pontoon vs. kayak . . .
My son and I, along with a group of friends, went over to Trap Pond in SE Delaware last Saturday and had a GREAT day of fishing.[/size][/font] The bad news is, I kept getting stuck in the muck, and couldn't launch my tube. Rob went out in his pontoon, and did fairly well. Caught a couple of smallmouth and several blue gill. I fished from the bank, and did about equally as well.
After lunch, he went back out, this time in a friend's spare kayak, and he loved it. I got out on his 'toon, and had a much better time, and was way more successful! I snagged 15 - 20 smallmouth and a ton of bluegill. About 2 in the afternoon, the wind shifted to the NE, and started blowing hard and cold. No fear, Rob, Wayne and I were the last off the water at 7 pm. 'Twas a great day.
This was our second trip this year. A couple of weeks earlier we went up to Deer Creek in NE Maryland to fish for Shad. 'cept there weren't any shad in them thar waters. The water level was too low, and they couldn't get up the crek to spawn. Later we walked down to the mouth where it feeds into the Susquehanna River, and saw tens of thousands of shad stacked up waiting for the water level to rise. (Sunday afternoon it poured - probably enough so's we'll have a bountiful crop of baby shad this year!)
Anyway, tow serious questions I have for you experienced folk:
1.) How do you get into the water when you sink 2 or 3 inches in mud every step you take? It was so sticky, I could barely lift my foot, with fins on them.
2.) Rob is really wanting a sit in kayak. He forgot his water leg - and cannot get his walking leg wet (chips and electronics) - so he felt safe and dry in Wayne's kayak without waders. So whaddya think - should I make him stick to the pontoon, of cave in and go the kayak route? Kayaks are certainly a lot faster; he'd be running way ahead of me. If'n he got stuck, of otherwise in a predicament, it would take me a while to get to him . . . But all things considered, what advantages do you see in float tubes (or pontoons) vs. a kayaks, explicitly for fishing?
Cheers,
After lunch, he went back out, this time in a friend's spare kayak, and he loved it. I got out on his 'toon, and had a much better time, and was way more successful! I snagged 15 - 20 smallmouth and a ton of bluegill. About 2 in the afternoon, the wind shifted to the NE, and started blowing hard and cold. No fear, Rob, Wayne and I were the last off the water at 7 pm. 'Twas a great day.
This was our second trip this year. A couple of weeks earlier we went up to Deer Creek in NE Maryland to fish for Shad. 'cept there weren't any shad in them thar waters. The water level was too low, and they couldn't get up the crek to spawn. Later we walked down to the mouth where it feeds into the Susquehanna River, and saw tens of thousands of shad stacked up waiting for the water level to rise. (Sunday afternoon it poured - probably enough so's we'll have a bountiful crop of baby shad this year!)
Anyway, tow serious questions I have for you experienced folk:
1.) How do you get into the water when you sink 2 or 3 inches in mud every step you take? It was so sticky, I could barely lift my foot, with fins on them.
2.) Rob is really wanting a sit in kayak. He forgot his water leg - and cannot get his walking leg wet (chips and electronics) - so he felt safe and dry in Wayne's kayak without waders. So whaddya think - should I make him stick to the pontoon, of cave in and go the kayak route? Kayaks are certainly a lot faster; he'd be running way ahead of me. If'n he got stuck, of otherwise in a predicament, it would take me a while to get to him . . . But all things considered, what advantages do you see in float tubes (or pontoons) vs. a kayaks, explicitly for fishing?
Cheers,