In many places the great river of grass that flows south from Okeechobee through the Everglades and out to Florida Bay is, depending on time and tide, ankle deep. But it is still navigable. The Seminoles and later the cracker Gladesmen criss-crossed the skinny-water labyrinth by poling in long narrow dugout skiffs. It is these historical canoes that Ron Hyde used for inspiration in designing his new Seminole Flats skiff.
I spent time last week running the Glades with Hyde in a Seminole, and it is unlike any other modern flats skiff. The one-time owner of the Goodnews River Lodge in Alaska, Hyde has also fished the back country in the Everglades and Biscayne Bay longer than I’ve been alive. He likes to get to the fish in the shallowest of water, so Hyde set out to design a skiff to his own specs. Since I’m reviewing it in an article for my actual job, I won’t get into much detail, but here are some photos from our exploration.
Cool boat for one of the coolest areas in the country to explore.
(For more info, you can email Ron Hyde: captron3ATbellsouth.net)
Kind of a cross between a flats skiff , an Arkansas river boat, and a South Ccarolina swamp boat…. I want to read that article when it comes out.
Whoah, what a boat! The flats guys are going to love this one.
that very sweet-looking canoe apparently meets the dual criteria of being cool and ideally suited to its task. having said all that, with all that time put into making it so, definitely would have made the pole chocks the kind that flip down and sit flush for less tangle potential (if that’s what i’m looking at in the bottom pic). yeah, whatever, this is a flyline-centric thought. nice.