I currently own a older willie drift boat. I have been planning to get into something newer and sell my old boat. I have been looking at some of the rafts with the fishing frames and they look pretty cool. I do a lot of side drifting and bobber fishing and was wondering how the inflatable boats would work for pulling plugs? How do they track and so on? I would love to have both a drifter and a inflatable but that is not in the cards.

I feel like the inflatable would open up my opportunities to ge out and fish when conditions are not optimal and I want to get away from the crowds. I have a 2 year old daughter who I have to line up a babysitter for in advance, and my plans have fallen through more than once because of the rivers not cooperating on those days. Any info from those of you who have rowed and fished out of both would be great.

Gotta say, I've been a DB guy for years. But after getting a chance in a quality raft I was extremely impressed. I still like the DB for the usable space though. I tend to bring a lot of gear.

Keith

I have a Maravia Spider with full NRS frame and have owned several drift boats including a Hyde and my current Willie. If I had to have only one boat it would be a raft. I have mine set up to plug out of and it works well. Doesn't track as well as a driftboat, but still works fine even with three big dudes in it. As you mentioned the raft opens up low water conditions that aren't the best for drift boats. Rafts don't have much for dry storage but with a few dry bags and boxes you can bring what you need for three people. I've been in and rowed NRS, AIRE, Outcast and Maravia and all are good high quality rafts. I chose to go with the Maravia because it seemed more nimble with three aboard than the other boats did. That might change with different set ups in different boats.

Simply put, if you plan on pulling plugs, a raft or pontoon boat is the wrong craft. Too much drag. You can do it but, compared to your drift boat, you won't like it.

Like AP said, if you plan on pulling plugs the majority of the time, stick with a hard boat...if you want to do anything else, in a lot more places than you can comfortably do it in a hard boat, then the rubber boats got'em beat...

You can pull plugs out of rubber boats and be effective, but it's a lot of work...just not the right tool for the job.

Fish on...

Todd

I noticed the rafts are very wide. Which sizes are should I look at for the OP rivers? Also do the rafts have more drag than driftboats when rowing or are they just more of a chalenge to keep straight? Are they more work in general?

It's a double edged sword with the rubber boats...to get a raft to track well, it needs a big footprint, which makes it drag like crazy...'toons drag very little, but are very squirrelly so far as keeping them straight enough to pull plugs.

Either way, you work a lot harder...it's a hella effort to keep a big toon straight pulling plugs in moderate or faster water, it's a hella effort to keep a raft from moving downstream too fast in moderate or fast water...

If I had to pull plugs, and had to use a rubber boat, I'd go with a raft...rowing harder to slow the boat is easier than rowing harder to keep the boat straight, in my opinion.

Fish on...

Todd

I agree with AP and Todd that if your primary mission is pulling plugs then you should stick with the DB...I recently got back into the drift boat game just for that reason. There are days when the bulk of my fishing is gonna be done with plugs and those are the days that I will be in a hard boat. The rest of the time I'll be in my raft

My previous post was just to chime in and let you know that you can pull plugs with a raft...not that it's the best machine for the job.

Good luck with your search and let us know what you end up with. There's been a few on CL over the last several months.

I have been looking at the 13 ft aire, nrs and saturns. They all seem to sell with nrs frame packages. The saturns are the cheapest and seem to get good reviews for the price. I would like to be able to take 3 people at a time including the rower and still keep the boat smaller in size. Any recomendations on brand and size?

I have a Willie DB and a 16ft cat I wouldnt give my DB up for a cat and the few times I have fished out of a raft wouldnt trade my DB for one either. I guess it all depends on what a person likes...

May need one of each in the end of time.Good luck,
SZ

The drag issue is primary and the DB wins hands down. You need a large one to anchor up and play the fish and pulling the tooner against the current to pull the anchor is next to impossible in some cases. You dont have stand up leverage or a buddy to pull or row. Tooners really shine for a downstream taxi to get out and fish the slots and drifts. You also have to dress a lot warmer for that cause your in the water most of the day. You pay for white water performance whether you use it or not.

id rather row my driftboat all day anyday over our raft, that being said the raft is very nice for low flows and new floats your not sure of taking the db down. my partners raft is a 14' saturn with an aluminum frame. we dont pull plugs ever so no comparison there, but is definetly more work to keep it on track and just plain more work to row. the only way is to have one of each imo.

also the raft has very little room compared to a drifter. but playing bumper boats through rocks is much less stressful in a raft than db.

You can pull plugs in a pontoon and rather well with a little practice. It isn't quite as a easy as in a DB but you can do it. The key is long pontoons with a fairly big diameter. Not one of those little Water Skeeter jobbers (I have one but don't use it to pull plugs).

If your primary objective is to pull plugs, a pontoon may not be your best option, but if you are looking for something to get out on your own, cover a lot of water and pull plugs here and there, then a pontoon is great.

I think the effort of getting the pontoon ready and on and off the water, is less of a barrier than a DB.

The tough thing about any kind of boat is you will not be able to find one that meets all of your needs perfectly. IMHO you need to list out what you intend to do the most of, then buy accordingly. Also consider the kind of water you will be on most of the time. Good luck and let us know what you get.

Having a problem of which boat to buy is not a bad problem at all.

I started taking my kids with me in a DB when they were 4 and 6. Of all the boats I've owned, it was the best and safest craft for small kids due to the it's canted high gunnels. Because of this, my wife often encouraged me to fish, even if just to give her a break. In a DB I also felt comfortable enough to take some of their small friends, many who now account for their love of the sport due to their experiences on the river and in the salt in this craft. Because of their early boating experiences in the DB, my kids were also able to successfully transition to other watercraft quickly. Best of all, they also became great fishing companions sooner. Although it wasn't always BIG fun to start with, we still cherish the memories we made together and I continue to reap the rewards of that investment today with the occasional front seat. A DB may not be the ideal craft for where YOU want to fish today, but my best recommendation to any father would be to consider a craft that will bring you and your kids closer together today for an even greater fishing experience tomorrow.

All the best.

+1 with Mooch
I'm doing a similar program bringing up a young fisherman and feel very compfy with a drifter. Also no guilt when it's single digits because of the heater.
Love my buddies rafts though!
I think Stam's answer is the best....you need them all.
I almost never pull plugs which is a bummer because my boat was made for it....

Saw the Maravia in town a few weeks ago...Guess you decided to keep it after all

It was the second nicest looking Spider in town that day.

Currently building a 16 foot pontoon boat...it will be a tank and am looking forward to some floatin fun...pics soon