Kayak or canoe with trolling motor

[trick worms]

Would y'all rather fish out of a kayak or a canoe with a trolling motor for a lake around 500 acres? I tried them both out yesterday and I learned that kayaks are a lot easier to fish out of and go faster. A canoe without a trolling motor is hard to paddle in current and is too easily moved. Thanks.

[A-Jay]

Canoe.

A-Jay

[Goose52]

20 hours ago, trick worms said:

Would y'all rather fish out of a kayak or a canoe with a trolling motor for a lake around 500 acres? 

Kayaks are indeed usually easier to paddle/faster, are more stable, and a SOT is self-bailing - good for salt and white water. However, for a lake of 500 acres, and one of your options is a canoe with a TM, for me it's an easy decision (assuming the canoe you select to motor is stable enough - correctable with outriggers if necessary). Why paddle around a lake of 500 acres when you can motor around and fish on the move. Plus, when you DO have winds, you'll find you can hold in the wind with the TM, while still fishing, and not have to either continually anchor, or paddle, to hold position.

My lakes run from 1.5 to 200 acres and the only time I paddle is when the weeds get so thick that you have to raise the TM to clear the slop.

[Neil McCauley]

I can stand up and cast/retrieve in my canoe....while moving with the TM running. I could never give up being able to stand and fish. The advantage of being able to see your line and the water clearly. Just makes no sense to me to limit yourself to a vessel where you're stuck eye level 18inches from the waterline.

[Tracker22]

51 minutes ago, Neil McCauley said:

I can stand up and cast/retrieve in my canoe....while moving with the TM running. I could never give up being able to stand and fish. The advantage of being able to see your line and the water clearly. Just makes no sense to me to limit yourself to a vessel where you're stuck eye level 18inches from the waterline.

And you "can't" do that from a kayak? Try a Jackson Big Rig...

I haven't fished from a canoe since I was ten; but with that being said, I've found that a big advantage of the motorized kayak is that I can troll and steer "hands free" leaving me better able to focus on fishing.

[buzzed bait]

i really like my ride 135 with the trolling motor!  the steering is done by the foot pedals so it's hands free.  only thing i wish i could do is steer while standing.  it can be done, but not the easiest thing to do!

[Darren.]

Having done both, I choose the kayak.

I can stand while trolling, but admittedly,
it is not as easy due to foot pedal controls,
as @buzzed bait mentioned. But I did it
last week while out in order to make minor
adjustments.

Honestly, you can't go wrong either way
because a trolling motor adds a new
dimension to either boat.

[AJ Brown]

Canoe.