I bought a used drift boat a while back and want to get some new oars (it came with heavy sawyer) ... so the question is "How do I determine the "right" sized oars for my drift boat?"

The D/B is a 16 foot high side Clackacraft... it has 10ft sawyers...

Also, would I notice any difference in 9.6ft versus 10ft? I am looking at the Cataract's...

What about all wood oars like the Gull's?

Thanks...!

Tight Lines

The best thing to do is try different length oars. My boat came with 9 footers. I tried 10 footers, then I tried some 9.5 footers and settled on those. I borrowed oars from friends to do that.

The basic rule for oar length is 1/2 the length of the boat plus 1 1/2 feet. So 9 1/2 footers should be correct for most conditions. I like cataract oars for rough conditions. Sawyers look pretty but I'd beat them to death in some of the rock gardens in local rivers.

10 footers seem awfully long for your boat. I run 10's on my AK drifter (20 + and 72 inch bottom) ... but I am seated back from the widest point when compared to a std. drifter.

Personally, I run 9's ... most of the guides out this way do. Much will depend on your water ... if you fish big open water where slow big strokes will work fine, then go longer. You run some of the water we do that's fast and filled with boulders, you want short sticks to make quick strokes and utilize eddies off the rocks you're trying to avoid.

I think most folks go longer than they should watching the effort some put into it out there. I'd say a set of 9's would do ya fine!