North 40 Fly Shop eMagazine September 2018 | Page 27

Rowing is a foreign thing if you haven’t done it
before. The best analogy is it’s like walking and
chewing gum at the same time. Knowing what
each arm is responsible for and how to make
the boat move correctly with each arm is the
challenge. If you have a small local lake that
has a good parking lot and a boat launch, that is
where you will want to start.
Try to pick hours there that allow you to practice
backing up your trailer and on and offloading
your boat quickly. Having a big parking lot is
also helpful. Think of it as learning to drive a
stick or compare it to your first time trying to
parallel park. You’ll want to learn how the trailer
acts at different speeds backing up. Use your
mirrors. An old cheat trick is to put the tailgate
on your truck down and learn to look back at
the boat while you back up. This will give you a
bigger view of what is going on versus a small
side or rearview mirror view.
You’ll then want to get out on the lake and
practice rowing forwards, backward, spinning
circles and get a general feeling for how your
boat acts and moves. Get confident on the oars
before you decide to make your first outing on
a river. Things happen at a much faster pace
on the river, and you’ll need to be strong and
confident to react properly when you get on
moving water.
I’ve heard an old saying that has stuck with me
for a long time, “Drift boats don’t float.” At first,
that didn’t make sense to me until I understood
what that meant. If you get a drift boat into a
position where one side or the other, or even
the rear of the boat, is low enough to take on
water, it only takes a matter of seconds to fill the
boat. Then it’s game over! Drift boats are not
filled full of air like a raft and they will sink once
filled. This made me fully respect the river, and
not to be complacent, and always pay attention
even on the easiest going day. Drift boats are
very stable and hold plenty of weight. Some
drift boats are designed for large rapids. Learn
the limits of what they can do, and you’ll be just
fine, just always respect the river.
TIPS ON SAFETY WHILE IN THE BOAT.
Most drift boats and lots of rafts come with knee
locks. This is a great feature to have in your boat
if you are getting one. They are a nook or area
that you stand in that has corners that jut out,
so you can lean into and become more stable.
Learn how to use these while you are standing,
they are there for a reason. Knee locks help
you become more stable and confident on the
water while fishing. They can be the difference
between being in the boat or swimming. You
can unexpectedly hit a rock with force, or make
a sudden movement with the oars, and if the
people fishing are not in their knee locks, they
can either fall in or out of the boat.
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