stlhdh20,

I never have done any drift boating in the dark, but I have run a sled in the dark. When I was guiding, I hated to run in the dark! In over10 years of guiding, I only had 2 crashes in my sleds. Both occurred at dark thirty in morning. No one got hurt, except my lower unit and my pride.

On smaller rivers, drifting with a drift boat at night only endangers the people who are in the drift boat, but all that changes when you mix sleds and drift boats together. That is not a good thing to do! In all the years that I was guiding, I never saw a drift boat with lights.

Personally, I think that do so is only for the young and foolish. In fact, it's even foolish to run a sled on a river at nighttime. I don't do it anymore (got smarter), and I now wait tell it gets light and the fog lifts.

Going down a river in the dark can almost certainly guarantee you that sooner or later you will get a "thrill" that you may never forget. I hope that it does not happen to you. Beside, aren't most rivers closed to night fishing? So it the risk of getting to hole first really worth it?

Good luck... you may need it someday if you keep dritfing at night!

Ps, it's been my personal experence.... that $hit happens three times faster in the dark!


Cowlitzfisherman