Water trapping from a canoe or kayak?

[Drew]

I have several spots where I trap 'rats and beaver that I can't access by foot or with my boat. I was looking to buy a small canoe to trap from but I've also looked at a fishing kayak that was more open and had several recessed storage areas. I know the canoe would be a little heavier to transport but could hold more weight and might be more steady with a load.

Tell me me your thoughts on either and which would be better. I'm not longlining a 1000 rats just need more access to the places i have available.

[shagnasty]

i have an old town poly canoe. tough as nails. a little on the heavy side but stable as a rock and wont turn over, can carry alot of fur and go anywhere i want. i use it as a sled sometimes, just enough water to float and i drag it behind me so i can pack out beaver from swamps, beats making a million traps back and forth. i have no experience with a kayack.

[Bottomline]

I trap beaver using a 14 1/2' MadRiver Canoe. Gets me into places I couldn't wade to. Also like Shag, I often pile it up with fur and traps, and slide it along behind me.
I no nothing about a kayak.

[irnhdmike]

Have a 14 ft. old town I use. Not too big to handle alone. Good enough. kayak would be good but less room for gear animals etc. Also how not sure how kayak would be in narrow spots.

[GaTrapper]

get a small canoe or kayak and attach a rope to it and tow something behind it that you can store other stuff in. Thats how i do some of my beaver and turtle trapping.

[mustelameister]

I've got an old beat up square stern Radisson that I use similar to how the Shagster explained. I use the 18' jon boat with 35 hp Go Devil on the big rivers, and it rides upside down in the front. When I get to a slough that cuts into the backwaters, over the side it goes and I can row it, paddle it, or pull it behind me.

It weighs all of 43 pounds, and the sponsons are about all barked off, but it's an excellent mule for that special situation.

I would stay away from kayaks. You don't want to roll with traps and gear in the boat.

I would suggest you go find a large canoe store, one where you can "practice drive" any canoe they have in stock. Appear to be seriously interested in purchasing one. They'll help you all the more. Try this site. It's a place in Wisconsin I check out occasionally for new products. Can't afford 'em there, but nice to look at and take for a ride:

www.rutabaga.com

When you think you've got it narrowed down, then go find a used canoe forum on the 'net. I sold my XL Tripper that way, and was surprised at the number of canoes on there that were very good deals.

Just my two cents.

[musher]

There are a couple of problems with kayaks.

In the "open" models (like a sled where you sit on top), water drips on your lap with every stroke of the kayak paddle. It's not a problem in summer. But a wet butt is no fun when it's cold.

With the closed models you are "in" the boat. It's not exactly quick to hop out of when you make a set. If you store any gear in there it's a pain to get out. If your lure bottle rolls to an end it's staying there. If your kayak has a rudder that you use pedals to steer, forget about putting stuff in with you. Since you can't store "in" the boat it means that you have to store "on the boat. Any weight on top of a kayak will affect performance. The centre of gravity will be much higher.

Buy a canoe! I love my coleman. It's almost 25 years old and still going strong.

[thebeav2]

I find that with any type of boat you use for trapping your going to be out of It most of the time. It's tough setting traps while your setting the boat, there are exceptions. I would be In favor of a canoe or a flat bottom duck skiff If I was working small streams since you will be walking and pulling It behind you.

[trappnman]

I've trapped out of a canoe and out of a jonboat- and by far prefer the jonboat. Lots easier to get in and out of in chest waders. More room also for fur and stuff.

I found that in smaller canoes, in addition to your canoe paddle, a kayak paddle was handy on straightways and manuveuring. With a single bladed paddle, it was too much back and forth- whereas the kayak double bladed worked slick.

[shagnasty]

jon boat and motor is great on rivers that dont have any snags or dams or whatever, but the small stuff including swamps, no way am i going to fight a jon boat. a canoe i am in and out, and go where i want, i kneel down in the canoe and can lay down flat to go under tress and such with no problem. i can carry quite a bit of fur in mine before it starts getting squirrly. im serious when i say i go places that a jon boat would kill you to manuever, you would be out more than in it, at least with a canoe i can pull up beside a down tree, step out on it, pull canoe over and go on my way, would be harder and more awkward with a boat. open water with a jon boat and small motor, probably better than canoe because the motor does the work.

[trappnman]

A small jonboat was the boat of choice for the big marsh rat trappers here. No motors- Duckbill pole.

But we didn't have to portage.

[irnhdmike]

ooo I forgot. you can also pole a canoe. Not surev how that would work in a kayak.

[rk660]

on about same lines as shag's, keep eye peeled for colman plastic canoe, 15 and 17's what they came in. tough as nails and slide over rocks. one guy can drag pretty easy, wheel dolly deal easyer yet. Id much prefer a jon but in tight spot like said about, jon can be hours worth of greif and misery in what could be squeeze thru with canoe. on empty canoe a little wieght in middle will stabilize pretty easy. canoes arent that bad if one has normal balance and keeps weight low. some guys are just normal born klutzs and will tip over a barge. klutzs should just stay out of canoes if they want to stay dry.
Tip: if one guy in canoe, turn around backwards and paddle from other seat wich slightly more towards center and less tippy

[musher]

You can't go wrong with a Coleman. I've white watered all kinds with mine. I've trapped from it in situations where I had to break through skim ice repeatedly. The fishing/pleasure hours in it are huge in number.

You can carry it a reasonable distance. A 2 hp. on the side makes it skim pretty quick. (You cannot turn the canoe as tightly on one side with a side hooked motor.) It can carry quite a bit of weight.

The new ones are slightly different. The center seat is full. In the older models, it was a bar that enabled you to swing it on your shoulders.

I've seen my buddy's bend in two once. We had shot some rapids, r-3, and he didn't make it. The canoe hooked on a rock, open end up-stream, and it wrapped around. We thought that we were in a pickle (4people/gear with one boat). The stuck Coleman started bouncing around from the water pressure and sprung free. We used a few river rock to pound the metal frame into a normal shape and the problem was solved.

Buddy still has and uses that canoe. It's older than mine by a year and as I wrote in an earlier post, mine is 25 years old.

With regards to paddles. Always bring a spare. Another tip is to learn a good j-stroke and always stick to one side. You drip water in the canoe when you change sides. Rk's tip if sitting in the back seat facing forwards works extremely well. It also places your gear in more accessable areas.

[Drew]

Thanks looks like i was thinking in the right direction with the canoe. I do like the older colemans with out the cooler as the middle seat just the shoulder bar so i can carry it easier. I would have no way to get a duck boat/jonboat to the water.

Basically i have a bunch of larger pothole marshes that I can't wade to the huts the water is just too deep for waders.

Thanks for the tips, I have used a kayak paddle in a canoe while by myself and it worked slick. The pole idea would work too once i find out how deep the water is.

I got a little trailer for free that will work great for a canoe that way i don't have to mess with getting it in and out the back of the truck.

The wife likes to canoe too, so I have some leverage spending some money.

Musher, that was another question I wondered about if the water skimmed up with ice over night.

[shagnasty]

i am small, dont weigh too much, and can handle a canoe standing up with a blindfold on. i just dont have any problems at all when alone and can go anywhere, sometimes i cut a hole just big enough through a jam to slide canoe through underneath, sometimes i go through, sometimes i climb over and get it on the other side. a jon boat and motor you would still be cussing. i dont think everyone is looking to trap areas that i am referring too and that is where a canoe shines. agree with rk, great big guys with weight problems will not likely do too well in a canoe in these situations, it is very dangerous and I always wear my life jacket and take every step very carefully. i have used my chainsaw to cut jams out by climbing out and cutting my way back to the bank, probably not the smartest thing, but i had to get somewhere, lol.

[thebeav2]

Has anyone ever used one of those Poke boats? I have a version of one, It's just a very wide 12' double ended duck skiff. It Is super stable you can stand up In It and step out with no tipping. It's very light and made from fiberglass. The fiberglass Is a important + since you can do any repair yourself and at a very low price. Another Important feature Is that It flexes when It slides over obstacles this helps to keep you from getting hung up.
It has only one draw back It doesn't hold as much gear as a larger canoe or John boat. So to over come this I just unload fur at bridge crossings and pick it up later. But In the rat marsh It really shines. I can hang over the side and set the house with no problem. I have a T bar stake with a bungee cord attached to the boat and the stake paddle up to the set jam in the stake and your good to go. If It's windy always let the wind blow you up against the hut.
But with any boat, SAFETY should be your First priority. And ALWAYS tie off the boat when you get out of It.

[trappnman]

Someday I'll have to trap one of theose rat marshes where you can take a boat to every set. The rat marshes I've trapped you are out more than in.

To get back where the action is, I was pulling the boat more than riding in it.

[rk660]

Tman, you need to get s small go-devil or scavenger motor. They will churn right throu most marsh grass and cattails with ease. Wish I'd had mine 25 years ago when we still had some huge marshes with rats. On a canoe, I bolt a oak 2x6 or 2x4 across gunwhales for a motor mount. Those old sears gamefisher where nice and light, aircooled with a clutch in lower end so effectivly had a neutral, worked real nice on a canoe. Made a ring rock gaurd so we wouldnt have replace shear pins all day. We did have a small catastrophe once when and underwater root jammed in between rock gaurd and prop, dumping us over sideways before you could say "oh sh--". Was only waiste deep but went in head first.

If I was trapping a lot of small water that required a lot of portages and/or load/unloads, I would look real serious at a Raddison canoe, they are small, wide and very light.

Yep learning to J stroke is a good thing if having to paddle. I did play with a kayak a little and thought I'd try a double end paddle sometime on a canoe. Chuck the wooden paddle and get an aluminum handle/plastic paddle end type. They get real serious if you look at some of these whitewater supply catalogs. $200 carbon fiber and kevlar paddles, $3000 kevlar canoes and all kinds of other high dollar stuff you probibly wouldnt want to konk coons with and heave over logjams. Get the softest, thickest floatation pad you can find, it will save your ass at end of day. They always slide off seat, bungie cord it to seat stops that. I got rid of stakes on rope and use a heavy drag now, just heave out and forgot about it. Not fun to get done making couple sets and boat is 200 yards down stream on other side of river.

[bblwi]

I have used a 13 foot Golden Hawk, molded fiberglass canoe for many years. This canoe is very durable and very stable. It is wide and can carry a lot of stakes, traps and fur and at a low center of gravity also as there is a very wide flat floor. By organizing well I can walk from one end to the other quite easily and set and check traps that way. It does have a 2 inch keel running the whole canoe and that makes this a bit tough for shallow or rocky areas or places where one is paddling through real thick weeds or stumps and logs.
Where I have been using it mostly I can not get out of the canoe to set and check traps as the bottom of the marshes are too soft and the bottoms are almost false. I set and check almost always from the canoe. The ends of the canoe are quite far past the open portion so that is a stretch if you can not do it from the sides. I use it alone almost all the time trapping and typically set in the front seat and work the canoe back wards so the canoe sits better in the water. If I was stream trapping and doing more walking and towing I would still use a canoe as it is a great place to store lots of stuff and it has several other uses, such as duck hunting, fishing etc.

As to the mud puppies, and weed chewers they work well but there are groups in WI trying to get them banned as people are plowing right though the wetlands and tearing up the marshes and destroying the habitat. Use them wisely. Remember "pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered".

Bryce