(Some) anglers and their money are soon parted!

[arawa]

Neat looking bit of kit. How many bladders does it have? Do you have to use a pump or is this more for convenience?

It has 2 bladders. The main and the backrest. They seem to be of very good quality with much better valves than the Vision.
The pump is required as the bladders need to be at quite a high pressure to give rigidity. But the pump is small (inside the pack in my picture).

[arawa]

Went out today for the first time with my "ultralight" float tube. To a small loch at about 1500 ft that I have fished often but some areas are inaccessible from the shore and I have never been able to reach these. Carrying everything the last mile across the hill from where I left my bike was no problem.
With the small high-pressure hand pump, it was easy inflating the tube but it does take a while. You sit in the water (no inflatable seat but I could add one) and the tube was very comfortable and stable. There are 3 large pockets with plenty of room for stuff. However, it did seem a bit harder to propel than the Vision perhaps because it sits lower in the water.
So the fishing? The loch is usually dour but any fish are of good size. I only rose one but it was perhaps 2lb. The slight problem was that as I tried to net it I dropped my net which disappeared into the depths! There was no realistic chance of landing the fish by hand and it broke free as I tried. I might tie the replacement net on......
Deflating the tube was a slow and fiddly process but everything fitted back in the rucksack just before the heavens opened and I began the 5 mile trek back to my car.
So overall, very pleased with my new tube and a good day out.

[Bobfly]

No doubt it harks back to climbing days but I have always had a net leash and another for the rod put around the reel foot !!!   Are your light fins a bit smaller than the ones you used with the Vision ?

[arawa]

No doubt it harks back to climbing days but I have always had a net leash and another for the rod put around the reel foot !!!   Are your light fins a bit smaller than the ones you used with the Vision ?

I have learned my lesson! A net is one thing but a rod  :shock: :shock: :shock: There are plenty of tie-on points.
I don't have ultralight fins (out of stock) and am using ones recommended elsewhere from Decathlon. They are larger than the cheapies that came with the Vision and it might be that the smaller ones suit me better. Must go out again to try

[johnny boy]

I keep my net and preist on lanyards, nothing else.

I do believe you have the tube virus, the recommended treatment is to do as much as you can. This does nothing to treat the virus but why would you do that.

Pity about the fish, since it got away can't we say it was 4 pound? 

[Billy]

I have used a small wooden landing net for years and not just for the float tube.
Its still on a lanyard but if I am playing a fish I can drop it beside me and it just floats ready to be used.

I had a small aluminium net years ago. The type that you flick and the two arms open up.
I was fishing a Llyn in North Wales and dropped the net at my feet while I was playing a fish.
Now the water could only have been about 6" deep where I was standing but could I find that net.
I always thought I must have dropped it on something which either swam or crawled away as it was nowhere to be seen and I searched that bit for ages.

Billy

[arawa]

I do believe you have the tube virus, the recommended treatment is to do as much as you can. This does nothing to treat the virus but why would you do that.

Pity about the fish, since it got away can't we say it was 4 pound? 

I am sure I will enjoy tubing but I don't think it will displace my true love which is sitting above a loch looking for rising fish and then going after them. Magic when it succeeds.

I find it very difficult to estimate the size of fish in the water. I have been surprised both ways when a fish reaches the net. So perhaps this one was 6lb