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Ok, I'm really itching to get out fishing this year! Before I go, though, I have the bug to accessorize! While I'm waiting to find more information on working on my outboard, I would also like to hear any input any of you have on pontoons. I recently bought a Bucks Bag Southfork that looks like it had only been used a couple of times. It came with a motor, battery, and everything, though I'm not sure that extra weight is worth hauling out there, though I will be bait and lure fishing.
So what other things should I look at adding to this? A pole holder of some kind would be nice, and some kind of anchor. The one thing I would love to have is a fishfinder that can be used on something like this. However, I REALLY don't like the Fishin' Buddy ones. The resolution, etc, just doesn't seem to be great at all.
Any thoughts?
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You need to head to the Float tubing board, for sure! You can get there with this link:
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?forum=81"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?forum=81[/url];
TubeDude will get you straightened out real quick. He helped me design and build a 2-pole rod holder using PVC pipe. You can also do single rod holders, and 3 or 4-rod holders. Check it out.
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Hey addicted!!!
I have a tube with a rod holder, they run about 25 bucks for the one that will handle my spinning, baitcasting and fly rod, all three in one. there is also a small portable finder, not a buddy, is made by hawkeye it has a kneck lanyard and runs about 80bucks but more like 100 if you want the one with temp its in cabelas with the rest of the finders....I want to say its a norcross marine product, hawkeye and there are 2 models...the Xp3300 and the Xp3000 or something like that. I want one, It looks cool you can use it on the ice and everything.
as far as anchors go....just take a mesh sack with a rope tied to it and get ya a few good rocks on the shoreline and bag em and toss em...you can tailor that size for the wind too...and when you are done you can release the rocks back to the wild so they can spawn the next generation of anchors....and oh yeah they are free!!! then you dont have to deal with the weight of a 10pound anchor as well as all the other crap you have on the tube/toon.
Just a few suggestions, but I would go over to the float tube board and get ya some info then you can decide....I even posted the question of the 7.5 horse motor on the back of my tube before YOU found me such a great boat....it is cleaning up real nice. and I am in the process of brainstorming up a fix for that bow.
Laters,
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Thanks.
The rod holder and the fishfinder are the two things I would like the most. I think the rod holder would be fairly easy, especially with the metal frame on this pontoon. I think I could just use any made to mount on the rail of a boat. Come to think of it, I may have one of those kicking around somewhere that I have never bothered to put on my regular boat.
As for the fishfinder, I think I'm stuck a bit here. Most of the ones made to handle getting wet, or made small enough to use on something like this have really poor resolution and just aren't that good.
I have an Eagle fishfinder that I mounted in a small tackle box with a small lead-acid battery. I use that one on both my boat and for ice fishing. I just bought a second transducer to use with ice fishing. With it mounted this way, I can move it around the boat so I can see it no matter where I'm fishing. I like this a lot better than the dash mounted ones. Also, I can take it in the house when I'm done so it doesn't get stolen from the boat. Just wish I could somehow mount this one on the pontoon, too!
I got thinking, and the one time I used a regular float tube, we just took gallon milk jugs and filled them with dirt for anchors. It worked great. But we were just up at Payson lakes then. I don't know that this would do much good at all out on Strawberry and with a higher profile setup like the pontoon, where the wind has a bigger effect. I like the rock idea, especially if I can rig up a way to dump the rocks instead of pulling them up when it's time to move out.
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