Fare the well my fine floating friend.

Finally decided to put up for sale one of the best pieces of fishing gear I have bought to date. It did not take very long before another addicted fellow saw the ad and scooped it up. He was probably just as exited as I was when I first put it together.

For those of you thinking about buying a pontoon.....DO IT !! They are great craft to fly fish from, easy to row and hold lots of gear. Do your research, decide what is right for you and in your budget. Then save up some more and buy a Dave Scadden!! Mine was bought in 2006 and is in just as good a shope as it was brand new. AWESOME !!

Why sell it you ask? After rowing the drift boat for several trips, it just fills my need for the rivers I float and who I generally fish with. For solo trips or even those trips with my old pontoon buddy's, I am going to try a kayak. Just want to try something new.

Tight lines!
Jason

Portable Fishfinder - Custom Build

I have been toying with the idea of adding a fishfinder to my drift boat. Since it is a small boat with no 12v system and no easy way to mount the transducer, I thought along the lines of a small portable system. What I was finding was not all that great. Some were too small others had no features or cheap mounts. The nicer units I did find had poor battery life. So I decided to build my own.

This proto-type uses a Garmin 160C fishfinder, 10ah power source and should give me about a 10-15 hour operating time. I'll be testing it out as well as the portable rig I built over the next few months I hope to posts some positive experiences. Time will tell.

Update 3-12-10:
Works like a charm. I'm getting 15 - 18 hours run time on the 10ah battery.
I replaced the power switch on the box to an LED version and it creates no heat now and hardly any drain on the battery. The sonar unit itself seems very nice. Clear picture, very sensitive and does a god job finding the fish, even the ones holding below overhangs or dense structure.
The suction cup transducer mount I ordered from Garmin works great. No worries about it coming loose while on the move. Overall I am very happy with how it turned out.

Chattahoochee Flooding - Hwy 41

New Ride

I finally decided to upgrade my watercraft fleet this summer. A 2009 ClackaCraft 16 LP.

This model is Sage/Charcoal/Blue and also has the MegaBox option adding a double size storage box up front. This extra large gear box allows 2 seats up front on sliding tracks.

What can I say about this boat. It is awesome. Very comfortable and very stable.

A couple of initial upgrades were adding a kicker motor, a trailerable cover and altering the anchor system.


An '09 Mercury 6hp Longshaft motor. You can expect about 7.5 mph max out this motor.
Very effective for moving back up river or short runs on lakes and bays.


The cover is great for travel and fits very nice. Also works well for outdoor storage.


By adding the moveable pulley and doubling the rope, you gain additional leverage.
This makes hauling the anchor up a bit easier. The only downside is that you double the length of rope needed to drop anchor.

Check back later for news posts covering some of the features of the drifter.