A buddy and I do this float every spring. This year we decided to camp along the way. We loaded my goldenhawk canoe down with 2 bass rods, 2 Muskie rods, and all the stuff one needs for 2 days of camping and set out. This particular creek is only about 88 miles long, and wide enough to cast across in most places. Depth varies from ankle deep riffles to the deepest hole I've seen is about 10ft. Pretty small water.

My buddy was more interested in Smallies and Rock bass while I focused on the Muskie. This is native Muskie and Smallmouth water. I can't remember the exact total
of rock bass and smallmouth he caught along the way but it had to be in the 50 fish range with the biggest smallie going 17". During the float, I made contact with 6 Muskies, biggest being right at 40", which is pretty common on this float. I lost 2 of them on topwater and managed to get this little guy to stay hooked long enough for a picture. Also on topwater. Which is one of my favorite ways to catch them.


To hear some here tell it; it's a wonders my buddy was able to catch a bass at all and made it out with all his fingers and toes with all of these toothy eating machines swimming around 😂.



Here's a few pics we snapped along the way.











[img]https://i.ibb.co/zFHf1pY/D76-CE65-C-CF61-4955-A87-E-CF5001-FBF022.jpg[/img]

Looks like fun trip.

That looks fun.

Have enough water for the canoe?

That one pic looks like you had some dragging to do.


Local creek i fish with a John boat gets ankle deep in places during summer.
And logs to drag over.

Thats some beautiful country.

Looks like fun. Reminds me of canoeing Big Walker creek in Va

There is always some dragging on this float. Unless you do it in April, but then you run into the issue of Muskies spawning and it's just not as much fun.

Bro pimpin the golden hawk that’s awesome I just got mine back can’t wait to get it out on the rivers! They’re ideal for small skinny water like that.

Nice work on the musky & bronzebacks!

They are a cool little boat. What model
Did you go with?

I went with the wine red 12'9

between 1 and 3

Cool trip ,Thanks for the picts.

Hellava trip mister! Cool country and good fishin. 👊🏻

Awesome trip. Thanks for the pics. They are as close as I'll get to that sort of fun.

Don't get on here much but canoe trips for fishin is my favourite way to fish!! I have a spot I go to every year!! Maybe not this year, 71yrs and 5 portages is getting a bit much. Trying to talk a young guy with his son into going to help with the weight. In the evening (every cast) top water, I chit you not. Wife pulled out a nice 5 1/2# small mouth once on way home. I had to paddle the whole way back, she wouldn't put the rod down, geeeez!!! GWP. 🐾👣🐾👣🇨🇦

So when my boys were really young (oldest is 20 now) I wanted a canoe. A client of mine was a dealer in BIG power boats and had a marine storage business as well. I jokingly asked him one wintery day if he had a canoe he’d sell me and it just so happened a client had left one in his storage unit when he moved to Atlanta and asked my client to sell it for him. I went down that Saturday with my oldest son who was still in diapers and looked at it and knew I couldn’t have found a better boat for hauling small kids around in.

It’s olive green and similar size to yours but doesn’t have the squared off hind end. A woodworking buddy of mine built new furniture for it & installed it all for me somewhere along the way. After a few years not using it I sold it to my uncle on the condition that if he sold it he’d offer it to me first at the same price I sold it to him.

My uncle moved to Colorado and sold it back to me last year. I just went and picked it up a couple weeks ago and am itching to get out pike & smallie fishing in it just gotta get a roof system for my Prius!

Great memories there man I had thought Golden Hawk had gone out of business they make an awesome product I’m glad to see they’re still around.

Yours is beautiful I like that color. Kinda wish I had the square end for a little trolling motor.

That looks to be the PERFECT size creek/river for a great few day adventure.

Too small for rental liveries to put boats on the water!

There are simple trolling motor brackets out there to retrofit to a canoe.
OR
One can make their own.

I reversed the position of the handle/controls on my trolling motor so the motor is just in front of me.

Lose some thrust efficiency that way, but still works just fine on my 14' aluminum canoe.
Have yet to make one for my 11'9" Old Towne.

EFW, I thought that I wanted a square end motor mount too, but I found a Grumman side bracket for my 17 footer and actually think that it might have been even better. I didn't need to reach way around to work the tiller because it was right beside me. An electric would have been perfect or even my little 2.3 hp Honda, but all I had at the time was a 4 hp Evinrude two stroke twin and that worked too. The canoe did lean away from the motor under power, but shifting my weight in the seat leveled it out. See if you can rig a side bracket and stow the paddles.

Very cool!

I've always wanted to do something like that in the Boundary Waters. My dad, some years back did a 10 days long canoe trip in Canada. Little fishing, all paddling from place to place as the guys he was with were canoers more than fishermen.

Wow....one heck of a fishing trip and great pictures.

Thanks guys. It was a good trip.