fishydreams

I happen to own a boat. Well, actually that´s not true. I own a couple of float tubes which, to me at least, are boats.

My brother Sean went and built himself what is, indisputably, a proper boat. He made it from marine ply and uses it to fly fish for pike or fool around with his kids. He did a fine job on it too. He might be tempted to say to me that my float tube is not, technically, a boat. But the thing floats and you can sit in it and catch a few fish so it is pretty much a boat in every meaningful sense.

Recently though my float tube has begun to misbehave. In my last three outings bad things have happened while afloat and, while it is not really fair to blame all of them on the float tube, I am developing a feeling that this particular craft might be a tad unlucky.

First, I lost my rod and reel overboard and they sank to the bottom.

On the next outing my binoculars got flooded while sitting in a supposedly waterproof bag in the well of the boat. They are not waterproof. Now all I can see through them is a bunch of bubbles.

Most recently, air started leaking from one of the two main air bladders and makes one side dip deeper into the water.

Float tubes are not often seen in Spain and I am conscious of raising eyebrows whenever I am on the water. I am not quite sure if I am perceived as a cool fisherman out doing his thing in an innovative and modern way, or simply some ridiculous git lumbering around with a pair of fins on his feet. If I feel I am being observed I try to tidy my act up a little:  I make my casting a little less sloppy and work to land the fly consistently close to the margins where, I hope, some black bass might be holding off the steeply-sloping sides.

The last time I was out, I realised I had become the object of interest of a few bass fishermen standing on the bank who were fishing in the conventional way using lures. I have no idea what they made of me but, if they laughed, they were good enough to do it discreetly.

The fishing was poor and the bass showed zero interest in the little popper I was offering. Eventually I decided to paddle away and lose my little audience. This unfortunately wasn´t quite straightforward since the air bladder had leaked so much air, and I had lost so much buoyancy, that I was listing heavily to starboard. To compound things, the banks here are so steep that it is difficult to pull up ashore and pump up the leaking bladder. And so the bass fishermen were treated to the sight of me searching out a margin shallow enough to pull up, clambering out, and re-inflate  my ailing craft before setting sail again.

I have just taken the offending bladder out to examine it. The air is leaking from the valve. I guess I am just going to have to go ahead and get a new bladder. After all a leaking bladder is not only a problem, it is an embarrassment.

The bass often lie close to the steep margins

Where can I pull up?

My “boat” and everything you need to get afloat (as long as you don´t mind getting a wet arse!)

The offending valve