The drawbacks of a canoe.

[Swamp Girl]

In other threads, I've been extolling the virtues of a canoe, like gliding over lily pads, snaking through reeds, carrying more gear than a kayak, and being sneaky.

 

Here are the drawbacks:

 

1. You can't stand. This is a big deal because it's harder to set the hook lower in the water and there are times I really want to stand and look over the reeds to see what's beyond.

 

2. They are tippy, some more than others. My canoe is especially tippy. When I first step into it, it feels like I'm on a fence rail. My canoe has what is called poor primary stability and good secondary stability, meaning that it feels tippier than it is.

 

3. The high sides, as opposed to a kayak, means I get blown about by wind. This is also a big deal when you're fighting a fish and and it means a lot of positioning corrections by paddle.

 

4. It's Kevlar, so it's delicate and has to be babied. 

 

[TnRiver46]

My canoe is very stable and I can stand up in it for extended periods. It’s also aluminum so it can take a beating. It’s loud though, not too sneaky when you drop a sinker in there. Wind is certainly a challenge 

[MN Fisher]

Items 1 and 2 can be corrected with the addition of outriggers.

 

I made and installed some on the canoe I had before I sold it and rigged up the F-9. Some PVC pipe and fittings, two pair of crab-trap floats and a couple flag pole holders.

 

[padlin]

Mine's 29" wide at the gunwales so there's no way I'm standing.

It's wood so it's pretty quiet, I put in a cheap carpet runner when I'm fishing which helps too.

Being narrow its fairly tippy although I've used it so much it doesn't bother me anymore. 

The wind is a pain but I stay home if its going to be more then 7 or 8 mph and use an anchor pretty much all the time. If properly placed, the wind doesn't get in my way till over 8 or so.

Being as how I built it and can fix it I'm not that concerned about rocks and such. Every 6 or so years I refinish it. About 25 years on it so far.

At just 45 lbs, I'm not going to a yak.

[casts_by_fly]

Not sure the brand, but outriggers will solve 1 and 2. I think ajay has them on his. I’m pretty stable in a boat and can paddle a kayak/canoe/paddle board standing up no problem, but the primary/secondary stability is something to get used to. My autopilot has amazing secondary stability but the first 10-15 degrees of roll take a minute to get used to. Now, I can stand a foot on the gunwale, tip it to 15 degrees, and get rid of my coffee.

 

 

[A-Jay]

All depends on the canoe.

Old town square back is just under 16 ft and has a 40 inch beam.

Really improves fishability but it goes on a trailer too.

So there's that.

A-Jay

[WRB]

Never owned a canoe or kayak, closet would be a duck boat built from plans*. The duck boat was 10’ long and 40” wide about 10” freeboard with 4” box frame around the open seat area. Very stable flat bottom boat using oars to propel.

The duck boat would be a good bass vessel, stable in white caps windy weather and light weight.

I loved fishing from a light weight wooden canoe on Lake of the Woods as a passenger up front. My friend Chuck was a expert with a paddle propelling the canoe without taking the paddle out of the water, amazing skill just gliding along quietly. We caught Musky, Pike, bass and walleyes setting down, never standing up to fish.

The bigger freighter canoes are stable but also heavier.

Kayaks are very popular today and the way to go for bass fishing imo.

Tom

* Pintail #159, dad built 2 with our help in the mid 50’s.

[Swamp Girl]

I should have written in the initial post, "the drawbacks of my canoe," which is a slender, Kevlar canoe. I would quibble that a boat so wide that it has oarlocks isn't a canoe, even though they market it as such. 

[VolFan]

We used to have one of the Mad River canoes you could buy at Dicks. 14 fter I think. We paddled that thing all over the Potomac around DC. TERRIBLE primary stability but great secondary. You really had to do something stupid to put a gunnel under water. The lack of primary stability led to multiple instances of me getting a wet arse while trying to board at various launches - it would tilt then slide away from you if that first foot wasn’t centered or far side. Nothing like a day of paddling with soggy muddy shorts. 

[gim]

At least compared to a bass boat, a canoe has far less space too.  I wouldn't be taking my dog or another angler in a tippy kevlar canoe.

 

Various watercraft are going to have their advantages and disadvantages.  I selected an aluminum mod v bass boat because it fits the mold for 90% of what I want to do.

[MN Fisher]

7 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Various watercraft are going to have their advantages and disadvantages.  I selected an aluminum mod v bass boat because it fits the mold for 90% of what I want to do.

That's the main reason I went from the canoe to the F-9...while I could stand and cast from the canoe, now I have lots more storage space, more control and a real casting deck.

[Deleted account]

Canoes suck for fishing almost as much as yaks...

[VolFan]

They’re tools, just like boats. Clearly it’s not a tool you use for however you fish. 

[Standard]

My first fishing vessel was an Old Town canoe, looks like it's out of production now.  2 person, 13 foot long, 40" wide, fiberglass construction.  Not too heavy at 65lbs.  I'd throw a cooler in the middle to use as a center seat.  Could easily stand up in it.  Biggest drawback was that it's not very maneuverable and slow.  First few years I used it on the Mississippi, beat it up pretty good but it never failed me.  Eventually developed a very slow leak.  One winter season I sanded the bottom down and put another layer of fiberglass down the entire keel and repainted.  Solved the leak.  Messed around with a trolling motor on it for a year or two before deciding it was time to get a fishing kayak.  

 

If a canoe is what you have access to, nothing wrong with fishing out of it.

 

 

[Darth-Baiter]

what is it like getting caught in a wake boat wave?

[Swamp Girl]

Nice setup, Standard. I once drove an Xterra too. 

2 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

what is it like getting caught in a wake boat wave?

Someone else will have to field this question, as I don't fish water with motorboats. 

[Standard]

1 hour ago, Darth-Baiter said:

what is it like getting caught in a wake boat wave?

Never shared the water with wake boats in the canoe.  No issue with ski boats, though.

 

Been around some wake boats with the kayak, also no issue.

 

I really don't like fishing boat infested waters anyways.

[TnRiver46]

2 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

what is it like getting caught in a wake boat wave?

No trouble at all. Lot easier than a waterfall 

[Darth-Baiter]

7 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

No trouble at all. Lot easier than a waterfall 

Those pesky waterfalls…,,,,:D

[TnRiver46]

21 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

Those pesky waterfalls…,,,,:D

They are pretty easy in the canoe, just point the nose at the waves . Canoe is designed to go down big waves in rapids. 
 

we have people that drive boats from Knoxville to the gulf, around the tip of florida, up the east coast into the Saint Lawrence River then come thru the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi, back up the Ohio to the Tennessee and come all the way back home. It’s called the great loop. You could fit a dozen wake boats in a single boat they use for that! 

 

[gim]

3 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

what is it like getting caught in a wake boat wave?

I can't comment on what its like being in a canoe, but in a bass boat it down right sucks.  I have to imagine its 10x worse in a canoe.  I've taken waves right over the bow, gunnel, and the stern from them.  They don't care.  Their goal is to make as big of waves as possible for sheer enjoyment and if they erode shorelines or capsize canoes along the way, big whoop.  They are fast becoming the most hated group of watercraft on the water, at least for me.

[TnRiver46]

2 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I can't comment on what its like being in a canoe, but in a bass boat it down right sucks.  I have to imagine its 10x worse in a canoe.  I've taken waves right over the bow, gunnel, and the stern from them.  They don't care.  Their goal is to make as big of waves as possible for sheer enjoyment and if they erode shorelines or capsize canoes along the way, big whoop.  They are fast becoming the most hated group of watercraft on the water, at least for me.

It’s actually not so bad because the canoe climbs up and over the waves instead of the waves climbing into the boat 

[Swamp Girl]

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

It’s actually not so bad because the canoe climbs up and over the waves instead of the waves climbing into the boat 

I imagined it would be like that. I kayaked the Mississippi a couple times, from northern MN and again from Cincinnati, one time to New Orleans and the other to Baton Rogue, and I'd cross the wakes of the tow boats, some longer than aircraft carriers, just for fun. You'd climb the wet hill and then descend it, and then do another and another and another....

[TnRiver46]

1 minute ago, ol'crickety said:

I imagined it would be like that. I kayaked the Mississippi a couple times, from northern MN and again from Cincinnati, one time to New Orleans and the other to Baton Rogue, and I'd cross the wakes of the tow boats, some longer than aircraft carriers, just for fun. You'd climb the wet hill and then descend it, and then do another and another and another....

My buddy with a touring kayak chases down the big boats when they go by and ramps their waves for fun haha

[the reel ess]

What I didn't like about mine is, to avoid being turned around by wind while paddling alone, I had to paddle from the middle seat, the widest part of the canoe. It was also pretty heavy compared to a kayak.