I’ve been contemplating on something for a long time and need some of your opinons. I inherited a 17 foot canoe and would love to use it often, but because I don’t have a truck and the canoe is fairly heavy to lift by one person, I can’t go out as much. So I’ve been contemplating on getting something more portable and easier to handle with one person…I primarily use this for still water with an occasional use at a tailwater. I have a budget of ~$400 and am really looking for something that I don’t need a boat launch to get me out there. I will be using an electric trolling motor too if need be.
A small kayak or canoe would do you.I have a 12ft Oldtown Pack canoe that only weighs 33lb.Great for fly fishing the local ponds.The Oldtown is pricy though.You can get others for less money.There are plenty of short,9-12 ft kayaks to choose from.The sit in models are usually a little cheaper and lighter.Good luck.
Down in your neck of the woods you ought to be able to pick up a used 10 or 12 foot jon boat for well under $ 400.
A small jon boat beats the crap out of all the alternatives you proposed.
You can mount an oarlock on the transom and move the thing quite nicely with a sculling paddle. It will be much more stable than any canoe and you will be able to stay completely dry at all times which is something you cannot do in a pontoon.
I saw the porta bote in action over this past thanksgiving. A nice grey haired couple showed up to camp with a motor home. I didn’t get to see the entire operation…but they sure made it look do-able. He said it fits in a special 4 inch slot on top of his motorhome. He just took down the parts and assembled it on the ground. Put it on top of his little tow along car and drove down to the boat ramp. He took it down and put it into the water. He took a motor out of his car and mounted it on the boat…and away him and his wife went!
Hey Thanks for the reply…I’ll let you guys know what I decide to do…until then many sleepless nights dreaming away of fish at the end of my line while sitting on some kind of floating blob…
I’d suggest you spend your money on Yakima roof racks. That canoe should be very easy to handle alone. Just lift one end up onto the back rack and then push the thing from behind up onto the racks.
You won’t ever see me fishing from a canoe. On our Cyclone Lake outing last year, very early morning…(the night I saw the wolf) and most of us huddled around the campfire…a fellow went out on the lake and it tipped over. All his tackle and gear went to the bottom of the lake. He swam to shore. The guy is tougher than a boot. We all said get in here by the fire. He said no he had to go mark his spot. He got a floatation device and swam back out, swam down to his gear and tied it off to mark it. Then swam back to shore. Changed clothes and borrowed 2 flies from me. Fished from shore till it got more mid day and able to see. Some guys took him out and he retreived his stuff. He said he made a canoeing mistake. He leaned the wrong way when turning or something like that. Anywhooooo…experienced yet got dumped…you won’t see me in a canoe.
HLK
My 8’ pontoon boat “is not” in the least a little bit tippy and takes “no” getting used to. It is NOT going to turn upside down if you make a small error. After watching Floyd in his canoe…just me…not trying to sell anyone anything… But you won’t see me in a canoe. It ain’t going to happen. If you don’t eat bacon…you are never going to choke to death on bacon.
“If you don’t eat bacon…you are never going to choke to death on bacon.”…I have to say that got me smiling. Pretty true…
Speechless, like a few here, I have a pontoon boat. It’s an 8ft boat (Outcast Pac 800) that I bought especially for the situations you describe here.
Here in Mn. I have a nice 17’ Ranger boat for some warmwater fishing since I do that too. We have a lot of lakes. That rig needs an improved landing. However…
There are many times when, like you, you want to just slide a boat into a little lake full of bass or panfish etc. that seldom gets fished much. My pontoon is exceptionally good for such times and stable to boot!
It has saved the trip a couple of times in Montana doing floats down the Missouri River taking big browns as we drifted the shoreline!
So, my vote goes for a good pontoon boat or maybe as R. Komar suggested, that Porta-bote. I’ve never been in one of those though so if you think about buying one try your darndest to actually see one and visualize yourself in fishing situations.
There are many variables which will effect your use. I’m talking about actually fishing in one while it’s windy (which it is 99% of the time to some degree) for example or a miriad of other variables that would make your consideration most useful to you. Put yourself in it mentally. Stow your rod, row around, do you always want to drop anchor??..I hate anchors when I have a good fish on. Can you turn well enough? Can you…yada, yada… Just some things to think about whichever route you go with.
Me…I’d go the pontoon because you can fish while steering yourself with your flippers once you row out to a spot. If that’s not as issue then the Porta-bote may do??
Decisions…Good luck.
Jeremy.
[This message has been edited by Jeremy (edited 06 January 2006).]
Gators, gar, and so on don’t mess with me on my ODC 816 catamaran PIP (personal inflatable pontoon). Rowed passed two small gators on a canal with it just last outing (over the top of one of them after he went under). They went their way when they saw me so I didn’t have to go my way this time. As for legs and fins in the water, I do it all the time and nothing has chewed on them yet. Remember its a boat, not a float tube. You row it and can use the fins if you want. If you keep your catch sealed so the fish scent doesn’t escape and you use good judgement if you see a potential danger (leave the area if you have to), you most likely will have no problems.
I also use an anchor and I really like that anchor if I get tired or when I want to stop without going to shore.
Robert B. McCorquodale
Sebring, FL
“Flip a fly”
[This message has been edited by dixieangler (edited 06 January 2006).]
HLK, I don’t have the snakes and gators problem, so didn’t think about those issues. THAT is another situation you won’t see me in either! <grin> In that case I would rather be in a boat as well. However, still not a canoe. I guess Floyd would have been in big trouble. Man I am glad I don’t have those probs. Whew.
I have used most of the ‘portable’ and inflatable units out there at one time or another and they all are a pain in the derriere to fool with. If your not going to use a canoe, then next best thing would be either a Jon Boat or a Pirot, although they’ll be just as heavy as a comparable sized canoe, with the same carry problems. Rafts are difficult to fish from, unless you get a wood floor for them, and that costs as much as a regular boat, and takes the same amount of space. The folboat I had was way too unstable to fish from (kayak) and was very expensive. I’ve tried many folding type boats, and they are all the same, very unstable and flimsy. I’ve sold them all, and now I fish from a float-tube or shore if I can’t use my rowboat. By the way, a good V-bottom aluminum rowboat is hard to beat. I use mine a lot on the main lakes. It is a Grumman 9" Dinghy and only weighs 55 lbs. It’s easy to car top on my Caravan and you can pretty much throw it in the water anywhere. It’s also very stable and sea-worthy. I got it used for $100.00. I am about to rig it with a sail, rudder and removeable center-board and turn it into a sailing dinghy, like the one in the movie “The Old Man and the Sea” with Spencer Tracy, except his boat was wood.
I’m originally from Texas (Dallas, and Galveston), born and raised there. I fished there all my life from a float tube (back in the days when we made them from old truck tire inner-tubes and surplus parachute webbing. I don’t think they were commercially available back then), and never had any trouble from wildlife. Of course, I wouldn’t use one on the coast (I have no desire to become a self-made shark-lure), but in fresh water, you’d be safe enough, as long as you use a little horse-sense.
Semper Fi!
[This message has been edited by Gigmaster (edited 08 January 2006).]