Swamp Girl

Thanks for all the thoughtful replies. I thought I'd convince a few to consider a canoe, but now I'm thinking about a kayak. I would like to stand here and there. And the kayak seat sure is attractive. What I can't see myself doing is tricking out a kayak. Here's a lightweight kayak I found: https://www.crescentkayaks.com/product/ultralite-fishing-kayak/ However, it's still 17 pounds heavier than my Kevlar canoe and that's before adding any accessories. 17 more pounds is a lot for me, but I think I could manage it. Car topping it would be the real challenge. Anyway, I learned a lot about why you guys prefer kayaks and bass boat and I appreciate your taking the time to share.

Clickbait reminds me of Stuart's "Look what I can do!" of MadTV, i.e. much ado about nothing:

I feel the same way about road trips, but man, you are going to some classic places, a Mount Rushmore of great water. And @A-Jay is headed back to Nirvana!

That was a thorough, persuasive answer, @MediumMouthBass. Thank you. I agree that each kind of boat has its ideal application and a tricked-out kayak is an attractive option. However, there's no way you could carry your kayak through the woods in northwestern Ontario. You could roll it, but I'm sure your cart would tip again and again as the wheels struck rocks and it would bog down in mud. A portaged canoe would clear the mud and rock. However, if you were willing to struggle mightly, you'd have a great fishing platform once you reached water. I'm too old to worry about what's cool, trendy, or all over social media, but I fear you're right. Agreed! Or it would be nice if someone built a Kevlar fishing kayak. I think I'd miss the 15' 6" of storage in my canoe. The one time I tried a fishing kayak, I found it to be short and cramped. I'm just glad that we have options. Canoes work for me and their Northwoods history also matters to me. I carry the tradition forward. Anyway, thanks for the detailed response, MMB. It lessened my confusion.

I've owned v-hulls, including a 14' Lund with a 10 hp motor, which I used to fish big water like Lakes Superior and Michigan, and several 12-footers with a 6 hp engine, which were great Mississippi River boats. To be frank, I don't miss batteries and oil and gas and electronics and engine noise and yanking that pull cord, again and again and again, one bit. Because I don't need a ramp to launch my canoes, I can fish quiet water where there are no engines, which matters a lot to me. I know for some of you who fish big water, you need a big engine, but if you fished a canoe, you could fish small water where you wouldn't need an engine. Maybe you don't have small water opportunities. In Maine, you don't have to drive far before you see a bog on the side of the road. So, have you ever considered fishing from a canoe? Do you already and if so, where do you use it? If you wouldn't even consider a canoe, why not? Too small? Too tippy? Too slow? Too uncomfy? On the other hand, canoes have taken me to places like this, which is a lake in northwestern Ontario that will never see a bass boat: I literally have caught tens of thousands of lmb, smb, muskies, walleyes, and pike out of canoes. They are fish-catching machines because they're quiet and go everywhere. I'm surprised more of you don't add one to your bag of tools. I know @A-Jay has both a bass boat and a canoe and has used both to outstanding and specific effect. Any others? Lastly, look at the bass in my avatar. She was one of more than ten four-plus-pounders I caught that morning, at a place even a kayak would have been hard-put to reach, unless you're willing to carry your kayak down a steep slope of bowling ball-sized rocks and mud. I could do that with my 32-lb. canoe. #olswampylovesherthreecanoes

Yep. And no Nitro nor Ranger can launch here: So true. Bass boats are above my pay grade, but I'd love to fish out of one just once in my life to experience it. One day, I'd like to buy an aluminum 12' V-hull. It could be 40 years old. And I'd like to mount a modern electric outboard on it. If Nitro decides to sell 40-year old 12' hulls with modern electric outboards, I'm aboard. Until then, Nitros are far beyond my means and Rangers doubly so and even if I owned one, I couldn't tow it and couldn't launch it at any of my ponds/bogs. It would just sit and decay in my driveway like @airshot's neighbor's boat. Maybe @Darth-Baiter, you should consider buying a 12-foot v-hull too. I've caught thousands of bass out of such boats. The hulls cost a few hundred and the motors cost about a thousand. Like @Captain Phil wrote, you can catch bass out of anything that floats. Gim, I've learned over the years that you take no short-cuts other than shortening your screen name. I wish I were more like you. I take so many short-cuts. Look at my canoe above. It's a mess. It's always a mess. To cut myself a little slack, poling through the swamp will forever keeping it from shining.

Don't give up! Keep diving. One day it won't hurt so much. At least that's how it works for me.

I'm guessing Ben and some of his fanboys have read this thread. I think Ben would like it, thinking that "even bad press is good press," but his followers might be less than pleased. I just know that he's clickbaity and clickbait is a pebble in my shoe.

@RHuff: Does locating bait and then casting, understanding that bass are nearby, increase your anticipation? I ask because when I see a bass feeding, my cast to that spot is loaded with anticipation. I'm then guessing that you'd feel that rush much of the time for you're always casting to bait and nearby bass.

I can. You have a heart of gold. So does she. Sometimes Cupid gets it right.

@N Florida Mike: Great trip report, Mike. Ya got me smilin'!

Like @pdxfisher, who's fishing the Columbia in a kayak in December, you're a baaaaaad man too!

Exactly. Apples and oranges. I can see my outfits lying on the bottom.

Gonna be hard to top @Glenn's story!

I lost my cell phone last April. I could see the lighted screen again and again as it tumbled to the bottom, end over end. Five minutes later, I caught my PB. So, here's my suggestion: Chuck your cell phone over the side and brace to catch your PB. I also lost my beloved Swedish-made Cardinal reel when a pal dropped it over the side while he was "rearranging the rods." It had a carbon fiber rods too, back when they were new and expensive. No truer words have ever been written. This is me after reading them. Yes, I clearly grieve with gusto:

Boat control is its own reward, my friend. You are Sherlock Holmes! Well reasoned. I've made this mistake many times and I'll continue to make it. As they say, the grass is always greener on the other side of the water. I have never caught December bass. And you caught gorgeous December bass. Stephen A. Smith is a sports pundit and he likes to say of athletes that he admires, "He's a baaaaaaaad man." Well, I look at you in your dry suit on your tiny boat fishing in December and I can only say the same: "You're a baaaaaaaad man." Lastly, your trip's title is clever!

You made me laugh, Alex!

I bet I've had half a dozen fishing outfits go over the side. My rods are all over seven feet, so they stick out the front and back and their hooks snag on bushes, since I'm often fishing bogs. However, I've lost none because bogs are shallow and I've been able to retrieve them all. I'm always brushing against bushes in places like this:

If there was a book that only had ^these^ words, that book would be worth buying.

@casts_by_fly: That's a loooooong pick!

No truer words.... No funnier words....

Clayton wins again! Your 18" fish is only skinny by Kansas standards. That's a standard bass for most places.

All premier species too! Half the water I fish has smb and lmb. The other half have only lmb. All have pickerel and the super rare pumpkinseed and yellow perch and bullhead. And that's it. I've never caught a bluegill. Only one pike out of thousands of fish. 95% of my catch is bass.

Yeah, that's the utter opposite of me. I'm always craving rain to make the water murky.

Gee, @FishTax, that's tough. Sorry, bud.