Oars 101

As my drift boat nears completion, I'm beginning to realize how little I know about selecting proper oars.  I will be using the boat exclusively on flat, Midwest water with moderate currents. I've looked on this site and have found some information on oar types, but none on the in's and out's of selection.  

For instance,   If wood makes a good oar, why pay $300 for one wood oar, and not $80 for another wood oar?   Material doesn't concern me so much as making the right choice.  I'd like something responsive that isn't going to tire me out in an hour.

Any ideas?

Many thanks,

Mike

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Permalink Reply by Michael Rosso on June 13, 2012 at 5:50am

I've seen the Sawyers.    Those are NICE.   But wow.   Hefty price tag.   I only wonder if they would be wasted on our rivers in Michigan..   ?

Gracias!

 

Permalink Reply by Phillip Westendorf on June 12, 2012 at 8:41pm

Mike,

I have a couple of friends that guide here in Michigan and out West (Montana) and have drift boats.  I assume your going to be spending most of the time here on West Mich Rivers.  I'll talk to them and see what they have to say on the subject of oars.  We might gain some insight as to what works.  I've been thinking also what to do about oars.  I'll let you know as as soon as I hear something with a PM.

phil w.

Permalink Reply by Michael Rosso on June 13, 2012 at 5:47am

That would be fantastic, Phillip.  Thanks a ton.  I expect to be doing most of my trips on the Upper Manistee, but also on the Boardman, and AuSable as well.

I look forward to hearing what your friends have to say!

Thanks

Permalink Reply by Phillip Westendorf on June 27, 2012 at 5:54pm

Mike,

I spoke yesterday with one of the guys i mentioned above.  He has a pair of 8 1/2" fiberglass oars that came with his Hyde Drift boat.  His concern is that they are "Heavy".  He'd like to get something lighter but for now he's willing to live with them.  So far he's had them for several years and has worn the 1/4" dia rope wrapped on the handles (@oarlocks)  a couple of times.  He's a licensed guide and has lots of hrs in the boat.  I guess the thing I came away with is don't go with glass oars.  So we need to do some research on lighter wooden oars.

For now that's it.

phil w.

Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on June 13, 2012 at 7:47am

Mike, I appreciate your offer, I would to experience the fishing back there. In big water the ability to move a heavy raft often requires a strong oar. Many times you aren't rowing continually to hold the boat in place so the fishermen can flog the banks when flyfishing. I have never fished with worms from a driftboat so I don't know what you need to do then. If you are fishing for steelhead and doing some side drifting it is not uncommon to control the boats speed, work the drift and then row back upstream to do it again. So instead of just keeping the vessel lined up to hit the tongue of a rapid you are lifting the oars out of the water repeatedly. So lifting a set of oars weighing X pounds a set of light spruce oars or composite type oars might weigh 1/2 X. At the end of the day you have you may have lifted 1/2 X the weight. There is an advantage to heavy oars. You get a full day of weight lifting!

There is also something no one has mentioned. It's called the Tom Sawyer effect. Since driftboats are so unique back there it is easy to bring new folks along. They all want to learn how to row. You can offer to teach them while you fish! Then it won't matter what your oars weigh, your arms will only be tired from casting. A secondary corollary to this is the "Karate Kid" effect. When they say they're tired of rowing you simply get a stoic look on your face and say "wax on, wax off" and return to your fishing!

Rick Newman

Permalink Reply by Michael Rosso on June 13, 2012 at 9:45am

Great idea!

"...less talk, more row!"   "Don't distract me during my back cast!.."

 

Permalink Reply by Phillip Westendorf on June 13, 2012 at 6:51pm

Rick,

The Tom Sawyer effect,  a Great idea, BUT it has it's down side.  A few years ago I was invited to go along on a fishing weekend on the Pere Marquette River on Michigans West side.  The drift boat owner was a new-be to the sport and had his hands full with three of us in the boat.  I ate a lot of wood (Lots of tree branches hanging over the water) that day as he had one heck of a time rounding the bends in the river.  I bet his arms were sore the following few days.  He darn near wiped out my new Sage 5 wt. several times too.  It's no place for a trainee (rookie).

I'd think as we get these drift boats in the water it would be a good thing to spend a whole day alone to get the hang of it prior to showing off the boat and looking like a rookie in the rowing department.

Something to consider, eh.

 phil w.

Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on June 13, 2012 at 7:41pm

I'm available to to teach rowing, reading the water, telling stories and spinning tall tales. Seriously you should spend a lot more than one day. I realize that while your rivers are generally mild in nature the power they have is still great. My first rafting trip was an experience I'll never forget. Simple, fairly lazy river called the Yakima in Central Washington. My dad,friend and I decided we would take our war surplus life raft out on a fishing trip. We inflated the raft, loaded up our gear and floated on down the river. We eventually noticed that a tree was sticking out into the river and our path would take us right into it. We tried but failed to avoid the collision and much to our surprise another tree was a short distance away and we hit it too. We lost lots of gear, my glasses and 125 mosquitoes feasted on my back as we drug the raft to a nearby farmers house where we called my mom. Morale of the story, spend some time studying where to be in the river, how the river will move a boat or any object when it's in current, how long it takes to make a control movement and what your timing should be.

I do not doubt for one minute that you and Michael will do that. With the preparation and effort you have put in to your boats I know you will. Unfortunately too many folks don't bother to learn the basics just like we did before we hit the water. If it weren't for good luck I would be here to write about it. I didn't get near a raft for many years until I went back to college and took classes in rafting at Eastern Washington University. Many hours of instruction and experience provided a proper schooling for a very pleasurable lifetime activity. the biggest lesson was how much time before an obstacle a control movement had to be made. It really opened my eyes. And I learned how much easier it was to avoid eating wood.


It's like a lot of things, once you understand how they work doing them is much easier. Enough said, be careful, and have a great time. I'm serious about teaching, I have taught lots of folks when I taught college classes in multi-day rafting trips. The hard part is getting back to where you guys are. the rest is simple.

Rick Newman

Permalink Reply by Michael Rosso on June 14, 2012 at 4:54am

You guys are making me nervous.   Perhaps I'll just go out on a lake and row around for a few hours..

Rick, I'm going to need lessons.   Do you make house calls?  I'll buy the beer.  :)

Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on June 14, 2012 at 8:09am

Michael, boating can be dangerous. Approach the learning on the most gentle stream you can with the fewest distractions you can. Stand by a stream with current, throw sticks and pine cones in, watch where they go, consider the path they took and see what moves you would have to make either travel in a safe path or to avoid obstacles. Learn how to back ferry. Learn when to back ferry. Work on keeping you boat 20 feet from the bank with the fewest oar strokes. Then immediately row to the other side and do the same thing. Learn how pull into an eddy so you can drop anchor and fish.

I have no doubt you can learn the skills, just do it from a strong foundation, add more skills and move to more challenging water. Going out to the lake to row around is actually a great idea. First of all you'll find out if your boat floats! Secondly you can see how it responds to oar strokes, You find out how much power it requires to move your boat. Try pushing on the oars versus pulling on them. Play with spinning your boat, pulling on one oar and pushing on the other. Work with your anchor and see how it works, see if there is tangling problem or not.

Yes I would make "River" calls, especially when the fish are running. I can make the time and I am working on making the money. You take me fishing I teach you rowing. You could teach me how to fish with worms too!


I look forward to hearing the details of your learning curve, Phil's too. While I may have several thousand river miles under my bum I had to learn the basic's and and apply them to the next challenges and lessons the river teaches all of us.

By the way, you have a rather large resource that wasn't available when I started. Google, learning to row a drift boat, there are lots of videos and tutorials. I am not saying they are all good, review them with a grain of salt, find the commonalities that are logical and apply those lessons. However until your bum is in the seat and your hands on the oars all of this is academic. You'll find yourself saying, "so this is what they mean, I didn't realize....".

Driving is easy too, many of us do it each day with no problems, on the other hand.....

Rick

Permalink Reply by lhedrick on June 22, 2012 at 4:23pm

You are talking about religion when you talk about oars.

I don't like what most like so I won't bother telling you what it is.  For wood there is ash, spruce.  They can be heavy or light.  Flex or no flex.  There are aluminum shaft oars and I hate those things.  There are glass composite oars.  Some heavy ash oars have almost no flex at all and many people seem to love them.

Everyone like a different feel.  Go to work trying to find some you can rent or borrow.   Raft rental shops will usually have cataract glass oars or aluminum shaft oars.  You really need to find out what kind of flex pattern you like.  Everyone is different and you will be also.

Recommendations won't really mean much.

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