Kelly: Hi, I’m Kelly Watt. Welcome and have fun fly fishing.
Jim: And drift boat fishing 101, I’m Jim Watt. Fly fishing from drift boat is growing rapidly in popularity.
Kelly: It’s a great way to cover a lot of water, very effectively.
Jim: To take full advantage of a drift boat and all it can do for you requires learning a few basic techniques, not only how to handle a boat but also how to fish from one as well.
Kelly: Even if you aren’t planning to buy a boat and row it yourself there are a number of techniques that will make fishing from a boat a lot more productive and fun for you, your fishing partner and your guide or the person rowing the boat.
Jim: For years, our friend Denny Breer who owns Trout Creek Flies along with his wife Grace have insisted we make this video, but why?
Kelly: Well, Trout Creek is a guide in fly fishing operation on the Green and then a thousands of hours Denny and his guys spent on the river, they have seen it all and a need for a video like this was extremely apparent to them.
Jim: Denny incidentally has also written a new book on Fly Fishing Green published by Frank Amato Publishing. It’s the definitive word on fly fishing to green. Detailed maps, information on seasons, hunches, rapids, along with flying patterns and how to fish this extraordinary river are all covered by Denny who’s been fishing in this river in a drift boat since the 70s.
Kelly: Okay, so what’s the big deal? You get in the boat. You go down the river and fish, right? I’m sure you’ve guessed the answer wrong. First, let’s talk a bit about boats for rivers including personal watercraft and also how rivers were raided, knowing what kind of raiding the various rapids on a particular river have will be helpful in determining which boat is best suited for the water and your rowing skills. After saying this I must have the caveat that raidings of rivers differ considerably between individuals as to their opinion of what constitutes a particular class of water. We’ve intentionally left canoes and kayaks out of the midst since for our purposes out west they’re not all that suitable.
Jim: We also will not mention float tips in the context with moving water since common wisdom dictates they’re not a viable craft for any but the slowest moving water. Please keep in mind all of this material is gathered from observation experience and of course our own opinions. One of the most popular fishing drift boats is the McKenzie style with modifications made from original designs to make them better for fishing and rowing. Kelly and I are a little prejudiced and that we row a high boat but there are a number of good boats out there on the market. However, from our perspective we’re great fans of the Hyde. They come in two basic designs, the standard profile and a low profile model that has the same square footage on the bottom that with lower sides. The Hyde’s basically redesigned the wheel of these boats.
We’ll show you more about them in our new series drift boat fishing river guides plus there’s an excellent tour of Hyde boats with LaMoyne and Steve Hyde in our fly fishing video magazine program Idaho South Fork.
Kelly: Ou friend Denny Breer on the other hand prefers a classic craft boat for his work on the Green. This is a newly design model we help to increase in on its maintaining float down the Green. Both boats are considerably modified designs from divertance classic wooden boat that he also uses on the Green and I might add lovingly refinishes each winter when he’s not bird hunting or time flies. Next, comes smaller rafts, 12, 13 and 14 feet with rowing frames and a wide variety of tight forms and frame design and again to make fishing more comfortable.
Jim: Another style of raft designed for big whitewater which we used on the Gunnison River in Colorado is this 18-foot self bailer rowed by experienced whitewater guide Bill White. These boats are designed for whitewater safety and not necessarily concerned with the comfort of the angler or ease and convenience of fishing. This was a four-day camping trips so we’re carrying a lot of cargo on the rafts too. Another style of raft again designed more for whitewater than fishing is this large catarafts style boat we used on the Teton River in Idaho. In personal watercraft there are two basic designs, a raft like unit from Water Master that has an opening for your feet to use flippers as well as the oars. And a pontoon design again set up to use flippers or oars which seems to be the most widespread design of several manufacturers.
Kelly; Okay, for the most elusive part of the video, whitewater classifications, we’ve spoken with several of our friends who where professional whitewater guides and everyone of them has a slightly too significant difference in their classification of whitewater. So with that said, here’s our two-sense worth. Class one rivers vary from, as one of our experts called it a moving lake with little or no riffles or waves to what another of our experts described as moving water with riffles, sandbars and two or three-foot waves.
Jim: Class two, one of our experts says class two has easy rapids, waves up to three-feet, clear channels that are obvious.
Kelly: Class three water, this is water that should be scattered before running. It may have your regular waves and the rapid will require maneuvering for safe passage. Generally, this sort of rapid will have a pretty good drop to it. Essentially this water requires maneuvering and water reading to keep yourself out of trouble.
Jim: Class four rapids, these are only for experienced whitewater rowers. Always got them before running, these rapids will have long difficult runs that require precise maneuvering through often narrow passages and they may have large waves and three to five-foot precipitance drops.
Kelly: Class five and six really are not an issue for anyone at this stage of rowing, so don’t even think about it. As far as what boat is best for what class of water, in any river generally speaking self-failing whitewater raft is still the easiest and the safets boat to row.
Jim: With that said, Kelly and I who are not expert rowers by any means will take our drift boat and personal watercraft through class one and two water. When it gets to the three we stick with the drift boat or raft. Class four water we let somebody else who knows what they’re doing row, same for class five, class six, we leave for the competition. Now at least we have a clue as to what boat is safe and for the most part works best in the various waters. So let’s move on to fishing from a drift boat.
Kelly: What you learn here will hopefully add some insight into how to better take advantage of the opporunities you gain from fishing from a drift boat improve your success, fishing from a drift boat and of course raise your standing considerably in the eyes of your guide and fishing companions. So the most exciting fishing for us is with the dry fly. From a drift boat you gain the opportunity for terrificly long drag free drifts on which you can only dream when wading. That’s just one of the great advanategs you’ll find, fly fishing from a drift boat.
Jim: Fishing with—from the boat either with an indicator or using a dry fly is an indicator is again an extremely effective technique that is enhanced in major of it and then properly from above. It’s the same advantage as you came from a dry fly, long one drag free drift.