The Mohawk…
The Mohawk Nova 16 is a pretty sweet canoe that’s often overlooked by the high performance canoe crowd but would probably serve your purpose all by itself, and it would give you enough money left over that you could also buy a Mohawk Solo 14 and still be under budget.
Note, however, that if standing in the canoe is one of your most important criteria, not many canoes are inherently stable enough to stand in comfortably while fly casting. To find such a canoe, you’d have to go with one of the short, extra wide “sport” canoes. A good one would be the Old Town Guide 147 or the Wenonah Fisherman. You can stand in them pretty easily, but they won’t get you where you want to go very fast.
Do yourself a favor
Buy a used tendem to paddle with your wife/daughter, and for the fishing trips where you want to stand for fly fishing. Then buy yourself a dedicated solo to paddle alone. With your budget you can have both (and still take your family on a vacation - or at least out to dinner). If you are like me, you’ll spend a lot more time paddling alone. I think you’ll enjoy it a lot more in a dedicated solo boat.
solo
I like the idea of having two canoes. 90% of the time I will be alone. So having made that decision, what solo fishing canoes under $2000 should I look at? I have considered a kayak but I do not like the fact that I will get much wetter, especially in cool weather. However, the Nucanoe Frontier is an interesting looking rig. I know I will be standing to fish so stability is a priority.
If your interested in NuCanoe there is a
Dealer on the coast
http://www.everythingkayak.com/
I can also tell you your chances of finding anything mentioned above on Craigslist south of Hattiesburg is almost non existant
stabilizers
http://store.springcreek.com/Spring-Creek-HD-Canoe-Stabilizers-w-UR-Complete-Package-p1580.html
if you really want to stand up and fly fish out of a canoe, you should probably have a set of sponsons/outriggers/stabilizer floats look at this website (spring creek outfitters) and you can find a video of a trip on the chicago river using them with a motor - you can raise the floats out of the water for paddling, then lower them for fishing
I agree with the idea of buying a solo boat since you would be going solo most of the time - paddling a tandem solo in the wind is always a chore; better to buy a second canoe used/tandem, or even just rent one for very occasional use
I don’t fish
but most fishermen that I see are in kayaks or tandem canoes.
I don’t agree. Those stabilizers are
a considerable inconvenience.
I recall a fly fisherman who published an article in C&K. He had a 17 foot Mad River Horizon, a rather tippy canoe for the length, and he was standing up whenever he wanted to.
Well…
If you have good balance and your core body strength condition is good, you CAN stand in lots of canoes. It’s just that with most of them it will never be as comfortable to do it all day as standing in a johnboat. Also, you have to keep in mind that standing to fish in a canoe means that you have to have a pretty long paddle to propel yourself while standing, or else sit down every time you want to make a decent paddle stroke. I know a guy who used to guide in a Coleman Scanoe, in which he used a long double bladed paddle while standing, holding it like a single blade with his top hand on the “top” end of the blade that was out of the water.
As a very avid solo canoe angler, I can tell you that a dedicated solo is definitely better than using any solo tandem in everything BUT being able to stand in the canoe while fishing. But I question whether you really need to stand as much as you think you do. Use a boat cushion type floatation device to make yourself sit up a couple inches higher than you would on the ordinary seat, make sure there’s nothing in front of you that your fly line will get snagged on all the time, and get used to sitting while casting. In the end, it’s much more efficient once you get used to it. If you’ve ever done much wading while fly fishing, the height you are while sitting in the canoe is about the same as standing in water about halfway between your knees and crotch, which shouldn’t really cause you any problems fly casting. And you’re more comfortable and much more in control of the boat, being able to make one handed course and positioning strokes without setting down your rod.
Not my first choice
for a canoe to stand in. I owned a Morningstar that I used as a solo for a couple of years. In spite of being wide, it does not have as much initial stability as I would like for standing and fishing.
Peter
Ditto that!
Ditto
I second the idea of getting 2 boats. A cheap tandem and a better solo. Even a less expensive,less capible solo is a lot nicer to paddle solo than a tandem,and you don’t seem to need a high performance ezpensive tandem. If you do want just one boat,I really like my royalite Pal. I use it for “big solo” work or as a solo loaner for biggies and as a tandem with company for casual paddling. It’s 34" beam is a big plus. Even new I think a royalite one is app 1200$?.
Turtle
Common Request
The request for a canoe that will haul wife, child and camp gear but also paddle well solo is pretty common. It is wishful thinking.
To have enough volume to haul two adults with a self mobile third entity in the boat requires something like 16’ length X 35-36" beam; our basic tandem tripper.
We can solo that tripper by replacing the third thwart with a kneeling thwart. This places the solo paddler well aft, limiting control of the bow with draws, etc, and excess hull width compromises presenting an efficient vertical paddleshaft and accessibility of cross strokes/ maneuvers. These negative factors improve somewhat if the tandem has tumblehome.
The other solo option is Canadian Style solo paddling; the paddler kneeling in one chine to dramatically alter hull’s in water shape. Less surface area is presented and the paddler has fine reach across the low rail, but all cross strokes and maneuvers are lost across the high, offside, rail. Further, the heeled boat wants to carve offside, so significant effort needs be dedicated to corrective stroke components.
All in all, you’ll be happier with two boats and learning to cast from your knees or sitting.
Fly Fishing
I’ve fly fished from a canoe for more than 50 years and never had a problem castng from a sitting position. A longer rod helps keep the backcast off the water. I like a 9 to 9 1/2 for 5 wt. rod for most of my fishing for trout and a bit heavier rod for bass.
tandem and solo
– Last Updated: Jul-25-13 2:31 PM EST –
Make sure the tandem hull is symmetrical so that you can turn it around and paddle from the bow seat when you are going solo. I have paddled all of my tandem boats solo, often on river trips loaded with gear up to 18 1/2 feet. It is a myth that one needs a solo boat for solo trips. Buy a used canoe so you can change your mind later and trade it for a different one.
Anyone with decent balance can stand in a canoe, especially with some weight in it. Provided you are in calm conditions. It is not necessary for fishing however.
Your size??
First of all, I have both soin fished and fly fished from all types of boats: SOT kayak & SIK, pontoons, solo canoe (mohawk odyssey 14), and various tandem canoes. I fish rivers 90% and do at keast 2 overnight float fishing trips. If you fly fish or spend many hours in the boat, being able to stand is NICE! it lets you cast much easier and further, lets you sight fish and find good structure better, and it lets you stretch out your legs better. You wont want to stand in anything narrower than 34". Hull design, of course, is a big factor. But even a wide canoe with a rounded hull like my nova prospector has enough initial stability to stand and fish. Sounds line an OT penobscot fits your needs. It will feel a bit unstable for standing and fishing but nit bad at all. I have ine that I widened by an inch and moced the seats closer to the center, making it more stable, maneuverable, and better solo.
Your size, and even strength, is a big consideration. If you’re built like an offensive tackle, a big tandem canoe will suit you perfectly as a solo. I know a guy who’s 6’4" and over 300 lbs. and he paddles his OT Tripper (17’2" long 37" wide 80 lbs) solo like its a 14’ solo canoe. If you are average build, you will want a smaller boat.
Get something good for what you will use it for 90% of the time. Sounds like you will mostly be fishing solo on lakes but want the option to bring a partner, and you will do limited river tripping. AN OT PENOBSCOT IS PERFECT FOR THIS.
Fly fishing, too
I was using an Old Town Loon 138 (discontinued) as a solo boat for fly fishing. It is heavy, about 60# and is on a rack in the back yard right now. I recently purchased an Old Town Pack Angler, a 12’, 33# canoe that is ideal for the kind of small water fishing that I like to do. Since I can quietly float to the fish I don’t worry about long casts. Its just not an issue. I can cast from sitting using an 8’- 4wt rod and get anywhere the fish are. I can easily carry and load the boat and haul it on a little Suzuki SX4. The car is about the same size as a Mini-Cooper. I’m struck with how sweet a package the whole thing is for quick trips to local fish ponds or larger reservoirs. The angler model has a low seat that makes it a bit more stable. I’ve never felt tippy in it. It is easy to navigate with either double blade or a beaver tail. I can make it go straight with either. As you can tell, I’m quite sold on the small solo canoe.
Casting While Sitting
Al_A makes a valid point about casting while seated. I’m forever amazed by the popularity of the notion that one must be standing in the boat to fly cast, or even to cast by other methods. In the generations before mine, casting while standing in the boat was practically unheard of (hardly anybody owned boats big enough to make it practical), yet fly casting was more popular then than it is now. And yes, a person seated in a canoe, and especially when kneeling in a canoe, is higher off the water than the average wading fisherman is. Good logic at work there! In fact, it’s common to see fly fishermen wading the shorelines of our local lakes, in water deep enough to be right up to the tops of their chest waders (shouldn’t they be taking a stepladder out there so they can cast properly?).
I don’t fly fish, but I do fish with spinning and baitcasting equipment from a canoe while kneeling, and all sorts of stealthy and precise boat movements are possible simply by momentarily making adjustments while holding the paddle in one hand. And while kneeling (or sitting), it only takes a second to switch from regular two-handed paddling to casting, or visa-versa. Add the transition from sitting/kneeling to standing into that same equation and some “right-now” casting opportunities would be lost. Further, the best fisherman I ever knew swore that on small, quiet waters, the waves created by boat movements put near-surface fish on high alert. He believed in LONG casts, placed before the waves from boat movement had traveled far (he also believed in minimizing how much one rocked the boat, to minimize the waves thus created). One could hardly argue with the results he got by always putting that first cast well beyond the area of wave disturbance. Switching from sitting to standing will make a lot more waves than simply remaining low, and will delay your first cast until the waves have traveled pretty far.
Wenonah’s prospectors
– Last Updated: Jul-25-13 9:40 AM EST –
I have paddled both the 16 ft and 15 foot extensively. They're both wider boats which adds to capacity (family trips) and stability (standing). I paddle them heeled over, especially the 15 which is wider than the 16, BUT THE 16 FT WOULD BE A GOOD BOAT FOR YOU TO TRY. It handles gracefully paddled solo from the center or from the bow seat facing the stern, are surprisingly fast yet maneuverable, just great boats. Symmetrical with some rocker is a great design. Love both these boats. Please let us know what you get.
Second that
Penobscot 16
I should add…
within the OP’s budget buying a Penobscot allows purchase of some nice paddles which are often overlooked.