Shopping for a new Cat Boat – Hooah!!

I’m going to be boat shopping at the January Mpls Boat show.

My Bride is convinced we need a new boat – big enough to handle the grandkids. We want a nice pontoon that we can slip on the St Croix – I’m looking at the new fishing pontoons. Take the kids out during the day – do some swimming and cruising and catch some bait for Grandpa to use. Later that evening Grandpa cruises out to his favorite flathead spot, sets up in his nice comfy, plush “Cattoon” boat, turn on the Twins game, baits up with the nice live bait that my Grandkids have probably already given names to and just hammers the cats.

Look out you cat guys – next summer’s cat tournament at the Summer GTG is all mine. I’m going to have the most deluxe cat boat you guy’s ever dreamed of. I should have it fine tuned in time for the tournament.

Hey Catten Addict – You on with me for the tournie next summer? I’ll put us on fish this time.

Wait until it is Sturgeon season. I may never leave the water. Just anchor that pretty lady right on the Honey Hole and never leave. I may get one of those camping enclosures and live on the thing. At least now I have something to dream about until ice out.

Wow, sounds like Heaven to me! Nothin’ funner than cats in the summer! See ya at the boat show.

Steve,
That bride of yours must be a heck of a catch! Have fun with the shopping. Just think of all that room you’ll have to move around inside a pontoon.

Hey Steve, give Ron or Kenny a call at Smittys Marine in Lake City for a great pontoon and price. Tell them I sent you. 1-651-345-3990
Thanks, Bill

Well Steve, are you going to share with everyone what your new Cat boat is like and what add ons are added to help you catch fish or do we need to pry it out of you?
Thanks, Bill

Steve, I saw your new pontoon at New Richmond today! NICE!

It wasn’t the same color as yours…but just as “kushy”!

You’re going to need some bigger anchors dude!

Let me know when I can spend a night or two on it with you…so to speak!

Hi Bill – It is a pretty sweet boat – I forgot how much fun it is to shop for a new boat – my last boat I bought in 1990. My wife and I did a lot of shopping and planning before we bought. We decided to go whole hog figuring this will be our last boat and we should get exactly what we want with all the bells and whistles.

We decided on the 25 foot Premier Pontoon, Model 251 Cast-A-Way. We bought it from Warner’s Dock in New Richmond, WI. It is a fishing pontoon with 2 fishing chairs in the bow and an angling center in the back with 2 fishing chairs. It has a large livewell in the helm and another livewell in the back; rod storage locker; a changing room with a Porta Pottie; 11′ Bimini Top; a Day Enclosure which will provide shelter on those rainy, cold days; we added a Minn Kota Terrova 80# thrust bow mounted autopilot trolling motor with Co-Pilot remote control and universal sonar; we added a vinyl floor in the rear angling station figuring this is where I will mostly catfish and it will be easy to clean up the cat slime;we added a Lowrance color combo sonar / GPS (I wanted this to enhance drifting for channel cats); we added the LED light package because I do a lot of late night catfishing and I wanted lights that are easy on the batteries; The trolling motor system is a 24 volt system so we added a 12 amp 2 bank internal battery charger wired with a bow plug-in for easy battery charging; I also had a DC plug wired into the 24 volt system in the rear of the boat so I can rig the boat with a power inverter and run some special late night cat fishing lights;the outboard is a 75 hp Evinrude E-Tec (we looked at all the motors and the Evinrude had all the votes on best motor when we were done); we did two more boat options when we decided on the motor – we added what are called lifting strakes which are welded onto the inside of the pontoons which will help with speed and manueverability and then we added what is called performance sheeting on the underside of the boat which covers all the crossmembers and gives you a smooth ride so that the crossmembers cannot catch the waves. We thought this was important on the St croix because of all the cruiser traffic and wave action.

We got a slip at a Marina just 4 miles from the house so the boat will always be in the water and ready to go. A lot of times in the summer I didn’t fish on weekends because I couldn’t find parking after I launched the boat. This year the boat is ready to go – 24/7. It is going to be a fun summer.

I’ll try to attach a picture of the boat set-up.

Steve,

That is awesome! I think you’ll enjoy it a lot. I’m always available to help fill it up

That performance sheeting will be nice. Bigger waves are a pain in pontoons! I remember taking a few over the bow this summer . Surprises the heck out of your front passengers if they’re not paying attention!

What are you going to do about rod holders? Clamp-ons? How much fuel does that sucker hold? Have you given a thought to how big of an anchor you’ll need? Will you have a power anchor?

Hi Ryan –
I plan on you helping me shake it down for drifting. You are the Jedi Knight of channel cat drift fishing

I’ve been checking out all the rod holders. The pontoon rails are square 1 1/4″ aluminum rails. I don’t want to drill any holes in the rails so I plan on going with clamp-on holders. Besides the clamp-on mounts give better flexibility on placement too. I’ve looked at the Cabela’s clamp-on 360HT rod holders and the Driftmaster clamp-on rod holders. I’m going to get a couple of each kind and try them out and see which I like better. I looked at the Scotty’s rod holders too and may try those also. Since we can use two rods per person on the St Croix I’d like to have about 10 rod holders available.

The boat has a 28 gallon fuel tank.

I’m thinking of having two 25# Richter anchors on board. I added a gripper on the bow of the boat for anchoring. No power anchors – there is no better exercise than hefting in a big heavy Richter anchor by hand. I don’t think anchoring at least on the St Croix where I normally fish is going to be a problem except on those windy October sturgeon fishing days when we all get blown off the river no matter what kind of anchor you have.

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Hi Ryan –
I plan on you helping me shake it down for drifting. You are the Jedi Knight of channel cat drift fishing

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I was on fire that night! I hope to repeat with frequency this year.

WOW! You did really go all out. This is a Catin boat fit for a king. You and the Mrs will sure enjoy this boat. Can’t wait for the pics and also the first report with pics. A Catin Cadilac [sp] for sure.
Thanks, Bill

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You and the Mrs

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Bill…please stop calling me Mrs!

Sounds like a sweet set up C15.
I will be the first to step up to the plate and volunteer to be an anchor handler.
I would’nt want the Mrs. Opps I mean BrianK to strain any thing.

Have Clonker Will Travel reads the card of a man.
An angler without pride with a clonker in hand.
His loud clonks for hire head’s the calling Kuh – plooo.
A angler of (mis)fotune is the man called (mpls)Pug.

mplspug, mplspug Where do you float?
mplspug, mplspug, near, near a cat hole.

He travels on to wherever he must;
A circle hook of silver is his badge of trust.
There are campfire legends that the rivermen spin
Of the man with the clonker,
of the man called mplsp u u u u g

WTF!!pug

Nice rig C.

Just saying if he needs a clonker to help him out on that sweet pontoon, I am the man. Just ignore me. It’s cabin fever.

I was kinda expecting a Micky Mouse paradee.

“The Ballad of Palidan” Johnny Western

Is there anything that thing doesnt have? (besides a cutting table )

That sounds like a heck of a rig Steve.. hope I can fill a couple of those rod holders here and there!