Good catching TD. Maybe those blokes in the pontoons are “BTF lurkers” and know of your vast fishing expertise therefor prompting their bizarre trolling angles.
In one shot a boat is navigating between you and your wife!
That is way too close, I mean to say, its not like you are launching in Willow Pond.
I’m mainly interested in the set up you have to get your pontoons down to the water. You’ve probably told about them before, but like to know if you bought them or made them yourself?
**I have tried a whole lot of different designs over the years to come up with a “tube cart” that allows me to get my craft to and from the water, and is compact enough to strap down and ride along while I am fishing. **
One of the better ideas I ever had was to “modify” a golf cart by chopping off some of the extraneous parts and adding a piece or two of PVC to provide a stable platform for the tube. I called it my “Chopper Cart” and posted a writeup on the Float Tube board a while back. Here is a link.
There are two different carts in the pics on Deer Creek. One is made from the wheels taken from a baby stroller. The other is my most recent model, using only the wheels from the golf cart and using the wing nut attachments to put them on a PVC frame of my own design and construction. Works great. See pics.
**As most tubers on the board know, I have a large assortment of PVC in my garage at any given time and I am happy to help fellow tubers in setting up their craft or building carts, etc. PM me if you would like to bring your ride over and either get some pointers or some help. **
**There are a whole lot of spots like around Deer Creek where you would like to launch your tube but it is just too dang far to carry everything down and back…even with two or three trips. A cart makes it possible to load everything up, take it to the water, strap the cart to the back while you are fishing and then get out wherever you want and truck back to your vehicle. **
I have used these to great effect on the rocky trail down at the narrows on Pineview, around the lake at Huntington, a couple of places on Willard at low water…including getting into the south marina when it was snowed in and closed in February.
http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=476590#p476590
** Wherever you need some transport for a loaded tube, the carts come in handy.**
Good catching TD. Maybe those blokes in the pontoons are “BTF lurkers” and know of your vast fishing expertise therefor prompting their bizarre trolling angles.
In one shot a boat is navigating between you and your wife!
That is way too close, I mean to say, its not like you are launching in Willow Pond.
BFT lurkers? I have my doubts that they are bright enough to operate a computer. Maybe a wood-burning one. Then again, they also have to know how to read. Got my doubts about that too.
**I was sure I could hear the sound of “Dueling Banjos” as some of them cruised by. **
Here is a bonus pic that I did not include in the main post. Shows a pontoon boat going in between TubeBabe and the shoreline where she is casting for smallies. Maybe 40 to 50 feet to the shore and they are running it.
Well I can think of two words for this: Water Ballons 
Thats just rude!! just like that boat that went right over bassaholics line while he had a fish on and cut his line, at willard. People dont care.
Good catching TD. Maybe those blokes in the pontoons are “BTF lurkers” and know of your vast fishing expertise therefor prompting their bizarre trolling angles.
In one shot a boat is navigating between you and your wife!
That is way too close, I mean to say, its not like you are launching in Willow Pond.
BFT lurkers? I have my doubts that they are bright enough to operate a computer. Maybe a wood-burning one. Then again, they also have to know how to read. Got my doubts about that too.
**I was sure I could hear the sound of “Dueling Banjos” as some of them cruised by. **
Here is a bonus pic that I did not include in the main post. Shows a pontoon boat going in between TubeBabe and the shoreline where she is casting for smallies. Maybe 40 to 50 feet to the shore and they are running it.
Maybe what you need is one of those orange flags the water skiers use. I can see it now, “Hey, I have a skier in the water and you just ran over him!” 
[sly][sly] D’oh!
BTW great idea on the bracing on your tube cart Pat. I’m gonna have to add a few pieces to mine. Are you just using sheet metal screws to hold it together?
Wow, that is close! It looks like the boat is going to hit her.
LoL = Dueling Banjo’s!" Hey, they could have been the Banjo Lure pro team out testing new products.[;)]
“BTW great idea on the bracing on your tube cart Pat. I’m gonna have to add a few pieces to mine. Are you just using sheet metal screws to hold it together?”
The original design held up okay on the trial run, but I could see some flexing due to the long wheel shaft. After the cross bracing it is rock solid. I just flattened the ends of some 1/2" PVC with a heat gun and screwed it down with 3/4" machine screws.
**Not a good idea to use those bright flags, or too much safety orange on the tube. All it does is make you a more visible target. Too many times I have become a slalom marker for the water skiers. And, I doubt if those “challenged” boaters would know or care about a skier being in the water.
**
Thats just rude!! just like that boat that went right over bassaholics line while he had a fish on and cut his line, at willard. People dont care.
**I have lost count of the number of times I have had boaters cut me off while fighting a fish. I gave up trying to decide whether it was ignorance, stupidity, rudeness, spitefulness or a combination of all of the above. **
The thing that seems to happen at Willard, when the wipers are boiling, is that everybody shuts off their brain (if they have one) and just runs on adrenaline and excitement while the fish are up. Kinda like buck fever when you are hunting. I have seen some real bonehead moves both in hunting and fishing from people who are normally calm, cool, collected and courteous.
Thanks for the info Tubedude, it already gives me some ideas for an old baby carriage I’ve got in storage!
You are the King of utilizing PVC!
This might be a double post, but I replied with a thank you and thought it took, but can’t see it now.
Anyway, a big thanks for letting me in on how you made your toon transporters. It gives me some great ideas on how I can use an old baby carriage running gear to work something up.
As I’ve posted before, you amaze me with all the uses for PVC!
Thanks again
Thanks for the info Tubedude, it already gives me some ideas for an old baby carriage I’ve got in storage!
You are the King of utilizing PVC!
Glad to help. Good luck with the project. Let me know if you need any more input.
All you need are some kind of wheels and a platform to hold the tube. After that it is just PVC and glue fumes…and some creativity.
Good catching Pat, no Walleyes ?
Good catching Pat, no Walleyes ?
Nope. I worked the whole shallow to deep areas in the early morning, hoping to find some, but got only dink perch.
I suspect that Rainbow Bay is not the best area. I usually do better around the Island, on the flats or over along the far bank, below the railroad tracks. Gonna give it another shot next week. October has been a good month for walleyes on DC in the past.