Canoe or kayak

Will be used mostly for beaver in swamps. What are some recommendations, canoe or kayak, and which brand/model?

Neither, if I had to buy again it would be a pirouge.

I have a canoe and a kayak. I think the kayak would be hard for setting traps. It might work good for something like cruising around checking traps. They're fast & ez to maneuver. If you think of a way to pull something behind a kayak to float your stuff, let us know.

Hard to pack many beaver In a kayak. But you could float them along side.

Canoe. Aluminum.

i made a 2 man into a 1 man kayak and can carry about 200 pounds of gear in it.

I'm trying to visualize how I would carry traps, t bar, & stabilizers on a kayak.

X2 Still use a 10 ft fiberglass one I bought 35-40 yrs ago that already had a lot of use on it. Hauled a lot of beaver out in it as well as a bunch of catfish. May be partly my limited experience, but I've found it to be much more stable than the kayaks and a lot more maneuverable than the canoes I've tried. Travels well in a foot of water, can get around good in tight, swampy places. Weighs about 40 lbs, loads and hauls well in my lwb Tacoma with just a tie-down rope. Got $35 and a minor patch job in it. 'Course, I'm mostly a snare man, which simplifies a lot of the problems that people have with other watercraft in conditions similar to those where I work. A paddle, No BS trappers bag, one small bucket, my .22 pistol and a tater fork are about all I take with me. I usually wear knee boots, and seldom put both feet in the water or on shore when hanging
a snare. There's some places in La. that make good pirogues, some even have electric motors with propellers molded in the back end bottom. Prices are fair, thought about buying one, but what I've got will probably outlast me, and a little paddling is good aerobic exercise for an older guy. A lot depends on what kind of water you'll spend most of your time in, but you might do a google search before you decide. Good luck!

I wore knee boots once in mine, but decided never again, at least not in certain situations that might require swimming any distance to shore if you fall out of it. I figure swimming in knee boots would be tough

OK u guys have me entrigued. I was all ready to get a kayak this summer til the wife was sent home unpaid, now anythjng considered frivolous im limiting. I looked up pirogues (never hesrd if them) and found one company down south that makes aluminum ones for 1100. Not a ton on them. Id primarliy use this for small lake fishing but recently became interested in cattin on the river with a kayak, even tho i have a flat bottom. Ill likely never use a boat to trap unless coon on the river someday when prices bounce back then i know ill use my flatbottom. Are these 800+ superior to kayak?

I kayak quite a bit, but not hauling much. They are fun to get around in, quick, easy, maneuverable, and comfortable. A canoe will comfortably haul a lot more. I HAVE hauled a camp in a kayak, and spent most of the time thinking how much nicer a canoe would have been. On most kayaks the only place to put stuff is around your legs. Some are built better for cargo, and also cost more. I think a canoe is also more comfortable to get in and out of.

So I guess it comes down to your application:
how tight/technical is your water? Does maneuverability matter?
How much gear do you carry? How often are you climbing in and out? How many beaver do you expect to haul back at a time?
Do you launch once and paddle all day, or do a road line where you’re loading/unloading several times a day? Some kayaks are lighter and easier to launch by yourself, but a canoe is easier to throw your gear in. You can use milk crates, buckets etc.

A few variables to consider but I would lean toward a canoe for trapping.
A pirogue is a boat I’ve always wanted to try, but there aren’t many around here.

I could never manage to stay dry in a kayak. Water running down your arm, everything you pull in the boat is going over your legs. Fine for bluegill fishing in July, but November or March trapping it's less ideal. You're sitting in the bottom of the boat, much colder in my opinion. Harder to change you're sitting position for comfort. In a canoe you can kneel, sit with you're legs bent at the knee, stretched out, etc.

In addition, there's the space issues mentioned above. Canoes are the pick-up truck of the water, you can haul a load of fur or game out with a good one. You're always going to be more limited in the kayak.

I don't know what a pirouge is. Sounds like something my wife tells me she's going to cook when she's got some time on her hands.

I think ill go to a kayak. No one knows what this parogue thing is and i can gwt
Them fir 1/4 less

pirouge is a flat bottom canoe. i dont know how hard you plan to trap but any style of canoe would be better than a kayak for trapping.

X2 and at least 16'

x3 still using the Alumacraft canoe from the 1980s. Lots of miles on it. Should be able to find one on Craigslist for reasonable.

What are the advantages of a pirouge?

https://gatortraxboats.com/inside-gator-trax/

Found this one

A good one will float on a heavy dew. Excellent shallow water boat. They're best for flatwater paddling.

I have a sit in kayak and hat I use. I don't know the model off hand but it's a fishing kayak. I love it. It'll float in about 3 inches of water. I can fit two 5 gallon buckets in it, plus a kid in my lap. Without the buckets I can fit 2 beavers, but any more than that and critters would have to ride on my lap. I do get wet in it, but that's manageable. Setting traps while sitting in it can be a pain, but then again I can always just get out and stand on the shore. Half the time I just use it to paddle back somewhere and then get out and set a line on some Creek.

I have a carstens puddler. It’s 10ft long it’s fiberglass so it’s kinda heavy but durable it weighs 70 or 80 pounds and it says the capacity is 400 pounds but I know I have had much more than that in there. I’m 230 pounds and I had myself and 7 beaver in there once. I paddle with a kayak paddle and wow can you cover ground in that little boat! They are made in melrose Minnesota so I’m not sure what shipping and that would cost but it would be worth looking into they have a nice website

Thanks, warrior.

I have a Creek Boat, model m10. Google creek boat. I love mine. Made in NC. Light weight, easy to load and haul in the truck, and big enough to haul plenty of beavers. Also big enough to haul a little buddy with you. You need to use a kayak paddle, it's much easier to use

Getting in and out of canoe 20-30 times, checking traps, hauling catches, re setting etc. in cold weather chest waders is tiresome in the extreme. An enclosed kayak would be a nightmare by the end of the line.

These look like great boats. Thanks for sharing.

Had a Meyers 10 ft. aluminum boat light stable could carry 3 grown men fishing if it had to easy to mount a motor to and you didn't have to look between your knees to see where your goin

i only have a cheap 8' kayak, light easy to carry, very mobile and quick but not the most stable. i did build some outriggers out of 2 halves of a plastic barrel for stability and holding gear. only problem is in the marshes its usually too wide. without these id be lucky to carry a beaver or two.

my canoe is a 15" aluminium and it works great. only issue is its heavier and i wouldnt want to drag it very far. if i was looking for 1 rig id get a light weight canoe and have the best of both worlds

I agree with you. I use my kayak for summer bluegill fishing and I do get wet even from just paddling.

You can haul more weight in a canoe than my 10 foot kayak.

Something like this might be good for muskrat trapping

https://familytentcamping.com/produ...jic7R6AIVEcNkCh2ofQj8EAQYDSABEgJCo_D_BwE

Looking at creeks and a pirouge. Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I really appreciate it.

Check out Chapman pirouges. They're well thought of along the coast.

When I was younger, I spent hundreds of hours in a 15' aluminum canoe. I have also spent a lot of hours, but not as many, in several different kayaks. For me, it's not even close - I will always choose a canoe.

• Sitting up on a bench seat is more comfortable than sitting in a low seat legs sticking out straight ahead.
• A canoe can carry 5x the gear of a kayak.
• Because a canoe has a larger area of contact with the water, it will draft less. It might be a difference of 2 inches but in some places, 2 inches is a big difference.
• A canoe is more stable than a kayak.
• Aluminum is as bomb proof as you are going to get in a boat. We've banged, dented, and crashed ours a lot. I've had to bang it back into shape with a rock or a log before but it survived another day. Not sure a plastic or fiberglass boat would have.

I've got a 14' Wenonah canoe. I use a kayak paddle and it is much easier than a kayak to get in and out of and has more room for gear. Aluminum is good if you plan on abusing it but doesn't paddle nearly as nice. Bought it used and the bottom has some real deep gouges but doesn't leak.

I have a 14.5 northwestern if I remember correctly it's 46in wide two people and 800lb it's a dream to set traps out of.

The boat Vinky had ....but Ive never afforded one yet