A pontoon boat’s dimensions and comfortable features make it a standard family utility craft, since it can be used for a range of recreational activities. Mom and Dad can cruise around the lake sightseeing while the teenagers sunbathe on the open deck. The boat’s engine also has the power to pull skiers and tubes, and when anchored in a quiet cove, the boat is a great swim platform.

This multipurpose boat also serves as a great fishing rig that gives the family a chance to wet a line together. Some manufacturers factory-rig pontoons for fishing. The standard pontoon can be converted into a viable fishing rig—especially for openwater applications such as trolling, drifting, or vertical-jigging for a variety of species—with a few modifications to the craft.

In some cases, the boat has become an ideal vessel for fishing guides to take out numbers of novice anglers. “Most of the people I take out don’t go fishing often and don’t have sea legs. A pontoon is a really stable boat for them,” says Fort Gibson Lake Guide Michael Thompson, who guides clients on his 24-foot pontoon. ”They can move around better, and most people feel a lot more comfortable.”

Thompson relies on his pontoon for pursuing white bass and crappies. “Once you get it rigged for fishing, you can be as successful in it as in most other boats,” he says. “My boat is really just a basic pontoon with a few accessories that have been strategically placed to make fishing more comfortable.”

Essential Equipment

A trolling motor like the MotorGuide Wireless Series is an essential piece of equipment for Thompson’s pontoon fishing rig. “The trolling motor is the key thing that allows me to stay on top of the fish or at least in close proximity to them,” he says.

He mounts his in the center of the boat’s stern, which is the best position for boat control. The motor is a 24-volt 75-pound thrust model with a 60-inch shaft. “It works all day long and has more than enough power to pull this boat,” he says. “The reason I use that [shaft] length is because I can raise the motorhead above the level of the pontoon deck and side rails, which allows me to see which direction the head is facing when I run the motor.”

The remote-control features of the electric motor come in handy for Thompson when he has to help his clients bait lines or unhook fish. “I don’t have to be married to that trolling motor,” he says. It also allows his clients to stand on the front deck so they can present their lures straight down into brushpiles or over drops, while Thompson stays behind them to simultaneously coach his customers and run the motor.

Keeping an anchor on board helps him position the boat when he finds a sweet spot. He prefers a Navy anchor, which works best for the sand and mud bottom of Fort Gibson, and recommends that pontoon boat anglers choose an anchor based on the bottom composition of the waters they fish.

Alabama guide Brad Whitehead also has converted a 22-foot deck boat and a 24-foot pontoon into fishing rigs for his clients. One of the key features he installed on the deck boat was a Minn Kota Terrova remote-control trolling motor, which has a 60-inch shaft for keeping the motor’s prop deeper in the water to give it more bite. The trolling motor’s mount also has two release pins that allow the owner to quickly convert the boat’s bow back to a swim deck.

Depthfinders also are essential to converting any pontoon boat into a fishing rig. For their conversion rigs, Thompson and Whitehead both mount electronics on their consoles and front decks. Thompson’s trolling motor is equipped with a built-in transducer compatible with his bow-mounted Lowrance sonar unit; the transducer for his console-mounted Pinpoint unit is attached to a mounting plate on the boat’s stern. “My sonar allows me to see where the drops are,” Thompson says. “A lot of times the fish get right on the drop or on the brushpile, and the sonar gives me a chance to find that depth change and stay on the fish.”

Other Accessories

Thompson rigs his pontoon with a variety of rod racks (both store-bought models and homemade PVC versions) to give his clients more space in the boat. “I don’t like having any rods lying on the floor, which can be a tripping hazard,” he says.

While Thompson has a factory-installed livewell, most standard pontoons usually don’t provide them. Whitehead suggests anglers can make their own portable livewells by equipping a 48- or 52-quart cooler with a portable aerator. A 55-gallon drum with a 500 GPH aerator that he uses as a bait holder for live shad can also serve as a spacious livewell for pontoon rigs.

If the boat has an open front deck, chairs can be mounted to the floor to create a comfortable fishing platform. Whitehead installs a couple of ­stainless-steel pedestal seats with offset extension posts to the front of his client’s pontoon. “That [offset] pushes you back about 4 inches so you’re not sitting right on the edge of the boat,” he adds.

Since the pontoon he rigged belonged to a couple who fished mostly for crappies, Whitehead set it up with rod holders for spider-rigging and pulling crankbaits. He mounted two Hi-Tek Stuff rod holders on the front deck and attached two Driftmaster rail-mounted rod holders on each front side of the boat. Then he placed two more off the stern.

“On some pontoons there’s a 3- or 4-foot back deck, so I put a set of rod holders on each side. It works out perfectly, especially for pulling crankbaits,” he says. “That allows eight more rods to go straight out the back.” With this setup, the pontoon angler can use 10- and 12-foot crappie poles out the front and sides and 6-foot poles out the back end.

Since his company specializes in rod holders for crappie fishing, David Baynard, vice president of Driftmaster, frequently gets calls from anglers who want to set up their pontoons for spider-rigging. “Generally for tightlining there needs to be a lot of spread, and that’s why crappie poles have gotten so long,” he says. “That’s one thing a pontoon boat gives you: Coverage without having to use a pole that's so long you can’t handle it.”

Baynard suggests that customers wanting to set up their boats for ­spider-rigging position their rods to allow for comfortable fishing. “All boats are so different that you have to customize your fishing platform based on where you’re going to be fishing the most,” he says. “It’s important to have the rod within quick reach during a strike.

“I tell people to get in their seat with a tape measure and put a rod in the best position it can be for them to access their trolling motor, and at the same time get in and out of their seat and hook a fish during a strike.” So pontoon owners should mount their rod holders in the most accessible front deck locations, based on height and distance measurements taken from their fishing seat.

“Generally pontoon fishermen put rod holders everywhere,” he says. “If a boat doesn’t have seats up front, then they can position them around the circumference of the boat and just fish from the side seats.” A flat rail bolt-on base such as the Driftmaster Li’l Pro 211-B, or a square rail-clamp base model like the Driftmaster Li’l Pro 216-B, are Baynard’s choices for mounting rod holders to the railings.

Two-position or horizontal rod holders are best on railings. “Generally in crappie fishing you want your rod tips low to the water, so a horizontal rod holder works fine,” he says.

With a tweak here and there, your family pontoon boat can be converted into a reliable fishing craft—and with so many easy-to-remove fishing accessories available today, it can be changed back for other family fun in a couple of minutes.

John Neporadny’s work is often seen on the pages of ­In-Fisherman’s various annual Guides and in In-Fisherman magazine. He works from his home in Lake Ozark, MO.