Jon Boat vs. Plastic 2 Man Bass Boat for Small lakes and ponds

Started by Gunpilot, January 25, 2005, 09:24:19 PM

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Gunpilot

I was wondering which  is a better boat.  My friend had and Jon boat that worked great but he moved away.  I am currently looking a all types of boats under 16 ft and am looking to spend less than $1000.  I have found a Texas made 14ft Jon boat for $695 with a trailer but no live well.  Is this a good deal?  Has anyone fished in the plastic two man boats and how well do they work?
Still trying to figure it all out!!!!!!!!!
John

Mike Cork

First off I love your avatar ~c~

I guess it would depend on a couple things. First you seemed concerned about a livewell. That is easily fixed with an old cooler and a areator pump. The two main plastic rig, probably doesn't have a livewell or the room for a cooler.

If you are going to be fishing with a partner most of the time, you will surely appreciate the room a john boat will give you. 14ft Jon boat for $695 with a trailer, man you will have to see what others have to say but this sounds like a great deal to me. I would jump on it.

The johnboat will be much more comfortable, but if you are going to be fishing by yourself a lot then the plastic rig might be easier to man handle. I say go with the john boat. There is a web site in our links directory that will tell you how to turn it into a first class rig with just a minimal amount of $$$. The site is called Hydrilla Gorilla.

I am betting Rowdy (our resident boat speciallist) will have a couple good ideas here as well, he will be by in the morning. Usually he gets to swing by everyday but he can get tied up fixing boats too.

Fishing is more than just a hobby

Dobyns Rods - Monster Fishing Tackle
Cork's Reel Service

Steve_W

I own a john boat and I love it ( wish it was a alumaweld)
i have fished in a plastic thing and would not call  it a boat but a accident waiting to happen, just not stable at all
I used to have a 12, that I used in small ponds and lakes. I just slid it in and out of the back of my truck, that works better than a trailer, as most ponds dont have a boat ramps and a 12 is easy to handel by yourself

Rowdy

Yeap, the age old problem of how to go fishing from a boat and on a tight budget. I know this all to well, seems to me since about the 98-99 year models, I have seen the price of boats getting way out of line. Maybe its just me and my budget LOL...

I have fished from some of both the Jons and the plastic versions, advantages in both these rigs. What one has to do here is figure out which works best for the water you plan to fish and how your budget will allow for this all. I have always seen either of these or others in the small boat setups are best with a trailer. The trailer makes a big difference to me anyway.

Another rig that I just love the concept of and all is the :
http://www.watermoccasin.net/products.htm

These little rigs are really cool for the size and features some of them have. Price again gets in the way for me on these though so far. Hope you can find something like what you need and looking for. Be sure to let us know what you figure out and get.

Way2slow

If fishing areas that have stumps, I prefer the heavy guage tin cans.  They are lighter than a glass boat that has strong enough bottom to slide over them.  Twice I've had to get to the bank in a hurry after having a stup poke a hole in a glass boat.

Mike Cork

Very good point Way2slow , this is something to take into consideration. What type of damage could you possibly end up dealing with. Thanks for your thoughts on this ~c~

Fishing is more than just a hobby

Dobyns Rods - Monster Fishing Tackle
Cork's Reel Service

Sears

I have had both and I liked both.  It just depends on your application. The best small boat that I have ever fished out of was a 12' flat bottom, 'V' front jon boat.  If you put the trolling motor battery in the front of the boat, it would level out so that you would deflect off of stumps rather than ride up on them.  I never, and I do mean never, got on a stump in this boat.  I just bounced off of them.  There was a time or two where I hit a stump square on the point and came to a dead stop, but I never rode up on one and had to work myself off.

The plastic boat that I currently have is a coleman crawdad.  I have no major complaints.  It has done me well and is very easy to carry or drag if you want to get it in a pond that you can't drive right up to.  It doesn't take any effort to load or unload it by yourself either.  It is a little small but that is what you need the boat for anyway, right.

Mike Cork


Fishing is more than just a hobby

Dobyns Rods - Monster Fishing Tackle
Cork's Reel Service

mitchell

I would agree with Sears on the V-hull! I had a Semi-V hull 12 starcraft that my grandpa gave me and fished in it for 5 years. I had a trailer with it and used it in small ponds,rivers, lakes, and even the Pamlico sound in NC. The good things about it was you could add things like fishfinders, lights, rod holders, etc... So if you fish ponds only it might not matter that much but if you would like to go away to a bigger body of water you could. I had a Johnson 25 hp on the back for most of my trips but could take it off and fish back wood ponds too. You can buy a setup like this from Bass Pro. also consider the little 2 man bass buggys they got. Never fished one but they fit in your price range. Hope this helps.

Mitch
Take a kid fishing, the smiles are priceless!!!

http://www.carolinabaits.com

Dean

Quote from: TimTool on January 25, 2005, 10:05:20 PM
I own a john boat and I love it ( wish it was a alumaweld)
i have fished in a plastic thing and would not call  it a boat but a accident waiting to happen, just not stable at all
I used to have a 12, that I used in small ponds and lakes. I just slid it in and out of the back of my truck, that works better than a trailer, as most ponds dont have a boat ramps and a 12 is easy to handel by yourself

Wow, not a problem I have with my little pond prowler from Bass Pro Shops.  It is designed with kind of a 2 sided hull and is stable enough to fish standig up.  Not a practice I would encourage in any jon boat of similar size.  I know there are some poor example of design in plastic boats, but some are indeed very stable, and well thought out.  Our base bass club fishes several small (10 foot) aluminum boats and a couple of us have newer plastic boats.  the plastic boats we use are actually much more stable.

As for stability, I fished out of a semi-v most of my youth and never felt stable enough to fish in the bow standing up like I do in my pond boat now?  

having owned a water moccasin piroque while stationed in Louisiana, they are the absolute best small craft I can imagine fishing in.  I didn't stand in one, but you sit comfortably and use a foot pedal trolling motor.  Very nice

Mike Cork

water moccasin piroque, I had never seen one of these until I moved here to Louisiana, they are perfect for most of the waters around here. I know a few folks that tie them to the back of their big rigs and take them out into the cypress fields and then get in them for the easy of moving around the trees :-*

Fishing is more than just a hobby

Dobyns Rods - Monster Fishing Tackle
Cork's Reel Service

Fishaholic

Speaking from part experience and part observation...

Experience
I've owned a 12' semi-V boat and it was fantastic as a pond hopper...I'd taken it out on major rivers with only a trolling motor to propel it, out on sizeable lakes and had no problems enduring the wakes from ski boats, dropped it in small ponds and backwater areas that had next to no water in em...on river systems they slide over logs easily allowing access to the furthest reaches of hard-to-get-at spots.

Observation
On a windswept lake I watched a guy in one of those plastic boats struggle for an eternity...it was so light that he couldn't control his drift and when he changed locations, unless he was heading straight into the wind or had it at his back he had problems navigating where he wanted to be...they do look cute, and they're light enough for one to handle easily, but to me it's a case of the pros against the cons.


Dean

I hear you on that point, but I've learned to use a drift sock out here in California and it makes even fishing out of a bigger boat a lot more pleasant.  The little boat does quite well even in little canyon ponds that get pretty windy, but must admit to fighting the wind a lot before getting the drift sock.