[ktht]

New to this thread as well. This topic is fresh in my mind because I just went through this process. I have never fished the tailwaters in GA or NC but I do fish the south holston and watauga all the time. I started out with a traditional style drift boat a ( a used hog island to be exact) because I had very little experience rowing drift boats and wanted to be able to bang into things be really stable etc etc. and just concentrate on the fishing. This is a great boat and serves its purpose well but I rarely fish with more than one other person in the boat and wanted something lighter and more maneuverable. Also as you pointed out the waters mentioned (at least the tailwaters in TN) you do not have to worry about huge white water like you would out west which is what these high side boats are made for.
The next place I started looking was at lighter fiberglass boats such as clackas and Hydes which of course you see a lot of on these rivers. I started asking a lot of guides about these boats and they mostly had good things to say about them and in particuluar the clacka eddy. I have no where near the drift boat experience of most I am sure, so I found that talking to other guides and veterans of these rivers to be very helpful. In particular I found it very interesting that on a more than one occasion I was told that the natural progression was to finally end up in a skiff because of how easy they row. I dont want to ruffle any feathers because I am sure there are plenty of guys that have been rowing longer than I have been alive that have traditional style boats and these boats work great for them. This is just the route I took
Anyhow after hearing a couple of guys recommending skiffs I decided to row one and fell in love with them. As one poster said they are like the sports car of drift boats and I would have to agree 100%. They also have the ability to float in skinnier water so floating these rivers on low water is easier. My one concern was the stability issue of a skiff compared to a traditional drift boat because white water or not, having something bad happen in 2500 cu flows could really f@#$ your day up. This led me to adipose boats. They are wider than a lot of skiffs and regular boats for that matter which solves the stability issue and slightly higher sides than most skiffs. As one of the owners told me they will go anywhere a lowpro drfitboat will go just fine and have found this to be true. They also offer a stand up model which I have that has the casting braces. The downside to them is that they are expensive and on top of that as all of us are used to on the east coast they are made in Montana (freight cost). Anyhow just wanted to let you know that I personally love my skiff style boat and maybe some of what I have said can help you out, Thanks and you are more than welcome to email me with any questions

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