I have a 16ft fiberglass fishing boat. I was thinking of upgrading to a 20ft pontoon. I fish with my two kids or alone. I was wondering if anyone had any advice for me, that may have a pontoon. Good or Bad...

i use my friends 24ft toon and i like it cause i can bring my kids and couple of friends and we have plenty of room but its slow getting around if your trying to cover a lot of ground quick.

If ur over 45 yrs ,Yes the older one gets,,the more comfortable
you need to be,,pontoons boats are roomy and don't beat u to
death..

Just make sure that you have an adequate trolling motor so that you don't plow into schooling fish using your outboard. Toons are cool and very fishable. Great for kids.

My 24fter is a striper killing machine. The bad is that you can't fly all over the lake, which I don't feel is necessary anyway. If you put in at the right ramp for the time of year, you can limit out without losing sight of your trailer. There are a few negatives. They really catch the wind so it's difficult to cast to a windblown shoreline. It's hard to keep off of the rocks. It also sits on top of the water so big roller waves pitch you around like a bobber. But, all in all I like fishing out of my pontoon. Dead sticking in the winter is really fun.

I am 60 yrs old this year, I takes a little for me to move around, i lost my righty leg above the knee when I was 19. I have had tons of boats over the years. I bought a Premier Cast Away 22' four years ago. I added a Terrova I Pilot, and a hummingbird side scan at the console and downscan at the bow. Good fishing machine if you want to go 2 mph. I just like a center console better. It took two days on Craiglist to sell the Pontoon. A guy in Canada bought it sight unseen. If I had 5 I could have sold them in that many days. Like Texomalvr says they sit and ride on top of the water.

I fish from a 20' Pontoon, and enjoy it. I'm 77 and like the flat deck and comfortable seats.

The fish don't know or care what you fish from, so the decision is up to you. Like everyone says they are some slow to get around very fast, but it's not a problem.

And, they are fine family cruising boats.

Put an I-pilot TM and good electronics and they are decent fishing rigs.

Thanks for the comments. Sounds like it's a good family boat but slow. And that's what I was looking for. A good family boat. Happy fishing to y'all.

Yes! Love mine and cant beat the room you have on a pontoon.

We have had a toon on Tawakoni for 9 years, caught lots of fish from it...
But...tawakoni can get rough quick... We have a 90 on an 18.5 toon and can scoot with a light load and have needed it to get off the lake close to where we launched.
We also got caught out twice, on those sudden storms and it was not pretty.
That said.. Lots pf room, family friendly, and you can easily rig em without loosing sleep on cutting a hole or mounting lots of rod holders and led lights...

If you think you will be trolling,,, look at setups for that type of fishing, especially the rear seats...,

Speed of the toons, which seems to be a negative to most folks, is dependent upon what style of toon you get and the size motor you get. Tri-toons can accommodate much larger engines than normal style toons. Get one with lifting srakes, and your planing out and running on top of the water just like other boats, giving you more speed.

Ive spent alot on mine, its great to fish from and i fish for just about everything. an I-pilot, side imaging, down riggers, and rod holders for 10 rods to fish live or cut bait. Its 22' and runs 28 gps loaded down with gear including afore mentiond as well as box anchors, coolers, and all the original furniture including the porta-potty in the changing area which is great for the wife and family.

If you plan to trailer, Loading and unloading can be a pain at times, but there are ways to modify the trailer that can help with that. The only other downside I can think of is with the current low water levels you have to be very picky about what ramps you can use. Toons sit higher on trailers, which takes more water to float off in most cases.

Good luck and enjoy whatever comes from your decision.

If you got xtra money, they had pontoon 25' with Yamaha 350 horsepower out there around 70k can run 40-45 mph. Very comfortable

My 24 footer has the third log, lifting strakes, and a 150 hp Honda outboard. I can get almost 40 mph on the gps, and even though it's not a bass boat, it will get me from one spot to another quick enough. I have a livewell, rod holders, and two captains chairs on the bow.
I added an iPilot PowerDrive TM last year, so the rig works well for me. i really like the room to walk around when i have multiple fishmermen onboard.
My only problem is explaining the blood on the carpet to the Admiral.

I've only been boating/fishing for about 6 months. I originally boat a nice deep v 16' boat with a 60hp motor. It was great for fishing and I had a lot of fun on it. The problem was anytime I wanted to include my young kids and wife...maybe with a friend or two things got crowded fast.

I also don't go out for a day or half day, I go out 2 days at least and spend the night...etc...etc. That was okay on that boat (better than the ground), but also had some issues with space and being comfy.

About 3 weeks ago I traded it in on a G3 V22F and am glad I did. I've had 8 people on it, 4 coolers, a filled 32 gallon trashcan (redneck livewell), a filled 14 gallon livewell (for minnows) and all the usual gear with very little problems. Yeah, the boat would only max out around 21mph gps, but I could cruise okay at 15 mph.

With a normal load I can do 24-25 mph gps. (2 adults, 2 coolers, fishing gear...etc)

I DO regret not getting the tritoon. I figured for my purposes a standard pontoon with a 115 (max for my boat) would be fine. Really it is fine, but what I've found is my pontoon is heavy in the rear and plows through the water a little. The tritoon would keep it up higher. Basically I LOVE the layout of my boat, but everything is in the rear and NOTHING is up front but a storage area, 2 chairs and a small livewell that I don't fill.

I do have a total of 3 batteries back towards the rear or in the rear and I added red LEDs internally and green LEDs all down the sides.

Anyway, life is good fishing on a pontoon. The only real struggles I have are with casting a net for shad. It's not hard per se, but you're also not above everything so you can't get sloppy about it. I cast a 7', 1/4" mesh, 1.35lbs per foot net. The smaller nets I have are a breeze, just that one is a little tough sometimes.

I thought it would be a bish during winds. I was on Texoma Sunday morning and for awhile there was 10-15 mph winds from those storms and it did not drift any fast (gps) than the old boat did. Also throughout the night through those winds it was no worst than the old boat. That's with the bimini top up too.

Ok thanks for the information. So a tri toon has a better ride (float). Any input on trolling motor size for a 20-24 footer.