Wood, white water, and zero margin for air. That's where today's story starts. On this podcast,

we're digging into drift boats, river history, and what it really takes to guide through technical

water where one small mistake actually matters. Today we've got Jeff Helfridge on the show.

He is a guide outfitter and part of a family that's been shaping driftboat history for nearly a century. This is the Wet Fly Swing podcast where I show you the best places to travel to for fly fishing, how to find the best resources and tools to prepare for that big trip, and what you can do to give back to the fish species we all love. Jeff Helfridge is here, and today you're going to hear how Jeff's grandfather helped shape the early days of drift boats in the 1920s.

We're going to find out about the evolution of plank boats and how this transferred into plywood and why this was a game changer back in the day.

We're going to find out what makes McKenzie-style drift boats different from other boats when you're talking about real white water.

And what guiding on the middle fork of the salmon is truly like when you're floating down a drift boat. Jeff's been

doing this for decades. His family story goes all the way back to the beginning and we're going to

take a deep dive and hear all the good stuff. All right, let's get into it. You can find Jeff at

tightlinesfishing.com. Here he is,

Jeff Helfridge. That's how you do it, Jeff? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me, Dave.

Yeah, yeah, thanks for putting this together. I'm really excited to jump into this one. We've done a

number of drift boat episodes over the years. We'll be sending people out today. We've got a page of some of the episodes we've done, wetfly swing.com slash drift boat episodes over the years we'll be sending people out today we've got a page of some of the

episodes we've done wetfly swing.com slash driftboat history and it's pretty awesome because we've

we're kind of documenting i've been always a drift boat kind of nerd and interested in the history and we've

kind of gone into that and you're right in the middle of it because you guys have been doing

floating the rogue the middle fork of the salmon you You got these beautiful woodboats. So, but first off, before we get into all that, just give us an update. What are you up to this time of year? Well, just kind of getting ready for the season right now, Dave, making sure all the boats are, you know, painted and up to date, ready to go for the season. We'll have some,

looks like low water this year, of course, due to the lower snowpack. So I'm just getting

everything all set and now starting to work on food lists and things like that. Yeah. And are you

doing now the rogue and this middle fork? Are you still doing trips on both of those rivers?

I don't do the Rogue River trips anymore. I sold that business two years ago to Tim Conway. He was a long-time guide for me, but he's doing a great job down there, and he really enjoys it. He's from the Eugene area here also. Yeah, okay, good. Yeah, and we met Tim as well, so that's awesome. Well, I'm glad. I think, you know, we're going to talk Middle Forgasam. That's a river that I would love for people to know a little more about. We'll get into that, but I want to kind of start, take it back into really the drift boat because you guys have been there. I'm not sure of the whole history, but maybe tell us that. What is your first memory of drift boats, you know, in your life? You know, I actually, my very first drift boat

was the last drift boat that my granddad Prince Helfrich ever made. And it was given to me when I

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