Questions about floating a river

[BigDan]

So my wife and I are probably going to be moving away from the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota after I (finally) graduate from college (assuming I find a job ) and a few of the places I've applied to are near some rivers that are much larger than the local streams that I usually fish. So between day dreaming about fishing the big rivers near potential employers and my buddy urging me to take a trip to the Bighorn with him, I thought of a question. For guys who like to go out on the river with one vehicle, how do you solve the problem of getting back to your truck/trailer after getting out of the river several miles downstream? I've seen guides offer a vehicle shuttle service, do you just eat that $20+ fee every time you fish? Is it reasonable to leave a street legal side-by-side or ATV at the take outpoint before you start the day? What if you're fishing solo, could you still use the ATV method and just leave your drift boat anchored on shore (seems risky)? Also, is it possible to solo fish out of a drift boat while drifting?

Thanks

[DaleW]

Most generally when I travel to navigable rivers it has been most always with the little popup camper and the canoe boat rides atop of the closed camper. Also have a carrying rack for the bike. So when I get to one of my favored sites along a river and set-up camp (which are mostly National Forest facilities), there's most generally a boat launching area either up or down river from the camp site. If Sweetie happens to be along (she's a non-fisher but loves to camp), it's no problem arranging to launch up river or to be picked up down river. However, if alone, I've made do using the bike. If I plan to launch at camp site and fish down stream I'll spot the bike before hand (hauling it down with the truck) at the down river boat landing, chaining it with a padlock to the boat landing sign (or whatever). Then when I float down to the landing I'll ride the bike back to camp, get the truck and go back after the boat.
When launching upriver from the campsite I float back to camp and then ride the bike back up where I parked the truck, load the bike aboard and head back to camp.

All this, hopefully, with a fish dinner at the end of whatever excursion.

[8wt]

Sometimes friends will be fishing with you and can spot a vehicle at the take out spot. And yes you eat a shuttle fee but not bad if you consider the convience of having a vehicle at the end of a day. I wouldn't" try a drift boat alone, a yak or pontoon is the way to go it alone.

[sagefisher]

I always go guided on the rivers so I can not answer your first two questions. But, as for solo fishing out of a drift boat, (or pontoon/raft/etc) you can only use the boat as a taxi to get you to your next good looking piece of water, then you anchor up out in the river and fish from the boat or beach it and fish from a bank or gravel bar. Which is exactly what you do on a guided trip. The only thing you would not be able to do, or should I say you simply should never do, is fish from a moving vessel when you are alone. You will be paying attention to your fly and fly line and not to what is happening to the vessel and that is when you greatly increase your chances of never coming home again. Moving water is a powerful force and it you take your attention off of it to cast a line you can easily end up dead.

I hope you find a great job near a decent river(s) to fish.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[Marco]

And about your potential job interview, DON'T ASK THE INTERVIEWER ABOUT FISHING WATERS. From personal experience, I once needed a project manager for a fairly large development project which was running behind schedule ( not my fault :>) ), the second thing one of the interviewees asked me was "how are the golf courses in the area?", Needless to say, NOT what I wanted to hear, and down the road he went.
And as to drift boating alone, DON'T. Look up "sweeper" as relating to river hazards. ( also from personal experience )

Mark

[Jayatwork]

You can do your own shuttle, but when you think about the logistics, it's not very convenient. Shuttle fees are a pretty small expense in the grand scheme of things. And it's so nice to have your vehicle waiting for you at the take out, so you can just load and go.

[krauseb]

Unless the river has very rough water I don't see why you can't fish alone In a drift boat.
There are models of drift boats that you can put a motor on so you don't need a shuttle.
Here in Arkansas we use 20 ft. river boats, mine has a jet motor so I can fish water too low for prop motors.
Bob.

[John Rhoades]

I almost always fish with 1 or 2 friends when I am in my drift boat, and my wife and one of the other wives do the shuttles for us. (These trips are up to about 50 miles distance, one way.) There are a few times when we drive 2 vehicles and then either shuttle ourself, or one of our wives does it for us, but I don't want to leave my boat and/or gear unattended - I once had life preservers stolen at the Bighorn when I did this.

Several times a year I go to rivers with my drift boat that are farther away and I usually drive my truck and one of the other guys pays for the shuttle. In years past, I've also used my bicycle to shuttle back to get my truck while the other guy waits with the boat, but I haven't done that recently.

I also have a pontoon boat that I use for solo trips on the river, but it is a LOT more work than using the drift boat, putting in and taking out, etc., so I much prefer the drift boat for river fishing, and with a friend or 2. I usually get my wife to shuttle for me if I take the pontoon.

I think you could fish safely from a drift boat on many rivers, if you paid attention to what you were doing, and you could also use it to get from place to place where you'd beach or anchor it to do your fishing, but you would also miss out on being able to fish a lot of fishy places in between. Even worse, you hook a good fish, and you increase your chance or loosing it if you are floating and trying to control the boat at the same time.

[sandfly]

my buddy has a scooter he drops off at take out place and rides it back to his car and trailer loads the scooter then goes back down for his pontoon boat. he cable locks it to a tree while he is gone.

[Uncle Jesse]

Before the neighboring county became unfriendly and put up obstacles to me doing such, I did the shuttle with my Fishcat. I would drop it off at my put in point. Leave my pickup at the take out and then ride a bicycle back to my Fishcat, chain it to a tree and retrieve it when I finished. Worked great. Before my buddy moved to Florida we would fish point to point with two pickups on the Hooch.