Fishing canoe recommendations

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
Mack, anyone?

No severe river applications planned. deep river, haw river type, along with flat small lake applications.

What do you recommend?
 
curdog

curdog

Ten Pointer
Contributor
I have the old town 119, it's a solo canoe. It works great for me. I usually float rivers, that aren't whitewater by any means, but has some smaller rapids. I can load and unload myself. It's held up to being banged and beat around for 4-5 years.
 
Soilman

Soilman

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Have you ever considered a fishing kayak? Many of them are much more stable than a canoe.
 
Eric Revo

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I have used a 16 ft Mohawk for years, it's a portage canoe and very stable but doesn't track as well as some of the more narrow boats. You can stand up easily to fish and it can tote lots of weight. It's Kevlar/fiberglass and pretty darn heavy but will handle many more bumps and rock strikes than a fiberglass canoe.
If you're looking to trailer a canoe, I'd look at fiberglass or Kevlar instead of plastic..for car/truck topper I'd stick with plastic. If you are serious about using it for fishing a square backed canoe is pretty nice, but has to be registered in NC if a motor is used at any time.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
Thank You Eric,
good points that you made.

Honing in now as you guys ask questions.
No trailer, no motor will be used.
 

GSOHunter

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I am selling my Mad River Adventure 14. It has two padded seats and a spot for someone to sit in the middle.
 

Mack in N.C.

Old Mossy Horns
solo boat I would say 119 all the way ..... Blackwaterbill is more articulate than me so you can read here where i put him on the 119 and he has (at that time) put several dozen on the 119. I have also put probably more than that on it . I will post his 2 post on the thread but here is the whole thread which is worth reading http://georgiariverfishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13581

"Troy

before the 119 Was cool, there was Mack from NC. When I got into the kayak ownership I started with a Dagger Blackwater 12 sit inside, couldn't get out of it the first time I tried it out. It wasa gift from my wife. At the same time Cullfisher got an Old Town sit inside, and he didn't like it either. I never took the sit inside to the river, I sold it to Getthenet and bought a T 120 from Drew and it was maybe 3rd hand then. Cullfisher sold the sit inside and bought a P13. I didn't like the T 120 because I was too heavy for it and it threw me out or I bailed out nearly every trip. I sold it to Braveswin and bought a Drifter. Cullfisher sold the P13 and bought a Caper so he could stand up and fish. I could stand in the Drifter in those days. I went through 3 or 4 Drifters usually owning two at any given time. Because MacBass, Rockworm1 and Bassman1 all swore by their electric powered canoes Cullfisher and i got one of them each. We still have them and use them for long trips and camping and so forth where their freight hauling and comfort is an advantage. Then came the Ultimates as the flavor of the month. I sold my Drifters and got a U 12 which I hated immediately. After two weeks I put it for sale and a man gave me a sot kayak and enough money to buy a 119 for the U12. I won't call his name because he may regret that deal. I later traded that sot he gave me for a new Drifter which I still have and I won't call the man's name that made that trade either.

For about a year I had stuck in the back of my mind was the fact that Mack from NC said the best river boat he ever had was an Old Town 119. If you look at his signature he lists his watercraft and he has 2 Old Town 119s. I have always been impressed with Mack's "walking around sense". Therefore I checked out the 119 and found that Old Town was making the Disco 119 for Dicks and calling it a Kaynoe so I bought one with the boot that I got for the U12. MacBass thought I was crazy when I showed up at Juliette with that boat. I tested it that day for draft, stability and so forth and declared it to exceed my expectations. macbass watched me and then wanted to test it. Just below half way shoals going toward Poep's Juliette, MacBass got in it and stood and paddled around then tried to push it over and couldn't, then paddled in water where his DRifter would get stuck and the 119 floated right on. I then wrote an essay on how good I thought that bought was. Other than Mack's 2 thats the only one I knew of that anybody had. Now the rest is history. Since I wrote that essay, I could name maybe 2 or 3 dozen people who have gotten out of the Kayak usage and converted to 119s and can't think of anybody that has been disappointed. The 119 is the solo canoe par excellence.


If you are looking for a tandem I would suggest going to a outfitter and paddling as many as possible though i would reccomend to the OT 158 . while slightly heavy probably the best all around tandem canoe out there and I paddle mine sole as well. if you sit in the front seat and turn around facing the stern it is really a good solo boat as well as a great tandem boat. The saranac 146 is a cheaper made boat and its hull is not as good as a 158 or a 119. The mad river adventure 14 in my opinion is a better boat than a saranac but not as good as a 158. the Mowhawk 16 is a really good boat as well.

Just read where it is a tandem. Dont take my word for it on anything but I would defiantly pm Derekp on NCangler as he uses a 158 tandem and solo as well. he is from the Greenville sc area and is very knowledgeable on river fishing. he goes by '' derekp " on ncangler but goes by "Boyscout" on some other river fishing forums.
 
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Lou

Eight Pointer
For a tandem, I went with the Mad River Explorer about 10 years back (mine is 16', not sure if the identical model is still in production). I wanted the lightest Royalex boat I could get (wasn't interested in crosslink poly construction due to the weight.....was at least 10lbs or more heavier than Royalex). My Explorer is about 70lbs if I remember right.......I can handle it solo on my shoulders when I want to. No way I'd want to try that with an 80+ lb. boat.

Lou
 
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