Beverly, a girl that I went to school with posted a picture on facebook the other day. Bev and her husband were in their new inflatable kayak out on a lake. It was the first time that they'd had it on the water.

Bev said in her comment that it was a successful trip and they were ready to try the river. She's a pretty girl and I commented something like this: Very nice. Next time let's see your smile and get rid of the shades. She commented back, "I was lucky to even be able to take a picture". That boat did look tippy.

A day or 2 later she posted another picture of her and her hubby out on the Potomac River. She was smiling that time, still wearing her shades. I picked on her about that too. They live down near Washington DC. The Potomac River that far downstream is a big, wide, slow and lazy looking stream.

When Bev said that they were ready for the river, I wasn't sure if she meant down at DC, or if she meant here in our local water. I was thinking that if she'd bring that inflatable back home, she's going to be disappointed.

We've talked about boats before and I think I've mentioned this before, years ago. Anyway, Big Donnie bought an inflatable raft one time. Thinking that it'd be easy to handle, for days when he'd be out alone. He started down the creek and didn't make it very far before it started to go flat. D. had a patch kit with him, so he patched it up and pumped it back up and set sail again.

I forget the details but he hit another rock that cut a gash in the new vessel, 6 or 8 or 10 inches long, and that was it. Not sure what he paid for it, but that was probably $50 or 75$ down the drain. Buy it today and set it out for the trash guys next week.

Years ago I bought a Coleman canoe, that's been almost 40 years ago, that was a good investment! It's got a lot of rough miles on it!

Tough to beat a Coleman canoe.

I'm wondering how those inflatable paddle boards are going to hold up. They are quite the rage here now. I am betting they will go the way of the wind surfer.

I'm not familiar with paddle boards, I wasn't exactly sure what you meant. I searched the other day and looked them over, watched a short video or 2. Honestly, they look more like a pool toy. For me they would be useless.

I guess if you'd just want to go out and lay in the sun or tinker around they would be ok? Early this summer a guy told me that he and a bunch of friends were going to float down the creek on inner-tubes. That is a short float, he told me later they were out in less than 4 hours. Four hours on a tube would be more than enough, I'd think.

The paddle board thing that I looked at was priced over $400. I don't see them getting very popular on our streams.

The folks that make fishing kayaks would be money ahead if they would design them more user friendly. I know these things are made as fast and as cheaply as they can be and all. Little things like cup holders, and there's no reason that they can't have a small ice chest built in, part of the boat. Something small, big enough to hold something like a 6-pack and a box of worms. Some kind of hooks or loops on the sides where you could tie on stuff like your minnow buckets and fish stringer.

All of that stuff should be within arms reach. Maybe there is a kayak designed that way? I'm sure one day there will be.

Look at a Canadian Tire flyer online and you will see many kayaks designed for fishing. They must exist in the States, also.

Paddle boards are used mostly on lakes here. $1500 for a solid one isn't an unusual price. Blow up ones are less expensive.

The paddle board that I mentioned above was inflatable, and over $400.

I searched Canadian Tire, if I'm not mistaken 2 or 3 of their fishing kayaks were in the "Top 10" list. It seems that just about everything that you search for will take you to Amazon.

These "Top 10" lists change. Search today and an item might be there and search again a week later and it won't be.

That one kayak that I was looking at the other day online, it was made of basically the same material as Coleman canoes/boats. If that's true, it would last a lifetime. Forget the brandname, but it was around $400. I think it came in as #4 in the top 10.

I'll tell you one thing that I'd like to do before long, go out and Jitterbug one night. Bass should be hitting on top. Pretty boring most times, but you never know.

A hundred years ago, if you said you wanted to Jitterbug, you'd probably want music, too!

True.

I was out swimming yesterday, one of my favorite spots. I didn't find much.

While I was driving down along the river on the west side, I noticed a bunch of canoes on the east side. The boats were lined up on the rocks, just getting ready to take off. I was going to swim about a half mile downstream, so I figured I'd just wait for them to pass. I waited and waited, thought they should have went past me by now. I walked up the river a couple hundred yards where I could see.

I looked upstream, it looked like a log jam coming at me. Boats pointed in all directions, sideways and backwards. Two boys had their canoe wedged against a bridge pier. Two other boys had their canoe stuck on a ledge. They were using that boat as a see-saw. Boy in the back would jump up, the boy up front would hit the water. Oh, it was fun to watch!

I talked to the one guy, it was a 4-H group, I think there were 16 canoes total. The guy beached his canoe amd yelled upstream for someone to hurry up. I walked over and talked to him and just a minute later, some little boy came floating down the river with 2 paddles under his arm. I'm not sure what the deal was there? Someone took a spill.

After they cleared out, I started searching. In full sunshine visibility would have been about 8 feet, when a cloud would pass over, it's almost like the bottom would drop out. Everything looked the same. I went downstream 200 yards or better, zig-zaged back and forth. Did find 3 bottles of tropical fruit Gatorade. The seal wasn't broken, but pretty gunky looking, the one I picked up only had a small bubble of air in the bottle. It sank fast when I dropped it. Surprised me.

A full beer can will float, full beer glass bottles sink. One thing that I will say, I'm not seeing as much trash, bottles and cans like I sometimes find. That's good.

But I did find one of those fold up lawn chairs. It's in good shape, I should have enough of them now.

Not sure? I was in the river yesterday probably 3 hours or so? I did see a guy and girl in a canoe that were fishing, he was. Otherwise none of those boys that went by had any gear. They were just floating.

I did see a nice school of yellow suckers. As far as bass, I didn't see one that would have been over 10 inches. Just not seeing many bass total.

Well, I was out swimming again last evening on my break. Seems like the water was just a little bit cooler than the last time, guess they had more rain upstream. But it was overcast too. Visibility would have been 7 feet or so.

I did find a channel catfish that would have been a good 3 pounds or better. It was really black looking. And it was laying on and old tire, about half full of sand. It's tail was inside of the tire, like where a tube would go, and it's head was resting on the sidewall. Maybe it's nesting?

Did find one smallmouth that would have been in the 14 to 16 inch range, otherwise all of the bass would have been 10 inches or less.

Finally decided on a kayak and got it ordered the other day, hopefully it'll be here this week.

It's a "Lifetime Tamarak Angler 100 Fishing Kayak" $400 plus tax. Paddle is included.

Take this for what it's worth, but this is how I decided on this boat. It's been consistently in the "Top 10" best fishing kayak list. I've watched 2 or 3 short videos, I've read about all of the reviews.

It's 10 feet long, only weighs 55 pounds. I think it's rated to hold up to 275 pounds, and is only supposed to draft 5 or 6 inches deep. It's made of a material very similar to the material used in Coleman canoes.

It's not perfect but I think we'll get along just fine.

I'll give you a first hand report before long!

Sounds like a good purchase. I am anxious to see how it performs.