sean c

Nice boat Gregg! Thanks for the info. Sean

I was wanting to do some smallmouth float fishing out of my drift boat and was wondering if it would be doable on the upper Illinois or any of the other smallie rivers in that part of the state. Any help would be much appreciated. Sean

Rocky, Toons are great for what you are wanting to do. They are very stable, very easy to get in and out of on the river(you just put your feet down and hop out of the seat) and much more compact to transport to and from the river. I can only speak for myself but I personally much rather have my wife in a toon than a canoe or yak. They are slow, tough to paddle in frog water, you could never go upstream, they track like crap and are heavy and bulky compared to solo yaks or canoes. If your wife has any reservations about floating down the river she will be happiest in the toon. Much less likely that she capsizes or takes a spill getting in and out and we all know a happy wife on a fishing trip means more fishing trips. Sean

Fished Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Kelly to Blair Friday and Blair to James Saturday and Sunday. Fishing was pretty darned good in the mornings on stoneflies. The crowds were unreal which should be expected during the hottest month of the year right before school starts but on the flip side the people watching was a hoot and everyone was really friendly. Friday just above Blair we spotted a very large brown that was tumbling down the river on the bottom and were able to net him. Spent 30 minutes trying to revive him to no avail. It didn't look like he had been caught or had any external injuries but he did have some red splotches on his belly like maybe he was bleeding internally. He measured at 25" and was a very heavy fish biggest trout I have personally ever seen. Sunday morning the fishing started out red hot and then we got dumped on by a rain shower just below Patrick. When the rain was over there was a steam or fog on the river and visibility was only about 20 feet it was really cool. We also got in to some smallies below Riverside which was a blast. All in all another great trip to the NFOW. Sean

Max, I was a pontoon guy for the last few years and if I had stayed with a pontoon I would have purchased the scadden renegade. The idea of a frameless pontoon is pretty cool alot less storage space and a ton less weight. My 9' outcast weighed something like 70 lbs and if I remember right the 9' renegade weighs half as much. Leaving the frame assembled a deflated pontoon will take up most of the back of a standard bed pick up. Floating and fishing rivers from a pontoon have its pluses and minuses like any other craft. Toons are super stable, darned near indestructible and much easier to get in and out of then a canoe or kayak. They are also slow, don't track worth a flip and are a PIA to fish out of but so are most solo crafts in moving water. FWIW if you go the toon route I would get at least a 9 footer I would skip the escape and go with the renegade. As far Scadden frameless one neat concept and they get pretty good reveiws. Let me know if you have any other questions. Also I used my toon mainly on the NFOW. Sean

OTF, Stay between Rainbow Spring and James. We stayed at Sunburst last weekend and did Kelly to Sunburst Saturday(7:00 - 4:30) and Sunburst to James Sunday(6:00 - 12:30). Of course you can make either stretch shorter or longer depending on how hard you fish. We fished hard Saturday and mainly fished just from the boat Sunday. I think the miles for Kelly to Sunburst were 7.9 and Sunburst to James 4.2. Blair is a half mile or so upstream of Sunburst if you are using that ramp. If you are there on a hot weekend expect to start seeing alot of canoes around lunch time. A typical trip for us when we go is Kelly to Blair when we want a full day and Blair or Patrick to James when we want a shorter day. Blair to Patrick is a great short float if you want to get back on the river in the evenings. I would give yourself at least 3 hours for this float because there is a ton of great water in that section. Get on the water early take an afternoon siesta and go back out in the evenings if you want to fish some more. Sean

Tim, Just got back from a weekend trip. We floated Kelly to Sunburst Saturday had a good morning and then the fishing shut off for us around 10:30 or 11:00. Did Sunburst to James today and caught fish from start to finish. It was pretty random all weekend we caught fish on quite a few different flies and different types of holding water no real pattern at all. I think the most important thing this weekend was to be on the river early we started at 7:00 Saturday and 6:00 today once the sun was high and the canoes caught up to us it was pretty tough. We nymphed all weekend with the standard NFOW rig big lead fly and assorted droppers. Got an 18" rainbow Saturday and a 17" brown today the rest of the fish caught were 13" or smaller. Sean

Kyle, Thats a really sweet catch rate for anyone there much less a first and second timer congrats on the great trip. I am always counting the days until I can get back to the NFOW. Thanks for the report. Sean

Hi Gavin, We were the pontoon group. The guy in the green pontoon name is Rob. He said he had tied flies with you before or met you at Hargroves I can't remember but he knew your name. I spotted a really big brown that still has me shaking at the first island but I couldn't catch him thats why we were there so long. It worked out though because my buddies did catch quite a few fish while waiting on me for an hour trying in vain to hook that bad boy. The weather was crazy all weekend and we experienced the same type of thing as far as the weather and the bite. I don't think we did quite as well as you guys but we all used the exact same rig brown Pat's with assorted weight and droppers. Can't wait to get back. Sean