Ozark Park Kind Of

[smallmouthjoe]

Fished this morning for about four hours before I had to go to my dreaded job. Arrived at the park around Ten with my kayak and as soon as I was out on the water the rain started getting heavy. Undeterred, I started up the river. RS suggested to me some weeks ago that I go above Riverside to check out a few holes up there, so I did. When I finally got there, after wasting about two hours trying to catch fish on the never fail spinnerbait through the park, I started catching fish on a Norman crappie crankbait in the riffle just up from Riverside Bridge. I continued my journey up river and found a hole just above that riffle that held some nice fish. There was wood all over both sides of the bank and my first trip through it yielded six or seven Smalls and eyes on the Norman crank. Running short on time I decided that i wouldn't continue any further up river but rather I would go back through the hole with my go to bait ( texas rigged bitsy tube) and see if i could pick off a few more. Under a downed tree far below the next riffle I found my biggest smallie of the day. She was around 13 or 14, fat, bronze and healthy, a real beauty. I fished the tube all the way back to the park picking up a fish here and there. Caught a nice large out of some wood by the the bluff on the north end of the park and that was my last fish of the day. Great day, thank you RS.

[RSBreth]

Hey, you're welcome. That stretch up there is also full of Rock Bass, so if you feel like scaling it down a notch, a small grub or finesse worm just kills the panfish up there. It's not big water, but it's close.

Having the ability to go pretty much wherever you want is the coolest thing about a solo canoe or kayak.

[Greg]

Can I ask if your kayak is a sit on top or a sit in? I've been thinking about buying one. RS I would be interested in what you think too. I recently went on a float trip with my 2 sons. We rented a canoe and a kayak and took turns. I really enjoyed the kayak although it was a bit small for me. It was a sit in. It was remarkably easy to maneuver. It was a bit hard to get in and out of but I'm a big guy. I did like the backrest on the sit in.

Appreciate your thought on this. I've been looking at them for some time.

Greg

[TroutRinger]

Can I ask if your kayak is a sit on top or a sit in? I've been thinking about buying one. RS I would be interested in what you think too. I recently went on a float trip with my 2 sons. We rented a canoe and a kayak and took turns. I really enjoyed the kayak although it was a bit small for me. It was a sit in. It was remarkably easy to maneuver. It was a bit hard to get in and out of but I'm a big guy. I did like the backrest on the sit in.

Appreciate your thought on this. I've been looking at them for some time.

Greg

I'd like to second this. I've been looking at Kayaks for a few months now. I'll be living in Springfield in mid August and will be fishing probably a lot of the same streams you are.

[RSBreth]

Well, if you ask me, Gavin, or Al A we'll be telling you to go look at solo canoes. BUT... I know the drill, solo canoes are not as widely available as kayaks, and tend to be more expensive. This topic just constantly spins over at Riversmallies.com, kind of like one of those perpetual movement machines.

I did have a popular model of sit-in kayak for a while, and discovered that although I loved the ease of paddling and mobility, sit-ins are hard to get in and out of, and I'm 6'- 200lbs. It was a little small for a bigger guy. There are good sit-on-top Kayaks that addess these issues, but another thing that bugged me was the double-bladed paddling stroke isn't as easy for me to do all day as the single-bladed canoe stroke I've been doing since I was 5-years old.

Another big issue for me was there isn't much storage space with smaller 'Yaks. So I went solo. I use an Old Town Pack, and just love the little thing. Some folks say it's too small for bigger guys, but I like the maneuverability, and ease of portaging- it only weighs 33-pounds.

One neat development on the solo front was the Kay-noe from Dicks, but I don't think these are available anymore.

Whatever you get, it'll expand your horizons like you won't believe.

The ability to go on a moments notice, and yet not be stuck on the bank.

The ability to portage into areas that can't be reached even with a small outboard powered john.

No tags, taxes, or fuel to buy.

I sound like a salesman, don't I?

[smallmouthjoe]

I have a cheap, sit in old town kayak that I love. It's about 9ft and does extremely well on the Finally and James. I even take it out on Table Rock in the spring and fall when there's not too many boats out. Here's a list of the advantages and disadvantages of my kayak.

Advantages:

Fast and very maneuverable

Easy to transport

Cheap

Runs through very skinny water

I've never turned it over

More Comfortable than any other small watercraft I've been in

Disadvantages:

Hard to get in and get out of even for a little squirt like me

Not so much room, I usually fish with a small tackle bag, a gallon sized Ziploc with assorted soft plastics, two rods, and a dry box. It's a tight fit.

I've never caught a fish out of a solo canoe but I've been in one and it seems like the fish wouldn't pull you around so much.

I'm going on a solo overnight er this weekend on The James and I've decided to take my kayak instead of my tandem canoe. I really want to see if I can pack everything I need inside of it. I'll reopen this thread and comment on how it went after this weekend if i don't get rained out.

I agree that regardless of your decision you can't go wrong with just having one. It's opens up miles of stream that you would otherwise not have access to. I hope this helps.

[Greg]

Thank you both for the info. I have thought of a solo canoe but I can't see why they are so expensive? A kayak seems like a reasonable much lower priced alternative. Like you both said the kayak doesn't have as much room for gear for sure. But they sure do seem faster and more maneuverable.

Greg

[Al Agnew]

The ONLY advantage to a kayak is price. Any good solo canoe will be just as fast (especially if paddled with a double blade) and just as maneuverable. And it'll hold all the stuff you want to carry, unlike a kayak.

The reasons solo canoes tend to be more expensive is mainly due to the materials from which they are made. You don't see kayaks made of Royalex. So why Royalex instead of the plastics the kayaks are made from? WEIGHT. A royalex solo canoe will weigh in at 20 or more pounds lighter than a kayak of comparable size. Even the polylink Old Towns like the Dick's Kaynoe will be 10 pounds lighter...and they were comparable in price.

But everybody wants a kayak, because it's fun and easy to paddle and their only experience in a canoe was probably a rental aluminum tandem.

[Greg]

The ONLY advantage to a kayak is price. Any good solo canoe will be just as fast (especially if paddled with a double blade) and just as maneuverable. And it'll hold all the stuff you want to carry, unlike a kayak.

The reasons solo canoes tend to be more expensive is mainly due to the materials from which they are made. You don't see kayaks made of Royalex. So why Royalex instead of the plastics the kayaks are made from? WEIGHT. A royalex solo canoe will weigh in at 20 or more pounds lighter than a kayak of comparable size. Even the polylink Old Towns like the Dick's Kaynoe will be 10 pounds lighter...and they were comparable in price.

But everybody wants a kayak, because it's fun and easy to paddle and their only experience in a canoe was probably a rental aluminum tandem.

I appreciate the info and respect your opinion Mr. Agnew. I definitely see certain advantages of a solo canoe. I'm relatively experienced with a canoe. But based on my recent float trip with my sons - we just found the kayak faster. And our rental was a pretty good old town canoe (not aluminum). I know it's rather unscientific but my younger son and I just couldn't keep up with my older son in the kayak. And it was a cheap kayak at that. Of course it couldn't have anything to do with the fact that my older son is 21 with shoulders and arms like an NFL linebacker?? LOL.

Anyway unfortunately in these tough economic times price counts for a lot. Even for those of us with relatively secure, well paying jobs.

Greg

[RSBreth]

I appreciate the info and respect your opinion Mr. Agnew. I definitely see certain advantages of a solo canoe. I'm relatively experienced with a canoe. But based on my recent float trip with my sons - we just found the kayak faster. And our rental was a pretty good old town canoe (not aluminum). I know it's rather unscientific but my younger son and I just couldn't keep up with my older son in the kayak. And it was a cheap kayak at that. Of course it couldn't have anything to do with the fact that my older son is 21 with shoulders and arms like an NFL linebacker?? LOL.

But was that canoe a SOLO canoe? Like Al's Wenonah? Or my OT Pack?

Comparing a tandem canoe that weighs 60 (or more) pounds and has two people in it to a solo kayak is like comparing a fire engine with the two drivers to a convertible sports car.

I think this is the most frustrating thing us in the solo canoe camp have when people are comparing the two, is that people don't understand we are talking about SOLO canoes versus SOLO Kayaks.

If people were commonly using big touring Sea Kayaks (15-foot + in length) and comparing them to solo canoes we would have the same problem, but in reverse.