Dave Scadden Pontoon Craft

"joe" wrote in message
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In article ,

You can put a trolling motor on the Hobie or any yak as well as a canoe.

If you insist on sitting while you fish I have no real answer though I
doubt you will be sitting much higher than you would in a canoe and I
doubt if you will have an option to stand with the pontoon at all.
Trolling motor or not you still have a very high wind profile. This is
one liability even of a canoe. I have heard several stories of canoers
getting in a tight spot as they can make no headway with the wind. Of
course a fast moving storm with high wind is a bad time not to be able
to go where you want. This was with a trolling motor. Probably with
considerable more thrust than the pontoon can accomodate with the
battery requirements.

Pontoons provide a stable platform but are, in my opinion more for
drifting than additionally getting from point to point. You can drift in
anything. And even though I have seen the pontoons rigged with oars I
still think that is more for providing postioning while you drift with
the current.

It will be interesting to see how the pontoon handles getting in/out of
breakers as well.

As always 'different strokes' but I can say I have rarely seen any
pontoon craft in my sal****er trips. On the other hand I have been to
some gatherings with over 100 kayaks, canoes with a piroughe or two for
good measure.
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I will do some fishing while sitting, but mostly use for getting around. I
will be fishing small lakes and slow moving rivers (no white water.) The
reason I want to buy one is to fish small waters that are too deep to wade
and that I can't get my jon boat into. On the rivers I will row up stream a
ways and drift back to fish. If there's a shallow area, I will get out and
wade.

I've already been out on a lake in a canoe when the wind kicked up. No fun
at all. The wind kept blowing the bow everywhere but where I wanted to go.
But that was on a bigger lake, before I bought the jon. And I don't think
I'd have wanted to be out there in a 'yak with the waves the way they were.
I don't plan on fishing in the big lake (Michigan) with it, where the swells
reach 6 feet or more. Probably won't see any lakes over 100 acres.

My trolling motor will produce enough thrust (36 lbs.) to move a light (45
lb.) pontoon. The battery won't have to be of a large size. I won't need
enough juice to move a 1500 lb. fiberglass bass boat for several hours. Plus
the oars will assist.