Looking For Wading Streams

[ness]

I like pontoons. They are absolutely the best for everything, everywhere, period.

[ozark trout fisher]

I agree, Eric...and the fact is that there is NO one perfect river craft. All have advantages and disadvantages. My first four or five years of serious float fishing were in a cheap 12 ft. aluminum jonboat, and it worked quite well for teenagers with lots of energy. I bought my first canoe (15 ft. Grumman) my senior year of high school, and the jonboat never saw the river again.It was probably 15 years before I bought another, more "performance" canoe, and the Grumman served me very well all that time and saw most of the rivers of the Ozarks, but although the Grumman still lives (I sold it to my brother-in-law), I never paddled it again.

I have floated in aluminum, polylink, Royalex, fiberglass, and whatever that Coleman material is canoes. I've floated in a "rubber" folding canoe. I've floated in SOT and SINK kayaks, and inflatable kayaks. I've floated in 'toons. Driftboats. Rafts. Jetboats. Paddle johns. I even made a "boat" out of two inner tubes and a sheet of plywood and used it for a couple years when I was a kid. And I've caught fish from every one of them!

My real opinion on the issue, if it floats, It's good enough for me. It's all good... jonboats, canoes, drift boats, hard kayaks, inflatable kayaks, and yes, even aluminum canoes. If it will float me, and my fishing gear to the holes I want to fish, that's all I need. I don't personally like anything motorized though. It just ruins the experience for me.... Paddling should be part of a float trip.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I like pontoons. They are absolutely the best for everything, everywhere, period.

Until you need to hit a narrow chute, or you have to row downstream because of wind.

[ness]

Yep, you're right. I like canoes now. They are absolutely the best for everything, everywhere, period.

[eric1978]

Yep, you're right. I like canoes now. They are absolutely the best for everything, everywhere, period.

how are we supposed to know which is the best if you keep changing your mind?

[Wayne SW/MO]

Yep, you're right. I like canoes now. They are absolutely the best for everything, everywhere, period.

We are talking about Missouri, the lower Deschutes river in Oregon would eat a canoe in the first mile.

A kayak is a fine craft on Missouri streams, although I know Al A might disagree, but they are solo. I do agree that a solo canoe is unbeatable overall.

[ness]

I used to have a mint condition Arkansas Traveler jon boat, but somebody stole it off me on the Meramec about 25 years ago. I stole it back three times, but that guy just keeps coming back to get it. He's beat it all to heck.

[Al Agnew]

Ah, Wayne, a kayak is just fine...but like you said, a solo canoe is better!

LOL, Ness!

In my opinion, the most comfortable thing to fish out of is a johnboat. The easiest to learn to paddle and fish from is a kayak, especially an SOT. The most versatile is a canoe. Rafts and driftboats are specialty craft, most useful in bigger, faster rivers. Toons are great except for packing, unpacking, setting up, and doing anything on windy days.

The reason I say the canoe is the most versatile is:

1. It can handle big rivers and little creeks and everything in between, up to high class 2.

2. It's easy to cartop, carry, and use difficult accesses.

3. It will carry everything you'll need for a day or overnighter.

4. Although it takes a bit of a learning curve, once you get the techniques down you can handle it precisely in any kind of current.

Kayaks are great at 1, 2, and 4...not good at all at 3.

Johnboats only excel at 3.

Toons are mediocre at 1 (can't handle really small creeks like a canoe), worse than mediocre at 2, marginal for 3, good for 4.

So the canoe is the least limiting of the usual float craft found on Missouri streams.

[eric1978]

Ah, Wayne, a kayak is just fine...but like you said, a solo canoe is better!

LOL, Ness!

In my opinion, the most comfortable thing to fish out of is a johnboat. The easiest to learn to paddle and fish from is a kayak, especially an SOT. The most versatile is a canoe. Rafts and driftboats are specialty craft, most useful in bigger, faster rivers. Toons are great except for packing, unpacking, setting up, and doing anything on windy days.

The reason I say the canoe is the most versatile is:

1. It can handle big rivers and little creeks and everything in between, up to high class 2.

2. It's easy to cartop, carry, and use difficult accesses.

3. It will carry everything you'll need for a day or overnighter.

4. Although it takes a bit of a learning curve, once you get the techniques down you can handle it precisely in any kind of current.

Kayaks are great at 1, 2, and 4...not good at all at 3.

Johnboats only excel at 3.

Toons are mediocre at 1 (can't handle really small creeks like a canoe), worse than mediocre at 2, marginal for 3, good for 4.

So the canoe is the least limiting of the usual float craft found on Missouri streams.

You forgot one, Al.

5. Canoes are more comfortable (than a kayak). You can sit higher without your legs straight out in front of you and you can move around more than in a kayak.

[Matt Tucker]

I've always wanted to get a personal pontoon, but I've just never been able to pull the trigger. The canoe is just so versatile. Holds plenty of gear and a passenger or two. It will scoot over rocks and through riffles, and you can easily drag it in shallow areas. And, they're nice when you get to a big, slow pool too. I think a 'toon would be OK on a bigger stream, but I think I'd still favor a canoe. Still water -- that's a different story.

I have a personal pontoon and really liked it when i used it. Slow water in it SUCKS. there is no other way to describe it. I have a 10ft ODC and if I had to do it all over again, I would have bought the 12ft or 16ft model so I could have taken my girls with me. I still look at the 3 man pontoon every now and then....