Did the Yak. in my Watermaster this weekend

[golfman65]

Many thanks guys for all the helpful advice...went up friday morning...fished by the KOA the afternoon wading..caught a bunch of whitefish and a couple decent bows...though didn't land them...one hit my pt on a 3.5 pound tippet and laughed at me as he raced out to mid river and was gone...the other, was a decent fish too...got him nearly in when my stupid (me) stillwater indicator released, slid down the line and over the fly...effectively quick release...hmmm maybe I should sell this idea to the purists???:rofl:
Talked to the guys at the shops and they also recommended the ringer down, canyon run...Well, that river is still a beast there too...I nearly lost it all at the launch...my rod hung up in the trees as I was kicking (attempted) out...I thought, piece of cake, I can kick and hold in this...WRONG...I got swept down along the bank...smacking almost every tree and root...had to pull my legs up to keep from getting caught up on one and couldn't get but one oar out...In short it was a serious F*** story...cut the hell out of my hand on the backing but managed to finally free myself and rod without damage over a hundred yards down stream to my friends (after I was safe) laughter...thank god for over a hundred yards of backing or i'd have lost my line first thing...
My W.M. has a mis drilled oar so one was nearly useless...( I'll be making an angry call tomorrow to them)...and kick as hard as you may, your NOT even slowing very much in that water...After my a$$ unpuckered, I made my way down and after a mile I got the hang of it...
The fishing...Well, I caught about a 4 pound sucker!!! couldn't believe it..thought I had a BIG bow as he was stripping out line off the reel a few runs...but was still fun...Made my way into a nice little section mid way and it started to drizzle a little and the March Brown hatch came on...Man was that fun, lost count of how many fish I caught...everything from little salomnoids to bows AND whitefish..lots of them again...didn't know they took drys????
All in all a great time and trip...there were no islands etc. to really speak of to stop and fish off of...you had to get to one side or another...I pretty dissapointed in my watermaster...the oar really screwed me up and like I said, it was nearly useless with fins on that level for me...I SHOULD have worn my wading boots, it would have been allot easier on me...
Another guy took his poontoon and after the first hour we didn't see him till the take out...He couldn't stop at all and pretty much was totally bummed by his experience...never touched a fish and had to wait for four plus hours for us to make it down to where he finally got over...
All in all, I was super happy with my experience and the river...and totally dissapointed in my boat...I will call and get the oars straightened out...hopefully they will do something to remedy this...We've ( a couple of us have WM's in the club) been hearing allot of promises from them but no deliverys...So we'll see!!!
Again, many thanks for all the help...Wish I could fish it more often!!!

http://http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/golfman65/IMG_2020.jpg

[David Loy]

Sorry you had a rough start but hey, it gets nothing but better from here right?
Never been out in a WM but have admired them for years. Get the oar lock fixed and enjoy each outing. It's a good system I think.

[Itchy Dog]

You'll come to love your WM. Early spring and fall on the Yak is perfect for stop and go fishing out of one of those rafts. When the flows are moving, you need to find a best friend with a drift boat.

[seanengman]

More guts than me. I would have ended up just fishing from the bank. That pontoon stuff looks pretty puckering.

[papafsh]

Sheese! your'e lucky you didn't drown. Now that you managed to live through your first float, perhaps the old boy scout motto "Be prepared" might be approprate?

You did wear a PFD, I hope?, if not make sure you do next time.

Alway's a good idea to take your time and make sure everything is ship-shape, before you launch.
Although accident's do happen, no matter what.
I once had an oar-lock break on me while doin' the upper Yak in my 'toon, managed to get by with the oar bungeed to the frame, I now carry an extra one.

I hope you have a better experience the next time.

LB

[TheShadKing]

Many thanks guys for all the helpful advice.

Talked to the guys at the shops and they also recommended the ringer down, canyon run...Well, that river is still a beast there too...I nearly lost it all at the launch...my rod hung up in the trees as I was kicking (attempted) out...I thought, piece of cake, I can kick and hold in this...WRONG...I got swept down along the bank...smacking almost every tree and root...had to pull my legs up to keep from getting caught up on one and couldn't get but one oar out...In short it was a serious F*** story...

Glad to hear you're ok. Not surprised this happened the first time. The difference in skills between your first and second time on the river is huge. Although, if somebody takes that to mean they can do any given section of river their second time out, I dunno ... some people grok rowing in the first 5 miles, some people take 50. Some people give up after some number of miles and never get the hang of it.


Rolland

[sashjo]

Glad to hear that you did okay after the rough start.

Recently, I read an article where 9 people died on the Yak in 2006. Lets all be careful out there.

[YAKIMA]

Ringer can be a quick shot to get out of the way of things that will bite you. There are times it's like a zoo with boats tied up everywhere...

Next time try farther down. Big Horn, Milemarker 19 sliding down the bank, even Umtanum. I think you will find it more to your liking.

Greg

[Salmo_g]

Was this the first time you ever inflated and assembled your Watermaster? The Yak is an easy enough float, but if you have zero prior experience floating, it would be wise to get acquainted and get the hang of things with your WM in a local duck pond instead of the Yak's high spring flows. Glad you're OK.

One of my WM oars holes was mis-aligned with the collar also. It was a pain to fix, but that was the only issue I've had with mine. Maybe they have a quality control issue in regards to oar collars.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

[Josh Benjamin]

Was this the first time you ever inflated and assembled your Watermaster? The Yak is an easy enough float, but if you have zero prior experience floating, it would be wise to get acquainted and get the hang of things with your WM in a local duck pond instead of the Yak's high spring flows. Glad you're OK

no offense to anybody but i agree with salmo g if that was the case. probably not the smartest thing you've done. as lazy and slow going as that river seems, it kills people every year.
pontoons and watermasters with fins in moving water=bad idea if you ask me.

[golfman65]

no offense to anybody but i agree with salmo g if that was the case. probably not the smartest thing you've done. as lazy and slow going as that river seems, it kills people every year.
pontoons and watermasters with fins in moving water=bad idea if you ask me.


No, I've had it out a bunch of times, but on stillwater...This was the first major river float and I did wear my pft.
The oar issue has been resolved, one problem i've had with my W.M. is I have the grizzly and the oars tend to jam me up when rowing..The Kodiak is larger and I don't have that problem with it...I should have gotten that model but I'm not about to drop that much coin again...
I'm so used to using it without the oars and just by kicking that it came as a shock when that wasn't even an option....But after freeing my rod and getting the hang of letting the oars do the work it was allot better...but at the rate it was flowing this past weekend you are SO much better off in a drift boat..Like I said, we were the only inflatables on the river that I saw all day...The lot was full of drift boats though...
By the mid and lower sections...especially the lower one...I decided I was just going to enjoy the drift, so lit a big fat cigar and just kicked it back and looked for sheep...that was a nice way to end the float!!!

[Dylan D]

Just MHO, but I'd steer clear of the fins for a while, get used to just rowing first. I've only floated on a WM a few times, many more on my pontoon, but generally speaking I stick to the transport between spots theory, not really any use for fins.

Maybe someday when I really know a river and know it's in shape will I try to fish out of the toon or a WM. Till then, playin it safe.