any pontoon boaters

[SalmonJeff]

I was wondering if any ifishers are pontoon boaters or are you all drift boaters. I usually fish alone and I love pontonn boats in a lake and saw some of the new river models. Is a 9 foot pontoon long enough? any information would be great. I love drift boats but to be totaly honest I am not that good on teh oars and in a more managable boat it would be a lot easier. I think????

[greenbuttskunk]

I have a few 8' footers and float the deschutes and the clack, as well as lakes. I love em!
GBS

[River]

I have a 12' 2 person BadCat and a 10' Creek Company (the "1018").

If you want to be able to stand and fish I think you should get at least a 10' boat. I did a lot of research on this and that was the conclusion I came to.

I just added a standing platform to my 10' Creek Company boat and it works great. Don't know how good it will work in winter flows with the boat weaving in the current.

[SHOUGALNITE]

I have a 9' fish cat I take down the washougal in the summer. I used to take it down in the winter and had no problems. For the winter now I use a drift boat. My fishing partner moved to Illinois this fall and he gave me an 8' water skeeter which is very hard to row and control. It is okay for lakes but it wears you out.

[FishCatcher]

River

I have a 10ft Creek Company boat. Have not used it yet. I am interested in knowing how you built your standing platform? Do you have any pictures?

[River]

Just got a camera so your timing is good.
http://www.ifish.net/uploads/301114331.jpg
Creek Company ODC1018 platform. It is just a wood platform suspended with nylon strap and buckles.

Like I said, I don't know how well it will work when the boat is waving around on anchor in winter flows. I only tried it once but it worked well.

[River]

Oh yea, talking again about the platform above.

The wood I used is painted and has something like sand on the top surface to reduce slippage. Also, suspending it like that is nice because it moves out of the way easily when you hit a straddled rock in low water.

[Full Throttle]

Fishcatcher- I also have the 1018 and I purchased a standing platform from creek company. It is the same platform that they use on their two man boat, and it is made to also fit the 1018. It is black diamond plate aluminum - same as the rear cargo deck, and it slides over the front frame. Since the platform attaches to the top of the front frame, I had to raise my seat up. I removed the stock seat, added a 7" height extender, with a padded swivel seat. The height extender you can get at any GI Joes or Walmart, and the bolt holes line up with the holes in the frame. Creek Company told me they pre-drilled the holes specifically so one could add a swivel seat if they wanted.

The platform I think was $69.00. It also has 1 1/2" sides, which makes a nice working platform and your gear wont slide off into the water.

Well worth the money, and It tood about a half hour for the seat exchange (I had to cut out a portion of the seat extension to allow the anchor cleat to work properly).

I will try to take a picture and upload it tomorrow.

[FishCatcher]

Thanks River and Fishstalker for the information. Definitly something I am going to add to my boat.

[BanannaMan]

Dont forget the cup holder either!

[Keta]

Sitting as low in the water as the picture shows I think that I would wear the cup and not worry about a cup holder.

[Ifishsum]

LMAO @ what Keta said :laugh:

[Mad Mikey]

ditto... graemlins/applause.gif

I WAS going to give you kudos for the custom PVC work but I have totally lost my train of thought at this point.... :wink:

[Old dog]

I have both 7 and 8 ft. pontoon boats - landed a chinook in each on the Salmon and Little Nestucca tidewater. Also, both have been down most of the N. Santiam with no trouble.