2015 FTFF
Float Tube Fishermen of the Year
Congradulation:
Jerdon King
Q: Roughly how long have you been fishing, how many of those years have been from a float tube?
A: The first fishing trip I recall was around 4 years old. I know it was before kindergarten because my uncle let me pee outdoors which was a big novelty to me at the time. I caught trout from a stream but I don’t know where. That was 52 years ago. I got on the float tube in 1992 so that’s 23 years on the tube. My oldest boy was 4 at the time so he would only fish for a short while. I’d use the tube after he went to goof off or I’d take a trip here and there. I started fly fishing from the tube at that time as well. Back then I could troll along Lake Perris dam with a sink tip line and streamers and catch Alabama Spotted bass, bluegill, and trout year round. That ability was really what sold me on the tube. I have been hot and cold over the years, sometimes taking two or three years off from fishing. That is actually how I found this forum. I had taken a few years off and when I dusted off my trusty Browning doughnut it gave up after 20 years of service. While I was searching for a replacement I stumbled across the forum.
Q: What is it that motivates you about fishing, or what drives you to fish?
A: I have always gravitated to outdoor sports as opposed to stick and ball games. I love being in nature and watching the sun come up or go down without the constraints or protection of walls. Just being in the beauty of the natural outdoors is unbeatable for me. In this increasingly detached civilized world it seems important to me to understand my place in the food chain I guess. Also, nature has no timeouts so your mistakes have immediate consequences. Competition with myself or just plain relaxation is what I enjoy most about
fishing. I have fished with my grandparents, uncles, aunts, parents, children, and my only grandson at one point or another. The pole my grandson caught his first fish with was my grandfathers, and reel we “borrowed” from my youngest son. I attach a lot of sentiment to catching fish at times because my equipment is peppered with mementos from years gone by with treasures and such from my family.
Q: If you had to choose one method of fishing (ie... Dropshot, Carolina Rig...) what would it be and why?
A: I would without a doubt say split shotting a worm. My reasoning is I spend nearly all my time trying to be stealthy from the tube, and worming is stealthy. It works from the shore, from the boat, from the pier or dock, and most importantly from the tube. I have caught many different types of freshwater fish here in California with the splitshot. Catfish, bluegill, carp, crappie, trout, largemouth, and smallmouth all on the splitshot. Likewise, the splitshot is as weedless as anything. I can drag or hop it along the bottom. It will slip through the reeds and submerged trees. I can make it travel over weeds by speeding up. I can drop into a pockets of matted vegetation and let it fall.
* I can adjust my rate of fall in so many ways:
More or bigger splitshot…
* Length, width, shape, or tail shape of the worm….
* The speed of retrieve….
* Rod tip action…..
A Quick Interview of an
FTFF Role Model