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Hey guys, Im JA Martin. New to the boards here, but been fishing my whole life throughout southern california. Particularly Irvine Lake, SARL, Bishop every summer, Perris, and Castaic. SO heres the deal. I cannot afford a boat at this time, and have seen the float tubes guys having all the fun on the lake while im stuck on the shore. So i went out and purchased a OUTCAST FAT CAT tube. Got my Force fins, waiders, boots, etc. Im waiting for the rain to pass me by before i start up. So heres the main question - What is a good lake to learn how to float tube? learn to get adjusted, and all that good stuff? I normally fish for Bass and trout, and i try to specialize on big bass - anything over 10lbs. So any ideas? Also any tips you guys have to offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
JA MARTIN
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Hey there JAMartin,
Go ahead and post your question on the 5 or 6 websites that have message boards relating to float tubes and kayaks. Of course, you'll get lots of input from tubers here too because everyone's so darn friendly.
For freshwater (as opposed to saltwater and Los Alamitos Bay), I'd choose a lake that wasn't exposed to strong winds,easy launching and landing areas, within easy porting distance from your vehicle, small enough that you could fish the likely spots in a day, and have a ready population of biters. (stocked fish)
How about Laguna Niguel Lake or Irvine?
JapanRon
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Nothing wrong with being friendly. Also this site does have a float tube forum. Thats why Im here. Nothing wrong with that at all. I do agree with you on Irvine. I think i will try it there.
Thanks
JA
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[cool]As the moderator of this "flotation fishing" forum, allow me to extend a hearty howdy and an official welcome. From the looks of your posts around the BFT boards, you are catching up on some of the back posts and getting a feel for the helpful and friendly attitude of our growing family. Hang around and have some fun. And, while you are at it, soak up all the info you can.
First, I'll make a personal offer. I have a finished but unpublished book, based upon over forty years of float tubing. It covers all different kinds of tackle and techniques, fresh water to salt water and multi species. Shoot me an email at [url "mailto:pscouten@qwest.net"]pscouten@qwest.net[/url] and I will send you a chapter summary and a couple of the introductory chapters...in Word format. If you are a masochist, and want more, I'll feed you any of the others you's like...no charge. Big deal, huh.
I also grew up in Southern California and spent much of my fishing career there. I live in Phoenix now, but still stay in touch with the whole California fishing scene. I am not the best source for some of the current changing regulations, but I have fished almost every body of water (flowing or standing) in California...at one time or another. And a major part of my experience has been from a donut dinghy.
I just bought an Outcast SUPER Fat Cat. I'm a big boy and I like some of the design differences...like the inflatable seat...over the regular Fat Cat. Let me know if you would like some help in tricking it out with the rod racks and sonar. I will be shooting some digital pics when I finish installing my gear on the new craft.
If you are looking for a place to get acquainted with your new toy, you can go anywhere the water is deep enough to kick around without touching bottom...including a swimming pool. I have tested new gear and adjustments in swimming pools lots of times. It's also a good place to help find a leak in an air bladder. Those big mothers don't fit in a bathtub too well. And, you will get leaks from time to time. Murphy was a fisherman.
If you like the feel of big fish stretching your string, you are already hitting some of the best waters. I have a couple of others to suggest, depending on how serious you are and how far you want to drive. Up north, you have Lake Casitas, inland from Ventura. I used to live in Santa Barbara and fished it for trout, BIG bass and BIG cats. It is a pretty lake, in rolling hills and oak trees. It can be tough to learn, but the rewards are great.
Also, to the south, there are some legendary big bass lakes around San Diego. And, float tubers account for some super catches. Lakes Murray, Otay, Wofford (sp.?), & San Vicente all offer big fish for the big fish specialist.
A little farther north, you can find both great trout and big bass on Lake Isabella, up in the hills to the east of Bakersfield. The heyday of the super Florida bass is not what it once was, but there are still plenty of big ones in there. Also good for crappies and cats. Scenery is good too, and you can wave a flyrod over the Kern River, both above and below the lake.
If you want to go on a float tube bassin' safari, go up I-5 and take the turnoffs to the various foothill lakes along the Sierras. Many of them have great fishing for largies, smallies and spots. Several years ago a near record largemouth came out of Success Lake, near Porterville.
How about some more info, too, on your preferred style of bassin'? Do you use baitcasting, spinning, fly rod...or? You will soon be surprised to find out that fishing from your Fat Cat will help make you a better fisherman overall. You get up close and personal with your quarry, without noise or disturbance, and you can position your self for short, accurate casts...and then have better feel for what's going on at the business end of your line.
In short, you never need to apologize to anyone about "only having" a flotation system. These are not just "poor man's bass boats". They can be highly effective fishing craft and you can get into places that the power squadrons will never have a shot at.
I might suggest you seek out a local float tubing and bass fishing club. There are a few around, and they are usually pretty serious and accomplished bassers.
Get back to us with any specific questions, and we will chip in what we can to contribute to your new delinquency.
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Thanks man! I did email ya, but forgot to mention the pics of your tricked out ride! Send them my way when you get it all done! Im real good at building all kinds of stuff down in my garage, and already have some PVC pipe lying around down there, and would love to see what you come up with. So let me know bro!
Tight lines
JA
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[cool] I got your email and you have some light reading on the way. Since you have AOL for email, I didn't send any of the pics and diagrams. You might want to try sending me a Private Message on the BFT free email, and I can return back with some larger file sizes for you.
For anyone not familiar with this great FREE service from BFT, just find a post from someone you want to send a personal message. Click on their BFT name and it will display their profile. At the bottom of the profile page is a button for "Send Private Message". Click on that and a blank message screen will come up, just like you were going to post on the board. When you finish, click on SEND message and away it goes.
As long as you are registered and logged in, you can see if you have any Private Messages as soon as you get on the message boards. That is right in the middle at the top of each message board page. If you have messages it will be indicated in red. When you click on it, your Private Message board will display. Click on the subject of the message to the left and up it comes...along with any attachments. Treat them just like any email. You can save, delete or reply too, and unless you delete, you will have an ongoing record of all private messages.
Ain't this BFT a great place to hang out? And, it's only getting better.
PS JAM, check your Private Messages to see if you get one from me.
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Hey TubeDude,
What's with all the good tubin' info you're willing to turn loose of? Just cause I didn't ask for it don't mean I wasn't waitin' for it! ha ha Please send me what you can.
Looking forward to a good read. I've given up on most of what I find in our local weekly W(orst) (O)f the (N)ews although I must admit, for the novice or someone new to so cal, there are lots of interesting things to read there.
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[cool]JR, my fine floatin' friend, You do not have your email address in your profile, so I sent you a Private Message with my Summary, and Introduction for the book "DO IT IN A DONUT". They only allow a couple of attachments per Private Message on this forum, so if you will shoot me an email, with your return email address, I will "BURY YOU". What a masochist.
By the way, I am working on a separate writeup on "CHOOSING A CRAFT". It is going to list all (most) of the important considerations in selecting a new or upgraded flotation system. Not only will it review the obvious factors such as user size and strength, but types of water, preferred species, tackle and techniques, etc. It will then go into a list of the different parts, components and features available on the different kinds of craft available...with my observations as to the relative merits (or otherwise).
Anyone who has visited Kiyo's site (baytubers.com) will find a lot of good pics and info along this line already, and he has been good to share some of that with our forum. I toss it out to anyone out there who has some good input, or "hard learned" lessons they want to share. I will be glad to collect all of this stuff and soon make it available as a download or a forwarded file for anyone who wants it.
Any other ideas on compiling pieces for general reference, to be available FREE to those who show up here?
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Thanks TubeDude,
I've got them safely on a floppy for reading later. I may not have done my profile on BFT and am going to check that out now. What you're doing sounds great and lots of work. I'm with ya on making tubers (including ourselves) more knowledgable, savvy, and I personnaly want to force those, who resist at first, to have more fun on the water. Catch ya later.
JapanRon
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"Ah bin doon dis a long tam"!!!
Hey Tube Dude this is some funny and informative information! I would love some more reading if you dont mind! You know this would be a great book! Have you looked into publishing it?
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[cool]So ya like dat Cajun talk do ya, JAM?
Now why didn't I think about publishing that book...instead of just letting it set around in my computer? Actually, I did a complete rewrite on it last year because I had someone who was going to do the formatting and graphics work for me on the photos, so I could get it published. I finished my part in April. I did a re-edit in August. I got nothing but excuses from my "partner" until about the first of December. Then, I got a half dozen pages of some very lame formatting. I "tubed" the association.
Since then I have been "shopping it around", and have some interest from a couple of sectors. At this point it looks like I will probably self-publish. I am not looking to end up with a "GONE WITH THE WIND". Maybe a hybrid along the lines of "GONE WITH JAWS". But, I have used my organized approach to categorizing the many aspects of flotation fishing to aid and assist quite a few newbies...and veterans who have been looking for ways to take it "to the next level".
All false modesty aside, I doubt there are many "tubaholics" in the country who have "been there, done that" more than myself, when it comes to flotation fishing. I have always been a caring and sharing kind of guy, and a bit prone to "soap-boxing" (surprise, surprise), so once I got started on this project I really dredged up a whole lot of memories and experiences to flesh out the pages. I have about two hundred ODD pictures I have accumulated over the years too...showing many different models of float tubes...and a lot of naked fish dragged from the depths while tubing.
In the meantime, anyone who is masochistic enough to request chapters on any given subject deserves what they get. I'm at work right now (lunchtime/goofing off), but when I get back to my home computer I will check what I have sent so far and get off a couple more installments.
As I mentioned in a post the other day, I am also working on a couple of other writeups. One is to detail the factors and their importance, in choosing a new flotation system...including physical characteristics, waters to be fished, types of fishing preferred, budget considerations, manufacturing features and options, etc. The other writeup will take awhile to finish. It will be a model by model review...from Tube Dude's perspective...segmented into price ranges, features and options, quality construction, portability and a few other goodies.
Since I am ultimately doing it as a "service" to the visitors to this board, I will welcome any input and ideas anyone has for aspects they would like to see included. I also welcome individual ratings and reviews. In fact I encourage them. It's hard to get good first hand experience with every make and model. I know. Check my receipts over the years.
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