The water will likely destroy the glue on the surfaces Use a multi-section kayak paddle stored as above. This is not my favorite way in a shallow river Use your hands to paddle backwards or forward Use a telescoping paddle or two as above with the blade part(s) stored in side pockets when not in use Use a pair of old ping pong paddles stored as above. Today there are several options for navigating deep hole: Use flippers to propel - backwards - though to shallower water. Paul Rockwell is parent coordinator of Gone Tubin’ ( ), a fishing club for youth.When I hit a deeper hole, I had three options: Drop off the seat and stand on bottom again where the depth allowed drop a small anchor to hold my spot while I fished the area or float through the deeper water with my feet either hanging down or up on the front bar for a float tube with this feature. What’s missing is the raft and the solace of wild things. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened.” I remember a scene from “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”: “It’s lovely to live on a raft. I have seen young teenagers, floating on the Middle River in the Delta, doing nothing - nothing but gazing up at the sky, looking at flocks of birds diminishing in the horizon. Small is beautiful.įloat tube fishing is very active, but in the process of the hunt, children become immersed in the ethos of nature. And I have also seen float tube fishermen come right within casting distance of boiling fish. I have seen bait fish in schools scatter when a power boat approaches. Even trolling motors cannot take a boat into the tulles or through vegetation. It gives a young angler access to special areas that are inaccessible to big mechanized boats. The float tube is quiet, unobtrusive, and presents a low profile on the water. In sum, you can get a float tube set up (fins, life vests, tubes, waders if you need them) for under $300. Steele’s on Telegraph in Oakland is a good place to get fitted. But the U-tube is easier to get in and out of, and it has much less drag than a traditional donut.įloat tubes cost a fraction of what other boats cost.

Parents tend to buy round tubes because they look more childlike. A round tube, often called a donut, and a U-tube. There are two kinds of tubes to get kids started. “I can move this sucker in any direction!” The kid provides the thrust and is captain of the ship. When a child first sits in the tube, there comes a rush of power.

Just drop the tube into shallow water, put on a life jacket, fins, back into the seat and paddle away. There are no batteries, no pumps, and many tubes can be inflated manually. No fishing vehicle is more affordable, more transportable, or more nature friendly than a float tube. The special advantages of the float tube are manifold. The trout are biting at Shadow Cliffs in Pleasanton, at Lake Del Valle in Livermore, good lakes for getting kids started in float tubes. Low water conditions can actually improve fishing. I know no better way to connect youth to the mysteries of nature than to take them float tube fishing in our lakes and reservoirs, or even in the calm sloughs of the Delta. Nevertheless, there’s a Huck Finn inside every youth. In an age of Facebook and cell phones, it’s not easy to get kids excited about fishing, about the outdoors.

Float tube fins