BentRod
1/21/2013 9:25:00 PMMike, saw the two rating and thought you'd banked a Steel! Sounds like an adventure none the less and that is a beautiful Dolly. Thanks for the pics!
Mike Carey
1/21/2013 9:29:00 PMAn adventure it was. We may do the upper north fork drift sometime, although you can't fish from the pontoon, you can use it to drift down the river and fish various shore locations.
ingi
1/21/2013 9:35:00 PMif patching a pontoon is anything like patching rain gear, make sure you rough up the surrounding surface, it will help a lot, and if your not worried about aesthetics, I would use 5200 calking rather than that repair kit stuff. just my .02
Red beard
1/21/2013 10:57:00 PMThat's a heck of dollie if you ask me! Biggest I've ever caught was maybe 19 - 20" in the Dungeness in late February. They're just as cool as native steelhead..... Also, "Classic Accessories" in Kent sells new bladders for various pontoon boats from 8 - 12 feet, maybe check it out.
Anonymous
1/22/2013 7:07:00 AMI've pushed ,pulled, and winched my Drift Boat in and out of all sorts of crazy places over the last 30 years. It makes for some good adventure and some great untouched water. Looks like a fun day.
Mike Carey
1/22/2013 8:42:00 AMRed beard, thanks for the tip. My pontoon is single piece material, it doesn't zip open to reveal an air bladder. I'll be doing the soapy water trick first, and if worse comes to worse take it to Ballard Inflatables, unless someone knows of another inflatable repair shop?
Gringo Pescador
1/22/2013 9:39:00 AMI was excited to take my maiden voyage since I rebuilt my toon. It used to be really back-heavy which affects handling and the tubes had only 3 cam straps attaching em to the frame making it a little loosy-goosy. Added 5 cam straps to each side, balanced it out, improved the anchor setup and shaved about 20# off the total dry weight in the process. Now she's rock solid, dead level and handles like a dream! Like Mike said it was a fun float even if it was cold and foggy. Frozen guides were a little annoying, but workable. We had Bald Eagle escorts the whole trip. At least Mike touched fish. I had 3 bobber downs, but as luck would have it, I had my hands on the sticks for every one of em!
bassplayer17
1/22/2013 3:59:00 PMLove that drift... Ive got access to the gravel bar at cicero makes for a lot easyer launch...Nice dolly Mike...
Mike Carey
1/22/2013 5:43:00 PMput in above the Hwy 530 bridge on the west side of the river. There is a small area that allows access for those willing to drop their rigs off the cut-out bank. The opposite side has nice gravel shoreline but no public access. (good for you bassplayer17!)
HOOKEDONFISHING
1/22/2013 11:47:00 PMDoes antibiotic ointment keep guides from freezing up ? Was having some issues with that up on the Sky
Mike Carey
1/23/2013 8:31:00 AMyes, antibiotic ointment helps. Any type of ointment like k-y jelly, vasolene, etc would work. We suggested antibiotic ointment because it seems like there is always an expired tube in the medicine cabinet.
HOOKEDONFISHING
1/23/2013 11:12:00 AMThats good to know. It was getting real annoying having to break the ice out of my guides every couple minutes.
Duncan Dharkeez
1/25/2013 10:14:00 AMk-y jelly is not much of an ointment though, I think it is classed as a lubricant. I know that I go through that stuff by the case so I always have some laying around somewhere.