Adapting A Canoe For Smallmouth River Fishing

[Mike Creel]

I am getting ready to adapt a new 15 foot Wenonah Backwater (square back, Royalex) canoe for smallmouth river fishing and canoe comfort. I plan to rig it with front and rear remotely operated anchors, 55# electric trolling motor, oars and removable padded swivel seats. I want to make all these adaptations without undue damage to the canoe.

The bass-type seats are my greatest concern. I don't want to add too much weight to the canoe. I want to secure them (7 inch base) to the 6 inch webbing canoe seats without drilling holes.

There was a pretty good discussion of bass seats in a canoe on this forum in May 2007, but no photos.

I am sure that some well cut pieces of 3/4 inch marine (?) plywood would be of use. Has anyone recently installed bass type removable seats in a canoe recently? I found some good, but pricey, complete seat units on the NuCanoe site.

Mike Creel

SC

[Gavin]

Are you gonna trailer it or cartop it? Those swivel seats might be a pain if your planning to car top. As for mounting swivel seats. Not sure about your boat, by my Wenonah has two aluminum brackets that hang down from the gunnels and support the seats. 4 bolts and the seats come out. Take your seats out and use them as a pattern to make some wooden mounts for the swivel seats. Maybe get some nice pine and varnish it up.

[Mike Creel]

I plan to transport the canoe on a TrackRack rack on my long bed 1989 Dodge D-100 pickup,upside down. I plan to install the two bass type seats with an easily removable detach mount that is below the level of the canoe gunwhales so the canoe will slide easily across the aluminum TrackRack. I will remove the seats each time before loading the canoe and replace them once the canoe is on Cabelas aluminum canoe/kayak carrier.

I have two of the smallmouth bass fishing books and the video by Tim Holschlag in Minnesota and am trying to rig my canoe very much like he recommends in his books. I wish he had written more detail about product selection and installation in rigging a smallmouth canoe. I want to secure the seats as well as I can and with no canoe damage. I will probably cut a 7 inch deep of marine plywood to fit across and above the 6 inch webbed drop seats, secure the plywood to the existing seat with two ratchet straps and bolt the detach mount for the swivel seats to the plywood.

I found several bits of useful information in a May 2007 discussion on this web site titled "bass seat in canoe." Here is some of the information: "On our jon boat, we have bass style seats, with swivel bases. The swivel base is bolted to a piece of 3/4 inch ply wood with countersunk tee nuts. Therefore, it doesn't scratch the main seat. Then, we attach to the bench seat via ratchet straps. 100% adjustable, and very sturdy, and doesn't drill holes in the boat. BassBoy1 in Cartersville, Georgia"

I also want to install a kayak trolley anchor system to allow remote operation of anchors at both ends of the boat. I do not want to drill a hole in each end of the canoe for the anchor rope so I will use some type of line guide. I found one removable flush-mount one from Scotty.

Somebody needs to write a detailed article on rigging a canoe for fishing, discussing the options and listing products.

Mike Creel

SC

[Wildbillb]

The seats will raise your center of balance.

[Mike Creel]

Wildbillb, Have you had direct experience in the installing and use of bass type seats in a canoe? I am admittedly a novice to canoes but not to boating in general, river fishing in flat bottom and jon boats and resevoir fishing in a basstracker.

I have read several accounts of rigging a canoe for smallmouth fishing and none of these folks addressed the problem of bass type seats changing the center of gravity (which would make the canoe less stable). If that is a serious problem, they should have mentioned it at least. Even the guy who is considered the master guru of smallmouth fishing (3 books, a video, guiding and classes) did not mention it.

I am concerned about anything that adds too much weight to the canoe or decreases stability. The seats I am considering from NuCanoe each weigh 9 pounds in all (seat, swivel, releasable mount). The Wenonah Backwater weighs 79 pounds. These seats are used in their NuCanoes, kind of a kayak. I also plan to install a trolley anchor at bow and stern.

Let me hear from you. I need all the sage advice I can get

MikeC

[VolFan]

As long as the seat posts are very very short, you should be fine. You don't want to be sitting higher than the gunnels in most canoes.

[WookieeJedi]

Wildbillb is correct. Depending on the rocker and beam of your canoe, even an inch or two can make a difference. You may want to replace the seat with a lower one before adding the swivel seats. You could make them pretty easily with some basic woodshop power tools. I have entertained the idea of lowering my fore and aft seats. All that time in the kayak has me wanting to ride as low as possible.

[Gavin]

A possible alternative would be Sitbacker canoe seats. They snap on with two clips and they are very comfortable..They dont swivel but they provide ample back support.

[Redhook]

could always get some canoe stabilizers, then would not have to worry about stability as much on the seat height and be able to stand to sight fish. One company has a rowing kit that you can get for the stabilizers. Got one for mine. Only have got to use it a few times but has worked good so far. plus gives ya a place to mount a FF and rod holder.

[Mike Creel]

I want to thank everyone for their advice and I will put it all to good use. I did some intensive searches on google using the strings - rigging a canoe for fishing and -canoe modifications. I discovered several alternatives to adding comfort and usablity to the seats in the Wenonah Backwater I have ordered, and expect to arrive in the next few days. Initially we will just use some inexpensive cushions and then consider installation of two padded, foldable, removable seats. I found several good ways of adding sturdy seat mounts without adding much weight. It seems that the seat position may need to be lowered, so that the new seats are not higher than the gunwhales and that stabilillty is not compromised. We will also check into sitbacker seats, but I am not sure how sturdy the back is on them. I will make modifications slowly with much thought. The Backwater is said to be a very stable canoe with much carrying capacity.

[webertime]

I run a 14' Scanoe myself with a 30lb Minn Kota. I lowered my seats (huge help) and got some Spring Creak Canoe Stabilizers. THESE ARE GOLD! I'm 6'5" and need to be able to move/stand and these things are amazing for adding enough stability for me and my 200lb buddy to stand and flip or toss big swimbaits with no issues. I have sitbacker seats as well, but I find that I don't need/use them with the stabilizers. I just sit and make my run to a spot, pull up, click out the stabilizers, anchor (if need be) and stand up. I run a 10lb mushroom anchor and only have issues in very high winds if I am standing (IE I'm a big sail). I love my little rig and fish everything from little ponds to Lake Champlain in it!

[Gavin]

Stabilizers would be helpful for lake fishing...or maybe on a big river...but I'd avoid them if you want to float anything thats narrow & twisty.

[Addicted to Smallies]

+1 for the stabilizers. I use them on my 14' canoe when I fish solo and can stand up in it all day with no problems. Also works great with the kids so when they move about (as they always do) the canoe stays rock solid.

I made my own using 3/4" and 1" PVC pipe and pool noodles (the big ones, not the think ones) and it works flawlessly... about $20 total instead of the $$$ for a retail version. Have used them for 3 seasons now and they still work just great. A lot of folks say to use aluminum, but for me the PVC works just fine because you don't actually need them to be super rigid, but rather to provide just enough tension to stop the rocking motion. Plus, the PVC has some "give" in it so when I use them on the river or creeks, they can flex around/over the rocks and other obstructions pretty well. If you want them to be more rigid, you can put a piece of metal conduit inside the PVC arms (fits perfectly) and seal off the ends with caps to make it waterproof.

I've seen other folks use the styro-foam lobster pot buoys for their floats, too, but I found the "super noodles" from walmart to work better, and they're cheaper and easier to cut/mount. Will try to take some pics this weekend and post if anyone is interested.