drift boat thompson river

[ghost]

Wondering if one could drift boat the thompson river late season from Savona to Spences Bridge and hunt mulies while doing so,or is it just a pipe dream. Any info would be great.

[Jagermeister]

I think that it would be quite doable. I had a drift boat once and contemplated just that type of trip. There was a guy in Savona once upon a time that make drift boats and in speaking with him I vaguely recall him drifting along through there, but his take out was Ashcroft. Maybe check Google earth to see if there are any rapids in canyon areas. Those would be hazardous and would not be safe.

[Jagermeister]

Looks like a good float to Ashcroft. Just south of Ashcroft looks a little dicey, pre-scouting that area would determine if it'a a go although the photos posted in Panaramio seem to make it a cake walk.

[lovemywinchester]

Black canyon below Ascroft is dicey from what I have heard. Savona to Ashcroft is a nice drift and great rainbow fishing. Not sure about hunting as there is a lot of farm land.

[ghost]

I will have to check out the rapids you speak of,also the farmland.thanks for the info.

[dino]

How about a zodiac with a jet Russ? Im all in.

[Trophyslayer]

Lots of private land I wouldn't even bother below Ashcroft

[tim3500]

Seen Driffters on the river a few times I wouldnt hesetate doing it with a good 18fter even a 16 solo . Jet boat on a zodiac my bro used to stealhead with his only a 14ft. Only part I think I would stay away from is the Frog thats a big hole ! the rest I believe you can get around afterall the boat only takes a few inches of water

[ghost]

Dino I was thinking of the zodiac the other day.The Fraser trip was awesome.

[trykillthis]

Black Canyon is the only really rough part late in the year. We see the most deer in between Ashcroft and Black Canyon riding the rails. Lots of grassy spots between the tracks and the river that they bed in and hang around in the morning. After Black Canyon tend to see less except around Basque but that is all private land.

[ghost]

trykillthis thanks for info do you think it is a truly bad strech of water or just one that needs expierence in a drift boat to be able to navigate through.

[Darksith]

I fish the thompson regularily and see guys floating down on their pontoon boats fly fishing. A drift boat wouldn't have much trouble. The problem you might have is finding the spots to hunt as the banks are relatively steep and my guess is the deer would need to be pretty close to the waters edge to be spotted. That being said I would love to hear how you make out, I would go for it if I had a drift boat. Why not...

[trykillthis]

There is a kinda tight s turn I cannot see as we go through a big tunnel there. It only looks really rough at high water. Most the grassy areas are on the south side of the river. I can't see it being that bad as I did a whitewater rafting trip with Kumsheen rafting in lytton and the first day was ashcroft to spences bridge. I remember it being pretty boring with only a couple white water spots that they had to aim at to hit, so they are probably easy to get around. I would drift to each of these grassy areas and stop and walk around a bit and glass it a little. We see/hit them pretty regularly around here.

[jetboat jim]

when the water drops in the fall to 1.5 or less the river gets real ugly , i have jetboated and rafted the thompson for many years ..............its just not the same as the summer.

above spences you will hit black canyon coming from ashcroft , i know a few who have run it in boats an rafted but the were very good boaters with many years of river running.

woud i do black canyon? ......not in a drift boat .....perhaps in a self bailing raft.

[Jagermeister]

I wonder if the Thompson below Ashcroft would be any worse that the Rogue River or the Mackenzie in Oregon?

There are two things to keep in mind when going through a rock garden. Do not get your boat sideways on a rock, do it and you are hooped! If you are going to hit a rock, try to hit it head on. Just as the boat makes contact, go hard on one or the other oar to spin the off and the row like hell away from the back eddy created by the rock. Get sucked into the back eddy, you're hooped!

I was drifting down the Quesnel River one time, below Beavermouth. About a 1½ miles downstream, there is a rock ledge that comes off river right and traverses about ¾ the ways across the river. In early summer flood, the drift is un-eventful. It's another matter when the river drops. At the end of the ledge, a very large vortex forms. If you don't hung river left, you get sucked into it. Get sucked in, you're hopped. Or so I thought one day.
Sucked in and rotating like a fish with whirling disease. So the thought hits me, how the **** am I going to get my ass out of this one? 'bout the time the thought is passing through my head, the whirlpool coughs the boat out and we were on out way. Guess it didn't like aluminium. After that, I hugged the left bank wherever passing that stretch.

Another time, I had a couple of guys on board. Saw this black bear on river left. The bank was cobble sized rock and about 10 or so foot high. The bear was down along the water edge. I told my passengers to stay quite and we would scare the hell out of the bear. He never saw us coming. I kept edging the boat closer to shore and just when I got where he was, I pushed hard on the oars slamming the boat into shore. Aluminium boats make a helluva racket when they hit the rocks. That bear shot straight up feet flailing the air until his upward momentum ceased and he came back to earth. Of course his feet where still winding over at full tilt and he was dumping load hard, sort of jet propulsion. He was up and over the top of the bank and gone. Laughed my head off. Guys in front found it funny too until they thought about the bear leaping up and landing in the boat. Now that would have been funny too.
Deer and moose are hard to sneak up on. Deer especially, they are always furtively glancing about watching for danger. They are not overly alarmed, but will move away as you approach.
Ended up selling my boat to a fellow up at Taylor or there abouts. He wanted to use it to hunt elk along the Pine River.

Sure wished at times that I kept that boat. Willie Wide Guide 16' model. Sawyer coouter-balanced oars, you could row all day long with those and do it again tomorrow.

I forgot. Do not go over those rollers you see in the river. Temping roller coaster, not for a drift boat unless yours is a self-baler.