My Bad Day

[Sacto John]

I headed out to float a local river with my wife, brother in law and his wife so that they could try use thier kayacks and I could fish. Mey brother in law and I started in a two man pontoon boat with him rowing so that he could stear us around the only rapids of the trip. Well, he ended up taking the wrong line and put the pontoon boat sideways into a tree in the middle of the fast water. He jumped out to pull the boat to safty just in time to block my wife's entry into the by-pass causing her to flip her kayack over. When all the excitment was over and we figured out no one was hurt I noticed my Kistler rod and new Shamano reel was gone, donated to the river gods. I am thankfull we are all stiill alive and now I have a reason to buy a Helium rod...they float right?

[TTCal]

ouch.... thank goodness you're all alright Sacto John... and welcome to the forum by the way.

We have evidence the helium rods float when matched up with a Daiwa TD-Z reel, but those reels are made of magnesium and super super light. I'd run a test with a standard aluminum reel before putting your blind faith in the bouyancy of the overall package....

[Al Pugh]

Just finished a week-long ( - - blocked - - )/fishing trip in the area of the white water section of the New River in West Virginia. Overall, only one rod lost in the rapids (up to class III) and it was from a one-man pontoon. Not mine, but a friend of mine. It was a Legend Elite wearing a pretty expensive Shimano spinning reel. Thankfully, it wasn't a Kistler. I would have cried harder for my buddy if it was.

I lost my Kistler when somebody thought they needed it more than me and slim-jimmed my car door. Ah, well, God knows, He'll sort it out. Until I get it replaced, I'll just have to live with memories.

We run into that problem fairly often in mid-Atlantic rivers. All I can say is foresight and bungy cords, then hang on tight and row, boy, row!

.

.