Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Can you Bass fish docks and shoreline with a pontoon? Seems as if most fishing pontoons have captains chairs up front but most seem to have fencing in the way. I would think you would need an open deck in front to do any jerkbait, trick worm or crankbait fishing????? I have found a 22 ft pontoon with a 50 hp merc and an I-pilot trolling motor for $ 7500 but no deck. Fencing all the way to the front. Will I be happy with a 50 HP. I'm not in a big hurry although I am used to a ranger 185VS with a 150.

I want to leave it in the water at my swim dock and don't have a lift otherwise I would probably just buy another bass boat. Plus I need something for friends and family but I have to be able to fish.

Thank you

I always fish on mine. Mostly drifting but you could fish docks with a trolling motor.

I don't bass fish but I don't see why not with good trolling motor.

I have a 50 HP Merch and I love it, no its not fast but We can pull a tube or other lake toys enough to be enjoyed.
The fuel savings are wonderful!
I'm just past wanting the speed and my son has that covered with his boat for any of us wanting a speed fix.

I'll find out since after I sell the Starcraft, the new 'toon is going to be both for pleasure and fishing.

Mine still has the 18 inch fences up front so you can fish out of it anytime you want , it did have the fishing seats in the rear and 18 inch fences till we raised them to 28 inches and put a sundeck on it.

Then I like to catch my own shiners, then all you have to do is wait for the bobber to go down and wait a little, I think I have more fun catching wild shiners on a 16 foot pole than the bass

Positively you can. I am selling my current fishing boat. We bought a new to me 2008 Sun Tracker 21 fishn barge signature series. I put a 80lb minkota trolling motor on the front. I can fish most everywhere my bassboat can go. It has as 60HP bigfoot motor on it and love the way it sips the fuel. I like the solid platform and wide area to move around on. I cannot go 40mph like my bassboat can. But the other benifits over ride that.

I have 18" fences and put in a 75lb trolling motor with a hand held remote. That way I can be anywhere on the boat for fishing and still control the trolling motor. We get into pretty shallow water and maneuver around bridge pilings etc. very ably with this set up.

traderdoc wrote:Can you Bass fish docks and shoreline with a pontoon? Seems as if most fishing pontoons have captains chairs up front but most seem to have fencing in the way. I would think you would need an open deck in front to do any jerkbait, trick worm or crankbait fishing????? I have found a 22 ft pontoon with a 50 hp merc and an I-pilot trolling motor for $ 7500 but no deck. Fencing all the way to the front. Will I be happy with a 50 HP. I'm not in a big hurry although I am used to a ranger 185VS with a 150.

I want to leave it in the water at my swim dock and don't have a lift otherwise I would probably just buy another bass boat. Plus I need something for friends and family but I have to be able to fish.

Thank you

Traderdoc.... consider buying a boat you want, not what you find..... if you buy a boat simply because it's available, you may end up with 'buyer's remorse'.... patience.... keep looking...

With that said, mine has a 2-3 foot front deck. I've installed a Minn Kota Terrova 80lb thrust with the co-pilot hands free remote. The foot pedal has only been used to test it... the hand held remote is SO much easier, and from anywhere on the boat. Foot pedals require too much coordination!

I fish off mine all the time (OK to be truthful. I feed the fish off mine all the time) Not bass though, usually bluegill and crappie. But I'm still fishing around the docks and stumps and all that. I've got chairs on all four corners, two live wells the whole nine yards.

traderdoc wrote:Can you Bass fish docks and shoreline with a pontoon? Seems as if most fishing pontoons have captains chairs up front but most seem to have fencing in the way. I would think you would need an open deck in front to do any jerkbait, trick worm or crankbait fishing????? I have found a 22 ft pontoon with a 50 hp merc and an I-pilot trolling motor for $ 7500 but no deck. Fencing all the way to the front. Will I be happy with a 50 HP. I'm not in a big hurry although I am used to a ranger 185VS with a 150.

I want to leave it in the water at my swim dock and don't have a lift...

Our toon is set up for fishing. It goes everywhere with the trolling motor. 4 fishing chairs, low fence all around. I thought I'd want to fish outside the fence on a deck but the setup works just fine. Have caught large mouth, small mouth, white and small striped on our toon, close in to shores, docks. We leave it on the water too.

Our neighbor has a 22' tri-toon set up for cruising with seating all around and a high fence. I wouldn't want to fish from it-I'd probably hook one one of the seats and you stand further from the all-around fence. Too far from the water for me to net the big ones.

Thank you so much for all the feedback. What a great community. I'm heading out tomorrow to see a 20 ft Bentley with 2 fishing seats in the front. Looks clean in the pictures so I guess we will see. Thanks again.

I bass fish out of by 22 ft all the time.I have a trolling motor on it and my deck is only 18 inches so i just stand .My trolling motor i can remove take about 5 mintue

My benny is set up almost identical to landlocks boat and we fish out of ours all the time ( well not this year 'cause we STILL haven't taken the boat out ).. It's obvious not as agile as a smaller bass rig, but we make do and the other benefits of a pontoon boat greatly outweigh the negatives....

JohnO wrote:I fish off mine all the time (OK to be truthful. I feed the fish off mine all the time) Not bass though, usually bluegill and crappie. But I'm still fishing around the docks and stumps and all that. I've got chairs on all four corners, two live wells the whole nine yards.

Now that was pretty funny. I fed a bunch of them Saturday night, fishing from the toon.

I fish from my 24'er with high fences double biminis and full furniture all the time... However I built the boat to fit my fishing needs.. I only have a 55# trolling motor that will soon be updated with a 101# I pilot to help chase reds and trout in the open bay! I also bass fish the docks, I don't have a problem with it other than I'm a lil underpowered in the TM department for now. I catch everything from bass,crappie and cats to reds, flounder and sharks!