11-28-2006, 05:47 AM
The rivers and streams I would be fishing are not like the big brawling Western streams of the Rocky Mountain Drainage. If you have some gentler streams in Oregon it could be very enjoyable. I've done most of my kayak/camping/fishing on stillwaters or slower moving rivers with very identifiable rapids. A couple of years back I floated a river in my kayak with a friend. One of the local flyshops offers guided driftboat floats for $500 on this river. My friend and I floated in our kayaks for 100 times less and I got into some nice smallmouth bass on the flyrod. I hope to do more of that in the future. I don't think I could get into the pontoon as I enjoy self propulsion and rowing and finning a pontoon is not very efficient compared to paddling a kayak to get where I'm going and either disembarking to wade (if in a river) or float from my tube in flatwater. The kayak seems tippy to the uninitiated but is actually a very stable vessel. My tubing buddy is having some issues with his knees and is ready to switch to a pontoon boat. I figure it won't be too long before he puts an electric motor on it. As I get older I value the benefits of physical exercise afforded by tubing and kayaking and especially with my heart history I hope to keep on flyfishing physically. The upside of my friend switching to pontoon is that we can float rivers together. He in his pontoon and I in my kayak. I just need to try and trade in my kayak for an open cockpit model to make it more efficient for fishing.
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