Sandhill Crane fishing the mangroves.
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River King . . . the world's finest fishing and working catarafts |
The Cataraft Chronicles The following is a chapter from my running journal of the six month effort to redesign the rowing frame on our Kingfisher catarafts. Here you will find an almost daily update of my current sea trials / shakedown / vacation trip to the Gulf Coast to try the new design in several different types of fishing water.
You can find the other chapters here: Cataraft Chronicles, Table of Contents
Although I did get a few fishing opportunities these last six days were spent catching up on office work and making several important modifications to the boat and trailer. My very first fishing forays down here made several things obvious to me that I had only guessed about before. First was the need for a fathometer/fishfinder. It's almost imperative here to know what's happening on the bottom. You need to know where the channels are, how deep they are, where the grass, sand and rocky bottoms are, etc.
Sandhill Crane fishing the mangroves.
Water temperature is also an important factor especially during this "transition" time between winter and spring where a few degrees can mean the difference between big fish and no fish. Now that I know how important it is I still need to know what it means as far as decisions on the water. This I discovered from pouring over some Florida fishing magazines at night. Since I had the convenience of a place to stay while I made these minor and some major changes to the boat I took advantage.
Part of the time I spent shopping for good deals. I found a good Humminbird LCD fish finder at Skipper's Marine in Jupiter at a great close out price that included the transducer and temperature sensor. I heard that a lot of Snook fishing gets done at night around here so along with the fish finder I installed some navigation lights, an anchor light and a switch/fuse block to control them all. I put on a bow plate at the front of the deck to hold the electric trolling motor I brought along but then removed it when I saw that the shaft was not long enough to get the prop far enough under water to use it. A rod holder for my 9 weight was found at West Marine in Fort Pierce. My wide Fin Nor reel didn't fit well in any of the several Down-East rod holders I brought with me.
Yesterday, Tuesday was trailer day. The boat trailer now has new wiring, tail lights, springs, 14" wheels , tires, and a new 3500 pound capacity axle. I could see the old Hobie Cat trailer frame was not going to make it all the way back to Idaho with the added weight of the outboard motor - and the tires were about done anyway.
Between working several hours a day installing the new gear and testing it, then adjusting the transducer for the Humminbird, six days went by pretty quick. This is definitely harder work than staying home. Saturday I ran the boat several miles from Hobe Sound down to the Jupiter Inlet via the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway). I then ran out into the Atlantic then north up the beach a ways before turning back.
Looking aft with the new fish finder on the port deck. Hobe Sound grass flats - Osprey
nest on tree in the jungle - John Dickinson State Park.
Running through the inlet was quite an adventure. The tide was running out while a
stiff breeze was blowing straight against the flow. The inlet is only about 100 yards wide
with rock or concrete wall sides and the fathometer showed about 20 feet of depth. The
waves were at least 4 to 6 feet with heavy chop. Dozens of boats of every type imaginable
from small Boston Whalers to 60 foot long Cigarette boats with huge monster engines were
jockeying for position, running both directions and doing double takes at the strange blue
inflatable pontoon boat with the Idaho registration numbers running alongside them. I
would have taken a picture but my hands were pretty full at the time.
I knew from earlier testing last fall that the new frame worked very well on the trout
rivers that were home for the Kingfisher as it evolved over the last ten years. In-shore
saltwater fishing was another story and I had to wait for this trip to find the answer to
that. I still need to put lots of additional hours on the boat down here as there are so
many different water conditions and fishing situations that it could literally take years
to thoroughly evaluate them all. But I have had enough time on the boat so far to form
some general opinions.
Overall Impressions
If I lived full time in Florida I probably would not have an inflatable boat. There are hundreds of thousands of boats here. Everyone owns at least one it seems. Boat storage yards periodically have auctions to sell off boats that have been deserted by folks who didn't pay their bills. Drive down any highway in south Florida and you'll see boats on trailers for sale in most vacant lots along the road. Naturally there are some pretty good deals. Although I have had no problem avoiding oyster beds it makes little sense even having to worry about that when hard hulled boats are so available and so inexpensive.
On the other hand, for traveling anglers, like many sun birds, it would be great to have one boat that could capably fish most types of fly fishing water that one would encounter while traveling in North America - a boat that could be broken down and stored in a small place. A boat that would hold 2 or 3 anglers plus their gear but could still be handled by one person.
Rosie's Dad, Tony. Jupiter launch ramp at Burt Reynolds Park.
This boat does a pretty good job of it. It is very stable and easy to fish from. It's easy to launch and recover by myself. There's plenty of room to put stuff and with the large upper deck area that surrounds the boat except for the stern you can fish in all directions and see pretty well down into the water. It doesn't plane but with the 15 hp motor it goes fast enough for most fishing within a 3 or 4 mile distance from the ramp - further if you're patient.
The Starboard XL deck material is amazing. It really is non slip. Nothing sticks to it so it stays relatively clean. It doesn't fade from the sun. Salt water doesn't phase it. I love it.
The foam between the upper frame deck and the hulls works fine. It also makes it easy to add wiring for electronic gear. The wire just sits between the foam and the deck and the weight of the frame holds it there. No staples, tape, etc.
It's not a drift boat and it's not a flats boat but for a compromise design it can do both of those pretty well and it covers just about everything in between. It is actually superior to a drift boat in many respects but that gets into religion. I think trout river guides will find this design a capable work boat with advantages for themselves and the client. I haven't tried bass lakes yet but that's coming soon. It is a very decent inshore saltwater boat as I am discovering. It won't compare nearly as well against a real flats boat which is low and heavy to resist wind and has a poling deck and a 150 hp motor - but then you'd never put a flats boat in the Madison River.
Generally I'd say this boat will do the job it was designed to do and then some. There's nothing else I know of on the market that can actually do all of these things. The real test is that I'm glad it's here with me cause over the next three weeks I know I'll be able to do every kind of fishing I wish to on every type of water that I'll want to fish between south Florida and Idaho.
Taking a shade break on a sandy beach in Hobe Sound, ICW.
Stay tuned!
f you have more questions, you can reach us at:
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River King Catarafts
Port Ludlow, WA
Telephone: 360.316.1170
Or, send us E-mail: info@cataraft.com
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