On my little 45 acre pond. No wind at the house of course, but I got blown litteraly in circles out on the lake. Needless to say I caught no fish but I DID drop a 75 pound 17 foot aluminum Grumman on my head trying to load it on the car. Nice times. I was kneeling in the center of the boat and everything! FRACK! Needless to say: I caught no fish.
So, the question here is will putting a trolling motor on the thing help at all? Won’t that just make me have to sit closer to the back and make a BIGGER sail for the wind to catch? Won;t I just wind up going in the same circles only FASTER?
Ballast Up Front. NM
side mounting your trolling motor
makes for an interesting ride, depending on the motor, the rotation of the prop will tilt your canoe that way so be careful the first time you use it. Put the battery up front for some ballast.
just thinking on this …
– Last Updated: Mar-31-10 12:07 AM EST –
....... but I don't believe the wind is what was making you go in circles . That is probably caused by what you were doing with the paddle , and how your weight was shifting trim .
If one were to just sit still in the wind with the trim neutral , for the most part I believe they would just end up perpendicular to the wind being blown sideways mostly .
Trim with bow half a little heavier than the stern half and the bow will favor turning into the wind to some degree ... vise versa with the stern half heavier .
I believe the objective is to find the correct stroke(s) that will allow you to keep the canoe on a tracking line going directly towards your desired point in the distance .
This does not mean that the center line of the canoe is on that tracking line , but quite the contrary . You will have to have the canoes center line set at an angle to the desired track line , thus carving both the water and the wind .
Moving through the wind , you need to make a wind correction angle yes , but you don't have to be spinning in circles .
You do have to accept the fact that the progress across your desired track line will be slower because in effect you are paddling a greater distance than just the straight line between point A and point B .
Very similar to ferrying in river current .
If you want to hold still and fish in the wind ... drop anchore . Might take you a couple different trys at the anchore drop thing to get into the best position you want for casting presentation .
Please don't be dropping canoes on your head anymore , the neck is much less forgiving about that kinda thing than the ol headbone !!
As for not catching any fish ... it is a golden rule that all fishermen must pay their annual dues ... best to pay up early in the season .
Thank you
for the advice and help. I just read, in the past few day, about the bow-heavy trim theory. Since the bow is so seldom heavier than the stern (even when there are two paddlers aboard)I never thought of it. I am sure that my lack of canoeing skill was the vast majority of the problem but I am also sure that a 17 foot Grumman does not make for the easiest platform to learn to solo canoe on! I guess I should drag her out again and give her another go. The Kayaks are just so much lighter and easier to get around in on the lake. Of course, the amount of planning required to get my things into it often leads me to not going at all or just hucking Powerbait from the shore. Also, after reviewing the incident, I am fairly certain the the canoe attacked me in disgust for my inability to paddle it straight.
yeah Mr.Grumpy, I can understand …
– Last Updated: Mar-31-10 3:20 PM EST –
...... what you could be up against in the Grumman 17' paddling it solo in some winds . My canoes are like 16'- 9" and 10" tandems also .
I can paddle them solo from the stern seat w/o problem but the bow is real light that way unless counter weight is added up there . In any appreciable winds it takes a full bow load to make it paddle normal as if there was the bow paddler present .
We paddle tandem almost exclusively , but I bop on out alone occassionally while she is on shore also . I'd estimate that I am the only one paddling more than 50% of the time while she is up front ... not that she won't paddle , but I like it this way ... she can relax and fish , take pics. or whatever , but when things get tough I require her to pull her own weight as the saying goes .
I like paddling it from the stern best . It the same as if I was the only one paddling with two in the canoe , as long as you have at least the minimum amount of weight in the bow seat area .
You could put a trolling motor on the bow , right smack in the center (not off to the side) ... and this motor would "pull" you all over the place with precise control . This would be a remote control set-up (wireless) , were you have the little control pad right in your hand (wear it around your neck on a lynyard or keep it clipped to a rod) .
I would take a bow mount "pull" remote set-up , over a transom (or side) mount push set-up anyday !!
This is all very possible and very practical . We do it this way on Jon boats and I would not have that trolling motor in any other position given the choice . There are quick release plates for attaching the motor that would make it easier to put on and take off the canoe , so you would not have to keep it on all the time , and/or haul the canoe and motor always joined together .
This type of set-up would probably cost about a thousand after all is said and done . Not inexpensive , but very very nice and so easy to deal with .
With the motor on the bow , the batt. somewhere in the front half , and you sitting in the stern seat with that remote ... you would become the virtual anything , anytime , anywear in that canoes capabilities and be smiling saying damn the wind and current I'm in control here and make the wind and current bow down to you !! ... or almost anyway !!
Put 6 to 8 milk jugs full of water
in the canoe with you. Distribute them throughout the
canoe, depending on your sitting placement, so that the
canoe is at level trim.
A little tedious working with them, but they will help.
always amazed me how many …
… gallons (US) are in 1 cubic foot (volumn) .
(it just doesn’t look like you could put that many gals. in a cubic ft.)
One gal. = .1336 cu.ft. … that equals 7.485 gals. / cu.ft. .
a gallon of water weighs about 8 lbs.
a cu.ft. of water would weigh just under 60 lbs.
Been there done that
I gave it up and bought an Old Town Pack. At 12’ and 33lbs and a center seat. Wind doesn’t bother me that much. I use a front and rear anchors so can position myself however I want. I use a 275cm double blade paddle and spend my time fishing, not cussing.
BTW, saw one listed on Craig’s list for under $400 recently. I bought mine for $350 on Craig’s list almost 2 years ago.
Also might want to try out a Wenonah Vagabond and a Mohowk Solo 13 or 14. All great solo canoes.
Good luck
Oars
Use oars. I row my full size canoe when going solo. it’s much simpler.
- Big D
Kayak
That’s the solution. I would never have even thought of it. I have a SOT that I used a few times last year on the salt ans I brough i down t my little, windy pond to get some practice time in paddling before the Striper Season kicks off. Well, it was wind as all get-out (worse than the other day by far) and, thinking back on my canoe experience, I almost didn’t evenlaunch. I’m glad that I did! I had SO much a better an easier time on that kayak than in the canoe that I can’t even describe it! I hate it. I have an emotional atachment wth the idea of canoeing but in windy conditions, nothing beats that SOT kayak!
Sadly, I still falied to catch any fish.
what’s going on with those fish …
… what type fish are in that pond anyway ??
How deep do you think it is ?? What’s the water temps. now ??
Largemouth Bass , Jackpike , Crappie , others ??
What are you trying to catch and using what to fish for them right now ??
Trout/Salmon
in a stocked pond with regular holdovers. I was trolling a white hackled kastmaster type about twenty feet behind me at about 2MPH in 4-12 FOW along the shore and in and out of a 25 foot hole.PLENTY of fish taken from shore with Powerbait.
sorry Mr.Grummpy , I’m 100% Trout …
– Last Updated: Apr-08-10 11:51 PM EST –
...... illiterate !!
I've hooked a few (or less) by pure accident and that's about it .
What I can say about most fish species , is there are 4 things that usually make or break ... they are ,
1. Were to be
2. When to be there
3. What to use
4. How to use it
Once these things are figured out , by experience (trial and error) or anothers aid (hot tops) ... they tend to always be repeatable time and time again . Other methods usually go down the toilet and leave you more or less empty handed .
It's like this , two guys fish the same water for the same fish . One guy catches fish (maybe plenty of them) , the other guy goes home empty handed ... it's not luck , not really even skill for the most part ... just one guy knows what will be working and the other didn't .
If the guy who catches fish shows the guy who didn't what's up ... then there will be two guys catching .
Every place I've ever casted a line , had to be figured out by those 4 simple rules ... each month (in the exact same place , after the exact same fish) can change one or more of the variables to a greater or lesser extent .
Is trolling like you've been doing what works now , or are other methods much more productive ?? Maybe just paying out another 60' (or more) of line could make the difference ??
One thing I've learned , is that doing the same ol thing , the same ol way , usually yeilds the same ol results ... that can be the perfect ticket for a given time , species and place , or it can be a total skunk (which would mean something has to change) !!
Best of luck with the next outings .