Damn that MTI inflatable PFD makes me look like I have a gut!!! But they are oh so much cooler to wear in the summer. Anyways - I brought the Hooked SUP out and rigged a seat/cooler/snack bin/storage container to it with bungees. The Igloo cooler was way lighter than the Yeti. I know the Igloo will not hold ice as long, but for an afternoon paddle, it works just fine and the weight savings is worth the difference. I did land two small large mouth bass and three decent sized bluegill. The bluegill were sucking down insects that were hanging out on the water's surface - I just cast my fly out near where the ripples were and SMACK - bent rod and big smiles. The last one I caught had some weird growth on it - it's hard to see on the pictures, but it looked like some kind of amphipod. The Scotty tri-rod holder was awesome! And with the RAM Mounting Adaptors, I could use the RAM rod holders I already have - and they worked great both for the flyrod and the tenkara. I don't anticipate any issues with the spinning rods. And trolling lures while getting exercise on larger bodies of water should be a blast! So much so that the MTI PFD might not make me look fat anymore. Having a decent distance to paddle straight, I got to see how the board tracked. For full disclosure, I have on a much smaller fin than the board ships with (almost half the area less that Alex Aguera's stock fin) - primarily to avoid damaging the glass fin. The board still paddles straight! You can feel the extra drag caused by the extra width, but that is a very small price to pay for the incredible stability the width gives. I can walk all over the board without worrying what the board is going to do in response to the weight shift. This may not be a factor for most of you out there, but if you want to manage rods, lines, nets, etc to catch aquatic creatures, then you need the width above 30". We still need to take a picture of the truck loaded up for these local SUP outings - nothing too dramatic, but carefully considered placement of everything to make for a fun day on the water.
Damn that MTI inflatable PFD makes me look like I have a gut!!! But they are oh so much cooler to wear in the summer. Anyways - I brought the Hooked SUP out and rigged a seat/cooler/snack bin/storage container to it with bungees. The Igloo cooler was way lighter than the Yeti. I know the Igloo will not hold ice as long, but for an afternoon paddle, it works just fine and the weight savings is worth the difference. I did land two small large mouth bass and three decent sized bluegill. The bluegill were sucking down insects that were hanging out on the water's surface - I just cast my fly out near where the ripples were and SMACK - bent rod and big smiles. The last one I caught had some weird growth on it - it's hard to see on the pictures, but it looked like some kind of amphipod. The Scotty tri-rod holder was awesome! And with the RAM Mounting Adaptors, I could use the RAM rod holders I already have - and they worked great both for the flyrod and the tenkara. I don't anticipate any issues with the spinning rods. And trolling lures while getting exercise on larger bodies of water should be a blast! So much so that the MTI PFD might not make me look fat anymore. Having a decent distance to paddle straight, I got to see how the board tracked. For full disclosure, I have on a much smaller fin than the board ships with (almost half the area less that Alex Aguera's stock fin) - primarily to avoid damaging the glass fin. The board still paddles straight! You can feel the extra drag caused by the extra width, but that is a very small price to pay for the incredible stability the width gives. I can walk all over the board without worrying what the board is going to do in response to the weight shift. This may not be a factor for most of you out there, but if you want to manage rods, lines, nets, etc to catch aquatic creatures, then you need the width above 30". We still need to take a picture of the truck loaded up for these local SUP outings - nothing too dramatic, but carefully considered placement of everything to make for a fun day on the water.
