Fly Fisherman's Rowing Basics, Part 2: Fishing from the Boat

Even veteran drift-boat anglers can learn a thing or two from Blane Chocklett's 30 years of experience in this great video.

November 07, 2025 By Blane Chocklett and Jay Nichols

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Click here for Part 3: Safety & Etiquette

From understanding the clock system to line management, keeping your oarsman happy, and “fishing the future,” Fly Fisherman contributing editor and veteran fishing guide Blane Chocklett explains the under-recognized nuances of maximizing your time when float fishing. Even veteran drift-boat anglers can learn a thing or two from Chocklett’s 30 years of experience in this great video.

Transcript:

00:00:15.270 --> 00:00:48.275: Hi everybody. My name's Blane Chocklett, and I've been a fishing guide for more than 30 years. I've spent most of my time in rafts and drift boats fishing by waters of the James and New Rivers in the state of Virginia. Today we're gonna talk about raft and drift boat basics. Whether you're fishing in Virginia or Montana, all these principles apply.

00:00:48.275 --> 00:01:35.490: Floating a river, it's important to understand the clock system, and we use that clock system to be able to direct the client or angler in which direction I want, like for that angler to cast their lure or fly. River right is to your right river, left is to your left as you float down the river. The front of the boat is called the bow. The back of the boat is called the stern. The stern would be six o'clock on a clock dial. 12 o'clock would be the bow directly pointed downstream and everything to the right. Starting 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 would be to your right, just like a clock dial and everything on the left would go 11, 10, 9, 8, until you get back to the stern, which is again six o'clock. As you float a river, we'll be fishing left or right.

00:01:35.490 --> 00:01:58.680: Usually with two anglers, someone will have to cast over the boat. The person in the back, if you're fishing to the left, will generally, if they're right-handed, would have to cast over the boat. And we do not like to do that as it's not safe. It's a good way to end up in the hospital. So we encourage that angler to cast with a backhand cast, meaning that it will not carry over the raft into taking a chance to injure someone else.

00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:19.650: Your front leading hip is the direction that the back cast will end up going. So if you are pointing your hip at three o'clock, generally the cast is gonna go from three to four. If you are pointing your hip more at one o'clock or 12 o'clock, your cast will be leaning towards that direction.

00:02:19.650 --> 00:02:44.715: Making sure that you have snag free areas within your boat is very important as well. Always carry a wet towel where you could lay over any obstruction in the boat. Having a stripping basket is very important as well. Also, having a line management system like the Scientific Anglers Launch Pad, that is also a very good tool to use in a raft or a drip boat.

00:02:44.715 --> 00:03:17.170: While fishing with two anglers in a raft, the person in the back is always watching the person up front so they don't cast at the same time to prevent snags and tangles. It's important to fish as a team, meaning that fish different water, use different types of flies to figure out a pattern to make your day more successful on the water. But it's also important to not be a bow hog, and what I mean by that is to share front and back throughout the day so everyone has the shot at the front, which is the best seat in the house.

00:03:17.170 --> 00:03:37.960: We're always trying to throw a little bit ahead of the boat. That way we present the fly to the fish before they see us. It also prevents us from having snags fishing behind us will make it harder on the rower to get a fly back from a snag if someone casts behind the boat because you have to row back upstream.

00:03:37.960 --> 00:04:11.440: A very important point too is to make your rower happy and fishing in these nice boats like this NRS raft, they are very stable, but if someone likes to get in the corner of a boat, one, you're taking a chance of falling out. If you lose your balance, if the rower happens to turn sharply without you knowing, that's why they have these nice leg locks to keep you in there. Just being off to the side left or right can make the rower's job a lot harder because the boat will want to pitch to one side or the other and it's not flat. Also, it puts you in a corner to where you're not gonna be able to cast efficiently either.

00:04:11.440 --> 00:04:23.350: Another pet peeve is don't rock the boat, meaning cast with your upper body and not your whole body, because when you start displacing water in a raft or any type of watercraft, you're letting the fish know that you're there.