by Richie Moschella
As the executive producer of The Reel Deal fishing show I get great opportunities to fish with many great guides & stay at some very cool places. At the start of every season as my staff and I plan our shooting schedule we look for guides and fishing adventures up and down the east coast. I happened to find this website of a float tube guide who pursues Bass on ponds and lakes. I have never thought of using a float tube for Bassin, but hey you only live once. I called Craig Newton and set up the shoot that would happen in early October. I arrived early to Craig’s home as he was packing up the float tubes for the days fishing. I remember thinking “this gear takes up no room at all”. He had three float tubes and all the gear for them in his SUV and still had a ton of room. We loaded up our tackle and rods and made our way over to the secret private lake. When Craig said we would be fishing his friends private lake visions of Bass began to dance in my head. As we pulled up to the water, the lake was clam as glass with fog rising into the air. We got the gear ready and the tubes inflated and set out of the lake.
Craig said one of the different things about float tube fishing you have to get use to is paddling backwards with your feet. You have waders on and a pair of diver flippers on your wader boot. We started to move along the lake and tied on a Senko rigged wacky style, that bait was the ticket! No more then five minutes into the shoot we were hooking up with some decent Bass. I have to say that I thought fishing from a kayak was as close to the water you could get to a Bass, but fishing from a float tube is like sitting on Mr. Basses ceiling. The strikes and the landing of the fish are out of this world. One of the best things about float tube Bassin is that you’re able to stay in the same place with out moving. You are in control just by moving your feet and could stay in any single spot as long as you like, just by kicking your feet gently. As anglers we are always improving our fish catching ability and discovering new ways to have successful days on the water. I would suggest that everyone try it this season get out on the water and do some float tubing for Bassin!
