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I have a buddy that recently made a motor mount for his toon boat. It is the exact same as the one sold @ Sportsmans for about $90. he recently made me one for my toon and it fits perfectly. I have a Buck's Bag's craft. He is willing to make more of them if anyone needs one shoot me a message with the name, measurements, of your boat.
the one he made me cost under $25 in materials.
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Hi there chefwhofishes,
As you probably have already searched out, there is one manufacturer who has a power float tube. It's got a smaller tube connected to the main tube to mount the motor. Looks like it's hand-lever controlled but not sure.
I don't know about Utah, but in California if ANY kind of watercraft has a motor (motor= power= battery or gasoline) it must be registered with the California DMV and receive a CF ID number. I don't think there is any insurance problems, but you might inquire to keep yourself and your family covered. Anyway, California has got to be different and your state may require nothing. Hope so.
Just a thought,
JapanRon
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[cool]Hey, ron. Welcome to our friendly little forum. How about registering and become eligible for some of the contests and other things we do. Also, when you are a member, you get free inter member emailing (private messages) and you can set up your own free web site for uploading and posting pictures.
Just click on the home button, at the top of any page, and then think of a name and password. You can log on from any internet ready computer... anywhere.
I think You have already observed we will do whatever we can to help you get properly outfitted, at the lowest possible outlay.
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If you do put a motor on I would highly recommend colocating the speed control part to a box you mount near you so you can have easy access. You can lock the motor in the straight posistion and then use your feet to steer. Or better yet if it is a pontoon you are using you can set it up so you have a pulley and steer with a cable using your right foot. If you live in northern Utah we can meet on the water one day and go over it all. It only took me 2 hours to do the entire rig and it works flawlessly so far. Maybe I will take the time to take some digital pics soon and post them.
tightline
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Hey there tightline,
Sounds like you've done your homework. Thanks for the info as it can be applied to other areas too. As I'm fishing the Big Salty now so much in a tube, I'm thinking that if I need a motor (distance and safety) I should probably go ahead and get a kayak.
Lakes and a heavily loaded tube might be OK but.... ocean currents, big waves and strong winds that occur often and a loaded tube with a motor might be asking for it on the Big Salty. Mind you, I understand there are many flatland lakes that also have huge waves and wind problems. I heard that some Great Lakes storms could make the ocean look like a pussy cat at times.
JapanRon
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[cool]Hey, JR, haven't you ever heard of "outriggers"...like the south seas islanders use on their canoes? Once your tube starts approaching "critical mass" overload, you just lash on an outrigger on both sides and you're good to go. Make the outriggers out of sturdy styrofoam and you have more flotation for your goodies. Heck, if you are going to go that far, why not build a flying bridge?
You make a good point about there being a limit to just how much stuff you want to load on your basic craft. I am working on that new piece for "Add-Ons", and that is a point I make in the very beginning. You don't need everything on every trip, so carefully consider just how much extra weight you are willing to carry out...and is it really necessary.
After a certain point, you really should consider getting a different kind of craft. Basic float tubing is a simple, lightweight, hands-free system of fishing, that allows you to get offshore a ways without a boat. If you want all of the features and functions of a boat (LIKE A MOTOR), just buy a boat and don't call it a float tube.
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TD
Didn't mean to affend you by putting the post on this board. I do have both a float tube that has no power and then I have a 10' pontoon "boat" that is rigged for the times that I am on water where I need to travel a long distance and need to make sure I can get back if the wind kicks up as it does up here quite a bit. I once blew clear from one side to the other of Bear Lake in Northern Utah on a float tube and there wasn't a thing I could do but let my self get bashed around by 5' wite caps for 4 hours. Now I just have something in between my float tube and full size boat it is a pontoon "boat" for times when I need to be a ways from my launch point where there is the potential of big wind.
tightline
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[cool]You don't know me well enough to know that I was not offended and that I was not bashing you. I have a warped sense of humor, and I am very open to any and all new ideas from anybody. I literally believe in the old saying "Whatever floats your boat (or float tube)".
As I have written and said on many occasions, we all make our own choices for our own reasons, and it is not up to anyone else to tell us how to enjoy our sport. I have also advocated that extra propulsion may be a consideration wherever there are physical limitations, or the potential for dangerous wind or current situations.
I know about the winds on Bear Lake. I have narrowly escaped a long sailing cruise there myself on a couple of occasions. I did get blown clear across Pyramid Lake, in Nevada, while fishing for the big Lahontan cutts early in February one year. The wind that blew me across the lake also had snow pellets in it. Although I was well dressed against the cold, I got a couple of waves over my tube that got me wet. I came close to succumbing to hypothermia before a guy in a large boat picked me out of a protected cove and fought back to the docks against the waves. I don't think a motor on my tube would have helped much in that situation. The best bet is to keep out a good "weather eye" and get off the water before you need help.
In short, I meant no offense in my comments, although it did seem a bit heavy on the ending. I was joking, not flaming. You won't get that on this forum...not as long as I have full editing capability. Okay?
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Sounds like we need to hook up if I get down south. In the past Lee's Ferry is about as far south as I venture other than a trip to Cancun.
I would love to pick your knowledge base though. I night fish about %50 of the time even in the winter. It fits around my schedule and seems to be more productive to me. I don't do much with Jigs outside of Bear Lake and the Gorge. What do you know about waters and methods to jig for Big Browns at night up this direction.
Tightline
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Hi there TubeDude,
I noticed some guys at the beach riding these boards while holding on to a teather connected to a small parasail which was suspended about 50 feet above them. To heck with the motor and to heck with the outriggers if I can break out the parasail and just skim the top of the waves home. Talk about trolling speed. The six-pac wouldn't have nothin' on me. ha ha There's always something new that comes back again. ha ha
JapanRon
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[cool]I have lived (off and on) and fished in Utah since the early sixties. From the mid 70's to the mid 80's, I was actively involved in bringing float tubing to most of the waters in Utah. I'd be willing to bet that I was the first donut dunker on many of them.
Big browns at night, on jigs...or otherwise? Deer Creek and Starvation. I suspect that Starvation is not what it used to be for the brownies, what with the stunted smallies and walleyes eating up all those tasty chubs. I keep in touch enough to know that there are still some good ones in there. Big browns are not easily removed from any habitat.
As long as there are any other fish to eat, in Deer Creek, there will be big browns. Biggest I ever landed out of Deer Creek was a little over 10 pounds. However, I have lost a couple that were almost double that. All my bigger fish were hooked after dark or just before daybreak. If the water is clear and cold, the browns will cruise near the bank. When it gets warmer, and there is a lot of boating traffic, they tend to stay deeper, with only occasional trips to the shallows.
I used to fish the Gorge, back in the days of the twenty pound plus browns and Ray Johnson. Scored one 23 1/2 on a big trolled Rapala just before dawn on a late February morning that was absolutely miserably cold. It was the only hit we had in three days of fishing...but I warmed up in a hurry when that rod went bendo. Again, the chubs are gone and the browns are fewer and smaller these days.
One of my favorite ways to fish Deer Creek after dark was with a bubble and fly, from my float tube. The evening breezes would die down at dusk and I would launch up past the buoy line near the dam. I understand the parking area on the north side is closed now. I also used to do the same by hiking up the tracks from the resort area in Midway, and launching from the rocks there. After dark, I chucked out a water-filled bubble, with about 5 feet of leader behind the swivel (to stop the bubble). I used big flies...no smaller than size 4, and up to about 2/0. Big black streamers and wooly buggers were my preferred offerings. They show up better against the sky for trout that look upward for their evening snacks. One of my best patterns was a wooly bugger with a claret red body and black hackle and tail. The red and black combo has long been a favorite for night fishing for both bass and trout. Walleyes like it too.
On one pre-daybreak launch, I got a heavy hit on my first cast, just after I began kicking away from the bank. I had cast downshore, parallel to the bank. The bubble splashed down in the dark, I waited a few seconds to start reeling and before I even turned the handle something grabbed the big black bugger and headed off up the shoreline. I had been expecting the customary 16" to 20" rainbows, so the power took me by surprise and my reel drag sang.
An hour later, it was getting light and I was still attached to the big fish. I never did see it, but a couple of other guys who had walked up the tracks could see it clearly when it circled near the surface. They said it looked like a salmon...at least 20 pounds. A couple of minutes later, the leader finally had enough stress, and abuse by the fish's teeth, and we parted company.
Most of the bigger browns I have landed on Deer Creek have come from either around the island or near the Provo River inlet area, below the bridge. Depending on the time of year and boat traffic, you can often find small groups of browns foraging on young perch or other fry. Rapalas are a good choice of lures then. And don't just "match the hatch". One of my best colors for big browns...wherever they are found...is the bright orange CD-7 Rapala. And, I have fished the larger sizes to good effect too. That was the lure I had and lost my other BIG Deer Creek brown on.
In early September, around the opening of deer season, I hit the water on the south side of the Island, for some of the big perch I had been finding with regularity. I brought only a couple of light 7' rods, not thinking of anything more than maybe a stray walleye at daybreak. I had one of the rods rigged with one of the orange Rapalas. In the pale dawn, I saw a large swirl next to shore. Not knowing what it might be, I grabbed the Rapala and sailed it near the spot of the disturbance. Two cranks of the reel handle and I was hooked up to a big brown. Unlike most big browns, it leaped clear of the water and threw the lure back at me just like a largemouth. It took awhile for my pulse rate to return to normal. That one was also more than 15 pounds. How much more depends on how gullible I consider the recipient of my story to be.
In both Deer Creek and Starvation, I have nailed some hefty browns by spooning in deeper water...mostly during the day. I first developed and used my "famous" perch urchin spoons on Deer Creek, back in the eighties and they have accounted for some biggies.
They will hit a wide variety of jigs, however. A good color is a smoke sparkle plastic, to which you add either black vertical bars and a back line...or use green. These simulate either perch young or crawdads...depending on where and how you fish them. I used to catch a lot of 3 and 4# browns in fairly shallow water, after the perch had spawned and the fry were hiding in the stickups and weeds during high water of late spring. I fished small tube jigs for the big perch that were cannibalizing their young, and the browns would be in there too. Quite a surprise to hook a feisty brown when you were expecting a porky perch.
Well, that's a lot of drivel. But, if you wanna PM me here on BFT, I'll be happy to address any specific questions you might have.
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[cool]Hey, Ron San, that sounds like fun. Hoist the sail Matey. Heck you could outrun those great whites at Catalina...or just lift off and fly away, like a big flying fish. Only problem is, if you got too high, and the wind suddenly dropped, that sudden stop at the bottom of your descent might smart a little.
You have a real knack for seeing the obvious where nobody else would think to look. They have places for people like you. I'll be in the next room.
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