Jeremy,Just a quick question, how many of you fish from a canoe? I have been considering purchasing a canoe for some local lake fishing. Is there any better canoes for the fishing or will any old one work just fine?
I miss my canoe. I had to get rid of it when we got the mini-van (my wife and I are too short to get it up that high without scratching up both the car AND the canoe).
I've had two canoes. The first was a 16 foot Ouachita aluminum (95 lbs). It was a sweet canoe to handle in the water, easy to row, tracked well, and was really nice. The key was the weight. It did take two of us to load it onto the Cherokee.
After my first knee replacement, I was issued a 50 lb. lifting limit, so I had to get something lighter. I settled on a sixteen foot Old Town Discovery made out of Royalex. It only weighed 59 pounds (so I cheated by 9 lbs) and I could load and unload it by myself. I liked it as well as the Ouachita and it was a lot roomier - like me, it had a broader beam.
However, after trading the Cherokee for a mini-van, adding a second titanium knee, and increasing my age by a few years, we decided to go the lazy way. It's still a 16-foot fishing platform, but it is a jonboat with motor and trailer and all the good toys.
But frankly, I still miss my canoe. It was a fun fishing craft. I'd say go for it!
Sorry I got so windy, but I wanted to emphasize that the canoing was FUN! Allan
p.s.: I just looked up the Old Town website. They apparently no longer make canoes out of Royalex, but use "Superlink 3" composition. The canoe I had, the Discovery 164, is now 74 pounds instead of 59 pounds, but is much more abrasion resistant. And that is good. The hull of mine did scratch easily. It never punctured, but it did get pretty ugly from being pulled up on the shore, etc.
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Allan Fish Greenwood, IN
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