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Tom

Tom

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Jan 13, 2005
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Thanks Betty. I usually only float fish a lake, which is why I asked the question. Foat Float fishing a lake is a blast and here are a few links taken at Twin Lakes, Mammoth:

Ready to launch.

Tom relaxed and floating.

Me again.

Twin lakes.

BTW I went upside down on my tube recently, trying to launch from the boat. I hadn't used the float tube in a while and I soon found myself face down in the water. Of course, I was wearing a PFD (personal floatation device), one of several that I own, one of which is disguised as a fly fishing vest.

We have several manual and automatic life vests. As Chris says "if you're unconscious in the water, you can't pull the tab to deploy the manual vest". She's dead right.

Edit: Fixed typo.
 
Tom said:
Thanks Betty. I usually only float fish a lake,
Click to expand...

Tom,

Here are pictures of  the maiden voyage of Terry when he first got his float tube.  He gave me one for Christmas which I quickly exchanged for something that kept me dry. He is with Tom B. and George V.  As I recall Crappie was the fish they were hoping to  catch but I don't recall eating any.  :)  It was fun to watch the guys getting into their gear.

Betty
 

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Betty,

Chris' Dad was wetting his pants watching me launch the float tube with my waders and flippers on. It was the funniest thing he'd ever seen.

I added a few comments to my prior message.
 
Does Terry have a GPS and chartplotter on his float tube? How about a cup holder with gimbal?
 
Tom said:
Does Terry have a GPS and chartplotter on his float tube? How about a cup holder with gimbal?
Click to expand...

Terry does have an old GPS on our little 14 foot aluminum Gregor  fishing boat along with a fish finder.  We have no cup holders on that boat but we do have pole holders, does that count?
Betty
 
I have GPS and fishfinders (2) on the bass boat in addition to GPS, VHF and depthsounder on the dinghy. But I was hoping that Terry could tell us how he attached a GPS to his float tube; Hopefully not with screws  ;D
 
Well as you know I do not have GPS or fish finders on my 14 ft fishing boat.  Guess on might say I'm still down to basics and just catch fish without all the electronics. ;D ;D ;D
 
Not entirely true Ron. You do have a remote controlled trolling motor that you can operate from anywhere in the boat.
 
Tom said:
Not entirely true Ron. You do have a remote controlled trolling motor that you can operate from anywhere in the boat.
Click to expand...

Whoops forgot about that.  That ellectric trolling motor sure improved the gas mileage on that boat. ;D
 
Ron said:
I do not have GPS or fish finders on my 14 ft fishing boat.
Click to expand...
GPS is nice if you are fishing a largish lake and want to make sure you can find the landing area again and especially if it gets dark before you can head in.
"Fish finder" makes more sense if you read it as feature finder and unless you know a lake really well, is a gadget that really helps locating places that make sense to try for your fish.

Neither one is really needed on your home lake but for traveling to new lakes or if fishing a new section of a large one, they really make the whole experience more fun - at least they do for me.
 
Newt,

We live on the California Delta, comprised of numerous sloughs and rivers that make up 1200 miles of waterways. Since the sloughs are bounded by levies, it's tough to see where you are in a small boat. I can still get lost after almost 25 years of navigating these waters, from Sacramento to San Francisco Bay. In fact, just this morning, in the bass boat, I ventured into some sloughs I'd never been in before and told myself "I'm sure glad I have the GPS chartplotter so I know where I am and can see where I'm headed".

Even with the big boat and a fly bridge (which allows us to see over the levies) we sometimes get to places I'm unfamiliar with. This coming weekend we'll be in one such location and I'll be using the GPS chartplotter to get there. Of course, I always have paper charts as backup.

OTOH my wife is at the helm of the big boat 95% of the time and I'll sometimes ask "why are you turning here?" The reply will usually be something like "Because I recognize that tree over there." Knowing there's a million trees that look like "that tree", I sit there and scratch my head.

As for returning to port after dark or even in fog, I prefer not to travel. But, if I have to, there's no substitute for radar. Unfortunately, radar has its limitations, a subject for another discussion.
 
Tom - that area is similar to parts of LA below New Orleans.  Very comforting to have GPS and I'd hate to do without it.  Years ago when I was stationed in that area, we had a couple of hotshot pilots decide they could navigate a fishing boat just fine using the wrong type of charts and a compass.

We had to use a helo to go and find them after they went overdue and spent the night fighting bugs.

Even the impoundment lakes can be a chore and especially if you are trying to find some smallish feature on an unfamiliar lake.

My boat is way too small for radar so while I'll happily navigate a familiar lake at night, new lakes will be daylight only unless something goes wrong.
 
Great story Newt. I'd hate to have been stuck in bug-infested waters overnight. Any kind of bug just eats me alive.

... I'll happily navigate a familiar lake at night ...
Click to expand...

We've done that more times than I care to admit. But, on one dark trip back to the launch ramp, I heard a hard bump and the boat came to a halt; It wiped out the skeg on the outboard and a prop. However, I do realize that this can also happen in daylight, and it's happened to us in daylight numerous times, but I prefer not to be adrift in the dark. Drop an anchor you say? We don't carry enough rode on any of our boats to drop anchor off Monterey Bay; It's 6,000 feet, plus or minus a few thousand, to the bottom.

My boat is way too small for radar
Click to expand...

Highly unlikely since radar can be installed on almost any boat, including a dinghy. You just need somewhere (like a radar arch) to mount the array or radome  ;D

Now there's a thought - install radar on the dinghy and give Terry a challenge.
 
Robert, no radar arch on the float tube, but we may mock one up to give Terry another challenge  ;D
 
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