Canoe?

Hi everyone, I am going to be fishing out of a canoe next year for the first time. Anyone have any tips on what type to buy(wood, alum, fiber), locator, accesories, ect…

Thanks in advance,
Joe

It depends on what your fishing, where your fishing(lakes or river), and how many people will be fishing with you? And even how much canoe you are will to carry?
I’ve fished out of an Old Town a few time with a buddy and really liked it.
I hope you find a good one, they sure are fun.

If you are just going to be fishing you can not beat the stability and affordablility of a aluminum. But if you are going to be taking trips to the boundry waters you might want something a little lighter and able to cut through the water like a kevlar or good fiberglass. I was in a royalex one time and did not like how flimsy the walls were.

My last choice would be aluminum! It is heavy, but more than that they are very noisy…drop a sinker or a daredevle in the bottom of one and you will see what I mean. Although kevlar and now graphite/carbon are very light, they are very expensive. My first choice would be Royalex. It is a happy median of price and weight, but it is far superior in ruggedness and quietness. If you happen to drop your pliers on the bottom of it, or a fish gets to flopping around, it won’t sound much louder than a hollow “thud”! My wife and I were trapped under a royalex canoe in the 4th. of July storm that hit the BWCA back in 1999 when a white pine fell on us. Had that canoe been any other material we would be DEAD! We eventually dug our way out and I was able to beat the canoe out from under the tree with a rock. I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes, but the canoe had a small crease on the bottom where the tree was and a dent in the end where I beat it with a rock…other than that nothing! I still use that canoe to this day! Give Royalex a look and I’m sure you will be plenty happy, especially if you are mainly fishing out of it!

The canoes that are more fishing friendly generally weigh a little more. Getting one as wide as possible will add stability, there are other bells and whistles to make them more comfortable, you can even get a motor mount to propell it(or a square stern).

Canoes can be usable, but they are not everyones cup of tea… I used one for a couple seasons and caught a lot of fish.. but found its much easier with a small boat and a trailer!

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I was in a royalex one time and did not like how flimsy the walls were.

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Really? What brand? I think you may have been told wrong on the material, because it takes a lot, and I mean A LOT to get royalex to give…there’s no way you could push your hand against it and get it to bend…I think you were in a canoe of a different material to be honest. Heck, I can turn mine upside down and jump up and down on it without so much as getting it to buckle.

I’m not in any way saying you are lying, just that I believe you were told the wrong material…royalex does not give under normal circumstances.

The royalex I was in was a VCC canoe ( Slip will know what I mean) so it was old. We took it into Basswood and while we were traveling in the water the walls felt as they were moving with the waves and I did not like it. Could be the one we were in was Cr*p.

Sorry, eyebuster, you failed to mention it was a VCC canoe! We used to tie them behind the truck with a 100′ extension cord and pull each other up and down the streets in those after the Portage closed! What fun!!! Now I know why you thought they were flimsy….you’re lucky you didn’t fall thru!

Ya we had a heck of a lot of fun in those canoes. shooting rapids and one guy even took one down the ski jump. It was a blast.

I guess everyone took em down the ski-jump…my buddy almost lost his ear going down in one of those canoes. Smacked into the chain-link fence, not pretty, but pretty funny! Gee, what I wouldn’t give to go back to those days.

I haven’t fished out of one of these yet, but I’ve looked them over pretty close. They look to be quite fisherman friendly.

http://www.riverridgecustomcanoes.com

I have owned both aluminum and fiber and I will never own an aluminum canoe again. Heavy and they just don’t take the abuse. The dents don’t pop out like they will in a fiber type canoe. I have had to portage using an aluminum canoe and it is a back breaker. My last canoe was a Coleman (one of the green ones) with a square back for a motor. I absolutely loved it but sold it many years ago. Strong and lightweight enough that one person could handle it twice as easy as an aluminum. The square back made it a little more stable than a standard canoe. I had a little 2 hp Johnson outboard for it as well. I loved that motor. No reverse on it. You just turned the motor 180 degrees if you wanted to go backwards.

Eyehunter

Thanks everyone. What do you guys think about wood canoes? I found one on the net for $1250.00 new, and thought it would be kinda fun to own one. The ad stated that it is 18’x35″ and 75lbs. Is it important to have a motor on the back when using it primarily for fishing? Has anyone ever used those stabilizer bars?

Thanks again,
Joe

I really don’t have a lot of experience with canoes. I’ve been in both aluminum and fiber canoes a couple of times, but not really enough to judge them. They both seemed fine to me. Might just be a question of what, when and where you’ll be using it.

To answer your question about the wood canoe. When I lived in western Montana, I needed some type of water craft to fish the lakes around the area. I really couldn’t afford anything so, I decided to build my own cedar strip canoe.
It turned out pretty good and only cost about $400 to build. (The $1250 you stated in your post is not bad. I’ve seen them listed for upwards of $10,000!) It’s size is similar to the one you said was in the add, 17’6″X35″ and runs about 75 to 80 pounds. It handles like a dream and more than big enough for me, my wife and two daughters.

The pluses to a wood canoe are they are by far the most beautiful of your options. I just love the wood grain and clear finish. (And the fact that I built it with the help of my daughter makes it priceless to me!)

The minuses are simple. UP KEEP. No matter how the exterior is finished, you’re going to get dings, scratches, chips, etc. Which means at least minor repairs. And then, at least in the case of my canoe and others owned by friends, there’s the annual sanding and fresh coat of varnish. (A professionally built one would probably hold up better, or maybe I’m just too hard on equipment.)

Having said that, unless you’re just going to use it to take your sweet heart out on a quite lake during a summer evening, go with aluminum, fiber or kevlar.

My brother had the stabilizers on his canoe. They worked very well but, as the canoe tipped, one or the other float would dig into the water making it tougher to maneuver. Might just be the way it was set up.

Pretty long response but, hopefully that helps you out.