Spring Float Tubing

Sometimes just what the doctor ordered isn’t medicine; in Frank and my case the doctor prescribed a Sunday afternoon of fly fishing from our float tubes. The Frank in this case is my good friend Frank Terkhorn…many of you might know him better as our own Ellettsville True Value Hardware Owner. It doesn’t matter how tight one gets wrapped up in the daily rush of things, an afternoon flinging a fly around a southern Indiana lake often gets all the kinks worked out.

If you haven’t been in a float tube, either ever…or for a while, then you really don’t know what you’re missing. Fact is that with today’s technology, fishing from a float tube is about as safe as fishing from a boat…oh, and a lot more fun. Consider this, while fly fishing in a kayak or boat you are constantly having to pick up your fly line and move it. In a float tube you are moving backwards and thus don’t ever have to pick up the line; often I make a cast to the shore, often at about a 45 degree angle and then strip/retrieve the line while still engaged in a backward motion with my kick fins. This movement backwards is very similar to fishing in a stream…in moving water. I actually have a bow in my fly line and will get chases from fish way out from the shore. When I am ready to once again cast…I pick up the line, pivot within my float tube and deliver the fly further up the shore line and repeat the process. There is nothing that could be both easier and more functional than having your fly in the water about 98% of the time!

At this very moment the good folks at Creek Company have the ODC 420, their top version of the float tube (the only one I have ever used) on sale at $149. That is $100 off the regular price and as far as I know as low as the price will be. At this price you really can’t go wrong for a one man fishing vessel that will allow you to get in and out of most lakes in a matter of a minute or so. If interested, give Dennis at PortableKayaks.com a call and talk with him about a “FlyFishingWithJeff” discount.

Let me touch on one more option…kick fins are very important and you need to buy a pair of better fins that will allow you move/thrust easily without getting tired. You can buy a cheap pair of kick fins….they will cause you way more troubles than they are worth. Once again The Creek Company sells what I feel like is the best pair of kick fins, their product number is 350 and they sell for around $49.

Frank and I kicked off in different directions…being that he is all messed up and left handed? He put his right side to the shore and I put my left side to the shore and we met about halfway around the lake. The water had a stain on it due to the heavy rains that we have had for a while, but it wasn’t stained so badly that you couldn’t fish it with a silver shad colored fly and therefore that is what I tied on. I hadn’t gone far until I felt a big ‘pop’ on the other end and reflexively strip set with my left hand. I immediately knew I had tied into a good fish but couldn’t tell what I was fighting. A few seconds later I lipped a 14 inch black crappie; this was one of the best black crappie’s I can remember catching and it was a good way to get the day started.

As we neared the halfway point I had caught a couple other nice crappie and a few bass…the biggest of which was about 16 inches. I had my camera running and looked up in time to see Frank hook into a bass and was able to quickly focus the camera and catch all the action. In fact on this trip I tried a new camera angle and used one of my ‘dry’ cameras (not my GoPro) and had it positioned about a foot above the water which ended up giving me a very neat angle to view me landing a few bass. If you’d like to see this short video of me and Frank, click here.

Frank and I crossed each other, traded a few ‘snide’ comments and then went about fishing our other half of the lake. I decided to change things up and went to my 8-weight rod and tied on a large, 4 inch shad popper. I didn’t know if the fish would ‘look-up’ or not but my second cast proved successful and a bass smashed the fly just a few feet off from the edge of the lake. I won’t say it was a slam…but I did land a few on top and that is always a neat and very visual take.

If you are a fishermen then you know that while we go to fish…the socialization is also a big part of things. When Frank and I got back to our truck the owner of the lake was present and Jim is just one of those guys that I truly like. We talked fishing, the lake, turkey hunting, mushrooms…and a few other topics or as I like to say…”We shot the bull for a while”. I know that we are welcome back to fish his lake again, but furthermore I just like talking to guys that have worked hard for a living and are willing to share a bit of their efforts and Jim is just such a guy.

What the doctor ordered turned out to be the best medicine around…a little time atop water, fly-fishing for a few hours with a good friend. A pretty cheap remedy and one that all of you can take advantage of…grab your gear and get going to the best doctor around-Mother Nature…when you do you will find out how peaceful it is to Enjoy the Great Outdoors.