11-09-2003, 05:55 PM
[cool]FLOAT TUBES? Was that an invitation for a response? Here I is.
As you so correctly surmise, the hands-free feature of float tubing is ideal for working vertical or slow moving situations...in calmer waters. With a decent sonar and the right gear you can rock and roll.
There are float tubing clubs in northern Idaho that catch lots of big "lakers" in the big ponds up north. Some in the fifty pound bracket have been recorded to tubers and tooners from Priest Lake and Pend O'Reille.
Some of those guys also booked a flotilla trip to Great Slave Lake, in the NWT of Canada shortly after ice out one year. They were in constant action in shallow water...less than twenty feet deep. Many of them got a "big mack sleighride" when a fiesty monster put the line over it's shoulder and boogied. In the article I read a few years ago on that trip, there was one fish landed that was about 57 pounds.
I never had the opportunity to try tubing macks on the Bear, but from what I know, I would guess that at least part of the year you could launch from Cisco beach and be within easy striking distance of some mack action. Then, with sonar and technique you should be able to get bit.
Unless you are very agile, I would not recommend trying to get in and out of a float tube from a boat. Harder than it might seem. But, you could run in to a nearby shoreline and launch from the beach. Lots of folks do that on Powell.
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As you so correctly surmise, the hands-free feature of float tubing is ideal for working vertical or slow moving situations...in calmer waters. With a decent sonar and the right gear you can rock and roll.
There are float tubing clubs in northern Idaho that catch lots of big "lakers" in the big ponds up north. Some in the fifty pound bracket have been recorded to tubers and tooners from Priest Lake and Pend O'Reille.
Some of those guys also booked a flotilla trip to Great Slave Lake, in the NWT of Canada shortly after ice out one year. They were in constant action in shallow water...less than twenty feet deep. Many of them got a "big mack sleighride" when a fiesty monster put the line over it's shoulder and boogied. In the article I read a few years ago on that trip, there was one fish landed that was about 57 pounds.
I never had the opportunity to try tubing macks on the Bear, but from what I know, I would guess that at least part of the year you could launch from Cisco beach and be within easy striking distance of some mack action. Then, with sonar and technique you should be able to get bit.
Unless you are very agile, I would not recommend trying to get in and out of a float tube from a boat. Harder than it might seem. But, you could run in to a nearby shoreline and launch from the beach. Lots of folks do that on Powell.
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