rigid pontoon boat???

[trfishin]

:)Hi I'm a newbie here on your great website I live way out in Wyoming and love to fly fish and ice fish. My question is, does anyone out your way use or have a pontoon/kickboat that has the rigid pontoons on it and how do you like them and can you PLEASE give me any pro's and con's to this kind of pontoon boats.
I'm looking at the rigid pontoon boats as they look pretty durable and you don't have to mess with air pumps any more. I have a truck so I'm not concerned with taking it a part to put in a trunk or suv. I just want the fastest thing to get on the water, but also want to make sure before I buy one that the rigid one is really the best way to go or maybe the inflatable ones are better.
Any information would be greatly appreciated as the ice is starting to melt out west and I'm wanting to buy one soon. also if you have any websites that sell the rigid pontoon/kickboats could you please let me know so I can do some comparison shopping. thanks again looking forword to talking to you all even though I'm way out west. :thumb:

[Kiwi Phil]

Hi, I'm even further away in New Zealand! The only rigid pontoons I know about are the ones made by Hobie - check them at this link:
http://www.hobiecat.com/fishing/models_floatcat75.html

Seem a bit smaller than the inflatable ones so probably only for still water. I recall seeing a higher-spec version somewhere - can't recall where though. A Google search should track it down if you're interested.

happy fishing!

[trfishin]

:thumb: thanks Kiwi Phil thanks for the website I will check it out. I see that you are in New Zealand do you fish for big brown trout over there because I think that I saw a show or two that were over there fishing for trout. If not brown trout what types of fish do you catch over there. I'm interested as I have never been there and it's fun to learn about fishing different places.

[speyfisher]

I knew a guy that had one of those Hobie cat pontoon boats. Yeah, they are small. But he took it down the Sandy river from Oxbow park to Dodge. During early May, Sandy (Spey) Clave. No problems.

[Sterling silver]

I fished with a Hobie Cat for a number of years. I'm now using an inflatable because I wore a hole in the pontoons by dragging them on the beach and across the ground. The frame is somewehat flexible and Hobie says to use the boat only in still waters (lakes and ponds). The advantage was not having to inflate the darn things and you didn't need to concern yourself with them blowing up because of changes in altitude or temperature. They are relatively light weight and easily tossed around when you need to move one.

[Kiwi Phil]

Hi TRFishin. Yep, we fish for Brown and rainbow trout here. Both intoduced species about 100 years ago. WE also have CHinook Salmon in some of our South Island Rivers, the odd population of Brook trout and I believe there is a lake or two with small populations of Atlantic salmon. I pretty much stick to the Rainbow and Browns because I live in the North Island. I think our fishing is pretty good - although I've yet to fly-fish in another country so can't compare personally. The quality varies a lot as does the size of the fish. In some waters a 2 pound fish is good, in other waters 4 pound is good. Some of the back-country waters have consistently larger fish - but there aren't as many of them (1 per pool) and access can be hard. My best ever landed fish so far is an 11 pound Brown male from the Tongariro River in Taupo. Took half an hour to land! Our lakes generally carry good populations of good fish. What you read in the brochures about fishing here is generally true,but for the average guy who just wants to go for an afternoons fishing within an hour of home, the options usually don't include "trophy" waters, unless you live in one of the known fishing areas such as Taupo or the South Island Lakes (eg Queenstown, Wanaka). Very few people fish from pontoons here - so buying a pontoon for me is a real mission. Have to ship it from the US and that's expensive!

The attached photo is of me in a Taupo river we call the TT. Real nice small river that in the Autumn just goes off!! Didn't this day tho LOL!
Best of luck.

[trfishin]

hey speyfisher and sterling silver thanks for the info on the hobie cat that info will be usefull in purchasing a new pontoon boat.
Hey Kiwi Phil thanks for the info. on your home town and area fishing it's always interesting to see what other people and places have to fish for. That's a huge brown for anywhere these days. My biggest is 26 1/2" 7 1/2 pound brown. the water in the picture that you attached was some good looking water. good luck and tight lines.