Square stern canoe advice

[kybassangler]

Thinking of getting a canoe for hard to get too lakes anybody have experience with canoes?

[Yakfish]

Canoes are great on still water but from my experience are difficult with even the slightest breeze. Like trying to paddle a bath tub. I recently bought a 14' kayak, put in a couple of rod holders and now have my near ideal fishing platform. I'm sure someone else can give you more pros and cons of canoes for fishing but for my money a kayak is the way to go.

Just my .02

[kybassangler]

I've got to have room for 3 people myself 250lbs., my  boy 50lbs., and my buddy 180 lbs. small unacessable lakes are the intended purpose.

[Travlin_Man]

It sounds like you are overloaded before you even start. Your son is going to get bigger and a canoe is a very unstable boat. Ask Avid.

[Guest avid]

Overloading is not the issue.  There are plenty of canoes that handle the weight you will be loading.

Stability is the issue.  three guys, one being a kid, all trying to fish from a canoe, is a tip over waiting to happen.

Go to cabella's and check out the spring creek canoe stabilizers.  If you buy a canoe you absolutely must have these.  They are life savers.

Here is a canoe that I have been drooling over

http://www.oldtowncanoe.com/canoes/huntingFishing/predator_ss150.html

good luck, have fun, be safe.

avid

[kybassangler]

keep hearing about kayaks are they more stable than a canoe?

[flyphisher #]

A gheenoe is the way to go.....riverhawk makes a similar boat....Also look at light aluminum boats, whiich sounds like what you really need for what you are lookin to do...

[kybassangler]

I was initially thinking of a gheenoe 15'4" highsider but, getting one at my location is problematic, about 500 miles to nearest dealer. I have a 14 foot v-bottom but, te way she is rigged its too heavy to pack the 100 or so yards to get me in the fishing hole. Also was thinking of a Native Ultimate 14.

[ThomasL]

Not to get any feathers ruffelled but before i bought a bass boat i went the canoe route,and all three were not the

cheap variety,a square stern esquif mallard(rowed terrible because of the square back and water churning behind

it)a scott lilcanoe,nice but tippie,was light though,and a wenonah.All being tippie to someone thats fished in a bass

boat there whole life.If access to the remote areas limits you to something that has to be carried in may i suggest

looking into inflateables,the good kind,avon,soar,zodiak,etc i know these will run in the upper 1000.00 range but

will last a long time.

[kybassangler]

Hey avid is that the square back model, couldn't get thing to come up? How much weight does the stabilizer thingy tack on?

[gtbehary]

I was initially thinking of a gheenoe 15'4" highsider but, getting one at my location is problematic, about 500 miles to nearest dealer. I have a 14 foot v-bottom but, te way she is rigged its too heavy to pack the 100 or so yards to get me in the fishing hole. Also was thinking of a Native Ultimate 14.

I like the Native Ultimate. It is a stand up design with the tunnel hull. Look at the Freedom Hawk also.

[kybassangler]

Anybody got a native ultimate 14?

[riddleofsteel]

My son and I fish from my Coleman Scanoe some. I weigh in at around 280 and he is 140 lbs. I don't know about other square ended canoes but my boat is rated at 950 lbs capacity. When we fish from it we go light. Small cooler, smaller lighter tackle box, limited rod selection, ect. I am currently using a 5hp Suzuki two stroke twin on it with a remote gas tank and it moves out and run rapids very well. I put one of those Clackacraft prop guards on it to protect my prop from rocks and logs in the river. We regularly use it in medium sized rivers to motor up and drift back down. Saves time and we only need one vehicle. I currently carry it on a 20' flat bed utility trailer originally built for go-karts. We often launch from places that do not have a boat landing. We have slid it down river banks, carried it thru the woods down trails, and even lowered it down to the river with ropes.

The Coleman Scanoe is not a white water boat. We have come to refer to it as the "Green Pig" due to its oversized flat bottom with three molded in keels. However, the same characteristics that limit its white water control make it an excellent medium semi v hull boat for sheltered waters. It is basically a Ramex plastic 16x43 semi V hull that has a tapered rear end instead of the more traditional square rear transom all the way across the 43" beam.

I like mine I have used it for fishing, light river travel and canoe camping for over 20 years.

Nuff said..........

[riddleofsteel]

http://www.spiderboats.com./

These are really nice boats.

[Way2slow]

First, to even consider three people in a 14 or 15 canoe is crazy they are barely usable with two people in them.  I have used a square backed 17 Grumman cargo (wide belly) for over 45 years and would not even fell comfortable with three people in it.  

As for the square back, I wouldn't have any other kind.  I've never had a problem with the way mine paddles.  Granted, it doesn't look as "kool" as the standard canoe but try and put a motor on the two  and see(TM or gas) which handles best and I can assure you, you will be using a motor a lot more than paddles.

The only time the square back really looks funky is when paddling by yourself.  This is best accomplished by sitting in the front seat and facing toward the rear of the boat.  This gives better load distribution but looks funky paddling with the sguare back as the front.

[riddleofsteel]

I owned a big Grumman aluminum canoe back in the 1970's. That thing worked me to death. I understand your feelings having tried to fish out of one myself. I took mine to an 11 acre lake one afternoon and tried to fish out of it by paddling around. I did not have an anchor and a 3 to 5 MPH breeze pushed me as fast as I could correct my position. Going forward they knife thru the water but stationary fishing......forget it. Another point is I would have NEVER stood up in that aluminum bathtub. It had a rounded bottom with a single center keel and I turned it over twice the first time I took it on a river. I stand up to fly fish from my Coleman all the time. It is flat bottomed with three molded in keels and is extremely stable.

Anyway my old Grumman got breached on a rock in the Nantahala River in the mountains of NC. When they finally cut the flow off from the dam and the river fell it looked like a giant aluminum letter C and was a total loss. I have breeched my Coleman twice and both times it popped right back into shape.

Three adults in a canoe to fish is a little crazy but two adults can and do safely and comfortably fish in out of my Scanoe.  What we usually do is take turns with one fishing and one steering or we just tie off or anchor to fish. I have taken it out with myself, my son and my 10 year old daughter but it was more of a lark than serious trip and was on calm sheltered water.

[Guest avid]

Here is a link to the spring creek website.

http://www.canoegear.com/catalog/home.php?cat=53

These are very nice helpful people.

I bought the ethafoam staiblizers, $193.00. the whole assembly is very light 5 lbs?

takes less than 5 minutes to install.

It makes your canoe more stable than any jon boat.

Think of it this way. Let's say you have say 3 feet of width on the canoe.

Extending the stabilizers half way on each side adds another 2 feet. Now you effectiviely have a five foot witdth. Extend them all the way on each side and you have a 7 foot wide platform!!!

I am a klutzy guy. I will go out with as many as 7 rods 2 big tackle bags, a home anchor, a tm, battery and cables. Before the stabilizers I had several close calls and one tip over.

With the stabilizers I have no close calls and no tip overs, I stand as often as I sit and have slipped and fell in the canoe without it tipping.

Trust me, when I say they are life savers I'm not kidding. I don't own stock in the company or get anything from them.

A gheenoe is also a very stable platform but they do not have the weight capacity of a standard canoe.

Safety first.

avid.

[kybassangler]

Thanks Avid, that sounds like solid advice, stabilizers will be on my list of things to do. If I can get the light weight of a canoe and better stability than a jon boat i'm all over it.