Tactical Float Tubing

As recently as 3 years ago, I often felt alienated while aimlessly kicking around in AZ’s high country trout lakes.  I was as obvious as a fly in a bowl of soup amongst the armada of aluminum rentals that cruised around these lakes.  As the fishing seasons progressed, so did the outdoor retail shops and fishing catalogs.  Local fly shops and the barrage of fly fishing catalogs that cluttered my bathrooms gradually began offering these canvas covered inner-tubes at very reasonable prices.  Before long, I started making conversation on the lakes with other “tubers” rather than just receive puzzling stares from the folks owned stock in Canadian nightcrawler farms.

My first few efforts at catching trout in lakes were pitiful and probably quite humorous to the spectator.  Slapping the water with my fly line on my forward and backcasts did very little to put trout on my flies.  The first generation of float tubes positioned the angler very low in the water and made casting difficult.  A stiffer action rod with an extra foot of length helped my situation out a little.  Now that my casting improved, my fish catching ability had to improve too.  I think this was the beginning of my quest for stillwater trout.

During my inaugural year in my tube, I was fortunate enough to meet several other tubers.  Because of this, solo trips soon turned into group trips and my success rates improved as techniques and knowledge were shared.

Anyone visiting a trout lake in Arizona will notice that there is an increasing number of float tube fishermen.  Typically, they fall into 2 basic categories, which I divide by classifying their angling strategies.  One group analyzes a lake for high percentage areas they think to hold fish.  The other group devotes much of their time to trolling around the lake, using a boater’s mentality.  This latter technique will usually result in hooking up with a fish every now and then.  I believe that the fault here is that this group seldom concentrates on prospective fishy spots.

When fishing a new lake in your tube, it may be necessary to troll occasionally…it’s almost a must in order to locate fish.  I’ve often heard the term “long retrieve” to describe this method.  One well-known author/guide that I recently spoke to condemns trolling but encourages the long retrieve in unfamiliar waters and tough situations.  His belief is that if you’re trolling, then you’re not fly fishing.  Instead, cast out as much line as you can manage, then strip line off your reel and release it into the water by kicking your fins and then wiggling your rod tip so that line is slowly being released.  Once all of the fly line is absorbed into the water without any slack, then start stripping and working on the retrieve.

Picture this…..You arrive at a new trout lake as the eastern horizon is still a subtle pinkish color.  As you joint your ferrules together, slide your fly line through the snake-guides,  you can still see your breath.  You glance out at the water, then back through your fly boxes, trying to decide whether or not to use “old faithful” or try something new you read about in an online fishing report.  The reports say to use something green.  There is no surface activity, you carefully inspect each of the newly tied (or newly bought) green/peacock flies, then look at your woolly bugger collection again.  You want to get into trout so bad, but none of the reports mentioned how to fish this lake, where they were, or what depth they’re at.  You start to piece together various reports and tips you heard from the fly shops and are forced to come up with a plan before the guy that just pulled in the parking lot launches his tube.

This is where a little trial and error will do you some good.  A common tactic would be to tie on a tandem rig to take out some of the guesswork.  As a rule, I usually always start off on unfamiliar waters with an intermediate sinking line, unless there are trout rising.  This gives me a chance to fish, experiment, and observe.  The intermediate line will give you the opportunity to try different depths and find a feeding zone.  Do this by using the countdown method.  After your line lands on the water, let it sink to different depths by counting before you start your retrieve.  Before you can do the math, you will have to know the sink rate of your line.  Count to 10 on your first series of casts, then start stripping.  Count to 30 on your second series of casts, etc.  Do this until you get a strike and remember your count so that you can find the right depth again.  This is a very effective method to find the depth they are feeding at below the surface.

I like to get my fly in the water as soon as my fins stop kicking up mud and debris because I believe that every second my fly is in the water is a chance I have for a hook-up.  Before heading out into open water, study the terrain around the shorelines.  This will usually give you a pretty good snapshot of underwater structure.  Structure is important when trying to find fish in new waters.  Think back to your spin fishing days or ask any bass angler….most fish are caught around some kind of structure.

On a recent trip to AZ’s White Mountains, I had a very long and in-depth discussion about this topic during the 4.5 hour drive up there.  Our discussion strengthened my belief that what you saw on the shorelines was a pretty close representation of what was below.  Ideas and thoughts that were born from this highly caffienated jabber session proved to be very helpful in helping us land and release an impressive collection of large trout.

Once you get a few strikes and land a few fish, then it’s time to backtrack a little bit.  Single out a fly that produced for you and lose the tandem rig.  Hopefully you observed how deep the trout were feeding and remembered the type of retrieve you were using.  After this, it’s time to concentrate on the fishy areas and stop wasting valuable time trolling around.  From my own personal experiences, trout populations are not distributed evenly in lakes.  Although I’ve never seen trout travel in tight schools, I do find them to concentrate in groups.  There are often groups of trout here and groups of trout there, but all too often, there are great fishless expanses in between.  The problem with trolling is that the float tube fly fishermen spend far too much time stripping flies through unproductive water.

I can think of several instances in the White Mtns. that enforce my stance on trolling flies.  One of my tubing buddies and I headed to the far side of a lake.  When we got there, we went our separate ways but as I was fishing, I had noticed that he remained stationary for some length of time due to some heavy rod bending action.  My rod had yielded a few fish, but not nearly the numbers he was puling in.  During my travel time to his area, I was left fishless, but every time I passed his position, I immediately started getting strikes.  In my futile attempt to out-fish him, I continued to propel myself to an area I thought looked good with minimal results.  Each time I passed him, in search of my own hot spot, I would get a fish, but out of the need to practice good fishing etiquette, I stayed clear of his casting space.  I continued to use the long retrieve and ended up catching and releasing about a dozen fish to his 30-plus fish.  The fish that day were all concentrated in a particular area due to water temperate and subsurface structure.

There are also some lakes that cater primarily to cruising fish.  I’ve found that applying the logic of remaining stationary and trying to catch them as they cruised by was sometimes more successful than moving around in my float tube and blind fishing.

One advantage of parking your tube after you find a hot-spot is the ability to fish the area very thoroughly.  You can examine different depths and fan-cast 360 degrees around you, whereas when trolling, you are basically dragging the fly in a straight line that may or may not be the right depth.  Trolling does enable you to cover what is perceived as more water, but in reality you will definitely cover more water only if you make more casts and cover a specific area thoroughly.

A common mistake I notice float tubers make is that they drag their lines and cast their lines directly behind them.  More often than not, this water has been disturbed by their fins, therefore spooking the wiser trophy fish.  The uneducated smaller fish don’t seem to be affected by muddied waters but I have never caught a big bruiser directly behind my tube.  Another observation is that my best chance of hooking a lunker is one of the first few casts to an area.  The more casts I make to a hole which I know holds big trout, the les chance I have of enticing it to strike.  This is the same principal used when fishing small streams, where you usually will only get one shot at that big trout.

The first week of June marks my annual week long trip to the Apache Reservation.  Each year I go with the same guys, camp at the same spot, and fish many of the same waters.  Each year we try to improve our catch rate while still searching for Bubba.  This year Bubba came in the form of a beautifully painted 24” brown trout from Lake X.  He weighed an estimated 5+ lbs. and came complete with remarkable markings and a kyped jaw.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t my hackle that Bubba shredded.  The honor this year goes to my friend Michael for successfully landing and releasing a few Bubbas.  I did manage to catch my own personal best brown trout too by first practicing the long retrieve method to locate fish and then keying in on the fishy spots with great shoreline structure.  This method produced a record number of fish for us that day by not wasting any time fishing the unknown and concentrating on the spots that have been were productive.

Trolling should be reserved strictly as a method for finding fish, for the severely hung-over fisherman, or for the fly casters who don’t’ yet have the ability to remain stationary and cast without smacking the water or getting knots in their fly line.  This problem can be somewhat remedied by practice, a longer and faster action rod (to keep your casting stroke short and line of the water), or by upgrading from the low-rider inner tube type of float tubes to the pontoon type of boats with seas that keep you higher and drier.  This type of boat allows you to sit ON the seat rather than IN the seat.  I progressed from a round tube, to a V or U shaped boat, to a dual pontoon and noticed a remarkable difference in my casting ability with each progression.

The float tuber who knows how to read a lake, locate hotspots and fish them effectively is the one who will always catch more and bigger fish.  How you choose to fish that area once you’ve found it is entirely up to you.  Keep in mind that just like with anything else, technique counts.  Use good technique and you will catch more fish.

Terry Chia

AZOD Fly Fishing Editor