Which New Boat

[coresuper]

I sold my pontoon and looking for a new boat. I fish a lot on the Ohio River. Also go up the tributaries. Don’t do much bass fishing, mostly pan and catfish. Not sure if I should look for a deep v or a mod v.

 

[cptbill]

Depends on the depth of the water you like to fish and what else you plan to do with it, I would think that "toons" would work fine for the rivers but it's what you like not what I think

 

[ahicks]

Pontoons are great fishing platforms, but they're slow when getting from point A to point B when talking places like a big river. You get sick of 1 hour travel times.

Deep V is going to handle chop better that a modified V, but the modified V is more stable at rest. Name your poison!

Spoiled likely, but it would be about how much beam here. The more the better - until you start running into trailerable limits anyway. This old man loves to have a steady boat under him when moving around. Too many years on a pontoon boat maybe. Gettin old more likely.... -Al

 

[lvluck]

Deep V is fast boat for tracking some precious or expensive fish in lakes and offshore waters, but if you are just fishing for bass and catfish in river, a stable MOD V will be better

 

[southkogs]

The Ohio gets pretty big at some points. Many of the places that I'm familiar with, I would probably prefer the deeper V. That's true on the Tennessee as well. Some of the smaller areas I don't think it would matter as much, but on the overall I think I'd lean toward the deeper V.

I don't think the mod V is dangerous on the bigger portions of the river, just "not-as-good" as a way to say it.

 

[Lowlysubaruguy]

have you been in any boats that fit your needs and the water you plan to be on. And then whats your budget. I would look at deep or semi V boats flat bottom boats have a purpose but they are rough riding Along with a dozen other cons in my book. For me the only reason I would consider a flat bottom boat would be if I fished very shallow water.

Aluminum v fiberglass is another thing you need to answer I am assuming since you mentioned a modified or semi V that you are thinking aluminum? My neighbor has a G3 Guide 16 foot boat that is very wide. Not near enough boat for me but ive been in it in some seriously rough water I’d assume anything in there bigger boats would serve as a great boat for larger rivers. I’m on the Columbia in its roughest area. So my view of the G3 boats is pretty solid. From there the welded aluminum boats are your next best option but the price goes up Quite a bit. Things to know about aluminum boats hull thickness and where and what type of wood is used in them if there is a lot of wood and they wont tell you what kind etc you might not like it 10 years from now when everything made or supported by wood starts falling apart. When your price shopping make sure your comparing apples to apples.