Glide Angler O2 inflatable SUP

[Ham]

I’ve been frustrated by trying to fly fish from my yak. I feel like I am too low to the water and I struggle to make a decent cast. I wanted a way to fly fish waters without boat ramps. Sometimes from shore is too limiting.
I started looking a Stand Up Paddleboards. Of course, I always get attracted to the Belle of the Ball. In the case, BOTE. I really wanted a Bote Rackem Inflatable. I think it has the best features, but the $2200 price tag was holding me back. I stumbled across Glide boats. It had many of the same features and was 1/3 the price. Since my first experience on a hard board SUP didn’t go so well, I had more than a little concern about this idea. My reasoning was that it came with an inflatable chair and worse case scenario it becomes a hybrid “yak”.

My boat came in last Friday. It came with everything you need, but I did buy a rechargeable air pump to take the work out of inflating it. Pump can be set to your desired pressure and turned on. 6 minutes later, you’re good to go. I need more than 6 minutes to get everything else ready to go. My plan was to use my Yeti cooler as a seat with a standard boat cushion on top. I would move the boat from that position and (carefully) stand up to cast if I saw a good target. I decided Monday was the day that I would take it out and I wanted to target an area that was very frustrating to try and fish on foot. after a slow rigging process (that will improve), I got on the board. Some wobbles, but I stayed dry. Fairly quickly, I was on the board on the board. First fish on the Glide. 
well, The wind got up and really pushed me around. I was getting blown so fast that I was spooking fish as soon as I would spot them. I did manage to hook one Black Buffalo on fly, but I was using an 8 foot 5 weight and the fish was behind me when everything came tight. I lost it too quickly. 
Frustrated in that spot, I fought the wind for 45 minutes to get back to my launch site. I loaded up and moved to a less windy spot.

Things came Back together much more quickly this time. I foolishly failed to spray on deet. The mosquitos waited until I pushed off and then swarmed me. If they had bit me at the truck I would have sprayed up. I will coat myself no matter what next time. 
Between swatting mosquitos and watching time fly by, I did manage to get a good take from a Bowfin. Nice strip set and then a long sleigh ride. I wore that sucker down before I attempted to net that fish. Really nice fight. I had survived my first encounter with a strong fish. I stayed dry and everything. 
I felt a lot more stable at the end of the day than I had at first. I think I will continue to improve. I have to work out some more details, but It was much nicer for the fly fisherman. Less line tangles. Better casting etc. I think this is gonna work out. 

[Flysmallie]

That’s cool. I was watching a guy just a couple of hours ago paddle one down the beach. It’s tempting to get one but I’m not sure. Is the cooler seat working well? 

[Ham]

3 hours ago, Flysmallie said:

That’s cool. I was watching a guy just a couple of hours ago paddle one down the beach. It’s tempting to get one but I’m not sure. Is the cooler seat working well? 

So far, so good. The board supports 500 lbs. me and all my stuff don’t crowd that. I found it to be stable and relatively comfortable. 

[Ham]

If anyone has been playing this game already, I’d love to hear your experiences. You may have figured out wonderful solutions to some of the problems I am working on. 

[gotmuddy]

for inflating, I highly suggest using one of these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V1LCKX9?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_11

 

we have two, and they work excellent.  It is two stage, it uses a blower to 1psi, then a compressor above it.