Sounds like a blast!

Seeing as how my PB channel is only 9 lbs and the best I’ve seen boated was 14… I mean… damn man…

Nice!

Didn’t stop us from trying tho…

@beachbrian – yep! That’s the guy!

@reverend – Yeah, there’s a LOT of fishing water in AZ… unfortunately most of it is 2+ hours from Phoenix. I’m really hoping that over the course of the year I’ll be able to get some time in, but with those kinds of travel times it’s generally an overnighter, so I need to get the finances in order first.

@deertracker, @mstrumar – Thanks! Glad to be back. Great to be welcomed.

big_g wrote:

Welcome back… settle back into that armchair !!!!

Right on, dude! Can’t spend too much time in the armchair tho… I’d rather be fishing. Unless the armchair is on a pontoon boat. Then I’m good.

Tilapia is easy, actually… I learned how they fish for Tilapia when we were in Israel trying to fish the Sea of Galilee.

Check your PMs.

Let me know when you find a monster cat down there in the swamps.

Dude… tarpon. Word! Plus there’s some crazy gar fishing and whole new array of species in the brackish water. So yeah…

My folks lived in Titusville for a few years, I got to go stomp around Merritt Island and, while no fishing, my interest in reptiles was extremely useful out there.

Next time I’m in FL I’m fishing tho… cuz they lived on the shore (right next to the Merritt Island Causeway) and the dolphins were insane! It was really freaking cool.

Congrats man. Glad it’s working for you!

BK your link didn’t take…

Sturgeon/Cat Forum

mplspug wrote:

You are lucky you still have flats to fish for in AZ.

Living in Florida now, the closest flats are about 5 hours north of here. If I’m driving 5 hours in Florida, it ain’t going to be North!

SO… you gonna update your username? I mean… when MPLSpug isn’t in MPLS anymore, there’s something deeply wrong with the world!

AZ wasn’t my choice (but there was work here, long story), but yeah, there’s some decent cat waters in the state and even the waters that suck are stocked with channels. I’m really hoping to break away and get some canal fishing in. Apparently in some areas the channels get huge and there are very occasional flat catches in them as well.

Why FL, just out of curiosity?

Brian Klawitter wrote:

…
The earliest I caught fish reliable is when the water temp reaches 65 degrees. I’m certainly not saying that they can’t be caught earlier, just that I haven’t found a reliable bite.

They don’t bite very well the third week in November, do they BK?

@BK – Yeah… I’m going to do my research and max out my fishing opportunities around here before we head North again. I am hoping to re-relocate back in the MN/IA/WI area within the next couple years. We shall see. Either way, you haven’t seen the last of me, sir!

@FB&RM – welcome, you won’t find a better crew of miscreants from whom to learn everything you could ever want to know.

PS – don’t argue with Goatsie about species ID… you’ll lose.

@nhamm – check your PMs

dfresh wrote:

Nice to see you back man! Glad things are looking up!

Thanks man… I’m gonna try to stick around this time.

Yeah things are looking up. Had to sell the ‘toon… moved to AZ for a job that laid me off due to a lawsuit between them and the Gov’t only 4 months after moving the family down here. So it’s been extremely tough for a while.

But things are very much looking up… fingers crossed. I want to spend some time on the water!!

It’s about time MN let us register CPR records… killing the record fish just never made sense to me.

Thanks BK!

I’m gone for a few months and what do you do?

Man… some people will go to such lengths for company!

OK OK… Congrats man! Bigtime!

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They all look the same.

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Hey! I resent that remark! Most of your clients are far better looking than I am!

I see them a lot on river fish… not so much on lake fish though.

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UNEXACCEPTABLE!!

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Just can’t take my eyes off this word!!!

Tried breaking it down to no avail…….

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It is a good word, no bout adoubt it!

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WOW what an awesome reply, thanks. Looks like I have some things to think about.

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No worries. I’m considering selling the boat, so if you get serious hit me up, maybe we can work something out.

I know, I know… but at this point in my life I need the cash more than I need the boat. Plus the tranny is going out in the truck and I can’t pull it too far… accursed Ford Explorer transmissions…

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There’s some of us that keep one eye on you.

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There’s some of you that I continue to keep my eye on as well, so I guess that’s fair.

I’ve got a 21′ aluminum pontoon boat. I can directly speak to your situation!

So… as for towing, they’re a b**ch unless you have a decently beefy truck, preferably with a towing package. They are wider than your truck, so your mirrors will be occluded and, at 21′ plus a good 6′ of trailer in front of the boat, they are *long*. So they’re not easy to tow… that said, they’re not the end of the world to tow either. I used to pull a 20′ car trailer for work and it’s really a lot the same.

You will feel every bump and jostle, and sometimes the weight will want to push your truck around a bit. One of the scary spots is westbound I94, far left lane, entering the Lowry Tunnel. The trailer wants to keep going straight while the truck is trying to steer around the corner into the tunnel. You have to know what you’re doing a bit or the trailer’s momentum will push the back end of the truck sideways.

Also, my trailer only has one axle and I don’t care for that… plan on adding one if your trailer only has one.

As for how they trailer, I can’t speak to bunks, just scissors (my trailer is a scissor trailer). But I can put in/out on a beach, on an incredibly shallow launch, etc. There are some distinct advantages to a scissor trailer… you can beach the boat and then back the trailer under it, which makes things a lot easier. I can line the boat up with the trailer very nicely and get it centered, then lift it out of the water and pull it up on shore to strap everything down. I would say with practice there’s not a lot more time involved than loading any other 20′ boat, it’s just different.

I’ve never tried anchoring across the current… I usually only drop the bow anchor, let the boat swing into the current, then strop the stern anchor to hold it where I want it. Because the logs are long and skinny there’s much less drag on the anchor than with a regular hull. However, having to run back and forth from the console to the bow back to the console while you’re in current is a pain and at times downright dangerous, so I went for an electric anchor winch with a remote that I bolted right to the side of the console.

Regarding anchoring across the current, pontoon boats have so much space on the sides and ends that it’s really not necessary. You can fish people off both sides and the bow and stern at the same time, so no matter where you end up anchoring people will have room to fish.

I also cannot state strongly enough how important an electric tilt/trim on the motor can be… for launching, trailering, and river navigation, having the ability to get your lower unit up out of danger without having to leave the console is HUGE. This is the voice of experience talking here. Rocks and props don’t get along well, and having to leave the con while you’re navigating in current is never a good thing.

I wouldn’t go less than 20′ if you want any room to be able to fish unless you’re never going to have more than 3 people in the boat. Mine is 21′ and I’ve had 4 people in there with no issue. I could easily fish as many as 6 out of the boat with no huge issue provided that it was anchored in a good spot for people to fish off both sides. I snagged a couple chairs from an old patio set that I keep on the boat and I have some nice folding camp chairs that I use as well. That makes it possible to arrange the seating as best fits the fishing conditions and passengers.

If you’re going with a pontoon boat with no seating, though, storage is an issue, I ended up getting a 3’x2’x2′ heavy duty storage box that I bolted to the deck using u-bolts. I’m not happy with this arrangement though because it takes up the whole corner of the boat and people like to put stuff on top of it which makes it hard to get into. It’s always going to be an issue on a boat like this unless you have some under-deck storage, which is what I’d REALLY like to do.

I have Folbe rod holders mounted to the rails, 5 positions around the boat (2 on each side and one center astern) and that works really well for both trolling and catting. With a setup like that you can use planer boards and everything. Also since pontoons only have about a 6″ draft on floats that are a good 4′ apart, they are very stable and can get to areas where a regular boat has issues going.

One big thing of note: power plants. When I bought the boat it had a 35HP Evinrude on it and that was just not sufficient. I could get up to about 12mph on the GPS, and that was about it. So last year I upgraded to a 1985 90HP Johnson with a fresh rebuild from Robbinsdale Marine. I can now do 25mph and I feel much safer being on the river and needing to get back to the landing fast. Also with that much juice I can use the pontoon for fun times and pull tubes and stuff.

It’s been expensive… between the boat and trailer, new motor, electronics, batteries, gear box, rod holders, and so on I’ve probably got about $9k into it. I need to put new tires on the existing axle and I really want to put a second axle under it. So don’t plan on this being a cheap deal… if you get a new boat it’s going to be primo dollars and if you get a used one there’s going to be maintenance and upgrades and stuff.

All in all, I would say that for a platform for any kind of fishing, awesome cat fishing, and good general family boating fun, you simply cannot beat a pontoon boat, but there are drawbacks that you at the very least need to be aware of.

That’s probably way more than you wanted to know, but hell… I’ve had this thing for 3 or 4 years now and nobody here really seemed to have much, if any, experience catting the rivers out of a pontoon boat when I got it, so hopefully this post can be useful to yourself and others.

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Indeed. Deep water. That can be hard to find.

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On the Minnesota river near Mankato is is almost impossible.

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I wasn’t mocking, really. It’s true.

I know one 40-ish foot hole on the MN and that’s it… Otherwise there’s only one river I know of that’s got consistently deeper water under almost all conditions…

The Croix is a haven of deep water, was sort of what I was referring to.

I’ve been spending too much time on Facebook… I found myself looking for the Like button. lol

Indeed. Deep water. That can be hard to find.

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I’m still laughing.
The prince is going to get bigger and when he’s a king I hope I can be his queen. Hope he doesn’t get away

Catfish costume is the best idea. This year I’m going to be a fish. Ill even put an outrageous tag on my tail

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Thank you, Lady of the River. Glad I could offer something of value for you on this site full of s…

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Hold on… let me get my flathead costume…

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Sorry dude, that’s not going to help.

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HEY! Even a little improvement is –something–!

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When you have the time take a few minutes and voice your concerns. You can do it here why not at a place specially created for this subject.

Stop the AIS insanity in Minnesota.

Time to put up or or lay over and accept it and let the system roll right over you

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Be nice if there was another way than facebook, I quit going there, kept loosing the password and got tired of the emails that come to “like somebody”.

Al

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Facebook is kinda THE place for this sort of thing… I’m not even sure where else we could get the sort of coverage that we’re going to get there.

MySpace maybe?

Hold on… let me get my flathead costume…

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Don’t think I didn’t consider it, but I used better judgement.

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You have that?? Cool. Maybe you have enough to share? I know a few people who could use some extra.

From a St. Croix trip on 9/9/12…

33×16 for 14 lbs… HUGE fat belly… in 25-30 FOW on crawlers.

Scary Jeff’s PB channel and actually a BB (boat best) for channel cats… biggest channel my boat’s seen. Yet.

Forgot to post this in the thread… from a St. Croix trip on 9/9/12.

46×16 for 16 lbs out of 25-30 FOW on crawlers. Hooked 2 that night, only one made it into the boat. Saw the other one, it was about 36″, smaller than the one we boated… but it fought 10 times harder…

Lost it due to a combination of aft anchor rope, bow anchor rope and operator error.

Oh well… at least we saw the fish AND we boated the big one. For once it was the little one that got away!