Safety Items for the Drift Boat

There are a few items you must carry in the boat.

1) The first item of course, is a life jacket. There must be a life jacket for everyone in the boat. They must be easily accessible, meaning not locked up in the bench under the seat. If in a river, life jackets must be worn unless on a designated flat water section like downstream from Red Creek Rapids on the Green River. Children 12 and under must always wear a life Jacket while in a drift boat.

2) A whistle or horn is mandatory if the boat is 16 feet or longer and recommended if under 16 feet. I keep a whistle with a compass on my floating keychain that carries all my boating keys.

3) Fire Extinguishers are not needed on Drift Boats

4) A bailing device. This can be a simple bucket that can also serve as a garbage can.

5) A spare paddle, oar or motor. I carry two spare oars so I can row with them.

Other items I like to bring are

1) Extra rope. This can be useful for a variety of reasons: Tying up the boat at shore or dock, throwing to someone who is drowning or for towing.

2) Sealable Bucket. Utah is a no-dumping state so it is against the law put human waste in water ways or the land nearby. The South Fork of the Snake River requires all floaters to carry a sealable bucket.

3) First Aid Kit

4) Sunscreen, hat, sunglasses, rain jacket, change of clothes.

The Salt Lake County Summer Corporate Games

The Salt Lake County Summer Corporate Games is going on right now. Saturday was the fishing event where we would compete against 20 other teams at Jordanelle Reservoir. The competition is based on the weight of the largest 8 fish caught per team of four fishermen.

The day started out at 3:45 AM. By the time I got dressed, everything loaded into the truck and got the boat hooked up it was 4:40 and time to go pick up Geremy. He was ready to go when I got there and we were on the road by 5:00. At the Jordanelle guard shack we put in our 10 dollar fee and then met up with Milton and Jordan at the check in table by 6:00. After filling out the tournament registration forms, showing our badges and team shirts we got notice we could begin fishing.

We had discussed previously our options. Last year we had the best luck by the dam. We also heard reports that the water across from the marina was good for big browns and that bass fishing was good near the bushes by the Marina. Jordan had heard that the inlet was key for trout. Checking with Fish Tech, they said they had the best luck for both trout and bass at the inlet. I had fished the inlet a couple of times this year previously and had good luck with trout there. Talking with Hal, he had caught 5 bass that week around the weeds near the Marina. All in all it looked like the inlet would be our best bet.

It was time to commence our strategy. We would drive around to the Provo River Arm of Jordanelle by the Rock Cliff area and launch our boats at that ramp, rather than at the Marina. This was a 20 minute drive but was quicker than launching at the marina and having to motor all the way across the reservoir and up the long Provo River Arm.

Jordan and Milton caught the first few fish using shrimp. Geremy and I used lures, hoping to catch some trout. We also tried curly tails and tube jigs on various types of rigs and ended up catching quite a few bass on these. We would find the current from the river and drift along it. When we drifted too far or it got too shallow we would move to were we wanted to fish and drift again. There were a couple of deeper channels that we also would drift along.

This strategy seemed to pay off. Between the four of us, we caught 3 trout and 8 bass. The smallest trout and the two smallest bass we didn’t include in the tally. We combined the 8 fish into a bag and drove back to the marina. By this time there was a line of cars at the guard shack so Milton took off running toward the marina with the bag of fish in case it took us too long to get through the line. Weigh in time was 11:00 AM sharp.

The total weight for the catch of our team was 7 lbs 6 oz. This was 5lbs heavier than the closest competitor. This won the Gold Medal for ARUP Laboratories again.

A Motor For The Drift Boat

I decided on a Minn Kota 55 lbs thrust trolling motor. It has 5 forward speeds and 3 reverse speeds. This was the strongest transom mounted motor that Cabelas had in stock. More powerful ones are made but they require 2 batteries. The battery for this already weighs 62.5 pounds.

The motor came with a battery charger. I notice it takes a full day to recharge after used. The first time I used the motor it ran for three hours at varying speeds including some time not in use and quite a bit of time on the highest speed. The second time it worked for four hours with almost constant use and mostly high speed. I then tried going longer than four hours and ended up having to row back to the dock. This gives me an idea of how long the battery will really last. I need to look for a gauge to indicate the amount of battery power left. The motor has plenty of power for trolling and moving from place to place for fishing but not for going a long distance fast.

This motor has a 36 inch shaft. They are available with a 45 inch shaft so I wondered if a 36 inch would be adequate. I called the Hyde Drift Boat shop and they stated that a 36 inch would be plenty. In fact, the motors they sell come with a 20 inch shaft.

I invited my wife Jennifer to be the first one to try out the new motor. We went to Jordanelle and motored around for a few hours. The motor worked great and Jennifer proved to be a great guide. She would keep the boat casting distance away from the shore while I fished for bass. It was a nice, sunny comfortable day and Jennifer managed to get her knees sunburned. I was using a variety of curly tailed jigs which had worked so well before for the smallmouth.

The water in the reservoir was so high that the beaches were completely covered with water. The top of Trees were sticking out of the water hundreds of yards from shore.

The fishing wasn’t easy. I could see bass follow the jig from time to time but they were reluctant to hit. Going around the last outcropping of rocks before heading back to the dock I managed to hook one, a mid-sized smallmouth - a great way to end a fun day of boating with my wife.