Clinch River 9/29/08

[Rockyraccoon]

Try being me.....

For some reason or another....my boat rides about two inches deeper than most drifters. It's gotta be all my extra gear and not my large posterior.

Thank God for Clackacrafts. The TIMEX of driftboats.

[Fishermansfly]

Not trying to start a war but I quote a good friend "Those who own a Clacka, never rowed a Hyde!" HAA HAA HAA~ Just had to pick a fight!

No, but seriously, while on the Big Horn river we had high side Clacka's with wooden oars. The boat felt like a cheap peice of crap! All of the boxes were made of fiberglass and squeaked, the bottom certainly flexed alright and it was impossible to pull it off of a run while the boat was tracking. It was terrible...fishing out of um was alot more difficult too. The person in the back felt stuck and it wasn't easy to change oarsman with the person in the back of the boat! However I will say that it was more than likely an older model Clacka and the heavy wooden oars didn't compare to the counterbalanced carbon fiber oars my Hyde had! Not to mention I was used to my low profile. I woulda liked to have been able to row a low profile (side) Clacka!

I can only imagine the abuse that your boat see's. I want to learn that line on the Hi, but I'm a little afraid of taking my baby out there to the wolves! Plus I'm sure you don't mind an extra boat staying outta your watershed!

I do wanna make it over there how is things on the HI?

~Brett

[Worrgamesguy]

What's the purpose in having a boat if you're not gonna use it? Doesn't make too much sense to me, would you rather put a few scratches on your boat and catch more fish or not use it at all and keep it pretty? I know they're expensive, but use it, man! I catch dozens more trout if I'm floating than if I am wading. You may be different, though.

[golfballs03]

I will say that beating your boat to **** isn't a nice way to spend a day even if you are catching some fish, but thats just me. It sends a chill down my spine hearing a rock rip down my hull. Uh, I hate even thinking about it

[billyspey]

have you bought a boat lately?

[Worrgamesguy]

Originally Posted by golfballs03

I will say that beating your boat to **** isn't a nice way to spend a day even if you are catching some fish, but thats just me. It sends a chill down my spine hearing a rock rip down my hull. Uh, I hate even thinking about it

I guess this is true, it's an uneasy feeling but it isn't life altering for me. Unless you happen to get marooned on a rock with a jagged edge and it really does damage, that's a different story.

Originally Posted by billyspey

have you bought a boat lately?

My dad bought a 12' jon boat

[Fishermansfly]

Worrgamesguy! Dude, lemme rephrase this. When I say pretty I mean that when I have things that I enjoy as much as I do that boat, it's hard to shuv it up against a rock on purpose just to float it downstream. I have consistantly been beat up on by the guys I work with, about how I spent over 8 grand on a boat that has no motor. That's like spending 8 grand on a yak, canoe, or john boat!

At a pretty fair rate of $100.00 a horse power (pretty common in the boating industry) I could have bought a decent little john boat with a 70 horse motor for what I paid for my Hyde and it just isn't aluminum! It would be the equivilant of you buying a new car and running it through a brior patch on purpose...Does that make sense? Why heck no!

I love the boat and enjoy every second of being in it, just not being on a tailwater where you purposely have to beat up your boat to get it down stream while catching 6'' to 14'' fish! Now if there was some 24" fish involved I'd probably have less to gripe about! Non the less I'd still not like it! Those boat's are designed to be pretty precise at taking on runs and avoiding rocks in low water conditioins. Like I've said I've repeatedly floated the Watauga, which I've been told is the second hardest river to float (1st being the HI) and I had yet to put a scratch on my boat until I met that section of the Clinch!

Bill your hilarious and I wanna row your Clack just for good measure! I believe it's you and me on the 29th, we will just have to beat um up together this time!

~Brett

[waterwolf]

Its only gel coat, once again and the mark of a good boat is a chewed up chine and signatures from the rivers it has traversed.

Hyde, Clacka, they are all the same in my opinion. I row a Hyde, but have rowed a bunch of different mfg.'s boats and they all get the job done.

[golfballs03]

A boat is going to get beat up overtime anyway, but going down a river like the Hiwassee, I'd rather do it with a person who has floated it before - I don't want to get all beat up if I don't have to. But I've never floated the HI so maybe I'm over estimating it

[waterwolf]

The Hi has one real bad spot at the stairsteps, no matter what it seems you are going to take a shot. The difference between it and the Clinch or Holston is that you are moving fast when you hit rocks. The Clinch rocks are generally slow hits which have a louder bark then bite. There are smallmouth rivers in this part of the state that make any trout stream look like a joke in terms of boat beating abilities.