope and chain would probably work better i think but was too heavy for me to jack around...

a 112 will pull you most of the time - well it would on my 22'...

at least 2 of the biggest drift socks you can find will usually keep you fishing if a side drift works...

if using a bow mount electric, the biggest batteries you can fit...

loading is a breeze for any good operator - gotta go with kurt on that 1... like anything else, the learning curve will be short and steep if you do it enough, but i used to load in rolling 3 footers a lot without any issues - just couldn't fish the way i wanted to in them...

the inner guides are awesome, and if you hit 1 hard, you're only gonna bugger up the inner side of of a tube no one ever sees anyway - not like a gouge out of glass or paint on a gunnel...

as far as things to give him - give time instead of trinkets if you can... the older you get, the more important that becomes...

hope you guys make some memories on it...

The above is excellent, all the way around. The only thing I'd say though is that I use an 80 lb Minnkota on my 22 ft Tritoon. It's OK, so long as the wind isn't above 10 mph, then it's time to drift with the wind using the trolling motor to simply maintain course.

 

[Captain Ahab]

Haha, gross

When Mrs. Juan R hits 70+ you might be looking for a set of bolt ons... ha ha