1. Troutnut Forum
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2. Fly Fishing
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3. fly fishing from Canoe

Have any of you guy done much canoe fishing never really tried both together, I assume fishing from a seated position of course but wondering about gear etc.

Phil

I do quite a bit. It's not difficult unless you're trying to fish while floating through fast, challenging water and that's usually an exercise if futility anyway. When I'm float-fishing faster moving streams, I generally just use my canoe as a way to get from one good run to another, where I stop and wade-fish. That's not necessary on slower streams or on faster rivers if you're with someone else so you can take turns paddling and fishing. It's still not a bad idea to get out and fish the best water a little more thoroughly.

Gear won't be much different from what you'd use wade-fishing. The only thing I can think of is that it's nice to have a fairly long rod, 9ft at least preferably, to keep the line from slapping the water too much on the back-casts.

How heavy of a rod would you use 6# 8# or just stick to my usual river rod. Do you use one of the special fishing life vest or just your regular vest with life jacket under the seat.

Phil

I just usually wear my regular vest with a life jacket under the seat.But it's worthwhile to keep in mind that I'm usually floating Ozark streams, which are usually gentle streams with little honest to goodness white-water of any sort and very few dangerous places at normal water levels...Might be very different on some of the streams you're float-fishing out in Virginia. Just be careful and use your best judgement on that.

I just use my normal fly rod, a 9ft 5-weight when float-fishing, or sometimes my 6 weight bamboo rod when I get the wild hair. No need for anything but the rod you usually use unless it's a really big river or it tends to really windy wherever you're fishing.