flyfishing from float tube ???

[JOHNNY QUEST]

i went fishing with my float tube this morning. after weeks of wind and frustration i thought i would rip some lip and have a blast. well i don't know who designed these things but they are not fly rod friendly. after numerous tangles, hit upside the head, and foul hooking the tube. i had to do the captains thing and go down with the ship. i can stand in the street and cast to my backing no problem. i can wade in waist deep water no prob. but sit a foot above the water and get any results i failed miserably. i should have listened to my wife and took my casting rod, but being the avid flyfisher i think i did not listen. does any one else have this problem and whi won't it cast when the line is wet????
frustrated randall

[Sea Aggie]

I've used a "Belly Boat" since I was in 2nd grade and have taken them all over the place, fishing everything from saltwater cuts to rivers in CO / NM / UT / CA. Tubing with a fly rod is a totally different feel, so don't give up. Practice a bit more and you may find you love it. I can't think of a more pleasant way to flyfish than in a tube.

When casting in a tube, just make sure to raise the line a bit before beginning your back-cast. The other thing is make sure you have clean line and maybe even try to put a fresh coat on it the night before. One more tip is the roll cast can be very effective in this position.

Did you have on a pair of flippers? If you were bare-foot or wearing shoes, it can be very frustrating and tiring. With flippers, you can cover quite a lot of area on a tank / river / lake.

[JOHNNY QUEST]

I've used a "Belly Boat" since I was in 2nd grade and have taken them all over the place, fishing everything from saltwater cuts to rivers in CO / NM / UT / CA. Tubing with a fly rod is a totally different feel, so don't give up. Practice a bit more and you may find you love it. I can't think of a more pleasant way to flyfish than in a tube.

When casting in a tube, just make sure to raise the line a bit before beginning your back-cast. The other thing is make sure you have clean line and maybe even try to put a fresh coat on it the night before. One more tip is the roll cast can be very effective in this position.

Did you have on a pair of flippers? If you were bare-foot or wearing shoes, it can be very frustrating and tiring. With flippers, you can cover quite a lot of area on a tank / river / lake.well aggie i have float tubed for years also and have only used a casting rod. i love it .your right when you say relaxing i like it as much or better than wading . thanks for the tips i will try them out randall and yes i have flippers and my tube is a dave scadden pontoon craft. its like sitting in a recliner and fishing

[Sea Aggie]

That's a nice ride! I got started at my farm using a 2 x 4 and a tractor tire and have worked myself up to a camo round-tube rig. I've been looking at the pontoon rigs, they seem rather stable and easy to use. On the other hand, the old tube is pretty easy to carry around when I'm moving from spot to spot. Just strap over one shoulder and hump it over to another part of the lake / creek / pond / bay...

About the flippers, I've tried all kinds. I currently have a pair of hard-plastic that I got just for tubing. They strap on over whatever shoes I'm wearing. I like this because I can pop them off and wade without switching from barefoot flippers back to shoes.

[JOHNNY QUEST]

That's a nice ride! I got started at my farm using a 2 x 4 and a tractor tire and have worked myself up to a camo round-tube rig. I've been looking at the pontoon rigs, they seem rather stable and easy to use. On the other hand, the old tube is pretty easy to carry around when I'm moving from spot to spot. Just strap over one shoulder and hump it over to another part of the lake / creek / pond / bay...

About the flippers, I've tried all kinds. I currently have a pair of hard-plastic that I got just for tubing. They strap on over whatever shoes I'm wearing. I like this because I can pop them off and wade without switching from barefoot flippers back to shoes.its not a pontoon boat its a craft and its like a tube just pointed in the rear its one of the older scaddens before he started making those twin tube floatation thangs lots of storage and back support i love it i don't use ut in the summer because i am afraid i will be shark bait but the winter time is ausome as long as i am using my casting rod. RANDALL

[Sea Aggie]

I was looking at the one in the classifieds section here on 2cool:

http://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=56926&highlight=pontoon

[JOHNNY QUEST]

I was looking at the one in the classifieds section here on 2cool:

http://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=56926&highlight=pontoonthose look cool but i wander how they would in some chop or waves from boats. it really looks like it would get you in some skinny water though. and what if you hooked up on a nice red and he decided to do the round and round the boat thin i guess you would be screwed. unless you put a swivel seat on it. i like the tube cause my fins are bigger than his. i can pull him around.

[Sea Aggie]

I was thinking more like the Texas Hole on the San Juan River!

[JWW]

Where were you fishing?

[Sea Aggie]

http://www.sanjuanriver.com/scenery/txhole.jpg

[JOHNNY QUEST]

wow that looks nice. i think it would be fun to try but i have not fished fresh water in 24 yrs. i live 15 minutes from the bay and 30 from the gulf. best fishing hole in the world. RANDALL

[Sea Aggie]

The first time I ever fished the San Juan River was in 1989, when I took a road-trip with a friend. We went up to Colorado to help YoungLife get their camp in shape to open for the summer and took an extra week to fish some spots. We were in Durango, CO and talking to someone in one of the fly fishing shops when it was suggested we try the San Juan, just below the Navajo Dam. It was a 45 min drive so we hopped right to it.

We arrived around noon and found a campground. We got our site and set up our tent. We then grabbed our gear and went up by the dam for an afternoon of fishing.

That afternoon we each caught a few trout, between 18" - 22" and saw thousands more that we didn't know how to convince to strike our flies.

Well, that evening we went to Abe's Motel & Fly Shop and found out the sizes & patterns, then spent the evening tying up new flies for the next day.

We went out after breakfast and fished solid all day. I caught 118 trout, from 18 inches up to 34 inches and my buddy's biggest trout pushed 33 inches. We fished until the ice on our lines prevented us from casting and it was too dark to stay safely on the river. We each kept a 22-incher and took them immediately back to camp for supper.

We cooked them with butter, garlic, lemon juice & Tony's, in a large cast iron skillet, over an open fire. Served over a bed of brown rice.

Man, makes me want to call Southwest Airlines and book a flight to Farmington right now!

I've been back to the `Juan many times since and it has always been a great producer. I take my belly boat and float from the Texas Hole down to Cottonwood Camp, where I'll rent a campsite for hanging out in the evenings, but also rent a room at the motel for showers & sleeping.