Fish with JD » Boats/Watercraft

Drift Boat Angler Trailer Stand Review

JD — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 06:00:24 +0000

How many times have you run across a product that made you want to punch yourself in the side of the head? You know…because it’s an idea so supremely simple and genius all at the same time and you can’t believe you hadn’t thought of it first. Well, that was precisely the case when I ran across Ken “Smitty” Smith’s Drift Boat Angler Trailer Stands last year at the Portland sportsmen’s show.

I mean, how come somebody hadn’t come up with a locking stand to safely prop up a drift boat before? If you’ve never owned one, here’s the deal: Drift boats typically feature two drain plugs in the aft section of the floor at the base of the transom. Because drifters have rocker shaped bottoms, the drain plugs sit higher than the the bottom of the boat so, to drain water out, you have to prop the nose way up…which usually involves having to precariously prop your trailer tongue up on a 2X4, garbage can, old stump, etc. Not only is this a major pain the arse, it’s also extremely dangerous…I’ve always been paranoid that my 4-year-old or the dog is going to get under there have have the whole thing come down. Enter Smitty’s super-handy little device. Here’s a quick look…

So, stinkin' simple, yet so dang useful!

The stand is well-made and yet only weighs 15 pounds. And for guys like me who aren’t exactly Mr. Goodwrench, installation couldn’t be more simple…

The only tool you'll need!

Man, that was easy!

Once you’ve got the four bolts locked on, all you have to do is pull the pin that locks the telescopic leg in the up or “travel” position…

Pop this baby out...

Tilt the boat and the leg will drop into place. To lock it, simply push the pin into one of the three locking holes…

Push 'er into place...you're almost there!

Bingo! You’re done!

Locked!

Now, you can cover the boat, safely tilt it (even if you have a sloped driveway like me!) and let it sit all winter without her turning into a swimming pool. How friggin’ cool is that? And should the bite come on and you need to quickly hitch up, all you have to do is reverse the process above (takes about 10 seconds) and the Drift Boat Angler Stand stores out of the way for travel.

Locked and ready for trailering!

What can I say? Other than I bow down to the pure genius that is the Smittymeister. This thing is awesome and should be standard issue on all drifters (was thinking it would be a sweet idea for smaller aluminum fishing boats as well). The convenience and clever design is one thing but the piece of mind you get when you know the boat is securely propped up and can’t come down and crush a kid or pet, well…that makes it a no brainer.

More Info

SMITTY TACKLE 503-871-9640

Pavati 17×60 Warrior Drift Boat Reviewed

JD — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 06:57:24 +0000

There's no question she's a looker, but how does the Pavati row?

When Pavati Marine burst upon the drift boat scene a few years back, it was quickly apparent that they were a company that enjoyed taking an outside-the-box approach to boat building. The man behind Pavati, Chuck Gros, is like a mad scientist…cool new ideas flowing out of his noggin almost faster than his guys could build ‘em.

Chief among his concepts was putting doors on a drift boat — but he didn’t stop there. Now, Pavatis feature all sorts of Gucci extras that you won’t find on other production boats, but the big question that’s been on everybody’s minds and on their message boards: How do these things row? Well, we aimed to find out…

Features

But first, let’s take a look at some of the features that make Pavatis unique…

The list has to begin with the doors, and you can order a boat in a 1, 2, 3 or 4-door model. This one is a 2-door “Coupe”

Doors are the signature feature of a Pavati

The doors are stout with car door-style latches that have the release tab housed in such a way that you can’t accidentally release them. Though people have a tendency to slam the doors shut, the latches require a gentle pull and you can hear the two-stage click lock. On this boat the port side latch is smooth as silk, but the starboard one has gotten a little sticky over time. The doors are waterproofed with burly rubber seals…and the bottoms ride well above the waterline, so there’s no worries about taking on water anyway.

Easy in, easy out...

All the skeptics who have gotten into the boat have quickly turned into door aficionados. As it turns out, the doors are not gimmicky at all…not only do they make it a whole heck of a lot easier for folks to hop in and out of the boat without wracking their shins (or worse) on the gunwale, they also make it much more simple for anglers to reach down to the water to wash hands. You can also hop in the boat from deep water with waders on and I can get in and out of the boat while it’s sitting on the trailer as well without the usual trailer wheel hop.

When you’re bow-in to the beach and letting folks in and out, just be sure to pay attention to where the rocks are…when somebody gets in and weighs down one side of the boat, there’s a chance you can scrape the bottom of your door on the shore (ask me how I know!). Perhaps a better system would be to order one with a rear door, since it’s often easier to pull up to shore aft first…

Pavati's open door policy makes getting in and out really nice!

Another one of Pavati’s intriguing features is the “plug & play” floor. First off, all floors are level so getting around on the inside is a snap…no benches to trip over and no angled floor up front to throw you off balance. Additionally, the floors are raised about 6 inches above the bottom of the boat so your feet and gear is never soaking in water from rain or rapids.

Flat & level flooring throughout is a nice touch

Computer cut notches in the floors allow you to move you seats, foot braces, fly fishing stands, tackle storage and rod holders anywhere you want. You can run two or three seats in a straight line across the front for plug pulling or do them all inline down the centerline for side-drifting…I’ve even taken the rower’s seat completely out and made a mini-sled out of the boat in some cases. It’s kind like playing with Legos! The only downside to this non-bench style of seating is you don’t have as much infinite adjustment control of the weight balance up front. With a couple seats on sliders, you can have guys slide one way or the other an inch at a time to get you centered, but here the increments are more like 6 inches. To me it was worth having a little less control of my load’s balance to gain the walk-around room. Plus, Gross says he is currently working on a way to make the seating even more adjustable.

The notches make everything adjustable

To lock a seat down, simply slide the tab into a slot...

...and lock the other side in with the latch system

Another nifty little feature of the floors is they are easily removed. The floors come in three sections and are all held in by some crazy NASA grade Velcro-type stuff. Simply pull ‘em up and lift them out. The heaviest section only weighs maybe 15 pounds, so it’s an easy 1-person job.

Pull the floors out so you can wash out all the leaves, fish blood, roe, etc...

Honeycomb ribs make the boat lighter

Initially, I was skeptical about Velcroed-in floors, but these things are in there solid — there’s no way they are coming out and it is so damn cool to be able to pull them out occasionally hose out the inside of the boat.

The floor sections weigh next to nothing

There are many other cool things that come with the Warrior…Bentley seats, tackle trays, 7 cupholders (which are great for sinkers, scents, pliers, etc) and a whole lot of other stuff. While the twin “The Truth” rulers embedded into the side trays may be a bit optimistic at 60 inches in length, they certainly are handy anytime you’re fishing in an area with slot limits. Just be careful, we nearly had a keeper king hop right off and back into the river as we were measuring it!

The Warrior’s anchor nest is a simple thing of beauty. Not only does it feature a diamond plate back to keep your pyramid from scratching your interior, but also has a super cool latch system that holds the anchor in place while you travel and a couple drain plug holders. We’ve all forgotten to lash down our anchors at the end of the day at least once and the results are often very damaging. And, yee-haaaw, no more searching around in the dark for lost plugs. This may be the coolest thing on the boat!

One stop shopping...plugs, anchor & latch

A good idea that was looong overdue!

Of course, with everything inside of the boat being so adjustable, it stands to reason that you need some room to shift your oarlocks around and that’s certainly the case here as you have 8 positions for the stainless and extremely strong oarlocks that come with the boat.

Plenty of adjustability here...

You can get all the normal anchor systems put on a Warrior, but I tried out their slick stomp pedal system. While pedal style anchor releases are nothing new in the driftboat world, this one’s unique in that the pedal is offset off to the right of the rower’s seat and then the line travels under the floor, where it’s largely out of the way.

You can stomp the pedal and release your anchor without letting go of the oars

A pulley system comes with the anchor and makes it infinitely easier to pull up your pyramid. Suddenly pulling 35# of lead up from the depths is a 1-arm show. But, I have to admit, I cut the sucker off after just two days of fishing. While the easy-up part of the deal was sweet, you also have to realize that to make the system work with a pulley, you have to let out twice the amount of line…it seemed like it took forever to pull the pick and I quickly started dreading dropping anchor in anything deeper than about 5 feet. It’s probably not a bad way to go, though, if you’re getting a little up there in age and don’t want to lift so much weight.

Easier to pulll...yes...but you have to drop twice the amount of liine with the pulley system.

You can get all sorts of other crazy stuff on a Warrior. Heated seats and stereos are available and more practical items like a tackle station next to the rower’s seat with room for three big plastic organizer boxes; a sliding fish box, bait boxes, leader rollers, twin heaters, rain tops and a lot more…Basically, if you can dream it up, Gross and crew can probably make it happen.

Exterior

Bring on the fish blood!

On the outside, the Warrior shows very nicely. When I first rolled into salmon camp, one of the fellas called it a “work of art” and I’ve also had clients describe it as “the Lexus of drift boats” and “way too nice to slime with fish blood.” Pavati has some pretty handy airbrush painters who can do up any design you like, but I opted for a the cleaner look of basic white. What’s cool about the paintjob is that it is powercoated and very durable. The paint’s extremely resistant to dings and scrapes and is also really easy to clean. The inside is also powdercoated and is far superior to the ol’ Zolatone and Clearcoat that’s been standard on boats for so long.

The powdercoated exterior cleans up really nicely

The downside is it’s the first aluminum boat I’ve had with paint (and not bare aluminum) below the waterline and little scrapes and scratches start to show over time.

Speaking of out-doing the old technology like Coat-It and Gluvit, the Warrior can be outfitted with a UHMW bottom that’s epoxied and vacuum-adhered. What you basically get is all the advantages of fiberglass — a quiet and very slippery ride over rocks. The stuff’s so slick that I found during pit stops ashore that somebody would have to hold the boat to keep it from slipping off the gravel bar — a slickness that comes in very handy for running rocky rivers — or when you happen to take a wrong side channel like we did one day and had to drag the boat about 25 yards quite literally over dry ground, which was actually pretty easy.

The black UHMW bottom is slick as ice!

The transom and chines are also unique on the Pavati’s. Beginning with the chines, the Warrior has sorta a “reverse” chine in that it has no extrusions like other aluminum boats. Chines protect the area where the boat’s sides and bottom meet and most metal drifters have the extruded variety…kinda a bumper of sorts. Gross & company decided to put the reinforcements on the inside of the boat, leaving the Warrior with a “hard” chine. It definitely gives the boat a cleaner look, but there’s also some function to the form as well.

Look Ma, no extrusions!

I found that the boat spins on a dime, which is really handy when you’re picking your way through a rock garden. Pavati also claims that their boats track better without extruded chines, which I would say is generally true though in super boily water, I did get pushed around somewhat (though I’m not so sure that there’s any boat that wouldn’t have in those spots). Where I really found that it shines was as you’re descending a fast riffle and there’s and eddy fence on one side. These babies have a tendency to grab hold of an extruded chine and spin the boat alarmingly quickly if you’re not careful. The Pavati chine was super resistant to this “grabbiness,” which is a really nice safety feature.

While I haven’t been concerned with the structural integrity of the hard chine (I whacked it on a rock in a fast and steep Class III pretty seriously and it barely left a ping pong ball-sized dent), normal rock scratches and gravel grinds do show more than they do on a boat with an extrude chine (especially since the boat is painted all the way down.

The radius transom is pretty slick — rather than having a flat area in back that the water can push on, this baby is rounded, so the current simply slips under, and even lifts, the Warrior. It’s actually pretty amazing…pulling plugs or ferrying laterally across a fast chute or riffle, you almost feel like you’re floating above the water in a hovercraft. The transom design is also super handy when running a kicker and/or another angler behind the rowing seat. It also means I have a heck of a lot more room in the back of the boat, which a really nice bonus. I can stand back there with a kicker, jerry jug of gas and a 152-quart cooler and still not feel cramped.

It’s really hard for me to say if the dimpled bottom actually helps. I mean, the concept is solid — folks like Clackacraft, surfboard manufacturers and golf ball companies all certainly buy into the science behind it — with dimples you get less friction and if that means the water slips more easily under the boat, I’m all for it. It’s just hard to say for sure if I can tell the difference without rowing the same boat without ‘em. One thing’s for sure, they can’t hurt!

Overall Impressions

Obviously, the Warrior sports a laundry list of desirable features. But, the real bottom line is: Do they row? In fact, that’s been quite the subject of much discussion on the various fishing forums across the West and Great Lakes regions. Many folks seemed to have a negative attitude towards them and many said that the boats rowed like shit, yet none of those folks could claim to have had actually been in one. The few guys I talked to who really had rowed one loved ‘em. So, it was with great interest I got in one and tried it out.

I immediately was impressed with the boat’s ability to stop in hot water. The 17X60 is a big boat (the 17 feet is measured down the centerline, not around the sides, so it’s basically an 18 footer when measured in the standard driftboat fashion). I could put the brakes on and get her stopped honestly much quicker than any of the other boats I’ve owned. A big plus, when you want to drop some steelie plugs in at the head of the run. It tracked nicely when back trolling and though she’s a big girl, I was able to row back up on spots when wanted to side-drift again without too much trouble.

The bow sits plenty high and provided a really nice dry ride though spots that I’ve taken water over the front in years past. With three anglers across the bow, I’ve had boats that felt as if they were being pulled downstream by someone yanking on my bowline, but that’s not the case with the Warrior. In white water, it was nimble enough to get through some tricky spots and never felt too big or bulky.

Yeee-Haaaww!

From a fishing standpoint, the boat’s a great platform. When we would hook up, the flat floors and walk-around rowing seat were really nice, allowing the angler to follow his fish if necessary. It also provided a nice stable base from which I could lean out and net fish without feeling like we were going to flip.

Plenty of fishing room here!

Generally, the inside of the boat is very snag-free, but I did catch my net’s mesh occasionally on one of the seat latches and, twice, I’ve stored my net on the rear floor pulley for the anchor and sucked the mesh up into it when I’ve pulled the anchor…quite a fiasco the first time as I went to grab the bag with a fish on and it was jammed!

While you can get some Pavati-designed rod holder brackets for the boat, I often prefer to have clients “ground” the rod against the gunwale when pulling plugs. While the powder coated interior has a really nice and smooth finish, the pressure of a plug working against the current causes the rods to grind and scratch on the gunwale…too bad there’s not a way (there probably is) to get a rubber rub rail on there somehow.

Well, it catches fish...a good sign!

Without hesitation, I can say that the Warrior is truly my favorite boat that I’ve owned so far (I’ve have had many — glass and aluminum from 14 to 20 feet in length). It looks sweet, the features are great and it rows very, very well (I also love the back support on the rower’s seat!). The only thing I can even (kinda) bitch about is that Pavati went a little overboard on the branding with this thing. The Pavati and accompanying fish hook logos are everywhere you look…on both sides of the stern, there’s a MASSIVE Pavati sticker, not to mention one on the inside of each door. “Pavati” is etched into the diamond plate floor not once but twice and it also appears on the nose and oar lock regions…not to mention the backs of all the seats. While the fish hook logo is pretty cool, there are 16…count ‘em…16 of the things inside the boat and 6 more on the outside.

The Hook drains are actually kinda cool...wonder if they'd paint a big glob of roe on 'em instead?

Granted, 6 of them are cleverly-designed drain holes, but it just feels a touch over-the-top. There is something to say for understated elegance….

The Pavati Warrior is a beautiful piece of working, fishable art and has no problem standing out in a crowd without the “NASCAR” approach to branding. Besides that, I have absolutely nothing but good things to say about it…It truly is a great boat!

More Info

www.pavatimarine.com

The Klamath Swimbait Boat: A fresh take on bass fishing rigs

JD — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 05:52:47 +0000

As many of you know, we here at FishWithJD are suckers for a couple things: Boats and good, fresh ideas. Well, when we stumbled upon Klamath Boats’ latest creation, the 16-foot Swimbait Boat, we kinda thought it was the best of both worlds.

The slick little vessel is an entirely new take on the two-man bass rig. It’s economical to run, costs less than $10K and, thanks to the high bow design, the SBB can handle infinitely rougher water than a traditional bass boat. It’s also so light you could probably tow it with a golf cart. Cool idea, huh? Here’s a closer look…

The SBB is 16′ 1″ in length, has a 77-inch beam and a dry weight of only 535 pounds, yet it’s plenty roomy for two guys to fish all day out of. Maybe it doesn’t have all the Gucci stuff of a $50,000 bass boat, there’s plenty features here for hard-core anglers, like 9+ foot locking rod storage, livewells, a bow drop box to keep all your stuff organized and your choice of choice of a pedal, flush or top deck mount trolling motor.

The innovative swimbait storage box mounted under the deck is also pretty trick — it allow you to hang all those crazy expensive rubber trout vertically while keeping their tails from warping…

For more info on the Swimbait Boat, contact Klamath Boats

The Coolest New Fishing Gadgets and Gizmos for 2010!

JD — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:45:05 +0000

We’ve been out scouring the West Coast sportsmen’s shows this winter, in search of the coolest new fishing stuff…and let me tell ya, brother, we found plenty! From boats to plastic baits and everything in between — there’s a lot of stuff out there that you just may need.

Here are some of our favorites…

A Fresh Take on Driftboats

We’re always suckers for new boat concepts and Chuck Gross at Pavati Marine is an energizer bunny full of slick new ideas. Okay, so he’s obviously the “drift boat with doors” guy, which makes so much sense, but he’s just introduced his new fully customizable floor layout.

Everything's movable in here...

He starts with a full-length flat, level floor (trust me — oh so nice from a moving around standpoint) — that just happens to be fully removable, by the way — in which he integrates slots that all the seats, tackle systems, rower’s foot brace, etc clip into and out of easily. It’s basically like playing with big kid Leggos. You can lay the interior of the boat out — in a snap — however you want it on a given trip. Pretty sweet!

Chuck has also come up with an easy fix to an old problem with his new snap-in anchor nest. We’ve all done it — slipped the anchor into the nest at the end of the day without securing it, only to find that 30 pounds of lead bounced around inside the boat all the way home. Not pretty! Well, this baby solves that…

No more anchors bouncing around in the bottom of the boat on the way home!

And that’s just the beginning…the kid is full of good, innovative ideas — see more at the Pavati website.

Swimbaits for the Rest of Us

For those of us not named Skeet Reese or Kevin Van Dam, amassing a workable collection of swimbaits is an expensive proposition. These days you can spend more on a rubber bait that looks like a trout than you paid for your first truck. Now, however, thanks to Ho Pham, the president of the Real Fish Bait Company, us Regular Joes can actually afford a collection of swimbaits without taking a second out on the house.

Pham has an impressive list of cool baits that cost less than ten bucks, including Crappie, Bluegill, Tilapia and, our fave, the goldfish…

Bet they've never seen one of these before!

Pham said the idea behind the goldfish was partially to give the bass something they’ve never seen before. And, as anybody who’s had a bass in an aquarium can attest, largemouth have never met a goldie they don’t like.

A swimbiat for under $10? No kidding!

Real Fish Bait Co. will have trout and shad models out soon too and Pham has plans for all sorts of baits in the near future like spanish mackerel, sardine, bullhead, baby bass, brook trout, balllyhoo, baby pike, brown trout, anchovy, baby tuna and a bunch more.

What’s really cool about this small company is Pham truly wants to know what his customers want. To that end, you can log onto Real Fish Bait Company, and tell him exactly what types of baits you’d like to see him produce — and in what sizes.

Sweet New Bass Sticks

Well, if you’re going to pick up some of those swimbaits, you might as well get a nice rod to throw ‘em on. It just so happens that you’re in luck! Lamiglas has just come out with a new lineup of rods: The Excel Series, which features 10 graphite models and 1 glass version to cover pretty much any bassin’ situation you’ll encounter: froggin’, small swimbaits, crankin’, rip baits, drop shot, etc…they’re all here.

The Excel’s feel really nice & light and have crisp actions.What’s really great about them is they come in at a really user-friendly price-point in the $99-$119 range. These days, to get a sick, American-made rod for a hundred bones is almost unheard of. Check ‘em out at Lamiglas

Back and Better than Ever!

It was a sad day for salmon and steelhead guides across the West when we found out Shur-Cure egg and prawn cure kinda just dropped off the map. For many of us, this stuff was like gold — the easiest cure to use ever created and the fish really, really seemed to like it. Unfortunately, the cure’s creator, Mr. Shur-Cure himeself, Budd Mackey, got tired of making it a while back and all of us diehards had to find a new cure.

That's Ms. Shur-Cure, to you pal!

Well, we’re please to say that we found new owner Deb McQueen at the Portland show and she’s got Shur-Cure back up and running full speed. Big Fred almost cried when he saw that it was back…

Really, the stuff is that good. It comes in wet cure and sprinkle-on formulas for eggs and prawns. Plus, Shur-Cure is sulfite-free, which is a big plus considering all the news surrounding the potential ill effects sulfite-based egg cures make be having on juvenile salmonids. Call Deb at Extreme Marine, 503-815-9997.

It's almost like organic fish food!

Finally, Somebody Thought of This!

Let’s face it, the worst part of owning a driftboat is the whole tilt it up so it can drain scenario. You know the story — you go to rinse it out or store it and always seem to be propping it up precariously with a 2×4 or stick or whatever…It’s just a matter of time before the boat comes cashing down on somebody or it hits so hard that you break the trailer tongue.

Well, finally there’s an answer! Ken Smith has come up with a simple yet totally ingenious drift boat stand that allows you to prop up the boat safely.

A little piece of mind, eh?

With 4 bolts, you quickly and easily install this bad boy to your trailer and you’re good to go. Just pull the pin, lift the trailer and the leg drops into place. Put the pin back in and you’re done…And when it’s time to hit the road, the stand easily kicks up and out of the way.

Ready for the road...

Check ‘em out at Ken’s website, www.smitty-tackle.com

The Eel Deal

Being the Delta striper junkies that we are, we were drawn like moths to the flame to the Vision Hooks & Tackle booth when we saw their new line of sexy swimbaits: the Surf Eels and Sand Eels.

Though we have yet to get any into our hot little hands, these babies have that holographic paint job and skinnier profile that look a lot like small smelt, baby steelhead and salmon that stripers seem to really enjoy eating. See more colors at the website.

Cut it Up!

Finally, this one comes to you from our “we’re not really sure why we need this, but it sure looks fun,” file. Allow us to present Motion Marine’s Lil’ Mo Jet. These micro jet sleds come in three different sizes (12′, 12′ and 16′) but the little guy somehow looks the coolest.

Big Fred and Lil' Mo

Starting at just under $7K, you get a 13′X5′, 700-pound rocket that, when you add that old jet ski motor, can take you into all sorts of cool places you’d never take the big sled.

See it a Motion Marine

Clackacraft 16SSG Driftboat

JD — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:35:21 +0000

“Fear No Rock” is Clackacraft’s motto. I recently took a 16SSG (Salmon & Steelhead Guide Model) on a grueling three week test ride during salmon season in a boat-eating stretch of river to see if I would end up a believer…or would I come home with an extreme case of Rockophobia?

Specs

• Centerline Length: 16 feet+
• Bottom Width: 57 inches
• Beam: 83 inches
• Side Height: 23 inches
• Max Capacity: 4 Adults
• Weight: Approx 500 lbs.

Features

• GulfStream® bottom
• Tunnel Hull Technology
• Rolled gunwale edge
• Adjustable front bench passenger seat
• Two Swivel Fold Down Padded Seats
• Molded-In rod storage
• Three sets of raised oarlock positions
• Oarsman’s adjustable rowing bench seat with comfortable tractor seat
• Storage under both benches
• Level floors front and Rear

Test Run

Before we get into the nitty gritty of what this boat has to offer, let’s take a look at it in action through a bit of rough water…

Interior

My first ever-guide boat was a 1998 Salmon-Steelhead model from Clacka, so I was pretty familiar with the series though I’ve had about a 9-year hiatus while I rowed aluminum. It seems they’ve kept all the cool features and then added some nice new ones. The flat, level floors fore and aft are a big upgrade from my old boat…

Back in the day, they didn’t have the split bench, which is also a nice touch…so you don’t have to get up to grab something out of the storage box below the rower’s seat.

The rod holder system is much nicer these days, too (the butt holder piece is an optional upgrade).

And you can carry a couple bonus sticks in the new molded-in holders on both the port and starboard trays. I’m not sure how long these things are, but my 9 footers fit in with no trouble. Just take it slow and easy when inserting and extracting — get in a hurry and you’ll jack up some rod eyes like I did one day when we came around a corner and saw kings rolling everywhere!

Both the front and rear seat benches have adjustment sliders to help balance out your weight. The old system, if I recall, was more of a three-hole deadbolt type of deal, so you have finer control with this slider. Simply turn the screw to loosen and put it in place. The one thing that was a bit of a pain was I seemed to always unscrew the bolt too much and then would have to spend a few minutes fumbling to get it back in the hole.

You can get a Clacka outfitted with a few different anchor configurations. This time around, I went with the foot release pedal on the floor system. This little dude allows you to drop the anchor with your foot so you can keep your hands on the oars, which is a nice feature when you’re anchoring in hot water. To pull the pick, simply pull the line straight up between your knees. Overall, I like the system, but may end up changing it because I will add a kicker motor to the boat at some point, which I can’t do at the moment because the anchor bracket is positioned smack in the middle of the transom cutout.

Clackacraft has made the foot brace more adjustable than it used to be, but I wish it were wider. When I get into some ugly water, I typically have my feet spread about shoulder width apart, not close together like this brace forces me to do. Feet together feels kinda dainty instead of powerful…

With the sliding benches and three-position oar locks, the 16SSG should fit rowers of all sizes and shapes.

I also added a third seat so I could run three guys across the front for plug pulling or two up front and one behind for side-drifting…

In my old model, water would collect in the bow storage compartment (mostly from post-fishing wash-downs) and there wasn’t any way for it to drain back into the boat. In those days, I simply drilled a couple holes, but they’d eventually clog with dirt and my gear up front would end up sitting in water. Clacka has fixed that problem with the newer boats with this no-clog scupper that allows water to immediately flow back onto the floor. A nice, smart fix…

Okay, and so on to perhaps my biggest complaint. I guess if this is the worst thing I can come up with, Calackacraft is doing a pretty damn good job, but here we go anyway. When I tilt the boat up to rinse and drain it, the aft storage compartment fills up with water and sand. When the main hull drains, I have to drop the boat back level again so the rear box can drain and then I have to tilt the boat back up on its end again…yet I always end up with a little water on the floor (which the optional floor mats can be very helpful with). My major design change here would be to enclose the back seat box with a watertight hatch door…

Bottom & Sides

Flip a new Clackacraft over and you’ll see what amounts to a pretty unique bottom. Here’s the little blurb about it from their website that describes the features better than I can…

Starting with the dimpled bottom, I guess the basic gist is there’s less friction over a dimpled surface than a smooth one (that’s why golf balls aren’t smooth), so there’s less drag and more lift. I found that the stopping time didn’t seem any better than a normal bottom, but once I got the boat stopped, it took very little effort to hold in place. In fact in some cases, i actually occasionally had to dig the oars into the current to get her to go downstream. I’m not sure how to describe it, but I can feel the water flowing under and past the hull better in this boat than in previous vessels.

Clackacraft says its tunnel hull and side water tracking channels act as reverse keels, which direct the water straight, keeping the boat in line, without the liability of a square chine. I must admit, initially I wasn’t sure if Clacka was blowing a little smoke up my drain ports or what, but this baby tracks as straight as an arrow. On a choppy steelhead flat, I did a little test. With plugs out, I lifted the oars out of the water and counted to ten before the nose would start to turn. And on anchor, there’s absolutely no swing.

The rounded chines are also pretty cool. Boily back eddies coming off steep riffles felt a lot less grabby than in a square chined drifter.

Dimples and channels aside, the true value of a glass hull is it’s extremely slippery compared to aluminum. So slick in fact, that when I would pull over on a gravel bar to let the dudes out for a shore break, somebody would always have to be on boat detail to keep it from sliding right down the bank and into the middle of the creek. When you’re in a bony stretch of river, the ability slide off boulders is huge.

You definitely don't want to stick to any rocks in here!

Plus, glass never dents…go over a big rock and the floor flexes and then kicks right back into shape, so your hull integrity will always be there. Of course, the downside to that is the floor in the rower’s cockpit gives a bit when you stand up and takes a bit of getting used to.

Glass is also quieter than aluminum and cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Additionally, is doesn’t oxidize so the paint job looks new for a lot longer than metal or wood.

So, the $25,000 question (or about $8K retail, actually) is how tough is the bottom? Can you really “Fear No Rock?” Well, yes and no. The boats come with a 100 year guarantee against bottom punctures and leaks, so obviously Clackacraft feels pretty strongly that you’re not going to poke a hole in your boat. And you can see why, when you consider the bottoms are nearly 1/2 inch thick and made of what looks to be about 12 layers of glass. This baby is burly and you’d have to do something pretty spectacular to make her leak.

The downside to a glass bottom is you’re going to scratch up your gel coat eventually. Since I was running a tight, rocky canyon,I put a few chine dings in the thing which, though a little unsightly, are purely cosmetic…and easily fixed. So, there are a couple rocks in the Gorge that I fear, but not in a boat-destroying kind of way. Ouchies like this probably would have dented a metal boat.

The 23-inch side height of the boat makes for a little wetter ride in big water than boats I’ve owned in the past, but the lower profile is a plus in the wind. If you’re going to do a lot of gnarly stuff, Clacka now makes a highside model, which I would consider next time (though it would be harder for the older guys to get in and out of). The rolled gunwales did kick a lot of water back where it belonged, though…

Final Impressions

Well, what really matters when you get a new boat is: does the thing catch fish? I’m happy to report that the 16SSG has yet to skunk (knock on gel coat!).

But seriously, I was quite impressed overall with the boat. Of course, there’s no one perfect boat and as I noted earlier, there are a couple little things here and there that I’d change. But the long and short of it, I think the Clacka is a very user-friendly rig that fishes well, rows like no other and looks very nice. They also apparently have a very high resale value, which is a plus and you can’t beat the Clackacraft customer service.

Bottom line: you don’t stick around the industry for nearly 40 years by building anything but a quality product…the Clacka 16SSG is a damn fine boat that comes highly recommended on this end.

Ah, ain't she pretty?

ODC Sport Pontoon Boat

JD — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:30:14 +0000

Okay, so they say you shouldn’t take a knife to a gunfight, but I guess I’m just a bit hard-headed that way. I figured the best way to fully test out the 8-foot ODC Sport pontoon boat by The Creek Company was to run it down a wild, remote river for 3 days.

Features & Specs

• Full take-down, no-tools-required, powder coated steel frame
• Padded fabric rowing seat
• Denier nylon outer covers and 30 gauge PVC bladders
• Boston Valves
• Cargo Pockets & Stripping Apron
• Large cargo deck with D-rings
• Walk-through footbars with six-position adjustments
• 6 foot take-down oars
• MSRP: The newer model is currently selling online for $219

The Test

To be honest with you, this thing sat, new and unopened in my buddy’s uninsulated shed for many years before I got my hands on it. I think the newer version is now called the “Classic,” and probably has undergone some updating. In either case, the boat is a basic, entry-level pontoon that’s really designed for ponds and mellow, flatwater rivers…definitely not what I was about to subject it to.

But, I figured if it could survive a December wildness float, it would be fine on its intended waters. And thus my mission began. First off, I completely overloaded the boat I would later dub the Super Banana with camping gear…

Yet, she still rode plenty high. High enough for me to backtroll plugs with relative ease for three days, my only real complaint in that area being the fixed oar locks and the 6-foot oars which felt like I was rowing with two soup spoons.

Well, exactly 1 hour into the journey, one of my “soup spoons” clipped a rock and turned into more of a chopstick. Rowing into a riffle, I clunked my starboard oar tip down on a rock and it shattered like a piece of fine china. Somehow, I rowed the rest of the trip with this…

As frustrated about the oar breaking as I was (of course, I didn’t have a spare!), the other lasted the whole trip and others thereafter and I believe it was a freak accident, probably caused by the boat being subject to extreme temperatures in the shed. No long after that, a pontoon went flat on me — having not hit anything, I believe that, too, was a product of the boat sitting for years in the storage shed. A shot of quick dry wader fix-it took care of the problem and I was on my way.

The seat and foot pegs were quite comfortable…

And the boat actually handled whitewater with no problem…

Of course, I went on the coldest weekend all winter and the Super Banana was subjected to some chilly mornings…

But, she got me to some fish, including this nice king:

Conclusion

Well, after the busted oar and flat tube the first morning, the rest of the trip passed without incident and the ODC Sport got me safely down the river. She was responsive enough considering I had her overloaded and was quite comfortable to sit in all day.

Would I recommend this vessel for others looking to do a similar extended overnight trip? Not exactly. There are definitely better rigs for the job. That’s not the ODC Sport’s fault, however as it wasn’t built for that purpose…I just wanted to take it to the extreme and, well, she held up okay, especially when you factor in the part about the boat being stored in a harsh environment for several years, too.

Now, for just over a couple hundred bucks, I will say that this boat is a fantastic value and a great way to get started in pontoon boat fishing. Again, that’s the whole point of the thing. For it’s intended waters, the ODC Sport (or Classic) is a nice little, no-frills lake or gentle stream boat that’s worth the cash. GET ONE HERE: ODC Pontoon Boat

FishCraft SuperCat Raft

JD — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 04:36:15 +0000

At first glance, FishCraft’s SuperCat tunnel hull raft looks like one sweet fluff-chucking rig, but could it be equally at home coated in roe slime or back-trolling plugs as it is a serving as a platform for fly fishing?

The fine folks at Fish Craft (aka The Riverman Boat Works), say that the raft is part cataraft and part driftboat, combining the best of both worlds. You get the comfort of a hard floor and enclosure of a drifter while also having the forgiving qualities of a raft.

The SuperCat comes in a 15-foot standard model and an 18-foot Big Boy version. I picked the 15 footer for versatility’s sake because I wanted to use it on some smaller waters. The 18 footer is more of a big water outfitter’s gear-hauling machine or for somebody a little more manly than me…

Features

First and foremost, this boat is bulletproof. Made of tough 2200 denier PVC, the boat spots fat 25-inch main tubes that taper down to 16 inches in the bow and stern, which gives you quite a bit of extra room both fore and aft. There’s also a thick 20-inch wide strip of River Track rubber that runs the length of the bottom of each tube for added protection from bogies in the river.

The real slick part of the design, however, is the tunnel hull. The floor sits 14 inches above the water line, so all you have in the water are the two tubes.

The advantage, of course, is a lot less friction from the water along the bottom of the boat which means it rows waaaay better than a soft bottom raft. The SuperCat is also a self-bailer, so the raised floor enables any water you take on to gravity feed right out of the boat in nanoseconds.

The hard floor is another super sweet attribute, giving you the ability to stand up inside the raft with confidence — just as you would in a drift boat.

Layout

While you can configure a SuperCat in several different ways, I opted to go Pimp Daddy with mine and ordered most of the bells and whistles. For client’s comfort, I went with two drift boat style seats up front mounted on a big water-tight aluminum box that has tons of room for gear, lifejackets, lunches, cameras, etc. I also added a 3/4 “Oh Shit” bar up front for the guys to hang on to.

For me, I went with a tractor seat atop another aluminum box. This is the first seat of this style I’ve had and I have to say the little bit of back support goes a long way in keeping me going on a long day — though you do give up the ventilation of a traditional rope style seat. I also had FishCraft add a third seat at the back of the boat, though I have since taken it off.

In addition, I had a drift boat pulley-style anchor system added to the back of the frame and a custom rod holder assembly that slips between the tube and the frame.

Of course, you can keep it simple and have a basic aluminum frame and a bench seat or two put in. The guys at the factory will lay it out any way you want. In fact, the inflatable thwarts came with the boat, so I could even pull the frame off and do some whitewater paddling if I so desired.

River Test

Though I purchased the boat over a year ago, I really haven’t had a chance to use it much until recently, so I’ve held off on the review. After guiding out of it 7 days a week for quite a while now, however, I feel like I’ve finally put her though the paces and found out what the ol’ gal can do.

I guess the first word that comes to mind is “forgiving.” This boat is amazing — it makes easy work out of stuff that used to scare the living crap out of me in a drift boat. Not to say you can’t screw up in one of these boats, but if you keep her straight, you’ve got a good chance of making it through damn near anything.

Instead of sticking to and smashing rocks, you glide and bounce off. And the fact that you can’t sink it is also a huge plus. You can take on enough water to sink a drift boat and it all drains off in an instant. The only downside is the boat’s a bit heavy, and when you get headed down into some fast water, it takes some effort to get her slowed down.

It is also extremely buoyant and stable and makes those creepy boils in big rapids seem a lot less spooky — you know the ones I’m talking about: the kind that try to pull the gunwales of your drifter under. I’ve also intentionally aimed the Super Cat at eddy edges coming off steep riffles to see how the boat handles. In a hard boat, I’ve hit these babies wrong and been spun hard and even taken on water. The Cat, however, takes them easily.

Here’s the SuperCat making short work of a rapid that is a lot more technical in a metal boat that it appears in the video…you can also see why the guys up front need to wear some water-proof clothing in cold weather:

Okay, so it handles big water…but how does it fish?

The simple answer is very, well thank you. Without question, you can easily fish “Sacramento River” style fly anglers, i.e. with a guy up front and one aft, toss indicators out and drift along.

But the boat can do much more. I’ve pulled plugs for salmon and steelhead in some pretty hot water out of the SuperCat and it holds nicely. It doesn’t track as well as a hard boat and is sometimes prone to getting thrown off course because of the way the water hits the sides of the tubes, but it does the job just fine. And, let’s face it, the ability to crash through rough water safely overrides a small lack of handling.

As it turns out, I’ve also found the Cat to be a good side-drifter, making it a steelheader’s dream…

The boat rows well in those dreaded flat-water situations, too, and you can make as much speed “rowing out” as you would in a drifter with the same amount of effort.

Conclusion

Simply, put this is one bad-ass vessel and though they’re not cheap (around $7K the way I’ve got mine set up + trailer), the SuperCat’s worth the money for serious adventure angler types like myself.

The safety, versatility and fishability are it’s main strong points, though you do give up some room when you go with a raft instead of a drift boat. All my clients were a bit skeptical when I told them we’d be fishing in an inflatable rather than the 20-foot Willie drifter or sled that they’ve come accustomed to, but to a man, they all were in love with the SuperCat at the end of the day.

While they have plenty of room up front, I wish I had a little more room…a cooler, fish box, rods and net take up pretty much every last bit of space in the back of the boat. I normally carry a 152-quart cooler that I use as a fish box during salmon season, but could only fit a 120-quart model in the raft. Oh well, it just makes everybody’s fish look bigger…

Though you sit very high in the SuperCat, I think I may switch out the 11-foot oars that came with it to 10 footers. The boat is nimble, but the wide wingspan of the 11-foot sticks made negotiating narrow passages a bit tougher. Composite oars are normally sold with whitewater rafts for their durability, but I’d rather go with more flexible wooden shafts next time, though I really do like the Dynelite blades I have.

The one major drawback to rigging the boat like I did — with all the extras — is it makes it quite heavy. Initially, I figured I’d be able to drop the SuperCat into some sneaky places where I couldn’t launch a drift boat, but that’s not the case. I need to get the trailer pretty dang close to the water to get it on and off. Of course, a more basic frame configuration would make it more portable, but if you want all the comforts of a drifter, its going to cost you in terms of overall weight.

There really aren’t many negatives I can throw at you about the FishCraft SuperCat. Other than the weight, slight performance issues and lack of space, it’s one hell of a rig and the benefits more than outweigh the downsides.