Right now I have 18' bass boat which works great for 2 people. But when the family wants to go out and make a day out on the lake my poor boat gets real crowded with 5 people on board. Have considered a CC but was wondering about a pontoon for the space. Would like to hear opions from those the fish from pontoons I mainly fish whites and hydrids.

might want to check out the new deckboats, best of both worlds. i have a 24 ft toon but the next one will probably be a deckboat cause they are easier to transport, load and unload, more fuel efficient, faster and store easier. IMO

pontoon is great but the best trolling mtr want hold or keep you on a shcool of white bass-You get in the way on a buisy lake. Ive had pontoon deckboat cc cc is the best all around unless you wana cook a burger. Just my 2

I fish from a center console 21' bass buggy. I put a 24v MG 75lb on it and it holds great even in wind. not as well as a low profile boat but when it gets too rough I don't want to be out there anyway. The space would be difficult to give up. The only downside is the speed since a pontoon has so much drag you really can't get from spot to spot very fast so you cover less water. For a tourney or real serious fishing I would choose the cc. for a great fishing platform that doubles as a family boat. pontoon. Some of the deck boats are great as mentioned but still not the room to move around that a pontoon has.
If you choose a pontoon I would highly recommend a cc model.

An excellent choice, always great to have the entire family with you when you drive through the fish. It helps to broaden their vocabulary.

I have a bass buggy,, its a 18ft poontoon boat. Put a 5ohp bigfoot on it and a 54lb thrust trolling motor,(the largest 12v I could find). We love the room, handles bad weather extremely well. Not too hard to tow knowing when you get to the lake you have all that space. This one tops out at 18.5mph on the gps. Hey we love it... I just had to get used to go slower than the bass boat. but I dont have to watch the weather/wind speeds much. Ya know anybody that has one... try to go out with em and see what ya think...

I have a 22" deck boat, and they're not as spacious as a pontoon. Plus they're heavy as hell, which make towing them long distances a pain, not to mention wet, slippery ramps. I'd trade it in for a toon if I could.

we fish out of a 21'9 toon and love it. Its comfy, max speed is 24 fully loaded with gear, food, coolers and 6 folks. Trolling motor holds well, but a mouse fart will push you around. Loading was a bear until I picked up some rails for the inside from academy, now side wind loading issues are minimized.

I was going to sell it and pick up a cc, but dang, its too nice of a platform to fish from and much more stable. Wake boats don't bother us too much unless we are trying to stay on point with the tm.

I'd suggest getting one of those auto pilots, thats what we are going for.

We started having grans five years ago and upgraded or downgraded whichever to a 24' toon that carries 13 folks or 1800lbs. Added my downriggers and a 11 foot shade and 24 volt TM with a 20 foot electric foot control cord. So far we have 7 grans from 1 to 5 1/2 and it fits us perfect. Twenty miles an hour is plenty fast for our grans on a tube or skis for awhile by then it's time for mom and dad to take over.

I've got a 20' Bass Buggy and I love it. Been through a couple jon boats before it.

I don't have any problems loading/unloading the pontoon, do it by myself regularly. Mine's older, it's an '87, and I've heard they're quite a bit lighter than the newer models. I've got the rollers on the inside of the toon's, and a wide bar that I push the front of the boat up against. That bar squares it up perfectly.

I have a 54lb trolling motor on the front, and it's a must have if you ask me. It was in the shop for a while and all I could do was anchor somewhere, or drift fish.

I've only got a 35hp merc on the back, and it does about 16mph. So I usually put in close to where I want to fish. I've gone all around Ray Roberts before, it just takes a little bit from spot to spot.

And when we go out with the kids it's awesome, tons of room, hang out under the deck when it's really hot. Love it.

my vote for post of the year.


MO

I have a 22' pontoon with a 80hp trolling motor and have no problem staying on the whites. I can load the boat as quick as anyone. It has a 90 hp yamaha four stroke and goes about 25 mph fully loaded. I wouldn't trade it for any boat! I tow it with my half ton chevy and pull it 75 mph from Dallas to Ivey no problem except for gas mileage!

That's weird, I just saw this on Sunday and heard some words that even I wasn't familiar with!!

Great info the wife is all for a pontoon (cooking a burger while fishing) and from the input here it looks like a pontoon is in our near future. Any suggestions on make or size. I am curious about installing down-riggers and how that works. again thanks for all the input.

PFF, you seem to have left the key fact out of your original post, "the wife is all for a pontoon".
You Sir had all the facts you needed right there. Enjoy.