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So today was the maiden voyage of the new ride, arriving at the lake with forecast of a steady cool northerly breeze and overcast, thought I'd take a jacket with me and stuff it in a carrier bag, now I checked it had no holes so rolled the bag and popped it behind the seat, decided it was chilly only to find the opening of the bag must have been below the water level and my jacket was doing an impression of a sponge 
I decided to duck into the Lea of the wind and target the backs of the islands unsuccessfully, much under 7' depth and there was weed making it awkward. After having a bite to eat I decided it was time to go set up some long drifts down the wind, nothing on the first drift but towards the end of the second drift the line tightened and the rod assumed fighting curve, a few heavy head shakes and runs before a nice pike of double figures came alongside the tube, sat over 14' of water and having a good pike dive under your feet and spin the tube round is bloody good fun, however after spraying me with water I noticed the hook was only in the corner of the mouth and attached to a small amount of flesh, one more powerful run and into some weed and it was game over, the hook pulled leaving me with a pile of weed attached to my fly. The biggest I've hooked whilst float tubing and immensely good fun so no great losses but it would of been nice to have a photo for the report.
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Having lost a fish
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Portage to and from is simple with the tube on my back and rods, fins etc in my retaining sling
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The tube handles well and I'm happy with it although the front bar is sat on my knee, I could probably lose some air out of my seat to lower me slightly, and the front tray/flap thing is sits on my lap higher than the bar so fly line spills over and tangles easier than the other times I've used. The line spillage problem will be easily addressed with some thick foam and cable/zip ties poking up through it to aid line control
I decided to duck into the Lea of the wind and target the backs of the islands unsuccessfully, much under 7' depth and there was weed making it awkward. After having a bite to eat I decided it was time to go set up some long drifts down the wind, nothing on the first drift but towards the end of the second drift the line tightened and the rod assumed fighting curve, a few heavy head shakes and runs before a nice pike of double figures came alongside the tube, sat over 14' of water and having a good pike dive under your feet and spin the tube round is bloody good fun, however after spraying me with water I noticed the hook was only in the corner of the mouth and attached to a small amount of flesh, one more powerful run and into some weed and it was game over, the hook pulled leaving me with a pile of weed attached to my fly. The biggest I've hooked whilst float tubing and immensely good fun so no great losses but it would of been nice to have a photo for the report.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Having lost a fish
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Portage to and from is simple with the tube on my back and rods, fins etc in my retaining sling
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
The tube handles well and I'm happy with it although the front bar is sat on my knee, I could probably lose some air out of my seat to lower me slightly, and the front tray/flap thing is sits on my lap higher than the bar so fly line spills over and tangles easier than the other times I've used. The line spillage problem will be easily addressed with some thick foam and cable/zip ties poking up through it to aid line control
