In the perpetual argument of pedal vs. paddle, one stronghold of the paddler’s camp was river fishing. Many fishermen believe that a pedal drive that hangs well below a kayak won’t fare well in rock-laden waters, especially where current makes boat control even more difficult.
Michael Garet pays little heed to that argument.
“I fish out of a Hobie Revolution 13 most of the time,” he said. “It does have the MirageDrive, which makes it very nice to be able to fish hands-free. As long as you’ve in relatively deep water, you can simply just push one foot forward and both of those fins are going to tuck up flat against the boat. If I’m coming up on to a rough looking shoal, I will pull the drive out of the boat and then secure it in the rear cargo area and paddle through that section. Once I get back into deeper water, I can just insert that MirageDrive back into the boat.”
Especially when fly fishing, Garet relies on his feet to position the boat or hold himself in place while he works the rod and line with both hands.
“Just like in a trout stream, all these smallmouth are going to be facing upstream, waiting for that bait to come down,” he said, “so if I can swing around below a rapid and hold myself in position with the MirageDrive and make casts upstream and retrieve my bait back down to me; that’s going to mimic exactly the same way the natural bait is flowing through the river. I see the hands-free as more of an advantage than disadvantage in the river.”
Be the first to comment