How high do you want to sit/stand in your boat?

[Wild Chrome]

When flyfishing stillwaters, how high off the water do you find best? Obviously, if you're higher up, you can see the fish easier, but they can see you easier too, and you may need to make a longer cast. I have a pretty low-to-the-water toon, have been thinking about trading.

Any thoughts?

[Subtlety]

Are you talkin about from a pontoon boat or a drift boat? If it is legal to fish from the boat I prefer the drift boat because two guys can fish while one guy rows pretty much any time you are moving and they have the neato dual casting stations on the nicely equipped boats.

Casting sitting from a pontoon boat knocks a few feet off of my cast in all honesty. I have seen the pontoon boats with the leg brace you can lean against to stand and cast but I wouldnt buy that option.

My opinion:

Higher = better up to the normal height of if you were actually standing on the water.

[TroutGirl]

Just fished the Yakima last weekend from a 4 person pontoon/cataraft. It was great. I think the height defnitely made it easier to see fish or fishy spots. And makes it easier to cast farther.

I just got one of the Water Ready pontoons. Its sits up high off the water and has a casting deck. I liked it at East Lake this summer. Was a ton better than my previous lake time in a float tube.

[Wild Chrome]

I'm talking about stillwaters (lakes) here (toon/tube or otherwise). My dilema is I think by sitting lower, i can get away with shorter casts without spooking the fish, but I cannot see the fish.

[NCL]

I fish mostly still water with my pontoon and have gone through three different pontoons for the reason you asked. I started low to the water in a WaterSkeeter which worked fine but I was unable to see the fish. I then went to a Water Ready pontoon without the lean tower which put me higher on the water, to be able to see more fish, but I couldn't stand, I could but I didn't feel comfortable without the lean tower. Then in February I picked up a longer pontoon with the lean tower from Bruce. This has really worked out well for me. I can see fish and to cast to them, I can make longer casts to these fish. If you want you can still sit and cast but it is not as effective. The only down side is you don't have the mobility you get from the smaller pontoons because you can use fins, which don't work because of the standing platform. The Scadden pontoon has a retractable floor but I think it is more expensive than Bruce's pontoons and it is a smaller floor. I guess the bottomline is you have great visiblity while standing and you can see fish from a distance, obviously depending on water clarity, you can cast further, but you lose mobility and in windy conditions two anchors work the best.

[TroutGirl]

Yes, on the stillwater thing. I don't fish a lot of stillwater. I do fish East Lake each year. Previous 2 years I have fished from a float tube and from a johnboat/canoe. So lowest height was float tube, next was the johnboat canoe thing, highest was the water ready pontoon and standing up on the casting deck leaning against the casting bar.

Float tube was just exhausting on all levels. Seems like a minimum of 20 feet to catch a fish. Can't get them to bite any closer, even though they might be rising closer. And the johnboat canoe, um, purely my fault for not catching fish, I was too busy gabbing with other folks to ever set the hook or see the take. Finally the pontoon, it really did work for me. Mostly I stood to cast and spot fish. I also could sit to do it. I could see alot more fish from the angle I was at. I also could see them long enough to see the path they were traveling and working.

I've realized in bank fishing too, that I do a lot better the more I can see into the water. I realize that taking some time to climb up above to have the angle that cuts more glare and see into the water makes it easier.

Now, that said, it seems in stillwater its the smaller fish that come up to take the dries. I haven't done the sinking line thing. So I don't know about that at all.