Float Tube Fishing in Ireland
Having a really great time fishing from the world's best floating fishing
platform
How
Much Air to Pump up the Tube in psi?
I
prefer about
3 to 3 1/2 psi air pressure for me with my tubes. Most experienced tubing pals seem
to have settled on this amount of pressure as preferable.
When I used to use a low pressure gauge I learned how much psi to use
and how it makes the
tube feel ...
(don't know what happened to the gauge, I lent it to a "friend" and
didn't see it again.)
2-3 psi was "bouncy" surface, would sag if put on the water, creases
going or just gone, but reappear if you rest weight on it, making a
depression.
3 psi was getting more supportive, all "creases" gone.
3-4 psi was "hard to the touch, no creases, but would make a slight
depression from leaning on it" and that is the feel I still fill up to
achieve now, and then stop filling.
4 psi was more hard to the touch, resisting pressure from a hand or
elbow, and stitching was becoming visible in seams if you looked hard.
The tube was feeling very strong at this pressure.
My tubes can take 4psi pressure no problem, 5-6 is the limit which
damages, but one time I put a
cut in my tube cover from a sharp edged broken reed while wading through
a reedbed to a pond. (The inner was unmarked due to being a different
material) This was a lesson that woven materials are easier to cut if
pulled over taut. I learned that a "little more give" would
reduce the chances of that happening again. (Try drawing a knife over
something stretched very tight - it cuts more easily than another item less taut.) So with this in mind I
now compromise with 3 1/2
lbs psi, which feels pretty taut, very firm, and getting hard to the touch, but
less than rock hard.
This has worked just fine for me for over 25 years.
Striking
When You Get a Take
If using non-stretch braid or similar or wire, just lift
the hook in.
Or if you are using monofilament kick back on the fins and
simultaneously lift with more authority, remembering to ease off
promptly once the hook is in, to prevent inducing a berserker fishy
reaction!
Unhooking Big Fish eg Pike
"On-the-Water"
There are several photos there showing how simple it is to hold a
"chinned" big pike at the tube side, and done this way, unhooking is a
calm and methodical affair.
You need a leather glove for the left hand, and a surgical forceps about
8"-10" long for your right hand.
BEGINNERS SHOULD BE AWARE that once you have put your hand inside
a pike's gill cover (avoiding the gill rakers which are sharp-ish) the
fish will lie there docile and still, WITH MOUTH OPEN while you unhook
it.
The dangerous thing to avoid while unhooking pike, is a jumping fish with hooks flailing about, but "chinning" a pike, inserting your left hand under his chin, feeling for the gill plate (the side away from the hooks is usually the underneath side as he plays out and the line lifts his head slightly) he may thrash as you feel for the right place but you are prepared for this. Then you slide your gloved fingers in, lift his head up, and the pike goes still AND OPENS HIS MOUTH BY HIMSELF. And you take a forceps in your right hand, reach in, lock it onto the hook bend, turn the hook upside down, and it pops free. Simple and safe.
Admire your unhooked fish, reach out to arms length from the tube. then
lower your hand to the water surface, sweep the fish into a little
forwards motion, and withdraw you hand from the gill cover allowing the
fish to continue onwards just under the surface, released.
It is easier and safer to bring big fish to the side, rather than the
front, due to a late dive (which shouldn't happen, but will occur
rarely) causing a tangle with the fin straps which are in that area of
operations.
Take a look at the photos to see what I mean.
Based on my own personal experiments and thousands of pike the only
unhooking devices you need are two:- a long quality forceps (a
surgical one with a hinge that will not twist, and handles that will not
bend, thus releasing the lock), and one leather glove for the left hand
which will do the chinning, to protect fingers against scrapes from gill
rakers.
Using only these two implements I have landed and released very many
double figure pike up into high twenties, never a problem.
Many
times I have removed my own trace, and then removed another trace left
there by other less experienced anglers at some earlier stage
Children in Float Tubes?
Wait until they are older ...
Nothing I mean nothing can compare to float tube fishing.
My boat hasn't seen water in over a year. I think it is time to sell it.
A float tube is just so aesthetically "right". Young people enjoy
tubing too. But it is good to be aware of physical limitations that
affect enjoyment and safety during a day on the water.
However for younger kids I am definitely biased towards a boat ... it
keeps Dad nearby to sort out tangles, tie knots, bait up, etc.
My own kids really enjoyed boating when they were little.
Come age 10 - 12 and a tube begins to look more adventurous, just
as
"teenage" kicks in, and time with Dad might be otherwise seen as "un-cool" or
"boring". A float tube experience gets rid of all that, and the day is full of adventure
again. Start off with a round donut tube, and graduate up as confidence
builds, and you observe good safety based tubing, to a Vee tube with a
crotch strap. The "no strap" vee tubes are best left to adults.
I suppose it depends a lot on the personal ability/confidence of the children themselves, and the confidence their parents have, and the freedom that seems wise to allow, given the always present water based dangers we deal with while we enjoy our leisure.