Tube or Toon?

[fishnski]

Hi everyone...My Togiak float tube might make it through this season (I've had it about 10 years, it's like an old friend). I have been thinking of replacing it with a pontoon..I looked at one called the Rogue and the Colorado and the Skagit..you get the idea..so here goes.....can you offer some advice to an old flyfisher on what you use or what you would recommend...or here it goes...should I just replace my tube with a tube. I will use it on lakes and would like to keep the price under $500 with tax and tip (lol)

[dpenrod]

gonna get lots of different opinions voiced here i'm sure. mine is to stick with a nice tube. you'll have the choice of a lot of good ones for that price. the outcast fat cat comes to mind for one. or for just a little more money you can get the supercat 50. this is my personal watercraft. kind of a tube/pontoon hybrid. you can purchase oar attachments for the supercat if you want the ability to row. don't have it myself so i can't tell you how it works. i can deflate my supercat and fit it in the trunk of my nissan. 3 minutes of inflation time at the lake and i'm ready for the water. i like pontoons for drifting downriver from point a to point b, but did not like fishing out of mine. also, there was a lot of extra set up time for me, but i did have to tote my pontoon in a minivan. if you have a truck and can keep the pontoon assembled and space in your garage where you can store it assembled, then that won't be an issue for you. if you're heart is set on getting a pontoon, i'd look for a used outcast or scadden. check the craigslist in your area. you may be surprised at what you find. here's a link to the supercat site: http://www.supercat.us/site/412251/page/118491

[hungNtree]

I got an ODC Classic from Creek Company. I love my toon I just wish i had a trolling motor, cause I'm to lazy to row. Seriously though, I've got a bad knee and I don't think I could use those kick fins to get around in a tube. I think Jack has a toon for sale, I'm not sure what he's asking for it though. You could PM him and see.

[Crunchy]

F N S I also have the ODC from Creek Co. in a 9'. Fits in the back of my PU just fine and hangs from pullies in the garage out of the way. I bought a front wheel so its much easier to use on trails. When you get to the
lake or put-in be sure to chain the front wheel to a tree with a bycicle chain and lock, as the wheels have been known to grow legs and walk away. All-in-all the toon does keep my rear end out of the cold water and casting
has been no problem at all. I currently use a 9' rod and am looking into a 7.5' rod for use in the toon. The Ladyfisher has a tube and has had good luck with it. You might give her a PM amd ask the quesdtion.

[Greg H]

Portability and storability have been mentioned. For me one point brought up is that with a 'toon you only have your calves in the water. You can still position yourself with fins, but you don't get as cold when most of you is out of the water. Also 'tons are faster, so if you want to get across a lake or pond you can - harder against the wind of course, but still easier than in a tube.

[Mike Thomas]

I have both, and since I got a Pontoon my tube has hardly got wet. I thought I would still use the tube but everytime I go stillwater fishing I find myself inflating the toon instead! If you have storage problems you can now get frameless toons as well, they fit in a duffel bag when deflated.
All the best.
Mike

[Fly Goddess]

I have a Pontube fr sale. A 6' North Fork Outdoors Freestyle H3 CHEAP!

As far as the pontoons you mentioned. Search the net as I have been reading where the frames are not welded well and they are breaking on these less expensive boats.

[jeffnles1]

I got a pontoon from Creek Company (the ODC Sport). It is well within your price range and I just love the boat. The creek company ones have a rigid platform behind the seats with a trolling motor mount built in. The boat is very comfortable, weighs about 50 pounds and is easy to manuver by myself.

Here are some blog post I made about it.
http://kyflyfishguy.blogspot.com/201...en-voyage.html
http://kyflyfishguy.blogspot.com/201...oon-first.html

Jeff

[dpenrod]

sorry for the hijack here, but i tried to send you a p.m. and it said you don't accept those. if fishnski is not interested, i would be. please p.m. with the details on this.

I have a Pontube fr sale. A 6' North Fork Outdoors Freestyle H3 CHEAP!

As far as the pontoons you mentioned. Search the net as I have been reading where the frames are not welded well and they are breaking on these less expensive boats.

[Mato Kuwapi]

Ask yourself how much set up time you want to take. How far will you need to move the thing...just from the car to the lake, or would you be doing some walk ins etc. Personally I use a tube (Fish Cat 4 Delux) and I wouldn't trade it for the world. It weights 12 lbs and goes on my back for walk ins and gets me to some nice flat water. When I'm done it folds up and fits into a small space. No frames to worry about. It takes me less than 5 minutes to blow all the bladders up and get my flippers on.

Pontoons have there place. I see them best used on rivers and larger lakes...but then I'm thinking of one I could mount a small motor to or take down a class 3 rapid. The problem with them is that they are heavy, take a while to set up, they get pushed around more by the wind etc. My answer to that is to go with a Water Strider....that's my idea of the perfect fishing craft for my needs. http://www.waterstrider.com/index.html