Wooden Boat People

By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

Colorado Wooden Boat Festival/Float ?

Anybody here in Colorado or nearby want to try to schedule a float this summer. I would love to see everyone wooden boats and get some ideas for my next build. Maybe a float on the upper Colorado sometime in July or August. Do a little drift fishing and maybe grill some lunch, possibly even do an overnighter! Seems like there are at least 5 boatbuilders on here from Colorado. I'm busy all June and runoff should be pretty much crankin then. I get jealous reading about the wooden boat festivals in Jackson and in Oregon. If there's any interest I'll set a weekend aside that we could meet up.

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Permalink Reply by mark hilbert on April 27, 2011 at 6:20pm

I'm all but set on Saturday, July 23rd being the date of The Colorado Wooden Boat Float. I'll give anyone/everyone another week to chime in on their thoughts. We have a tremendous snowpack this year and it keeps snowing in the high country so we should have plenty of water to float. The fishing on that stretch is great and typically run-off is subsiding by then. Last year on that weekend it was flowing 1,000 cfs or so, this year I would expect it higher. Can't wait for summer, until then I'm off the float (bounce off rocks) the Arkansas again this weekend in the raft in the snow, but damn, the fishing good for them 15" Arkansas brown trout

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Permalink Reply by mark hilbert on May 12, 2011 at 7:02am

August 13th is the new date 'm looking at. Pushing the float back 3 weeks. Runoff hasn't started yet and the river is flowing 5,000 cfs in that stretch right now, I've never seen it above 2,000 cfs this time of year in the 10 years I've been floating up there. I think pushing the float back will help give time for this years runoff to subside. Snowpacks are about 160% of average for the Colorado basin right now, so we should have a long high runoff this year. With trips to The Rogue in early June and Yampa in early July this push back in date will also help me recover from those trips before we put the wood to The Colorado. Hopefully we can get some hopper fishing in.

Hope to see some boats on the river.

Mark

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Permalink Reply by Hal Jaeke on May 12, 2011 at 7:14am

Darn! I'll be on a backcountry float, up in the Teton's, with the little woodys that weekend. I think your thought process on pushing the event back is sound however. We got ANOTHER foot of wet spring snow up on Berthoud Pass last night, which can only prolong an already epic run-off! We'll have the rubber out and running the "Mighty Upper C" as soon as I get back from a Deso-Gray trip next week. Safe boating to all!

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Permalink Reply by Greg Max on May 12, 2011 at 12:30pm

I was out on the Rancho to Catamount section last weekend for the first wood boat run of my season when it was still at 3,700. That section is a blast to float at higher flows, so we could always head there if an earlier date is desired. Water was pretty blown out though and we didn't have much fishing success...