Author Topic: rigging a canoe for fishing  (Read 2711 times)

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Offline lakota

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rigging a canoe for fishing
« on: August 04, 2003, 07:27:29 PM »
Any one fishing from a canoe? I am hoping to get feedback on what people out there do to their canoes to get them fish ready. Add ons and D.I.Y. stuff. I do my fishing from a stock 16' Wenonah Aurora, but I want to make her a specialized fishing machine!

Scott.
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Offline 1911crazy

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rigging a canoe for fishing
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2003, 05:45:08 AM »
I was watching a fishing show in Canada on OLN late at night and he had a canoe with pontoons and a electric trolling motor it was an awesome setup!!                                                           BigBill

Offline Skipper

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rigging a canoe for fishing
« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2003, 02:25:35 PM »
In my time, I have fished a lot of Rivers.  I grew up on the Cuberland, and fishing from a canoe was always an option, one I have taken from time to time, but never found very practical.  I've fished the river in V Bottoms, Jon boats, rafts, tubes, and the 2 man plastic boats.  The only 2 I have found practical were jons and the plastic boats.  In the deeper sections and high water times, I'll always choose the jon.  Reason being is it has so much more room than a canoe, and its far more manuverable than a v-bottom.  My current river jon is a 1546 Xpress all welded V-John.  I've got a 24 volt trolling motor on it that will handle the swiftest current with ease, and a 40 horse Merc that will scoot the little boat along at about 40 mph in 6 inches of water or less.  I have beat the daylights out of this rig, and its none the worse for wear.  It has a casting deck on the front with regular bass fishing seats which makes it comfortable.  I built a livewell into it from a 150 quart Coleman cooler.  Its got both pump in and pump out aerators mounted to it.  (Never lost a bass yet in it)

For those times when the river gets dry and too shallow to take the jon, We opt for a 2 man plastic boat.  This thing is 1 tough hombre.  We mounted a big stainless eyebolt to the bow so we could drag it with the truck up and down banks and from the barn to the river with a tractor.  Works like a charm.  The pontoon have a couple holes in them from dragging, but a little silicone goop fixes it up good enough.  You can't sink it, and I don't think you can turn it over.  We haven't yet.  Its trolling motor powered, and only 12 volts, so it doesn't go up river well and is harder on batteries.  Still, the little craft will float on a good dew, and the chairs in it are comfortable on a long float.

Skipper
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Offline ShootnStr8

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rigging a canoe for fishing
« Reply #3 on: October 04, 2003, 02:48:07 AM »
lakota,

I've used a canoe extensively for fishing for many years.  I have an old 17 foot Coleman with a side motor bracket that holds a trolling motor or 4 hp Evinrude with a detactable tank.  I've extended the length of the fuel line so that it can be set near the front seat.  

I also have a cheap Humingbird depthfinded that I rigged to be portable using two 6 volt batteries in series and a bracket for the transducer that is clamped over the side.  I take a GPS along for long float trips.  

This poor canoe has been used and abused.  It has been flown into Canadian lakes on seaplanes and taken down whitewater in the states.  It is the most vertiable fishing platform I've had and many fish have been pulled into it.  I would hate to be without it as many of the best places to fish are inaccessible to boats.

Blessings!

ShootnStr8
There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.
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Offline Eddie Ferrer

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Re: rigging a canoe for fishing
« Reply #4 on: October 24, 2003, 02:16:31 AM »
I used to have a 17 ft. alumn. canoe that I used for about 6 years that was rigged up for fishing and it gave me great results, the only reason I sold it was because I got married again and I needed a bigger boat for the family.  

Rigging the canoe: The way I had this canoe rigged up was with a 27 pound thrust electrical trolling motor and a good sized deep cycle battery.   I found no need for buying a motor mount, I just used a 1/2" thick piece of construction plywood to reinforce the side of the canoe and clamped it to the back side of the boat.   I bought two strong clamp on rod holders, one for each side of the canoe and used 6 ft.  med.  fishing rods with green 14 test  fishing line with big reels for lots of line for trolling and a good fight.  I also had a low budget Eagle fish finder on the boat, I connected the skimmer to the electrical trolling motor using a adaptor.  A large well charged deep cycle battery at speed 3 using a 27 pound thrust Mini Kota electrical motor should give you up to 5 hours of trolling time, wind will cause you to use more power (speed 4) so take that into account, take two batteries if you plan to be more time.

Fishing method:  I always kept a good assortment of floating/deep runner Rapala lures, Shad Rap were the best producers.  I would first study my fish finder to find out at what depth the bigger fish were hanging out at, then I would I check out my assortment of lures according to a chart I had about the info of the depth of each lure and put the right lures, be it a deep runner or a shallow runner on the fishing rods for that depth, the lure should pass over the heads of the fish for them to see it, not under them for better results.  Then I would use a Shad smelling fish attractent with amino acids on the lures, I would then place the fishing rods into the rod holders in front of me and let out at least 100 ft of line behind the canoe to troll around all the hot fishing points in the lake using speed 3 on the motor for a good action on the lures.

Results:  The electrical trolling motor is silient, the canoe also cuts water silently, catches even the most wary fish off guard.   There were days when no body else caught anything in the lake and I would come home with a 5 gallon plastic paint drum full of fish.  It is common to catch 3 to 4 pounders (Large mouth bass) with this method, just make sure you have your drag set right so that the when the big ones hit they don't break your line.

Another good fishing method I used from time to time with white plastic curly tail jigs was bouncing the jig off the bottom when the fish were really deep, I would use a slower speed 2 on the electricial motor, in this way the battery lasted longer.  I would just troll at speed 2, and raise and lower, let it hit bottom and slowly raise it again.  I also used this method for salt water fishing, but using yellow plastic curly tail jigs with a metal wire leader and used to catch some real nice Snappers.  Great sudden hits this way, what a thrill.


I hope this helps.

Eddie