Inflatable Kayak Blog

By Guest Author, Victoria Adams

A float tube or Belly boat is an inflatable flotation device used in fly fishing. They are basically a seat for a fisherman to sit in while he fishes a lake that is inaccessible by boat, and they generally allow a fisherman to fish more area on a lake than he would from a boat. Float tubes are also better for the environment because they are man powered by using a pair of fins or flippers, rather than gas powered. They are economical and come in a range of prices as low as $60.00. They have a compact portability fitting into a space no bigger than your average back pack. They can go from packed to lake worthy in less than 15 minutes depending on the type of air pump used. Many different styles offer different storage options, so where ever you go, your gear can go with you too.

One of the basic styles of float tubes is The Round Boat Float Tube made by the Creek Company. It looks like a doughnut with a back rest and a seat in the center. It is made of a 14 gauge PVC main bladder and has a separate backrest bladder; the outer cover is heavy duty 420 denier nylon, with a 20” interior diameter and 3 pockets for gear storage. It’s like having your own personal foot powered yacht. With its 225 lb capacity and fishing rod holder straps you don’t have to worry about losing anything to the water.  Its 6 pound weight makes it very portable and enjoyable to use on any lake fishing trip.

A different option would be to go with a U style boat like the Original U-boat Float tube, also made by the Creek Company. U style boats have an easier accessibility due to the open front style so there is no stepping into it. The tension straps keep the boat from collapsing on the water. The 14 gauge PVC main bladder and separate backrest bladder seat you higher above the water and give you a better maneuverability when you are on the water. The side pockets and one large rear top pocket give you plenty of storage space for everything you will need so you don’t have to get out of the water, multiple rod-holder straps for hands free use. It has a weight capacity of 275lbs, and weighs about 7 pounds so it is very packable. It is also designed to be carried on your back fully inflated so you can switch lakes without having to deflate it.

A pontoon style float tube is another option you could take when looking for stability, visibility, and safety as comfort and portability. The Kennebec Pontoon Float Tube has some very nice features like a Hydrodynamic hull shape for maximum stability, buoyancy, and tracking. It has a unique sculpted design, and a high back stadium seat with adjustable backrest for support and comfort. The horizontal rod holder assures that you’re not going to drop your rod as you get in or out of the lake, and the roomy armrest storage with additional pockets are a bonus for keeping other things as well as your gear in, plus the additional rear storage pocket and exterior mesh storage pocket make it easy to pull a day trip out on a lake. The Kennebec has a weight capacity of 300 lbs it has a 48” width and a 54” length. It is heavier than the Round boat at 12.75 lbs, but still reasonably easy to maneuver to those remote area lakes.

Shopping for a float tube can be difficult in some areas of the country. Float tubes for fishing are often easier to find in online stores than even the big outdoor sports retail outlets. All of the fishing float tubes I’ve mentioned in this article are available online at PortableKayaks.com.

Whatever style you choose; wherever you go fishing a float tube is a fun, affordable, comfortable way to enjoy and relax in the water. Always remember to fish responsibly, legally, and safely. Follow the proper channels find out if float tube fishing is allowed on the venue you choose to take, clean up after yourself and leave the environment as undisturbed as possible. There are some videos on YouTube that show some examples of fishing from a float tube, if you want to check them out.

Thank you, and happy fishing.

by Vivian Miller (Guest Author)

When you go swimming with your children and you catch yourself packing a fishing pole and bait that is a sure sign that you are hooked on fishing. The good news is that there are no 12 step programs for this addiction only one step program, acceptance. After you reach this step there are many helpful tools out there to make your outings more worthy of bragging to your support group (Fellow fishing addicts). Many of these tools are free. It is a rather cheap addiction.

The first thing you will need to do is get your fishing license. You are not required to obtain this if you are under the age of 16 or if you are legally blind or disabled. I would still stop at my local dept of wild life and game to find out what papers I should carry with me to prove this. This way I can be sure to avoid the dreaded ticket for fishing without a license. They will be able to answer any questions you have about your local laws seeing as they are the ones we rely on to enforce them.

Next is your standard paraphernalia, also known as tackle. Luckily not all addicts are after the same fish so your tackle will vary slightly from one angler to the next. If you are already admitted addicts (anglers) then you probably already know the fish that gets your heart pumping when it is at the end of your line. This will help you in picking out your paraphernalia.

Let’s start first by discussing the ever important pole that you will need to pick out. An ultra light rod is great for trout or the ever abundant brim. However I would not hit the rivers in search of catfish with this rod. If you do you will find yourself going home with broken dreams and a broken rod. For this kind of the river I would go with a medium heavy duty to a heavy duty rod. They are more substantial and able to withstand the pull of the current and the fight of a heavy and well muscled fish on the end of it. If small mouths are what gets your motor running then you will want a medium pole. They give a good fight and this pole will make it lots of fun to reel them in without missing the bite all together like you would on a larger pole. You also want to think about the type of water you will be in. The stronger the current the longer the rod is a good rule of thumb.

Live bait is great however you should check with your local conservation dept. Some live bait can harm your favorite fishing spot if it is not native to the water source you are fishing. Also live bait does not do well in your tackle box in the trunk for weeks. So I would find an alternative to keep in your tackle box long term. Lures and rubber worms do well so does stink bait. Do not give up on the live bait though. It is a great thing to have in your arsenal for a well planned fishing trip; however, your more durable baits that stay in your tackle box are great for the unexpected fishing fixes on the fly.

On a side note … you may be content to fish from shore during these “addiction attacks”, but for those who really need to get out on the water, there’s always the handy dandy inflatable fishing boat that can be easily stored in your car trunk and inflates via foot pump in less than ten minutes.

I hope this has helped all my fellow addicts to take that all important and last step in our program: Acceptance.

One of our fishing friends in Texas asked if we could mention this fishing tournament that helps raise funds for “Santa Cop”, a charitable Christmas gift and food program. “Santa Cop” has provided gifts for up to 1,800 children in recent years.

The Grand Prairie Police Association and the Texas Chisholm Trail Crime Prevention Association will be hosting the 6th Annual “Brother Blue” Bass Tournament to be held at Joe Pool Lake near Mansfield, Texas (76063) on April 24, 2010. Entry fee is $100 per 2 person team. There will be an option of a monetary payout or prizes offered to the top anglers.

For more information or entry forms, contact Dennis Porter at 214-682-0579 or e-mail him at dporter@gptx.org .

(Candace Clayton is an author who’s written novels, poetry and other short stories. She was kind enough to write this fictional adventure series specifically for the Inflatable Kayak Blog about ‘The Traveling Man’, a kayaker who tells us tales about his youthful adventures with his buddies on the rivers where he grew up. We hope you enjoy it!)

(When left our hero, he and his buddy John we’re falling asleep with dreams of being the one to catch the biggest fish in the lake. Old Ed had promised them a fishin’ trip after their hard work on the farm. It was to be another eventful day … )

Sure enough, Ed woke us up bright and early the next morning. After a big breakfast, we made some sandwiches and grabbed a thermos of coffee for Ed, he couldn’t go more than a hour without his coffee, and headed for Ed’s rusty ol pickup. It was a gorgeous summer morning. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and the fish were sure to be biting.

When we stepped out the door, we saw a sight that stopped us in our tracks. Hitched to Ed’s truck, Bessie, he liked to call her, was the strangest looking boat we had ever seen. Ed chuckled at us and told us to close our mouths before we swallowed a fly. “Hadn’t you boys ever seen a pontoon boat before?” he says, “Thought you two grew up on the river?”

A boat he called it. No boat I ever saw two long, round things under it. Did that thing actually float? I wasn’t so sure, but Ed seemed to think it would, so we headed for the lake. Sure enough, when we got it off the trailer and into the water, it floated. I was amazed, to say the least. John was fascinated by the way the water churned up around them there pontoons and kept leaning over the side to watch. I told him to be careful; he always had been accident-prone. Captain Klutz we called him.

I was just throwing my line in, getting ready to catch a big one, when I heard a holler and a huge splash. Yep, John had gone in headfirst. I wasn’t worried, he could swim better than he could walk. I turned back around and watched my fishing bobber as it moved around on top of the lake. I figured John would climb back up on that pontoon boat in a few minutes.

After about five minutes had passed and no John, I began to get a little bit nervous. Where was he? He was gonna ruin my fishing time with his shenanigans. I was reluctantly pulling my shirt off to jump in after him, when his head popped up way down the lake. He was hollering something and waving his arms around his head. I couldn’t hear him, he was to far away. I yelled out, “Can’t hear ya!” He had swum closer to the boat by this time and I heard, “She’s here!” Well, I forgot all about fishing at that point. I whipped my shirt off and jumped right in that lake. Swimming out to where John was at, I started diving down as far as I could. We searched for hours, but didn’t see her again. Disappointed, we climbed back on the boat with Ed. Ed didn’t say a word.  He pulled his line in and set off to the bank.

That night after dinner had been eaten and the kitchen cleaned up, we went out to the front porch and Ed lit his pipe. After he got it lit and had taken a puff, he pulled it out of his mouth and looked at us. “You boys hunting the mermaid?” he asked. “You know about the mermaid?” I said, we hadn’t talked to anyone about her but each other. We figured people would think we were nuts. “Well, sure I do, most fishermen in these parts have seen her at one time or another. She wasn’t always a mermaid ya know.  No sir, she used to be just as human as you two boys. “ Feeling a good story-telling coming on, I had to ask, “What happened to her?”

“Well, it was a long time ago. There was a young Indian maiden, by the name of Talula. Her name meant, “Leaping Water.”  Talula was the most beautiful maiden in her tribe. She was to marry one of the best hunters in the tribe. Her half-sister, whose name has been forgotten with over time, was in love with the young brave and madly jealous of Talula. She went to the river, the night before Talula’s wedding night, and cast a spell on her sister. “ “The spell caused Talula to sleep walk into the river and she drowned. Legend says that after her death, the sprits turned her into a beautiful creature with the upper body of a young maiden and the lower body of a sea creature. She spends her days and nights making sure no other innocent suffer the same fate she suffered.”

We sat in silence on the porch, each lost in our thoughts. I could see in my mind, Talula, as she walked to her death, asleep and unaware. I looked at John and saw he was thinking the same thing I was. The lovely creature we had seen must have died in a similar manner as Talula. We knew we hadn’t seen Talula. The mermaid we had seen had blonde hair and blue eyes. There had to be more than one. We knew we would never give up in our quest to find her and see if we could discover how she became a mermaid.

(New Chapters of “The Traveling Man” series are published on a regular basis here in the Inflatable Kayak Blog. Check back soon for another chapter or set your computer to receive our RSS feed and you’ll be informed automatically when more stories are posted.)

The author, Candace Clayton, lives in Granbury, Texas with her Husband and family, spending as much time in the outdoors as she can.

(Candace Clayton is an author who’s written novels, poetry and other short stories. She was kind enough to write this fictional adventure series specifically for the Inflatable Kayak Blog about ‘The Traveling Man’, a kayaker who tells us tales about his youthful adventures with his buddies on the rivers where he grew up. We hope you enjoy it!)

Well, hello there, I see you are back for more of my little story. Anxious to hear if we found that there mermaid, are ya? I guess I will eventually get round to telling ya about that, but like my granpappy always said, “ A rushed story is like a shabby roofing job. Full of holes.”  So, all in good time my friend, all in good time.

Let’s see, last time we talked, John and I were hopping a bus, headed outta town. Yes sir, we were two young men out on our own for the first time. No more little boys going to school and doing chores. We were adults in charge of our futures and heading for a mighty adventure. A poorly planned adventure, I tell you what! We thought we knew it all, were prepared for anything. Our first few months away from home sure changed that. Yes sir, we quickly learned we were just young pups, still wet behind the ears. I’m not saying that we didn’t have fun, mind you, just that we still had a whole lotta learning to do.

Well, any who, there we were, on that ol bus. Had to be the oldest bus still on the roads. No shocks whatsoever.  That ol bus bounced and banged its way through dusty ol ghost town after ghost town. We sure picked the wrong bus for sight-seeing, I tell ya. Wasn’t nuthin to see out those cracked, dirty winders but cedar trees, cactus, and cows.  Looked pert near identical to our little home town. Finally, we came to the end of the ride. Yep, we had clean run outta money. No money, no bus ticket. The first of life’s lessons we learned. The bus driver set us off that bus in front of a ramshackle ol bus depot in the smallest town you ever did see. Wasn’t much there, just that bus depot that turned out to be the Post Office and the only fueling station in town. There was a little diner across the street. So, we picked up our bags and headed for it. We figured between the two of us, we had enough change for some soda pop to clear the dust from our parched throats. If we were lucky, we might even have enough for a slice of pie. We sure were hungry.

That little diner was plum near deserted. Wasn’t anyone to be seen, but the waitress behind the counter and a grizzled ol man down at the far, sitting on a stool, sipping coffee. Coffee! It had to be over 100 degrees out and he was drinking scalding hot coffee.  John and I nodded hello and took our seats at the other end of that counter. Wasn’t long before we were sipping our soda and sharing the best piece of apple pie we had ever eaten. I considered myself an expert judge of good apple pie. My momma, God rest her soul, made the best apple pie in town. She always took the blue ribbon home from the county fair. The other ladies in town were always trying to figure out her secret. But I am telling ya, whoever it was that had made that pie, had an angel’s touch with the crust. I can still feel that buttery crust, so flaky it melted on your tongue.

Well, as I was a saying, there we were scarfing down that pie like it was the first thing we had eaten in days. Course, due to our lack of funds, it was. The ol man said something to the waitress. A few short minutes later, she was setting a plate with two huge sandwiches on it, right smack in front of us. Smiling at our baffled looks, she told us that Ed, the ol man down the other end of the counter, was paying. We looked at Ed and mumbled our thanks around huge mouthfuls. I reckon he heard our stomachs complaining from the other end of that diner.

Yep, that’s how we met ol Ed. He took us under his wing for three whole months. Put us to work hauling hay. I tell ya, that is back breaking work. Paid well though and Ed gave us room and board on top of our weekly pay. We were able to put back our earnings and save up for when we headed back out on the road. After that first week, when we were so sore that every muscle in our arms and backs were a cursing us for the abuse, Ed says, “Boys, you did a fine job this week. Let’s go fishing tomorrow.”  Tired and achy as we were, our ears perked right up! It was decided we would get up early the next day and head to the local lake. We fell asleep that night with dreams of being the one to catch the biggest fish in the lake.

(Did they catch a ‘big one’ or did they catch something else? Visit the Inflatable Kayak Blog (on Thursday, 3-25-10) for part 2 of our story. If you’d like, you can set your computer to receive our RSS feed and you’ll be informed automatically when the next part of the story will be posted.)

The author, Candace Clayton, lives in Granbury, Texas with her Husband and family, spending as much time in the outdoors as she can.

Fishermen and women in the Susquehanna River Regions in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York have a new, free fishing magazine available to them. The first issue came out a couple days ago on February 2, 2010. It’s being distributed through local establishments and funded by participating advertisers. The magazine’s goal is to help to inform anglers about productive angling techniques and other pertinent information pertaining to the area, as well as promoting safety and responsible stewardship of the river. They hope to distribute abut 30,000 copies each month. For additional information and locations where you can pick up a copy, you can go to the Susquehanna Fishing Magazine web site.

I know it’s a little cold in the Susquehanna area this time of year, but it’s never to early to start thinking about warmer days relaxing on the fishing boat in search of a great ‘fish’ story!

I received this picture from one of our Portable Kayaks customers, Jeff in Indiana telling me about some fishing he did last month. He explains in his own words … “Here is a photo of me in my tube and the 16 inch bass caught on a size 10 hopper and my 3 weight rod. I fished 4 small lakes yesterday in about 6 hours and landed about 20 bass…no keepers, all small fish, but in the tube they are still fun. One bass took my popper just a few feet from the tube and it was very exciting to see it up close. The first lake was about ¾ mile and I packed in with the straps, fins and rod. I love the versatility of the boat. I am sending my 18 year old off to college and he is taking his tube with him. Not sure why more folks don’t go this way?” … Jeff and his son each have Creek Company ODC 420 Float Tubes and, needless to say, he’s a big fan.

This is the time of year when I often look past the Holidays toward the annual boat shows that usually occur when cabin fever is setting in. We journey out into the cold winter weather to look at all the neat new outdoor gear and those beautiful new fishing boats. Even though gas prices have gone back down (for awhile anyway), the current economic climate could still prohibit you from purchasing that new boat. One alternative to think about is the Sea Eagle inflatable boat with motor mount.

The reason I bring this up in advance of the boat shows is that Sea Eagle has discounted these boats to their lowest prices ever. They’re currently priced under $500 at most Sea Eagle retailers through the end of the year. These hardy, portable watercraft are a smaller version of the big expensive Zodiac style boats. They only weigh up to 56 pounds and they carry up to 1200 pounds. There are two versions, the SE-8 and SE-9 and both are easy to store and easy to transport. I know they won’t sit in your driveway and make your neighbors envious, but you and your friends can still catch some fish in them. And maybe not taking any up any driveway space isn’t so bad after all!

At a time when larger vehicles are becoming less popular because of the high price of gas, the new Sea Eagle 440 FoldCat is an exception. The boat was introduced this month (July 2008) and it’s the largest folding/inflatable pontoon on the market. It holds up to four people with a capacity of 1300 pounds. Although it might be too large and cumbersome for many who enjoy the small one and two person inflatable pontoons, this boat can be an economical replacement for traditional gas-guzzling bass boats. Both versions of the Sea Eagle FoldCat, the two person 375 and the new 4 person 440, have a full floor so you have far more useable space than ordinary pontoon fishing boats – and it’s a “safety net” that catches gear you may drop. This allows you to carry more fishing tackle and supplies than ordinary pontoon boats. And it will travel up to 8 to 10 miles per hour with an economical 4 hp gas engine. Four fishermen or women can fish from 360 degree swivel seats using up to six rod holders. You can’t do that on a small bass boat. Check it out if you’re looking for something more economical and functional for your fishing expeditions.

What I enjoyed most of our time on our trip to Destin was walking on the beach just far enough into the water to get my feet wet. We took long walks along the white sandy beach every day. We always passed people fishing from the shore and wondered if anyone ever caught anything as we hadn’t ever seen anyone with a catch. It was after the sun had set one evening and we were on one of our walks. As we passed a fisherman it looked like he just might have some thing on his line. After talking to someone that was in his group we found out that he thought he had a pretty big shark on his line. He had been out fishing in his kayak all day to catch some bait. Just before sunset he went out again in his kayak and sent out his line with the bait fish on it in hopes of catching a shark. We had never seen anyone catch a shark, so we waited around the hour that it took him to land the fish. What a sight to finally see the white fin cut through the water when it was pulled in close to shore. The shark was about five feet long and certainly worth waiting around to see. We got some pictures of the proud fisherman, a Destin native, and the shark and then he let it go.