Why not more canoeists?

[TnRiver46]

37 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

This.  A couple windy days fishing alone in a canoe is what tilted the balance for me to kayaks.  Now that my boat is tied up outside my back door, the kayaks aren't getting as much use.  I will still kayak small waters away from the house, but most of the time now, I'm in a boat.

Solo canoeing in the wind you’ve gotta sit as close to the middle as possible, I sit in the front seat and face backwards and it’s pretty close. Anchor also helps. Anchor upwind of the spot and make adjustments til ya get there

 

but yeah sit on top kayak is the way to go on windy days but not everyone has both like lucky ole me. Sit in kayaks are even better at cutting the waves but you’re going to take on some water 

[Cuivre]

I used to sit in the front person's seat, facing the other way as well when I fished solo in my canoe.  It gave me some room behind my seat and, of course, helped the weight distribution/stability.  I always brought an anchor with me and either did a figure 8 around my TM bracket bolts or wedged the rope in my seat bracket crack.   

[flyfisher]

Only advantage a canoe has over kayaks is amount of stuff you can haul and potentially weight savings.  Other than that, a canoe is not the best choice for fishing over a canoe in the many different places I have drug mine too and through.  Fun part is it is all what works for you.  For me when i was in the boat market soemthing that was electric or paddle powered made the most sense given the water around me and I settled on a eletric powered kayak and it works great.  

[Motoboss]

Absolutely correct, to each their own @flyfisher ! I will say there isn’t any place I can’t take my canoe that I could take my AP120. I just appreciate the larger interior space and wider stability of the canoe.

[flyfisher]

22 hours ago, Motoboss said:

Absolutely correct, to each their own @flyfisher ! I will say there isn’t any place I can’t take my canoe that I could take my AP120. I just appreciate the larger interior space and wider stability of the canoe.

my dad has the AP140 and I am not a fan, very limited in where it can go and underpowered in my opinion and really sucks if you have to paddle that thing.

[padlin]

I was thinking about this thread yesterday, seems a good number of the ones with a bad taste from canoes have done so after fishing in 2 seaters, kind of like fishing from a tandem yak, executed the front resin at least has leg room on a yak. I would agree fishing the front seat on a 2 seat canoe is for the birds. Sitting bass ackwards in the front to go solo is only marginally better. 
 

One of these days I’ll borrow my son in laws fishing yak and try it out, not that I’d get one, I think.

 

 

[TnRiver46]

I’m launching my canoe right now, going to sit bassackwards in the front seat. I guess I’m in the minority but I absolutely love fishing that way, perfect balance and power. Might depend on the vessel 

[padlin]

Maybe vessel and fisherman size. When I sit backwards in my Kevlar 2 seater the now front still sticks up, I’m just too heavy to get away with it.  I’d need to tote along ballast.

[Cuivre]

On 1/23/2025 at 3:34 PM, flyfisher said:

my dad has the AP140 and I am not a fan, very limited in where it can go and underpowered in my opinion and really sucks if you have to paddle that thing.

I have buddies that fish our tournament series that run the AutoPilot series of kayaks.  The spot lock and auto-pilot fob steering is very handy, but I was also unimpressed by the speed.  I was much quicker with my Torqeedo 403.  I don't really see the advantage of spot lock for holding position versus the Anchor Wizard- granted it is an easy push button, vs a drop and crank back up, but you will still be oriented the direction the wind wants you to point. If OldTown could marry the AP with their e-PDL drive's speed, THEN they may have something, but that has to merge two opposing engineering platforms. 

[flyfisher]

On 1/27/2025 at 1:33 PM, Cuivre said:

I have buddies that fish our tournament series that run the AutoPilot series of kayaks.  The spot lock and auto-pilot fob steering is very handy, but I was also unimpressed by the speed.  I was much quicker with my Torqeedo 403.  I don't really see the advantage of spot lock for holding position versus the Anchor Wizard- granted it is an easy push button, vs a drop and crank back up, but you will still be oriented the direction the wind wants you to point. If OldTown could marry the AP with their e-PDL drive's speed, THEN they may have something, but that has to merge two opposing engineering platforms. 

I have the same setup except a NK180s and i was at 25-30% throttle while he was at max on flatwater.  Biggest annoyance was how easily it got stuck in grass and hed have to get the grass off or it wouldn't work.  They need double the thrust at bare minimum for that tank of a boat.  I run a stick steer on my motor at times too which makes it fantastic for fishing up river while standing or working a shoreline slow while standing up.  

[Swamp Girl]

On 1/26/2025 at 10:24 AM, TnRiver46 said:

I’m launching my canoe right now, going to sit bassackwards in the front seat. I guess I’m in the minority but I absolutely love fishing that way, perfect balance and power. Might depend on the vessel 

 

I paddle my tandem backwards too.

[A-Jay]

2 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

I paddle my tandem backwards too.

I paddle my backwards Tandem . . .

Wait what ?

A-Jay

[Swamp Girl]

13 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

I paddle my backwards Tandem . . .

Wait what ?

 

I sit in the bow seat and paddle stern first to place my body closer to the middle of the canoe. It's a common practice. 

[A-Jay]

11 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

I sit in the bow seat and paddle stern first to place my body closer to the middle of the canoe. It's a common practice. 

I'm aware.

A-Jay

[Motoboss]

I tried that with my Sportspal but the square stern made it really slow 😝

[The Rooster]

I don’t think canoes are uncool, I think they are just unappreciated. Dad had one as I was growing up, a 17’ Grumman. Bought it new in 1969 and it’s still in the family. My sister has it now. Last summer dad fished from it again at age 80 and caught a nice bass in it. 
 

Years back in the 90’s, it would be dad, me, and my brother all fishing from it together. I was always up front. My brother sat on a home made seat made from a lawn chair bottom, hanging from the cross bracing in the middle of the canoe. Dad was always in the rear. Dad is an excellent paddler using the J stroke to steer while never removing the paddle from the water at all. Doing this, you can paddle a canoe and remain totally silent! Kayak paddling is noisy! 
 

However, for myself, I never wanted to get one of my own. I always thought they were unstable. We never did roll it though, and now that I did finally get into kayaks I realized a canoe is no less stable than kayaks are. Plus I’ve seen some really cool modern canoes that have a lot of kayak like features. Nice high back seats, built in storage, cup holders, and they could even be customized to hold more. 
 

Here’s a pic from last summer of dad enjoying his canoe one more time. He and my brother took it out on Blaine Creek in Fallsburg, KY. 

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

@The Rooster: Thanks for the photo of your dad. It's great.