Fishing Forum

Along with my new tube I bought some new flippers. One pair are diving flippers, I snorkel so they will get used no matter what, and the others are for tubes and fit over the shoes. In the past I have used the goofy looking old side flippers and actually like them pretty well. They move you forward and they move you slowly and silently. Since most of my toobing in the past has been in small lakes of 2 to 17 acres the speed was not a problem. I plan on expanding my range though and the flippers are better for propulsion. My question is how the heck do you fish going backwards. I have tried cheepo flippers in the past and they were frustrating as hell. Every time I got a bight I found myself backing away from where I wanted to be and had to turn my back to get back in range. The side fins are a lot nicer when you are fishing. It is like on my bass boat, the trolling motor is on front and I go forwards. I am fishing as I move along and can work a bank in my old tube much the same as I do from the boat. Is there some technique or special method that I am unaware of?? How do y’all deal with this issue? I gave paddles a try yesterday and they actually worked pretty well. I bought a pair of those plastic three piece oars and only used the blade and one section of handle. I wore my side fins and went forward to fish and backwards to travel. I may just carry both and switch types of fins from one to the other according to whether I am on the move or working and area. On my old tube, I kept a pair of little kid flippers clipped to the sides of the tube and used them for my reverse when I just wanted to back away a little. I like the ease of movement the dive fins give but the backwards thing is a pain! ?????? Is there a better way?
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[cool][#0000ff]It's the old story of what we are used to vs what we have to learn. If you are used to using a bow mount motor on your bass boat to move forward, then it is difficult to get used to fishing "backwards". However, I have been doing it for a lot of years and it works fine. You just position yourself a short distance offshore and cast back into the spots you want to fish as you go along. You will be kicking silently and will not spook any fish. Even if you cast just a few feet back to a spot you just went over the fish are usually not disturbed.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The old paddle pushers are designed for slow fishing in small ponds. They do work for that but will kill you if you try to get any speed or distance on bigger waters. For that you need big diving fins and get used to making your major moves backward and then turning to cast to the spots you want. Deal with it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One of the little tricks you will no doubt discover is letting the wind push you down the bank and fishing ahead of yourself just like you had a bass boat. If a nice gentle breeze comes up you simply kick your tube upwind of the shoreline you want to fish and then use only enough fin power to either keep yourself in a steady position or to allow you to slip-slide down the bank. That works very well when you can find the right conditions.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When a stiffer breeze comes up, I guarantee you will be happy with the power of the bigger fins. They let you position yourself upwind from your honey hole and to cast downwind with ease. Compare that with fighting an electric motor into the breeze and trying to cast a temperamental baitcaster against the wind.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You can also use a small float tube anchor to hold position. But, when the wind gets strong enough that I can't hold position with my fins, I'm outta there.[/#0000ff]
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[cool]Ditto to what Tubedude said. You have to just deal with it. Each method of fishing has its pros an cons. Otherwise there would be just one method. Fish-ing a shoreline, I kick along, pick a spot, turn toward the spot, and cast. In fact, I will often fan cast an area from that spot, then move to another a little ways down the shore. I fly-fish mostly, so casting is usually just a matter of picking it up and laying it down. Its like second nature now and it has been so long since I started that I don't even remember the awkward adjustment period. (I suspect that I was just so glad to get out on the water and off of the bank that I hardly noticed the initial awkwardness.) The stealth advantage of a tube, along with the ease of launching, maneuvering, and fishing smaller waters compared to a full boat, make the negatives insignificant to me. A tube is not a bas-s boa-t, and visa versa. But then again, I guess if you catch bas-s from it, it is a bas-s boa-t of sorts.[]

[cool]As for going backward, maybe a rear-view mirrow would help. Only half kidding about that. If I could find one that really worked, I'd probably use it. I've looked for those little mirrors that go on bike helmets but for some reason I haven't been able to locate one.

If you like the paddle pushers, then use them. Their super slow rate of moving the tube makes them undesirable for me but if they work for you, hey, go for it. Fishing is a personal thing.

Is there a better way than moving backward? Get a small pontoon boa-t. But then when the wind comes up you'll find that you'll get blown around more. Also you'll have to put down the oars and pick up your rod each time you want to cast. With a tube you can hold onto your rod and let your feet move you into position. I think that's better.

zonker
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This is cool, I will just have to get used to the differences and may indeed carry both on the tube. One problem that I had in the past was finding flippers that fit my hoof. I have Fred Flintstone feet that are about as wide as they are long. My new flippers are real comfortable though and that alone should make a big difference. The pushers don’t seem to work as well in this tube as they did with my old U boat and my legs were howling last night. In the past I did all of my tubing in small waters so slow was ok. I am going to move over into bigger waters in it though and will have to adjust to the flippers. I guess the nicest thing about tubing to me is the simplicity. I will keep my tube loaded in my fishing truck most of the spring and summer and all that there is to going fishing is jump in my truck and go. No battery charging or gas to buy and mix. No Boat to hook up and launch. I find that I fish more when I tube than if I use a boat.
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[cool][#0000ff]I have also thought of attaching a bicycle helmet mirror to my hat to check my position in "heavy traffic". There are a lot of designs available online and at well-stocked bicycle shops. [url "http://www.3rd-eye.com/"]LINK TO ONLINE SITE[/url][/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was just thinking a couple of days ago about finding a bicycle rear view mirror that attaches to handlebars. I used to have one on one of my old bikes when I was a kid. It should also attach to a piece of 1/2" PVC...and I definitely can work with that stuff.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Having a rear view mirror would save me a lot of stops and turnarounds to check my direction when heading for a specific spot or working my way back to my vehicle. It could also prevent an unexpected attack from the rear by the Loch Ness trout.[/#0000ff]
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Ya know, I have an old motorcycle rear view mirror out in the shop. I can mount it in pvc and just stick it in one of the recepticals for the rod holders when I'm on the move. This place is just a gold mine of ideas!!! Thanks!
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OK guys. Your really cooking now. What held me back from actually trying a rear view mirror was that I visited several sites online and a few Walmart like stores and couldn't find one. I'll be checking the links Tubedude provided. I think a rear view mirror could quickly become standard tubers equipment. If not on some piece of PVC tubing attached to the tube, then somehow on the headgear, which might work even better for scanning the horizon ahead of (or behind) you.

Lemme know if you come up with anything useful.

BTW, Tubedude, without a mirror I could imagine the Loch Ness trout just waiting with his mouth open and you, without the mirror, kick your way right down his gullet.

z~
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My wife has the best solution for this float tubing problem.-----She has eyes in the back of her head.
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[cool][#0000ff]That's a gender thing. Part of the standard issue for females...along with a sixth sense that tells them whenever we are in trouble, whether we know it or not.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Trouble is that very few females are able to put that "rear vision" to use in anything besides male control issues. Probably would not suit them well for float tubing.[/#0000ff]
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Man this is a new one for me. I have been tubing for a very long time and now more in a pontoon, but it seems to me they were all designed with the intention of pulling you through the water, not pushing. I can't imagine why I would want to go forward other than maybe to beach. You find a honey hole, you fish it and try to stay in one spot, or circle around the spot. I am trying to figure out what you mean by "side fins", but I know I wouldn't want to be carring several sets of fins out on the water. But that is just me.
I have fished from boats also, but I guess float tubing backwards just came natural.
Thought about a mirror before, but only on rare occasions. I figure I moving too slow to cause any damage LOL.
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Hey Flygoddess,

[cool]Good to "see" you again. You must be really busy up there guiding and catching all those trophy trout. (It must be tough. SMILE)

I was tubing the other day, not paying attention to what was behind me in a small pond and ran right up onto a big submerged fir tree stump. Leave it to me to find the only hazard in the pond and run into it. LOL. But probably not even a rear view mirror would have saved me from that one.

I think the "side fins" are the old style paddle pushers that fit onto you ankles or calves and flap outward every time you "step" forward. They do propel a tube forward. They're just dreadfully slow as I've been told.

z~
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[cool][#0000ff]Hey Goddess, good to have ya drop in. Hope you are staying busy with the guiding.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The "side fins" are probably the old Fishmaster "paddle pushers". They were designed back in the dark ages, when early tubers in the south used donuts to fish small farm ponds. They allowed slow forward movement, or actually standing up and wading in shallow water. Here's a pic.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I bought a pair a long time ago, just to try them out. I still have them, as novelties. I wore them for about 10 minutes and quickly returned to shore to take them off and put my regular fins back on. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I once loaned them to a fishing buddy who thought they were a good concept. That almost ended our friendship. I kicked circles around him as he tried to thrash his way across a cove on the lake we were fishing. By the end of a short morning he was suffering from extreme crotch cramps.[/#0000ff]
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Hi guys, Haven't been guiding for a couple of weeks, we are up in Idaho visiting family and fishing some of the less blown out rivers. Got back yesterday from an overbnighter at Henry's Lake. Got on the lake Tuesday only to get blown right back off with only a couple of good slams. Storm moved in later Tuesday. Fished the rivers and caught a bunch of bows. Went back to the lake yesterday before heading back to Idaho Falls, despite the ugly skies. Was out maybe two hours and the storm hit with a vengeance. I can handle wind if need be and rain no problem, but when that sky starts lighting up and making noise, I think it is time to take those graphite rods off the water. I hooked a very nice 27" cutt just as the wind hit hard, so landing it and fighting the wind and rain was a chore, but well worth it. Alas no pictures.
Enough of that, those flippers are the funniest thing I have ever seen. I know they have some out right now that look like triangles and the idea is to walk in the water, but I will stick to flippers.
Final note, on the fact that in a tube or a pontoon you are moving backwards, when you cast (with either bait, lure or fly) you are stripping or reeling it back toward you so backwards is a natural motion, right? The fact that you might be moving backwards shouldn't matter. And in a tube or toon it is easy enough to get back to the right spot, I worry more about getting in the right zone (depth) where the fish are holding.
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Hey Dan, if ya got Fred Flintstone feet (wide as they are long), then it sounds to me like your problem is that you are using fins!! You're feet are already fin shaped, so just use your feet!! lol[angelic][][cool][crazy]

Seriously, though, there is a tuber on the board (Polokid) who DOES just use his feet. I was tubing with him once at Jordanelle in Utah, and he was going just as fast (or faster) than me and I had my fins on and he was bare footed! He even has tubed finless AND tubeless before!

(He used to play water polo, and I guess it just comes naturally).
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Those are exactly what I'm used to TubeDude. I actually like them a lot. It took a little getting used to but I often cover the complete perimeter of a 17 acre lake twice around with them. The trick is this; you lift your leg and hesitate for just a second with each stroke. This allows the current of your movement to push your side fin out. Then you just relax your leg and let it sink and you go forward. It takes almost no effort at all. It isn't fast but I'm not in a hurry anyway. You will also get so that you twist your ankle just a bit to change direction and it takes no more attention than walking. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work near as well on the new ODC 420 as it did on my old U-Boat. You are sitting higher and my foot kept coming out of the water and splashing. Also if you reduce the length of your stroke you seem to lose a significant amount of power. I mastered the side fins though and am sure that I can adapt to the regular fins. I still may carry and swap though for the ability to slowly move in a very controlled way that doesn't require thought or effort.
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Hi Zonkers I have a toon and fishing with TD n his Wind Monsters I have learned how to hold my toon steady. Just for your info. I wear fins when tooning. I usually only use the oars in real bad weather. Or to move quickly to a new location. My 1st trip out I didn't wear any flippers and you are absolutely right! You are rowing or maintaing your position with the oars in your hand the whole time. Made fishing that day not so fun. My next the filippers went on, I can't kick it as fast as a tube, but it moves OK on the water. One of those things that make fishing fun is learning all the new things you can and can't do.
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Well I went fishing yesterday and tried my new fins. Wow, good fins make all the difference in the world!! They worked great and I adjusted fairly quickly. Towards the end of the day I switched back to my side fins though and it felt good because they use different muscles. I still prefer them when I am fishing a specific area bit the big flippers are nice when traveling longer distances. Hey the ODC 420 has that storage behind the seat anyway and changing flippers in the ODC isn’t any problem at all. [laugh] The best of both worlds!!
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