Just bought my first canoe yesterday . Old town pack. Looking for info on how to strap down and hold my tackle trays any info and advice is greatly appreciated.
Preference
A lot will be your personal preference.
I sit and stand in the middle of a 16’ Mad River to fish.
I use a standard tackle bag with individual tackle boxes. That way I can just remove the smaller box I need instead of having to open entire box.
I also have a thwart bag that holds my pliers, knife, and acts as a work-top too.
I zip-tied two 1.5" pvc sections about 6" long to my tackle bag too. I use this to hold my rods (vertical) while paddling, and sometimes while float fishing.
Lots of options…
You could carry them in a thwart bag. I think OT still sells a “work station” that’s sort of a fabric deck that straps across from gun’l to gun’l. You might just glue velcro to the floor and the bottoms of your boxes.
It’s your canoe, so modify it however works for you. One of the beauties of a canoe is it is so open for personalizing.
Except for when you’re set to begin…
– Last Updated: Jul-15-15 12:43 PM EST –
casting, keep everything in a separate, floatable bag or pouch, that if you capsize...it'll be floating along side you when you get to the surface..just teather to thwart(s) for retrieving. I've found that preparing/planning ahead of time and limiting the gear you have in the canoe has always made life easier, especially when coming out at night. Realize that a packboat is nice, but it isn't a battleship.
just my $.02 ...experiment and see what's best for you.. Enjoy it, canoes = a lot of freedom.
Coincidence
– Last Updated: Jun-20-15 1:00 AM EST –
I just got a pack for fishing. went out today for the first time.It's perfect for these little NJ creeks. I'll agree with Bigspence and others
prepare to the max. prioritize your tackle for the waters you'll be fishing with only what you need for the day. I use Velcro straps and a floatable bag attached to the thwart. take your time figuring things out,once you get used
to the pack you may decide to change things around.
let us know how you make out and throw in a good
fish tale too... while paddling my old canoe I hooked into a decent sized striper and it actually pulled me around a bit.
I got him up close to the net and the line snapped the rod flew back and wacked me in the head....
I lost the fish...but I got a fish tale.
D-Rings
I assume your canoe is made of Royalex, as that was always the case in the past for that model. In that case, attaching D-rings which are mounted on Vinyl patches is pretty easy. Get some D-ring patches from Rutabaga Paddlesports or NRS (or probably lots of other places). Also, get some “Vyna Bond” adhesive and follow the directions on the can. Vyna-bond is best used in dry weather, so if your house is air-conditioned, take the boat inside for this job.
For tying stuff down, it works best to mount the D-rings right on the floor of the boat. I used them to secure packs and such, but they’d work fine for tackle boxes and trays too.
I’d suggest getting a few of those new “giant twist-ties” too. They are lengths of heavy copper wire, one to two feet long, encased in rubber or foam. Most hardware stores have one kind or another. They are great for quickly attaching and “un-attaching” things to the thwarts, such as fishing rods.