Hey ifishers!
A lot of you gave some excellent advice in the 1 piece of advice you'd offer a new owner thread, link here ( https://www.ifish.net/threads/drift...-of-advice-youd-offer-a-new-owner.1711979/page-4?post_id=17153227#post-17153227).
After a few trips to the local lake, I finally got the boat in a river this weekend! I learned a ton in those hours and the advice of that thread was ping ponging around my brain the whole time. I realized that I had only really piloted canoes and kayaks, where I'm pushing forward most of the time, rather than pulling back. I had a few hiccups but made it to the take out safely. Here's what I learned during my first trip:
1. Running the oars on a DB seems to be mostly back pulling, rather than pushing forward, that took a little getting use to.
2. The concept of pointing the boat toward danger and pulling away from the obstacle now makes sense.
3. I need to set up much earlier than I thought, being set up earlier makes for less rowing later and causes less stress.
Things I need to practice:
1. Rowing uniformly - I felt like my left oar was more powerful than my right, which is weird because I'm right handed and feel stronger on my right side.
2. Making strokes more efficient, guessing that will just take time.
3. Actually fishing! I haven't brought a rod on board yet as I really wanted to focus on everything else.
There's so much to learn and think about but these items are top of mind right now. This journey has been a big learning curve but I'm having a lot of fun. This first trip was on the Smith and the second trip will be on the Rogue in a week or two and I'll make another update.
A lot of you gave some excellent advice in the 1 piece of advice you'd offer a new owner thread, link here ( https://www.ifish.net/threads/drift...-of-advice-youd-offer-a-new-owner.1711979/page-4?post_id=17153227#post-17153227).
After a few trips to the local lake, I finally got the boat in a river this weekend! I learned a ton in those hours and the advice of that thread was ping ponging around my brain the whole time. I realized that I had only really piloted canoes and kayaks, where I'm pushing forward most of the time, rather than pulling back. I had a few hiccups but made it to the take out safely. Here's what I learned during my first trip:
1. Running the oars on a DB seems to be mostly back pulling, rather than pushing forward, that took a little getting use to.
2. The concept of pointing the boat toward danger and pulling away from the obstacle now makes sense.
3. I need to set up much earlier than I thought, being set up earlier makes for less rowing later and causes less stress.
Things I need to practice:
1. Rowing uniformly - I felt like my left oar was more powerful than my right, which is weird because I'm right handed and feel stronger on my right side.
2. Making strokes more efficient, guessing that will just take time.
3. Actually fishing! I haven't brought a rod on board yet as I really wanted to focus on everything else.
There's so much to learn and think about but these items are top of mind right now. This journey has been a big learning curve but I'm having a lot of fun. This first trip was on the Smith and the second trip will be on the Rogue in a week or two and I'll make another update.
