I was just curious if anyone has or does use a float tube, to float the rivers? It seems like it would be just about as safe as a pontoon boat, you would just be in the water more? Just curious?
Buck

Buck,

In the float tube, isn't your lower half typically suspended below the level of the water?

Some of that fast moving, shallow water might get a bit painful on the ol' keester..:-)

A bunch of friends and I tried to "raft" Piru Creek one day many, many mooms ago. It had all of a foot of water, and all we had were cheap Target brand 2 man rafts.

Bounced my bootie over so many rocks I swore never to do it again. (Some memories we would like to forget!)

Mike

I thought about that once, too. Then I decided that I was quite fond of my legs and wished to keep them:) The rivers that I drift are too shallow in many areas to make that approach worthwhile. At the least I would be walking/banging my backside A LOT and in the worst case scenario, I would likely tear my legs or something more important off on a snag. Plus if you really get hung up, the current will drag you under and......well you know. I've found something that works better for me. Drop a line if ya wanna know.

Mike B. I hear what you are saying, My float tube is more of the U boat type style and it has a seat to wher my leags aren't really hanging down that much? I was thinking as a method to just get down the river, And then bank fish mostly? New Guy, still curious, I think this would work for what I would like to accomplish, I am jsut wondering if anyone does use one?
Buck

If the water you like to drift is clear of snags and you won't bump bottom too much, then I say go for it. I personally use a sevylor inflatable kayak. Got it for $70 new and it has plenty of room for gear. It weighs less than half of what a pontoon boat does and also packs down much smaller. I can get mine into a medium sized duffle bag. Have hit countless rocks and have yet to pop it. The secret is not over-inflating it. Handles up to class 3 water without trouble (providing the paddler is knowledgable). Works for me. Might not for others:)

That does not sound like a good idea.. almost Darwin award material if it was a river with any kind of riffels or anything like that...

I suggest the Bear Creek drift in the Sol Duc your first time out (hehe).

Bring a life jacket, float tube in a river equals

Due to lack of overall mobility and the potential for tangly-sharp stuff in the river, I would not recommend float tubing. Current, wind and sticks make a dangerous combination when your legs are hanging down below. If you got hung up in deep water, the only way out is to roll over and swim or detach the seat and slide under. If you can't stand up that means swiming.

A buddy of mine was snorkeling the Satsop observing fall kings. As he was free drifting down, his swim-fin buckle snagged on a unseen root wad. He was instantly forced under a cut bank fully extended and couldn't curl up enough to reach his ankle. He would still be there if a companion hadn't seen the whole thing and followed the same drift freeing his leg as he drifted by. Totally lucky!

I have used float tubes for duck hunting and fishing, so far without incedent ( except the time I was duck hunting and a mink-like creature thought I looked like a muskrat den).
However, I am always carefull and never really feel comfortable or safe just one fastex buckle away from swimming.

Good luck!

Bad, bad idea. They're not made for rivers at all.

Pay up your life insurance if you intend to float tube moving water. NOT wise, don't do it.

I have a tendency to be extra conservative, after having seen pontoons and even drift boats get into trouble. Float tubes just don't have the mobility to keep out of trouble. You just can't paddle fast enough. And if you get in trouble, they dramatically reduce your mobility to get back out of trouble.

Pure folly, is the nicest way I know how to say it.

But, if you would care so little for your own safety to float steelhead/salmon rivers in a U-boat then please at least consider the safety of others who would come to your rescue or recovery.

Thank you.

I agree with Mooch. Very dangerous. Have you ever seen anybody do this? What is next, scuba in the rivers?

let me know where and when so I can bring a video recorder. I hear the news pays good money when people kill themselves by being stupid. thats the nices way i can say it.

riverdog, interstingly enough, there are some locals that scuba/float the Gold River on Vancover island all the time. They count fish as a past-time. [Not that I'm avocating float tube or scuba in rivers, just FYI].

Buck has that true steelheader spirit, pioneer, adventurer! Everyone preaches to go out and hike, find their own zipper, honey hole, etc. Give him some credit, I don't think he would just toss a tube in a river and aimlessly go floating along. I'm sure Buck would consider ALL the safety issues, equipment, knowing the stretch of river he intends on drifting, he would even hand deliver a copy of his "Float Plan" to the County Coroner. I don't think he would have any problems drifting the Nasty, in January, Chum fishing in his Speedo bobbing along in a tube through Native Land. Tank Crossing to the Handicap Hole would be a fine drift. I see no problem in his judgement if he picked this float. I'm sure it would be an "interesting" trip.

I know a guy that used his float tube on the Lower Skagit below Mount Vernon. He was fishing for pinks last September. He did fine floating down the slow main current' being able to kick he would slow his progress down river. He then would hitch a ride back up on a back eddy kicking again to go faster. He did this for a few holes down the river. But then again this was the deep, slow, lower Skagit and not the free flowing, fast, boulder garden of say the Sky or Sol Duc.

Fishingjunky, that guy should think about all the snags in the lower Skagit. It's littered with logs and root wads. It would only take one small branch to drag him under.

A u-boat like a Flote-N-Tote with a seating platform and a place to rest your feet out of the water would be suitable for the mellower rivers on the west side.

But trying it in a float tube where your ass is in the water and your feet have no place to rest is just looking to get killed.

Extremely dangerous on ANY moving water. you won't find a manufacturer anywhere that recommends their float tubes for moving water... I know guys do it at the mouth og the Deschutes but umm well thats just dangerous and i think you'd find that many a coast guard patrol would tell you the same thing.
I don't care how many pfd's you wear and how careful you are it's extremely dangerous just get a pontoon boat that keeps your legs out of the water!

Ok, So when I take my maiden voyage through native lands in my speedo, I sure hope some one has some hot coffee at the take out and a warm truck!! I think something will be very cold by the end of that trip

Ok For real now, I get it!! It isn't a good idea. SO like I said at teh begining. I was just curious if anyone does or has done this. Apparently not. If so they must not of heard that it could be hazardous to there health So I will leave the float tube at home. I will lookinto something diferent. I guess Iwill jsut use my canoe instead Thanks for all the replys.

Buck

you might be a redneck if:

The last thing you remember saying is:

"Hey watch this."

Here's a option for you Buck. I run into a oldtimer on one of the Skeena tribs about every fall who cut a waist sized hole in the bottom of his ten-foot inflatable raft. He wades and casts (he's a bug-fisherman) with the raft around his thighs as he works his way down a fishable run. At the bottom he mearly slides up and into the raft and rows downstream to the next hole with his lower legs penitrating the floor. It is very effiecient as he has elliminated the down time of walking back to get the boat after fishing a run. Probably safer than the float tube idea, too.

I asked him about the legality of the set-up in a river where fishing from a boat is prohibited. He said the game warden claimed as long as his feet were "on the bottom" of the river while he fished, he was within his legal right. Just FYI. It is pretty cool to watch.

Come on Buck, don't let the dream die! Although the canoe would keep your legs out of the water, until it was upside down.

I wanna watch Gutpile and Buck plan a little float down the local river..lets plan the trip..

sol_on_the_duc

Wouldn't the raft fill up with water??? Also, I recommend using the float tube, that way you can score a good spot at the handicapp fishing dock.

dizzy fisherman, the set-up I mentioned does have a certain "red-neck" quality to it. Yes, the diaphram (raft bottom) does partially submerge, but the old man is in chest waders so it doesn't really matter.

Buck,

I'm a bit late to this thread, but I'll add my recommendation against using your float tube, even U-boat style, in a steelhead or salmon river. In the 1970s, Jim Teeny and his father, both very accomplished anglers, were using their float tubes to cross the Sandy River in Oregon. Jim's father drowned. Of course, boaters in jet sleds, drift boats, white water rafts, canoes, and kayaks have had fatal accidents in rivers, too. Yet, there must be something to this, as float-tubing rivers would probably already be quite popular if people felt it was generally safe. I think the key limitation of the float tube in a river setting is the very limited control and manouverability relative to the speed of the current, varying depth, and abundance of unseen snags that can catch either you or your tube.

I use a jet boat, a canoe, and a small raft on rivers, and I try always to use them in environments where my ability to control my craft exceeds the control the river will exert on me. I don't use my float tube in rivers because I think the equation tilts toward the river exerted more control than I can.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Wear a good PFD, that way they can find your body.

I have seen it done - for a very short time and totally unsuccessfully - on Vance Creek, trib to the Skok. One of our stream surveying crew thought he could save a bit of time and cover more water if he didn't have to walk all the way, so he put in the float tube and had at it. He got to the first riffle, hit the bottom, flipped over, and got soaked. This on a day with snow on the ground. End of experiment. :p

Wear a full wetsuit with a inflatable PFD. Swim from hole to hole . Just stay away from class 5 and 6 water. Inflate the PFD and float backwards to boondog:-)

Hey Buck, are you still considering the float tube? I see Lovefishies thinks we should do a trip. I've got one of those recreational tubes that is towed behind a boat on a lake that should be fine. I also have a lifejacket. I'll bring the jacket , but I'll probably just use it as a cushion to sit on in the tube. I don't know about you, but I'm in excellent physical condition and I think wearing a life jacket would hamper my ability to swim if I did encounter a problem. I'm having trouble locating my fishing pole, but I'm sure I'll find it soon. Let me know.

The Gut

Well Gutpile, since you are in such great phyusical shape, I don't think you should worry about a pfd at all. But I think I will head to Toys R us and get me a set of those water wings, I think tose would keep me safe It sounds like we would be stugguling for our life the whole way. I'll tell you what you go first and then if you make it I guess I may try it. NOT
Buck

Buck, sounds like the float tube trip isn't going to amount to anything, so I've come up with plan B, if you are interested. Springer fishing. If the run materializes and the sporties get a reasonable shot at them, I'd be up for a trip to the Big C. I've got a boat with ALL the safety equipment, new Merc and set up with all the fishing equipment we would need. I sincerly believe this would be a survivable trip. You could give the wife a kiss good bye in the morning and come home and see her that night. Can't gaurantee that on the goofy float tube trip. Water Wings are welcome!

The Gut.