Rubber Rafting
Belly boating might be fine when I’m alone, but what if I
hike into a lake with a buddy? Maybe a four man rubber raft would be the
answer. Fortunately one was on sale, so off I headed to Ripley Lake for an
afternoon trial run.
Set up went smoothly and in fifteen minutes the raft was
inflated and on the water. I don’t know how big the four men were, but if they
were all my size, we’d have to squeeze in and only take small breaths. Will
definitely have to take the minimum tackle next time too, it was hard to swing
around to search in my normal tackle box.
Rowing went OK with just me in the boat, slow, but OK. I
spent the better part of two hours, slowly moving about the lake, trying to get
the feel of fly fishing from sitting so low to the water. I wasn’t fabulous,
but it would do if the fish were into feeding, which unfortunately they were
not.
This did have some advantages over the belly boat, no chest
waders required being the first one and I did not lose and fins or oars. The
most advantage would be only carting one craft into one of the small lake on my
to do list. Still, I do miss a canoe.
You figure maybe one other person in the raft? It seems like these days when you get tents or boats for a specific number of people, they really are much smaller people than those who purchase the items! I always look at the signs in elevators, and think .... hmmm, maximum of 15 people or 2000 lbs ... better make sure we're just on the elevator with a group of small people!
ReplyDeleteLOL... I agree, DragynLady! Hobbits might fit :-)
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