How about sharing your SOAR adventure with the rest of us. Send them to us at the address below. With photos if you have them!

Larry,

I promised to report on my experience with converting your SOAR to a 'drift-boat'. I hope what I have to say will help any prospective raft boat fisherman.

Advantages of a SOAR:
-Less expense and hassle of a real drift boat and trailer.
-Handy for shuttling, go whenever I want to, don't have to coordinate w/anybody else. Just drop off my mountain bike at destination. Hide/lock it to a tree near the take-out. Most rivers have parallel road.
-Sensational feeling being out of control fighting fish.

Last year I went to Alaska with the Innova raft. It's a little longer, skinnier and lighter than the 12ft SOAR. It worked ok but I wasn't comfortable drift fishing. Anchoring wouldn't work because the front-end (unanchored end)of raft kept swinging back & forth, and the tail of raft was too low in water. No biggie, I got used to pulling over and fishing from bank.

This fall/winter I decided to start using my SOAR 12ft. Wish I'd started sooner. It works great. Much more stable than my Innova, and I'm amazed at fact that SOAR holds probably a third more air than Innova but is approximately same size. I had originally been turned off because it weighs more than the Innova, but the way you told me to carry it - lift one tube up on the shoulder works great. 100 yd walks are no biggie, even for a little sh*t like me.

One of the most successful techniques is drifting diving lures right in the face of the fish. You can't really do that from the bank well. The drift boaters back-paddle thru the drifts 'pulling plugs' (lures that dive upon retrieve aggravating the fish into striking).

Here's how my anchor system works:
- 4 ft length of 3/4" PVC(assumes you're sitting at back of the canoe).
- PVC extending just off the tail-end of the boat.
- Run good anchor rope thru PVC; knot at boat-end, 15 - 20 lb anchor at other.
- PVC secured to the canoe at ends by strapping (1)to black handle at one end (centered)and (2) to grommet (strong hand side) on other end.
- A notch is cut in the front end of the PVC and a 'cleat' bolted / glued in-track with the rope passing thru the PVC. Cleat grabs rope well when you let go of rope.
- (I suggest taping a retractable knife or razor blade onto PVC in case you gotta cut rope in an emergency, you will!).
- It was hard pulling the anchor loose and retrieving 15-20lb anchor so I added an L-shaped extension on the tail-end to smooth out the 90 degrees angle of retrieve. That helped a lot.
- You can fine tune anchor size with 5 lb ball weights and bailing wire. Amazingly, 15 - 20 lbs seems to work for my S12 almost everywhere.

It's still one of the greatest thrills I've ever experienced, to drift thru one of these gorgeous holes, hook a fish, look back and anchor is just bumping along bottom, oh so nice. It oftentimes carries me thru a run as good as if I had a guide behind me back paddling. And it's free. Guys pay $250 a day for this.

Lessons Learned: Advice to Newbie Raft drifters
I may be the only guy who'll ever try 'raft drift fishing' but in case
there's somebody else out there maybe this will help:

- Gotta be alert, energetic, never lazy. I've gone swimming twice unexpectedly: both times I was lazy or careless. Do some aerobics before jumping in the raft first thing in the morning. One way is to pump up the canoe.

- Always inflate raft to full pressure; you'll be glad you did if anchor gets hung-up and you've gotta really tug on rope to get it loose. Always keep a knife handy for the time when you have to cut the anchor rope. It will happen eventually. Even the big drift boats have to do it occasionally.

- Plan ahead before you anchor; make sure you'll have time and room enough to pull anchor and grab paddle.

- Be on your toes as you're pulling anchor. You're at the river's mercy until done dislodging and retrieving anchor and cleating anchor rope. So get paddle ready beforehand and have a plan of paddling before you break anchor loose. If you get caught drifting into obstacle with anchor down remember, you still must retrieve anchor or else you won't be able to maneuver. So 1st thing is to get the anchor in the canoe, then paddle. it shouldn't take more than 5 seconds else to work on your anchor system.

-Don't anchor in fast currents, fast being defined as any water you wouldn't want to see your raft capsized and flopping around in. best to pick slower deeper water.

- Not a lot of maneuverability while paddling down river with a 15-20 lb anchor hanging right off your tail. You lose maneuverability big time; if you
come to a tough section of water you can set your anchor inside the boat; but you've got to pull over to do that, Most drift rivers are class II tops; it's the small streams with overhangs, snags etc that can kill you. Best to leave big anchor at home and just pull over to fish these small streams.

- Use a good quality anchor rope; strong, braided, non-kinking, soft on hands, needs to be 30-50 long. You definitely want to be able to anchor in the deepest holes; that's where the fish are.

- You will lose anchors. I've lost 2 already. Make your own: easy, inexpensive: pick a river rock that's approx. size and weight, then epoxy a 3". section of 'L' shape angle iron (with holes) to a flat surface of the rock then just tie on your anchor rope and go. This is the way to go for sure if backpacking in; just take some epoxy and a couple of pieces of metal.

- Drifting etiquette: if there's another drift boat approaching from upstream DO NOT ANCHOR. Give them that hole. Unwritten rule is to NEVER ANCHOR, it screws up all those following you; just like a traffic jam. You use your oars to back paddle then repeat drift if you want to. So the rule I use is, if somebody is coming, I pull anchor and give the drift to them. There's plenty more down river. Another solution is to anchor just off the main drift path of the other boats.

- Other drift boats might run over you: they may not realize that you're anchored, I guess because it's sort of unnatural to the regular drift boaters to see 'raft fisherman' much less 'anchored in the middle of the river'; they see you as drifting, they often approach too close for comfort before realizing you're anchored. I have no solution for this save for waving a sign all day. But remember you shouldn't be anchored anyway!

- Most fish have the strength to pull you downstream during the fight. Be prepared to break off if he tries to pull you into a snag or somehow jeopardizes your safety. In real life it's not a good idea to be Brad Pitt and jump in and swim after it. One experienced kayaker said, "Now I've seen everything!" as I passed him on the Elk River while fighting a nice 26 lb Chinook.

- When pulling over to get out of the canoe with the anchor system installed and anchor rope pulled in, the anchor may bump ground; DO NOT ASSUME RAFT IS ANCHORED; all it has to do is slide a little bit down into deeper water and your SOAR is gone. Easy solution: make it a habit to 'park' your raft by letting out 5' and cleat it to remove pull on anchor. Better yet, pull the tail-end (including anchor) onto dry ground. If you're along on a steep bank, definitely don't assume anchor will hold; better to tie-off to rock or exposed/stable tree root. Get in habit of some procedure every time you pull over to get out.

Cardinal Rule with whitewater rafting: Think ahead & look way ahead; plan the path of your drift ahead of time. First: Where's the fish? Second: Can I anchor quick enough to fish there? Third: Will you have enough time and space to pull anchor without hitting obstacles when done drifting thru.

I'm still making mistakes; that's how to learn right? That's what's so fun about it. Actually, the best part is when some old guy looks over his retirement home balcony, sees me with anchor out and mutters, "Well I'll be damned. Martha come see!"

It's been a fun journey, going from trash can lid to 'pleasure raft' to 'fish-catchin'-machine'.

Thanks Larry, for such an awesome raft.
See You on a River someday?
Joe.
(Joe Bristor)

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Healdsburg, CA 95448

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