New addition to the arsenal

There is just something about a drift boat. Whether it be the sexy lines, dry feet, the built in cooler for beer storage or just the fact that it gets you to where those hard to reach fish like to hang out that make us bank waders take our lives into our own hands.

We had a chance to float down the Bitterroot this past winter in a Hog Island boat for the first time while we had an off day during the film tour. I don't even know who's boat it was but It was at that moment I began to lust for one of these boats.

We heard a rumor that one of these boats was sitting idle along side a shed in Wyoming. A few phone calls were made and then a mad dash up to Hoback Junction to pick up the boat and it was in the water in less than 12 hrs.

Warning: Shameless plug ahead;
This boat is making a reputation for itself as the 4x4 of drift boats and our future mission, put this boat through the numbers and see what it can do. To break it down plainly, we are going to have a lot of fun punishing this boat in ways that would leave others lying on the bottom of a river. It was designed to take a blast from a 12 gage and still keep gunning down the river which could come in handy.

One thing is for sure, the crew at Hog Island are passionate about what they do and rumor has it that there is a Hog Island skiff design in the works.

MacRowdy christening the bow Captain Morgan style with "Rolls Royce" on the oars.

Idaho Cut Bow a.k.a Idaho red neck.

On the way through Ashton Idaho I also stopped in at Premier Fly Shop. It's been a little while since I was up in that area and it was the first time I had been in their store. These guys not only run a killer shop right on the door step of of the North Fork on the way into Island Park but they also turn what has to be the sickest hand made drift boat oars on the planet. I got a chance to check out their operation and to see how they craft their oars. Before I left I had a new pair of their oars in the boat. Their oars and blades are worth checking out, especially their Shallow Draft Diamond.

-TR