This is my buddy's boat. The lead filled anchor is for grabbing bottom in cobble & gravel bottoms and it is held in place by a jam cleat so you can drop it quick by giving the rope a quick jerk upwards. The guy standing on the bank fell in the river later in the day while fighting a fish from the bow platform as we drifted downriver. We hit a gravel bar mid-river and he tumbled out. We all had a good laugh at his expense!
Here's some other guys floating by fishing for the metalheads in another sled. This style of fishing involves bouncing wads of cured salmon eggs along the bottom as you drift with almost no lead sinker. The outboard can be used to slow the speed of the drift by applying throttle with the bow pointed upriver. Some boats have upwards of 200 hp on a tiller! Big fast rivers require mucho power. This river can be handled with about 75.
If you get a bigger fish and you know you are going to release it sometimes you run over to a sandbar and bring the fish in to where it is easier to handle unharmed. Thats yours trully with the rod. Notice the jet is running to keep the boat in position otherwise the current would spin it downstream in a hurry. It doesn't look it here but there is a very strong current even in the sheltered spots like this one.
Here's the fish I was bringing in, probably about 14 pounds, put up a great fight. We use barbless hooks and oftentimes all that is involved in releasing the fish is to give them some slack so the hook pops out and that worked in this case.
