Montana or the Ozarks

[joeD]

My mistake then. My interpretation of your original post was that you have one foot in the Ozarks and one foot in Montana, and, have an inner, somewhat opposing fishing conundrum, as to approach, environment, and fishing philosophy when pursuing fish in your two home waters. 

I could care less about who has gear, or the lack of it. Just a response to a "simplicity" angle. Which can sometimes ring false. 

Fishing is fun. So is "talking" about it. Beats politics, Mizzou sports and the Rams and, now, Grant's Farm.

[Al Agnew]

Your butt is about 4 inches off the water with the Watermaster...6 inches if you sit on a cushion.  However, I like it better than a toon because it's easier to control with your feet with swim fins, and easier to row as well.  It only weighs about 30 pounds and has handy carrying handles on the sides, so you can carry it across a gravel bar or over a pile of rocks just by standing up on the inside and grabbing the handles on each side, lift it to a comfortable height, and start walking.  It's kinda like a belly boat but bigger, carries more, rows (and rows well) if you need to cover some water, and handles up to class III whitewater.  What I need to find or design is a set of swim fins where you can hinge the flappy part up and attach it to your ankle so that you can walk forward easily in shallow water without tripping over the flappy fins.  If I can come up with something like that so that I don't have to take the fins off every time I come to a riffle too shallow to float, it could just about be the most effective solo fishing craft you can get for day trips (not enough storage for overnighters).

Edited to add...I looked online and somebody IS making fins like I was talking about.  Unfortunately, they are $135!

[fishinwrench]

I was able to keep my 8' toon pointed in the right direction by just sweeping my feet.  No fins.    I carried an anchor bag but never once needed it.  

I was going to make a stand-up platform but ended up selling it before I ever got around to it.  I've regretted letting it go several times so I'll probably end up getting another (bigger) one. 

[Old plug]

i bought a float tube during my days on the Meramec. I thought it would just be a great idea to come down from the birds nest to Onandaga on it. Having been down that stretch many times. I cannot know what I was thinking. By the time I got to the the low water bridge at Onandaga I was so cramped up and sore I could hardly get out of the water. Plus my backside was brushed and tender as well from not getting my footing on a few riffles and bumping merry along. 

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, float tubes are definitely not real river friendly.  You HAVE to walk the riffles in them, since your entire legs are in the water and your butt is dragging bottom.  Good thing about "personal rafts" like the Watermaster is that you can float anything in them that you can float in a canoe.  You just lift your feet and place them on a strap in front of you that's out of the water.

[fishinwrench]

As a general rule whatever "boat" I'm in is just a tool to get me and my gear across the deep holes, as most of my river smallie fishing is done while wading.    To cast and fish really well I have to be standing up.   

Even in the bass boat the first thing to get thrown out are the pedestal seats. 

[Flysmallie]

8 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

 

Even in the bass boat the first thing to get thrown out are the pedestal seats. 

Those were always the first things to go even when I was gear fishing. I would leave the one in the back if my dad was with me.

I fished a float tube a bunch when I was a kid on farm ponds in Oklahoma and the pits in SE Kansas. I love float tubes but they don't have a good use on the river in my mind. I think the only boat I would ever be comfortable fly fishing out of on the river is one being rowed by Trigg.

[Flysmallie]

Al if you really want to have a great experience with smallies on the fly I would team up with Wrench and Jeff Trigg and have Jeff take you on one of his smallie floats. I was talking to him last night and he had a really great year guiding his smallie floats. He can show you the best methods for getting one to eat a fly.

[mic]

Try these Al... i haven't yet, but I would like to get some. http://www.amazon.com/Omega-Amphibian-Navigator-Float-Tube/dp/B001P4FU46/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1449002628&sr=8-7&keywords=swim+fins+for+float+tubes

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, Mic, those are the ones I saw...look perfect, but that's pretty darned expensive.  I MIGHT get them for out in Montana where the stronger current means you need a lot more power to your strokes, but now I'm thinking about a cut-down version of regular fins that don't stick out much past your toes but are just a little wider than your feet for Missouri.  Wrench said he controlled his toon with just his feet, no fins, and I think with just a little extra surface area I could control the little raft in the kind of water we have in the Ozarks.