My Single-carry Portage System for Canoe Trips

Description

http://myselfreliance.com/canoe-fishing-trolling-system/

My Single-carry Portage System for solo canoe trips in Ontario, Canada

Canoe Fishing, Trolling System

Over the years, my canoe fishing system has changed many times. When I first started fishing out of a canoe as a teenager, I was more concerned with fishing success than I was with the simplicity of the canoe as a mode of transportation and way of life. Therefore, I installed intrusive rod holders, carried multiple rods, a large tackle box and even a portable flasher unit. By the age of seventeen, I owned a 115 litre canoe bag that a buddy and I purchased from Tent City, yet we still had to triple-carry portages because of the abundance of loose gear. I regularly broke fishing rods and lost countless odds and ends.

Fast forward almost thirty years of trial and error, and I’m still tweaking my systems regularly in pursuit of efficiency. Outdoor gear continues to evolve, and lightweight, durable and versatile options are available for every purpose. In the last couple of years, the seemingly insignificant gear tie has become a valuable addition to my outdoor kit. In my video below, I put them to good use as rod/paddle holders.

Tags: iMovie,Canoeing (Sport),Canoe (Ship Type),camping,fishing

Video Transcription

since I've got about 20 kilometers of portaging on this three-day trip modified my system a little bit for better these sections of pool noodle at the back here so that you know that's slightly behind the fulcrum the center point those pads are resting on my shoulder so that gives the back if they can add a little bit more weight in the front that paddle get slashed in it permanently while I'm using the double blade so whether I'm for charging or not it's there I can easily pull it out if I drop money that were great if I need to grab that paddle in an emergency it's so it's handy that's why I have the handle back towards me so that stays in there unless some single blading and then I just switch it around I put the double blade into the front of the cam into the bow

so that's fairly quick backpack goes onto my back of course we're extra I didn't distribute that load a little bit more even though it's a very late canoe they said this distributes a little bit more it also gives it some elevation gets it above my head so my head's not resting on them or they can he was not resting on the top of my head

and that also gives me better visibility nervous about bears anyway but bears brave just permanently attached to the the lifejacket just for comfort sake I usually put that attach it to the back of the water don't like it bouncing it around anything that bounces just adds more stress makes everything feel the heavier so I'll probably put that inside thing when it's full like this put it inside the canoe bag hot topic what to wear and you know the water shoes are great for day trips but your feet your legs are so important your ankles are so important on a canoe trip where you're doing a lot of portaging and you've got this extra weight I've got about 75 or 80 pounds combined always a single carry my Portage's so I've got about 75 or 80 pounds on my back I want that extra ankle support that my Merrill hiking boots provide they're nice and light still they're gore-tex they're waterproof which is not a good feature in this case because they take longer to drain and of course I'm always stepping over into deeper water on top of these these hiking boots but my solution to that you know it looks ridiculous are these neoprene soft so I wear these in the canoes if I wore those in the canoe my legs cramp off my feet it's sore my knees get sore so I take those off as soon as I get into the canoe or before I get into the canoe I wear these when the weather is like this and even when it's warmer benefit of these over just bare feet is that when you step on the rocks that are inevitably out every portage protects your feet for the most part it's pretty thick and neoprene so I really like the system so if I'm not wearing full dry pant with put socks incorporated into it I'll wear these neoprene neoprene socks like I said I step right into the water with them and then I just put my boots on in that way go fairly quick