Lake Kedron

[Clay Smith]

What a gorgeous night for fishing. Took the canoe out solo tonight prepping for taking the little one later (or at least that is the story I’m telling). Had a blast trying to learn a bit about the lake and how to fish while manuevering a canoe.

I still need a lot of practice on getting it around (my left handed J-stroke just flat out sucks). Also I have no finesse with it right now there was a ton of – ok need to slow down/move the front waiiitt not quite so much. Since most of my trips for the next few years are going to be on these 3-4 small lakes I should setup a trolling motor; but part of the experience here will be learning & teaching my son to handle a canoe so I’ll be doing this the more physical way (and the exercise won’t hurt me at all).

My takeaways –

I need to setup a drag chain. Very little wind today and still several times I looked down to switch rods or something and was about turned around when I looked up.

Debating if getting a fish finder is cheating, as opposed to just feeling out where the channel is? Not sure what I’m going to do just thinking out loud.

My 5 gallon water container is not enough ballast in the front so the little one will not be either. Maybe combined it will be enough, if not I’m going to have to figure something out (maybe the extra exercise will help me lose weight and improve the balance).

Knot tying-I’m ok at this (at least for spin/baitcasting) even standing in the surf-but in a canoe, tying for 2 people, yeah I need lots of practice.

I’ll be looking for a cheap waterproofcamera (there was a post about it before the conversion just have to find it) so I can share some photos going forward.

So much fun today just feeling everything out, and oh yeah I also caught a little 12″ largemouth.

Can’t wait to get back on the water!!

[Zach Matthews]

Hey Clay –

Sitting in the back of a two-man canoe alters the pivot point on the boat, moving it very close to you and sticking the nose out in the air. It’s realllllly easy to pivot a boat like that, which can be advantageous, but usually you’re wanting to be more stable.

If I were you’d I’d consider retrofitting with one of these:

or these:

That will move you to the middle of the boat and when you’ve got Bryce, you’ll be able to use it as a convenient work console.

Alternatively — and this is what I do — you could work on standing up and moving your position closer to the center thwart. That will distribute your weight evenly enough to stop the pirouetting.

There are lots of great knot tutorials on Youtube. For conventional fishing you’re probably good with a plain Duncan’s Loop. If you go to the videos section of this site, I’ve got an extensive series there including one 15 minute video on setting up a fly reel from the arbor all the way to the fly. That video has been very popular on YouTube actually.

Not sure on the waterproof camera. You’ll probably get comfortable enough to just use an iPhone or whatever here pretty soon. I keep mine in a waterproof radio like this:

They show up on sale on Amazon for as low as $40 some times (that’s what I paid). The advantage of that system is that it’s a waterproof, dunkable, floatable box for the phone (it accepts all cell phones), with a clear front so you can read it, and it also serves as a boombox for listening to Braves games or podcasts or music, *and* it’s very easily accessed so you can grab the phone out in a hurry. I’ve been really pleased with mine doing duty both as a dry box and an actual radio. I can get about one complete Braves game out of a phone charge, and the boombox batteries last forever – probably like 25 hours of playtime at a modest volume.

Zach

[jonconner]

To improve the trim while paddling single, turn the boat around and paddle from the bow seat, that will put you closer to the center and you shouldn’t need ballast in the front.
JC

[Clay Smith]

JC,

Would love to try that but this canoe has the contoured seats so sitting that would be a bit uncomfortable.

Zach,

That snap in seat is a definite possibility-it also gives Bryce somewhere to sit when Pamela comes along but is removable. One of the main reasons I got this particular canoe is the space to stand between the rear seat and the thwart. Just need to get more comfortable and I’ll be trying it. What solution did you end up choosing for your stand-up paddle?

I’ve watched your the video you did on setting up a fly rod/reel it was very interesting. I typically use an improved clinch knot but I haven’t tied them much recently just need practice (but will definitely experiment).

That waterproof boombox is awesome-especially if I can find it for $40 as opposed to $150.

Hopefully I can get back on the water this weekend.

[Zach Matthews]

Hey Clay –

Re: Jon’s point with turning around–you might be able to use a thick pad, like one of those rescue throws you’re required to have in a powered boat, and sit on that comfortably.

But as far as standing goes, you just need to try it and find your sea legs. It helps a lot to have a paddle down in the water at first to give you something to focus on – I find that *not* thinking about standing makes it easier for most people to let their natural sense of balance take over. Spread your legs shoulder-width but no wider. Stay square in the canoe; if you position your feet along the keel it will be much tippier than standing athwartships.

Think of it much like downhill or water skiing: keep your knees bent a bit and flex with the boat. If you lock your knees up you essentially become a mast rooted to the bottom and if you begin to topple, you won’t recover.

Eventually I promise it will be second nature to you to stand. Most of the guys I’ve encouraged to do this wound up making huge strides after a while as they grew comfortable.

Zach

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