Best Boat

[steveg137]

I have one man pontoon.
A chronic Knee problem means I'll likely not be able to do a lot walk and wade.
Is there one boat option that would enable me to drift lower sac, Yuba, American, manzanita AND delta for stripers?
Any thoughts much appreciated.
Thanks
Steve

[SeanO]

A small jet boat would get you out on most of those waters and spare your knee from further injury. Also, no worries about shuttling your tow vehicle; just motor back to the launch.

Good luck,

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

16' heavy duty 0.100 inch all welded aluminum Jon boat with a tiller 60hp/40jet 4 stroke outboard with long 8-9 foot oars and a Minn Kota auto pilot bow mounted electric motor and a combo 5"-7" fish locator/GPS.

Around $15,000 or more new.

Sutter Marine in Yuba City is the best place to buy one.

Call Brian......

http://suttermarine.com/

For northern California this is the best all around fishing boat.

Or you could have 3 different boats?

A 10' pram, a 16' drift boat and a 17' outboard prop skiff.

.

[Darian]

is difficult to ID given the info provided. From what you have given, I'm assuming you'd like to do drifting in a boat. If that's correct, I suggest looking in the Classified Forum of this BB. There're several ads for selling drift boats; some motorized and some not. If none of those things satisfies your need, do some on-line research. Contact some dealers, etc., etc.

Hope you find one soon.... :cool:

[steveg137]

Thanks guys.
Yeah like to do some drifting, perhaps primary use plus
Have another knee surgery coming up so researching this more will be good therapy.
Cheers steve

[Darian]

a sit-on-top Kayak??? You can get in/out with little problem for a painful knee and if you get a Hobie, you can get the foot pedal model that'll help with rehab. Plus, a yak will do what you'd like, where you like.... :cool:

[Terry Thomas]

Perhaps Jeff Putnam can post the details of his boat. Pretty much as you described.
T.

[Rossflyguy]

A kayak is much cheaper than a boat. You could get a drift boat and a kayak. I kayak the delta and I do just fine. A Jon boat would be awesome but you wouldn't be able to hit the upper portion of the American, Yuba, or manzanita. I'm kinda in the same potion as you. I'm trying to decide what to get. I had a PAC 1200 that I sold. I wanted something where I could take my dogs and a buddy in. I haven't done any striper fishing in my kayak yet. I'll be trying that out this fall or next spring...depending on the salmon/steelhead run.

[Randy B]

This might be an option. Both Clackacraft, Hyde and some aluminum boat manufacturers build something similar. I've never been in one, but looks like it might work given your parameters. http://www.clacka.com/section.cfm?wSectionID=4781

[markz]

Hi,
You might also want to consider the weight of boat/kayak to carry down to river and setup time. I chose a Aire Caracal tandam because this weighs 35lbs, but need to get out and walk and wade if fishing for trout. Fishing for striped bass I would anchor and cast. Floating lower sac, American and Yuba might want something similar to this waterstrider (paddle or kick). I think you can also add an electric motor also. I've found that I need to cover a lot more water looking for stripers and bass in the delta so a jon boat with outboard would work better. Best to luck on the surgery.

MarkZ

http://www.waterstrider.com/

[Scott V]

DO NOT GET A KAYAK! If you have knee problems the kayak will irritate those issues. I use a sit on top kayak a lot and also have knee issues. The problem is that your knee will be bent in a particular way for hours, and once you get up and try to straighten it out the pain can be pretty intense. Just the other day after 5 hours in my kayak my knee was killing me once I got out. I felt nothing while sitting, but once I stood up it was painful. Plus lifting a kayak on and off a car is a pain unless you spend an additional $400+ on hullivators.

As for boats, if you want to fish the delta, DO NOT GET A JET! Unless you want to be cleaning out weeds that get sucked into your jet on a regular basis.

Just my 2 cents. If you have any kayak questions, feel free to PM me. But I would never recommend one for someone with knee issues.