Questions about a family boat

[Nsghunter]

Hello all,
I am the happy owner of a nice , but little, 1985 16' aluminum Lowe bass Catcher. I would like to upgrade to a new/bigger boat and am looking for some input. My son is interested in bass tournament fishing and we fish out of a local club as co-anglers. He would like a nice glass bass boat but I am not interested in fiberglass. I am not entirely opposed to an aluminum bass boat but now my wife has chimed in... LOL

With a large family she would like it if we could some type of bigger boat that we could take the family out. I like this idea too honestly but I have some questions. Here is where you guys come in. She contributes to the family so much I would like her to have a say so in the matter.

Our fishing style is more casual, I like to sport fish, crappie, stripped bass, night fish with lights, troll for walleye, and panfish ect. He wants to buy into bass fishing hard but I am not as excited as h is but h is happy with whatever fishing we do.

I would like a boat we could fish three people out of occasionally and still have room on the boat for others. I would also like a boat that I could take five/six people out on and have a fun day with the kids/grandkids.

Does anyone here bass fish from a deep v like the Targa v-19 series (https://www.trackerboats.com/deep-v/targa-v-19-wt.html) from tracker? is it considerably more difficult than out of a bass boat?

OR

bass fish from a fish and ski type boat.

I am not opposed to a pontoon but it seems they are a little more difficult to load/unload, travel the water on and maybe fish out of.

the other idea is to keep outfitting my "little" boat and fish out of it and then get a cheaper pontoon.

I wont be tournament fishing from the new boat.

 

[Urban_Hunter]

Need to prioritize the boats use. If you're going to tournament fish, you really need a bass boat whether it's aluminum or glass.

If you're pleasure boating a fish-n-ski will be ideal, but you won't see any of them in the tournaments. The layout isn't conducive to competition fishing. It can be done but is a significant disadvantage. Tournament fishing nearly ruined fishing altogether for me but I had to dive in to figure that out for myself.

FWIW, I've owned a ton of boats and I can honestly have about any boat I want. I even have an Allison xb-02 for playing… but my Xpress x19 is what you'll find us out on. Best boat ever made imo. Granted, I deer and turkey hunt, crappie fish, and camp out of it

 

[ScLowCountry]

Fishing 3 and having others is going to need a big boat. And trying family fun and tournament bass fish isn't going to be easy out the same boat.

You might could get it done in a 24 foot Xpress bay boat. They are aluminum

 

[Nsghunter]

Need to prioritize the boats use. If you're going to tournament fish, you really need a bass boat whether it's aluminum or glass.

If you're pleasure boating a fish-n-ski will be ideal, but you won't see any of them in the tournaments. The layout isn't conducive to competition fishing. It can be done but is a significant disadvantage. Tournament fishing nearly ruined fishing altogether for me but I had to dive in to figure that out for myself.

FWIW, I've owned a ton of boats and I can honestly have about any boat I want. I even have an Allison xb-02 for playing… but my Xpress x19 is what you'll find us out on. Best boat ever made imo. Granted, I deer and turkey hunt, crappie fish, and camp out of it

to clarify, im not looking for a bass tournament boat, we are co-anglers not boaters when we tournament fish.

 

[Nsghunter]

Fishing 3 and having others is going to need a big boat. And trying family fun and tournament bass fish isn't going to be easy out the same boat.

You might could get it done in a 24 foot Xpress bay boat. They are aluminum

I am changing the original post, I won't be tournament fishing out of the boat.

 

[KyRick]

A fish n ski would be ideal, but it is glass. The deep V walk thru windshield aluminums will work well too.

 

[TN Larry]

I would personally be looking for two boats based on the above.

You can fish 3 no problem out of an 18 or 19 foot aluminum but not sure the fun factor if you had 5 or 6 people out pleasure boating.

For the pleasure part, it sounds like a 20 to 24 foot pontoon is what you need.

If you are satisfied with your current fishing boat, you could spend a little bit on it to upgrade like electronics or trolling motor and buy a pontoon boat.

Either way, I'd buy one with a four stroke motor.

 

[fairchaser]

To try and get one boat that can do it all will result in a boat that has drawbacks for anything specific. Fish and ski boats are rough riding and space limiting compared with a pontoon boat. My son has a V hull walkthru alumacraft 20 ft with an enclosed cabin. Great for family and friends. He can catfish, pull bandits for crappie and bass fish from it. It's the best all around boat imo. But it is expensive, heavy to pull and requires a big motor ( 250 hp).

 

[ADR]

I have a friend that has a Sea Ark "easy" model boat. It's aluminum, has lots of room and it's kind of a mix of fishing and relaxing although he only fishes out of it. They also make a larger sized "big easy" if more room is needed. It checks a lot of your boxes.

 

[Laserman1]

Fish and ski sounds good but not. It's ok to fish on, and ok for family. The problem is when you put 4 people in it, ( or one child also has to bring a friend and now there are 5) a cooler, tube or skis, then there is no room to move around. The cushion seats in front of windshield are worthless. Not comfortable to ride in unless you're a small kid and will still get bounced around.
Fishing you have to walk in between the windshield constantly from front to middle, they are heavy, and with a high bow, trolling motor constantly comes out of the water with decent waves.

 

[swampbadger]

I would personally be looking for two boats based on the above.

You can fish 3 no problem out of an 18 or 19 foot aluminum but not sure the fun factor if you had 5 or 6 people out pleasure boating.

For the pleasure part, it sounds like a 20 to 24 foot pontoon is what you need.

If you are satisfied with your current fishing boat, you could spend a little bit on it to upgrade like electronics or trolling motor and buy a pontoon boat.

Either way, I'd buy one with a four stroke motor.

X2! my sentiments exactly.

I think I'd keep the fishing boat you currently have and pick up a family pontoon that your wife likes.

 

[Bwales95]

I sold the coolest 14/48 jon boat a man could ask for last year and bought an 18 foot Bennington pontoon boat for the family. Turns out, the wife and two daughters could care less about fishing, but they look forward to lake days every weekend (we took it out this past Sunday). I LOVE the pontoon, but I made a massive mistake by selling the jon…

The best option is two boats imo.

 

[Urban_Hunter]

I sold the coolest 14/48 jon boat a man could ask for last year and bought an 18 foot Bennington pontoon boat for the family. Turns out, the wife and two daughters could care less about fishing, but they look forward to lake days every weekend (we took it out this past Sunday). I LOVE the pontoon, but I made a massive mistake by selling the jon…

The best option is two boats imo.

That Jon boat was owned by 3 Billy's in a row. What's cooler than that?!

 

[RobbyW]

I would go two boats or a deck boat. The wide deck is nice. Something like this

https://www.boattrader.com/boat/2000-lowe-tahiti-224-9961987/

 

[Forvols]

On family boating days how many people will be on the boat? We have a 22or24ft pontoon with fishing seats up front, foot control trolling motor 2 depth finders and live well. Summer family days we have from 6-10 people on the boat and tow tubes fairly good. Fishing days its 2-6 (trolling, drifting, casting to the bank, anchored etc for fishing. Working the bank is hardest due to wind and boat control, but we catch bass). I would really like a 16ft aluminum boat too, but so far the pontoon worked or we have made it work. We have a 75hp motor on the pontoon. I wish that when we bought it in 2012 that I had gotten a 100-130hp motor. Really depends on the # of people you will be taking out and how often. Pleasure vs fishing there will be tradeoffs trying to use 1 boat for both, its manageable.

 

[medwc]

I would personally be looking for two boats based on the above.

You can fish 3 no problem out of an 18 or 19 foot aluminum but not sure the fun factor if you had 5 or 6 people out pleasure boating.

For the pleasure part, it sounds like a 20 to 24 foot pontoon is what you need.

If you are satisfied with your current fishing boat, you could spend a little bit on it to upgrade like electronics or trolling motor and buy a pontoon boat.

Either way, I'd buy one with a four stroke motor.

What he said.

 

[megalomaniac]

I don't think there is a 'do it all' boat that can do it all well.

We had a fish and ski 30y ago. Decent compromise, but heavy, drafts more. We had 6 on it multiple times. A bit crowded with that many, but doable.

Like others said, I'd keep your current 16ft aluminum boat, maybe upgrade decks, electronics, livewell, etc and use it for fishing exclusively. Get a 2nd larger boat for the family ( IF you are going to go out on the water at least 10x per year. If just once or twice, it's not worth having)

 

[Bullfrog]

Already mentioned above...the Sea Ark Big Easy will check your boxes. They aren't cheap though.

 

[mike243]

Most comfortable boat I have had is my 18' pontoon, easy to pull and put in and take out, wind can be a pain but worth it. I took all the seats out of mine as they were not set up for fishing, I have a electric trolling motor on it and its a lot of fun, also have a down rigger but nobody I run with can operate boat or downrigger, haven't had it out in 2 years, need to change that.