Chris, there are many reasons to go in the direction of a canoe, and Jim hit on most of them. There's also a couple of reasons why canoes may not be the best for you.

1) When you're fly fishing on a lake with even a little bit of wind, you'll not be able to hold the canoe in position and cast and/or retrieve at the same time. Particularly if you have the big'un on at the moment.

2) If you need to park your car more than a few hundred feet from the water, portaging a canoe, while done all the time, ain't as much fun as we'd like to have.

Now, I have a 9' "TU Colorado " (top of page 115 in the 2005 Cabela's Fly Fishing catalog) pontoon boat that weighs 87 pounds unloaded, is hard to portage even with the removable bicycle wheel mounted on the front making it a silly looking wheelbarrow, and it will blow around in stronger winds on the lake. I car-top it on my Explorer and can put it up there myself (when I've eaten my Wheaties for breakfast anyway).

I can maneuver this thing either by fins, oars, or electric trolling motor. With fins I can keep it in place on the water in light to medium winds and with the oars I can get to and from "my spot" quite easily. I don't have the motor but I have the option some day when I get old and gray (each year brings me closer to that).

I really like the SS Orange Julius (as my friends call it) but I'm not real self opinionated (hah!) so I'll just say it's not for you either.

But, there are smaller pontoon boats for sale at Sportsman's Warehouse and Cabela's that are back packable, costing around $200 or so that may meet your needs. I'm sure some of the other FAOLers have those guys and will give some reports as this thread goes on. Seems to me Plain Old Jim just bought one a couple weeks ago...maybe he'll chime in here.

Jim Hatch, my friend, as an aside, I'm not anti-canoe by advocation....in fact I used to teach (a thousand years ago) canoeing to a myriad of folks as a Red Cross Small Craft Instructor (oh my gosh that was a long time ago) and I've also taken several 50 milers with the Scouts over the years. It's just that I never learned to cast/retrieve and keep the canoe in the same place in light winds or currents. That's why I have feet I guess, so they can wear the fins to keep me positioned while fly fishing. Oh and I 'spect I can chug my pontoon boat along over the lake with oars about as fast as one guy can paddle his 10' canoe when the lightning and thunder tell us to get the heck off the lake.

Diane, your message came on while I was doing this one....you have good points too. But I still like my 'toon for fly fishing.

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Snow on the roof but with fire still in the hearth



[This message has been edited by Silvertop2 (edited 16 August 2005).]