Thread: Jon boat?

I used to have a 12'32" jon that I sold and bought a sot kayak, fished out of it for a year and bought a 12' Oldtown discovery 119. Its a one man canoe under 50lbs and with some practice you can stand and fish out of it. Within a month I was able to stand comfortable and now hate sitting in the thing.

Love my jon! There's nothing quite like slipping up a narrow creek and sculling silently down the banks!

Mine is 14' "Lightweight" Alumacraft with 9.8 merc and 30# minnkota. Boat and motor weigh less than 200#'s together. This boat floats in inches of water and will run on plane in about 1.5'. It's lightweight makes it quite easy to portage, especially with the outboard off. It beat's the heck out of fishing in a canoe. I run all types of water in this boat, and have fished 3 people out of it "somewhat" comfortably, and I can park it in the middle of a crappie bush if I want. The small size and light weight make it an invaluable tool to access otherwise unaccessable waters. I also have a 16' Xpress and a 19' Triton, but the Lil Jon goes places they cannot.

Well I have to say, you have not been in a hobie, peddle power and it is like pushing air no resistance to speak of. Wind, current not an issue, I can go against it all in full control effortlessly. Now comfort, well the new seats are real nice nothing uncomfortable at all, I did add a pad to the bottom AAAhhh I am a heavy guy.

A jon boat is a pain if it has a bench, the crappie jons are much better, they let you fish off the side and you have a place for your feet. One thing I did not hear mentioned is ramp time, I launch off the shore, at 3:00 on a bass turney day it can take 30+ minuets in line to pull your boat out, not the kayak, I am on shore and loaded and gone. I can go back into cypress swamps where kayaks do not fit, I can also cross skinny where jons cannot get through. I do have 2 Jon boats and they sure have there purpose but so do the kayaks.

Oh and lakes without a ramp? I can drop a kayak off the shore.

Originally Posted by Flatwater

Well I have to say, you have not been in a hobie, peddle power and it is like pushing air no resistance to speak of. Wind, current not an issue, I can go against it all in full control effortlessly.

I can do that too. At about 15-20 mph depending on how many people I take.

I'm just a simple flat bottom flat back canoe fisherman. No motor no sonar. Just me in a canoe and my intuition. :D

I have both a flat bottomed jon (16'X48") and a 12' Kayak. Different boats for different situations. I can go places in my kayak that my jon will not go. I also use a float-tube on some conservation land ponds with no boat access.

As for the Hobie, I found it useless. Where I fish usually has surface weeds and the peddle drive will not work in the weeds. I had to "park" the flippers up against the bottom and use my paddle. I ended up carrying the weight of the peddle drive and was seldom able to use it. The few times I had open water it was OK to troll a spinner behind the boat, but that was rare.

A boat is a tool, and different situations require different tools.

I dont have a regular boat, so I make due with my yak. I like my mirage drive for getting to a destination, trolling, and so on. Then I'll stow it and paddle when I need to. I like the versatility my yak gives me, but there are times when I wish I had a regular boat (going out with company).

Portability is important to me. I know my car roof will handle a light weight plastic boat, I dont know about a metal boat. It might be too much weight.

Originally Posted by kb2112

I dont know about a metal boat. It might be too much weight.

My little 14' hull weighs 130#, which is considerably more than a yak, but not as heavy as i would have guessed.