The Pontoon Chapter

As a wading streamer fisherman, I’ve often lamented at my lack of mobility. I had fallen into the rut of fishing the same stretches of river. There’s alot to be be said for learning the river, that’s for sure. Success in fly fishing is 35% presentation, and 65% knowledge of the river. Knowing where the fish lie, and what they want to see, can only be gained by time on the river. But, over, and over and over . . . to be sure, it was getting a tad bit boring. Outcast Discovery 9 IR

It has been my practice to book a guided float trip on some “foreign water” a couple of times each year. I look at it as an investment; kind of like a fact-finding mission. I tell my wife that I’m “doing research”. Indy-fishing the P-M, or hitting the peak of the hendricksons on the Au Sable, or a float down the Muskegon or Manistee for steelhead, or a run at the trophy browns below Mio makes sense to me. How else can a fellow learn? Right?

From time to time, I’d toy with the idea of a McKenzie-style drift boat. But, to tell you the truth, I couldn’t justify it to myself . . . let alone to my wife. There just aren’t enough river miles close to home that can handle a watercraft of that size. I’d have to trailer it somewhere, get a car spot, then find someone willing to take off with me in the middle of the week. Then, the chances are that I would end up being the one rowing the sticks, while my free-loafer buddy did all the fishing. There had to be a better solution.

On the recommendation of "Uber" Raines (float guide at the P-M River Lodge), this past winter, I purchased an inflatable, one-man pontoon. My world has changed!

It is hard to describe the exhilaration! It’s like opening a whole new chapter on my fly fishing adventures. Floating is a whole different experience. Not only does it give me a great sense of freedom . . . but the TRANQUILITY is beyond description. Quietly drifting along; a little oar stroke here, then another there. Listening to the gentle babble of the river on a drift is a whole bunch different than listening to the torrent pounding against your waders.

First Trout from a 'ToonThen, of course, there’s the wonderment of seeing water that maybe you have never seen before . . . and the realization that you’re probably fishing water that doesn’t see too many anglers during the course of the year. Oh, it’s a kick. That’s for sure. Even though I’m on the same river, it’s all brand new, again.

Now, what a dilemma. So many rivers I’ve waded, but so many I don’t really know. You should see my calendar . . . float the Au Sable . . . float the P-M . . . float the Manistee . . . float the Two-Hearted. You get the picture. So many rivers, so little time.