Without some planning, a dramatic takeoff might be in your future. This Piper Cherokee has a STOL kit installed.

by Joseph E. Burnside

I was sitting in the back of a float-equipped Super Cub—stuffed in, is more like it—when I saw the river we were planning to fish. In my limited floatplane experience, it looked challenging enough, but there was plenty of clear water and I had confidence in the guy up front. I began preparing to get out of the Super Cub and do that for which we had flown all this way: fishing this Alaskan river for silver salmon. …