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It seems like every time I write about passionate and controversial subjects; I always start out with qualifying statements and semi apologies.

First of all, I have owned both, I have likes and dislikes about features in both rafts and the hard bottoms.

Opening Remarks: Anglers tend to specialize in their fishing and their water craft should reflect the waters and style of fishing they fish. Some fishers spend the day in their boat, others like myself, use the boat only for transportation, wading each pool to fish. Some generally fish by themselves, others with a buddy or two. Some on lakes with an occasional river use and others the flip-flop. The point is, what might be the perfect craft for one, simply doesn’t fit the fishing parameters for another.

Drift Boats: There is three basic models of drift boats. Aluminum Fiberglass and wooden Aluminum - Advantages- Low maintenance, strong, row well, lots of storage Disadvantages - Cold, noisy, sticky unless coat the bottom. If I were guiding on the Deschutes, I would fish a Willie 16’. The basalt rock eats wood and fiberglass.

Fiberglass: Advantages - warm, quiet, slick (will slide over rocks) Great flyfishing models to fish from boat. Disadvantages - higher maintenance, tippier, won’t tract as well as the metal boat. If I were to spend my year fishing the Yakima, I would buy a Lavro 16’ in the flyfishing model

Wooden: Advantages- Beautiful, elegant, warm, quiet, When I see a well built wooden go by on the river, I want to say thank you. Disadvantages- high maintenance, heavy. Owning a wooden drift boat is like owning a log home, you really have to want one.

Rafts: There is a great influx of rafts on the market today. The traditional is the 12 through 16-foot models, built for rowing frames. There is currently a firestorm of little boats (one person models) that are taking over the float tube market. These pontoon boats have the advantage of safe travel through moderate waters of the larger boats and the versatility fishing lakes like that of the float tube.

Whitewater rafts: advantages - Rafts have a unique function unduplicated by the ridged hard bottom boats. Their flexible floor allows them to contour with roll of the river, literally creating suction, holding the boat to the river. Whereas the hard-bottoms only row well when cargo and passengers are stable and well balanced, rafts are much more user friendly for bouncing off rocks and going into drops sideways. Much greater margin of error. This is why they rent whitewater rafts and not whitewater dories.....if you don’t mind getting wet. Do hard bottoms go through whitewater drops? All the time.....by experts that really know their boat.

Self-bailers versus not: Some rafts have a sown in inflatable floor, which rides above the waterline. These are really nice if you run water above a class two. The disadvantage is you loose floor cargo space, which is at a premium anyway. Even with coolers and storage compartments built into the rowing frame seats, they simply don’t compare with the dories for holding gear. Dry sacks are a must in a raft because without the high sides of a drift boat, your gear will get wet. The non self bailers have more leg room and floor storage area, but bailing water even from only a day of northwest rains, gets to be a pain.

Enter the pontoon boat: These are generally catamaran style crafts built on a rowing frame, for one or two persons. They are light, fast and incredibly maneuverable. The rider sits above the waterline so you don’t get crouch hypothermia, as the case of float tubes and U-boats. They are lighter than rafts or dories and heavier than float tubes.

I can't tell you the number of times we will be finishing up a day and I will ask the client what did they think about the day and they will respond "Well, the fishing was pretty good....but those boats are Great!" I now own a flotilla of them. Guys like rowing their own boat. Will I put a brand new novice in one to run the river? Every day. Now I should tell you I always ask them if they are willing to try, when booking the trip, and some people will say no. That’s cool, but most want to give it a try and after what I call the two minutes of shear terror, they really enjoy the trip. I always lead the way, and I pick the river section I know the novice can handle.

One of the reasons I tend to use rafts over Dories and one man boats over larger rafts is the flexibility in put ins and take outs. River access on several of the rivers I fish is very limited, and I have literally carried these boats down trails to get to the river. I also box them up and fly them around the world, not exactly doable with your river dory.

Disadvantages: unless you get into the bigger whitewater models, you are limited to fairly moderate class one and two drops. I have run mine down the class 5 narrows on the Grande Ronde, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

They are making some inroads now, but these boats are so bare bones (that’s what makes them light and maneuverable) they are pretty much storage poor and result in day trips generally. You can get ingenious, but be careful because you only have X amount of carrying capacity, which is below the other crafts mentioned.

So that’s it. Consider the waters you fish, and the style you like to fish them. Shop around and talk to guys who own the boat you are looking at. Did I mention boat storage and trailers?