The NuCanoe: Good for fishing, or…a good book

August 10, 2009 by admin

The NuCanoe allows for an angler to stand. Photo provided.

Recently I became a fisherman.
Not a great angler, but I’ve learned to cast a line and every once in a while I get lucky and pull a crappie or a blue gill out of a neighborhood pond.
I was satisfied on the bank, but my good friend and much more experienced fisherman Elliott Hess had big dreams of a boat.
With limited funds and means of storage but a desire for a motorized boat to take him to hidden away fishing waters, Hess was having a hard time finding the right craft.
Until he discovered the NuCanoe.
Designed by Ocean Kayaks founder Tim Niemier, the NuCanoe is billed as an all-around recreational watercraft.
After falling in love with the canoe-turned-kayak that advertises a flat transom perfect for a trolling motor – a fisherman’s favorite – my friend and I loaded up and drove to the nearest NuCanoe dealer.
At first glance, the NuCanoe is simply a sit-on-top plastic kayak with unusual dimensions. Measuring 12 feet long and 42 inches across at the beam – 32 inches at the water line – it looks more like a really short ocean kayak than a canoe.
When we found it sitting in the store amongst the other kayaks and canoes, it didn’t quite seem to fit in. But that didn’t matter because the Indianapolis dealer told us he could barely keep the canoe-kayak hybrid in stock.
The main selling point: it’s amazing stability.
Since my canoeing experience has been limited to one terrifying ocean kayaking experience in the Atlantic when I was 16, I was skeptical as the salesmen told us with confidence that this canoe simply couldn’t be tipped.
And so on its maiden voyage, it was something similar to awe that I felt as I watched Hess swing his legs over the side of the canoe with ease and surprising balance and cast his line across Mill Creek Lake.
He had bought the boat without testing it and as he loaded the NuCanoe on the top of his Jeep and tightening it down with ratchet straps, I could tell he was skeptical as we climbed in and pushed off into the small lake nestled in Red River Gorge.
But any temporary regrets my friend may have felt about his purchase vanished as we sliced across the lake – too shallow for motorized boats – with a 55-pound thrust trolling motor and navigated the fishing waters at 12 miles per hour.
The boat came with two seats and after adding a pair of rod holders, a trolling motor and battery, a live well, a fish finder and a kayak paddle, the NuCanoe proved to be an excellent fishing vessel.
Fitting both of us, a cooler, a couple of fishing poles and a tackle box in with all of the rest, Hess still had plenty of room to stand up, switch seats with me and continue to fish for almost six hours. Comfortably.
Since its maiden voyage, the boat has proved to be worth its bargain $599 sale price. Even at almost 80 pounds, two people easily manage it.
And as it turns out the salesman was right – we’ve all but outright tried to flip the boat over and had no luck.
One of the few drawbacks: we had to drive to Indianapolis to get it. There are no local dealers but boats can be ordered from the NuCanoe Web site, (www.nucanoe.com).
And while I’m still getting the hang of my new hobby, I have just as much fun on the boat reading a book or just relaxing. My guess is the NuCanoe is great for any adventurer – even new ones.