On 6/14/2013 11:19 AM, iBoaterer wrote:

You made fun of Scotty's boat many many times. And his boat looked like
a good boat to fish out of. I'm thinking of actually getting one of
those inner tube looking jobs for river trout! Kind of like this, but
I'm a lot more handsome!

http://tinyurl.com/n4llso7

I've got one of those I use for fishing steelhead in the lower
Deschutes. I've carried it upstream a couple of miles and floated down
through some mild class 1-2 rapids. It's a lot of fun and provides
access to good spots that can't be reached from the bank.

Several tips if you plan on using it in any significant current or rapids.

Don't even bother with the foot flippers. Hand paddles of significant
size are the way to go. I cut a kayak paddle in two and tethered each
to a ring on the float tube with a short cord.

If you have to carry it any distance I find that balancing the backrest
on my head and letting the tube hang over my back is easier then
carrying it by hand. I did get a bad stiff neck doing that several days
in a row however.

Floating downstream after sunset on a warm summer evening after a good
day fishing just can't be beat in my book.