On Mar 15, 4:21*pm, wrote:
On Tue, 15 Mar 2011 12:50:48 -0700 (PDT), "Jack."





wrote:
On Mar 15, 12:41*pm, wrote:
On Mon, 14 Mar 2011 23:10:24 -0400, Lil Abner wrote:
I've been looking for some time for a boat that can both be used in
shallow water fishing typical, of bass fishing and also used in just off
shore areas, of the Great Lakes.
I've seen bass boats on Michigan and Superior but I won't.
Pontoon? Some kind of modified V?
What else.

A pontoon is not a horrible choice if you are serious about shallow
water performance and with big tubes they do fairly well in a
reasonable offshore environment. I will run with 18-20 *foot boats
just about anywhere they want to go and I only have 19" tubes.
The 22 and 24" tubes do a lot better.

I have a 25' pontoon with 24" outer tubes with lifting strakes along
with a 36" center tube with a 12" flat planing surface. *Great lake
boat, have also been in the intercoastal waterway and in Charleston
Harbor with it a few times. *It did just fine there except for one
afternoon when the wind picked up a lot and the harbor got snotty. *I
started taking some spray over the bow going into the wind, needed to
run harder to get it fully up on plane but had a boat full of people.
Turned around and went back into the smaller water, there was plenty
to do without crossing the harbor. *If I lived down there I'd have
something else, but where and how I boat 98% of the time it's nearly
ideal.

They do get pretty wet but if you are out there and it gets nasty *you
will get home as long as you use some decent seamanship.
Usually that is not going to be "on plane" but the same would be true
in most small boats if it is really rolling. You are working with the
sea.

I'm sure you're right. I'm thinking more about climbing up on top of
smaller stuff that will pound a fiberglass boat, and letting the
pontoon smooth it out while on top of it. You're talking about even
bigger stuff, which I've never been in on my boat, and don't intend to
if I can help it.

As I said, I had a boat full of people that day, and the ladies
especially weren't enjoying the spray. That's OK... we ran up the
river, swam, and made sandwiches. :-