Well I went through the fishing vehicle dilema earlier this year. I was going fishing, and still do at some places, in my Subaru Impreza 2.5RS which I'm sure some of you have seen parked along the canyon road. Gets you there very fast and can handle all but the roughest roads with ease but I kept waiting for a break-in and it isn't too good at moving from place to place on the river as you have to take your rod down to fit it into the coupe. It also was bad for camping. I would occasionally borrow my wifes Outback wagon to handle more gear or to get a bit more ground clearance.
Thus began the search for a better vehicle. My first thought was to go the pickup route with a topper but then my wife and I decided it would be best to get our travel vehicle for me to also use as a fishing vehicle, especially for multi-day trips. So we got a VW EuroVan camper and I love it. This year the big white whale has been on several 2-3 day trips to Rocky Ford, a few day trips to Ellensburg, a week long venture up the Methow Valley, an extended Eastern Washington trip, a two week stint in the Southwest, and several trips to Central Oregon. The upside - it is a full on camper, perfect for one or two. It has two beds, table, stove, sink, running water, storage, reclining chairs, lights to tie flies at night, and a frig to keep beer cold. It can deal with a 9'6" fly rod easily. It even gets good gas mileage, about 20-21 mpg on the highway. Plenty of room for float tubes, gear, etc... especially on a dedicated fishing trip. The downside - it can't handle roads that are just totally out of shape. I tried Dry Falls this fall and actually had to give up. VW made one really stupid mistake, the put the propane tank on as the lowest part of the vehicle. Going into Dry Falls we hit a rock and cracked the plastic cover over the propane controls then ran into a stretch of road that looked really bad and turned around which was hard to do in an 18.5' vehicle on that road but we managed. I figure if I can get it in and out of my driveway and gravel road it can deal with most F.S. roads with ease but Dry Falls is just a bit too much for it. Tim
