Stable fishing canoe

[Tamnoon]

I like these new canoes http://paintisland.com/paintisland_canoes.shtml
has anyone tried them in salt water?

[OLDGEORGE]

:) I have canoed for 60 years and many times through the ocean surf in what I call a park pond canoe with a straight keel like the ones you show. The beauty of that old canoe was that it had a fairly rounded bottom. I didn't appreciate the difference until I tried to launch my 15 foot Grumman with a very flat bottom. I rolled it on the first quartering wave.

I use to teach white water canoeing and have become a lover of a canoe with some rocker. They are very forgiving in most water. They are not essential but if you get caught in bad water like reflected waves coming from two directions you will be much safer in a canoe with rocker. This is the current condition below Troy Dan with high river flows so the only canoe I will used there is my old Exciter. I fish often from my 14-foot solo Mohawk because it is light and fast but not for the beginner except is protected water.

I always wonder about my advice after someone got in my 18.5-foot very narrow racing canoe and rolled it at the dock. Never thought of it being tippie but it is narrow.

Please read some white water canoeing books before you buy. Also see a November issue of Canoe and Kayak Magazine for information on all kinds and makes of canoes and kayaks.

Let me know if I can help.

George

[doyle007]

i wish i could remember when, but a few years ago i was reading either ffsw or swff, and they had an article about a very stable canoe for flyfishing. it may have even been flip pallot's canoe, but i can't remember. anyway, this canoe was set up with a deck laid on top of the gunwales which was covered with that indoor/outdoor astroturf type of carpet. the deck covered about the first 1/3 of the canoe from the bow aft, and then the back 1/3 of the canoe, where someone would pole the boat forward (just like a flats skiff).

i don't know how they got it to be stable enough to hold two guys on top of the gunwales, but they had a few pictures showing them out in the flats doing it. i don't remember any outriggers either. it was really a great set-up for fishing very skinny water.

hopefully someone else can remember this article, and point you in the right direction. have you thought about a kayak? i just got mine, and it's very stable. i haven't stood in it, but some kayaks are stable enough to stand on and fish.

[charlie biddle]

Go look at the kayak forum. There is a lot of good stuff there. Mostly kayaks but you will still see very valuable information there. Kayakfishingstuff.com is another site full of information. ( a good "sister" site)

[OLDGEORGE]

I didn't see the standup canoe but it can be done in most canoes but watch out for rogue waves. I was standing in my canoe at low tide just off shore picking up plugs lost to bluefish during the days when there were plenty around. Anyhow a rogue wave probably from the Nantucket ferry came from behind and I went overboard rather than sit on my fly rod. I remember looking around hoping that no one had seen me and there was not a sole around. This was a flat bottom canoe a 15' Grumman.

I also remember flyfishing on Mirror Lake in Lake Placid, NY and standing amidships with a foot on each gunnel. There are no powerboats on the lake but I felt uncomfortable casting other than forward or aft. The fishing was great. And I kept enough for supper as a black bear ate my hamburger the night before. :mad: