I was still hanging up my sinking lures with alarming frequency, though, so I emptied my wallet once again and purchased a sonar unit. There was, and still is only one type that makes sense for a canoe, and that's the "Fishin' Buddy" line by Bottomline. This device has a simple liquid crystal display screen (like a Gameboy) mounted on a cylindrical shaft that has an internal transducer. The unit comes with a clamp that mounts easily to the side of the canoe, and runs for up to 40 hours off three c-cell batteries. As soon as I teamed this device with my motor, deep trolling became a productive reality. I learned through practice (bottom bumping and hanging up) that a set of flashers of a certain size, with a certain weight trolling sinker, would reach a maximum depth when trolled at a given speed, and using my sonar, I would stay in slightly deeper water than the rig needed, allowing me to run my bait close to the bottom without hitting. I learned to follow underwater contours, points and shelves as well, catching more and more fish, but always telling myself that "You never catch the fish you mark, and you never mark the fish you catch." this was probably true, until one fateful day on Fallen Leaf Lake, when the sonar screen showed a bottom literally covered with fish 100 feet beneath me. I had been trolling live minnows, so I stopped half-heartedly put one on a hook with a leader and one ounce egg sinker, dropping it to the bottom, where it was immediately slammed by a three pound mackinaw.

Vertical jigging with spoons and minnow drifting are now two of my favorite canoe-angling methods, and I find the sonar unit indispensable for locating fish. I don't even drop a bait until I see on the screen that I'm over mackinaw. I can even tell how aggressive the fish are by their distance off the bottom. If they are suspended 10 feet or more of the lake floor, they are looking for food and will be willing to hit. If they are five feet or less from the bottom, they are resting and will be much less interested in biting. The key to locating them in the first place is to find a rocky, uneven bottom, which the fishfinder will also show clearly. My Fishin' Buddy reads down to 240 feet, so not only can I fish vertically as deep as I care to, I can also troll deep, over 100 feet, using trolling sinkers.

With each paragraph I write on this subject, I think of two or three more aspects of hard-core canoe fishing that deserve attention. In checking my notes, I realize I could write a book on the subject, but let me just quickly cover a few more points that come up in email I receive from Fish Sniffer readers:

Downriggers:
They work with a canoe, but can be a real pain. The upside is that they can get your lure down deep quickly, and allow you to troll more precisely, coupled with your sonar unit, than possible with long-line, trolling sinker techniques along deepwater shelves, humps and pockets. You can actually see the cannonball on your sonar screen, further aiding in accurate deepwater presentation. The downside is that it will make your whole canoe want to turn toward the side on which it is mounted, and just try reeling the ball and cable up out of your way when you're alone and you've hooked a big fish. My downrigger is a $35 Roberts Mini-Rigger, which has been breaking and falling apart piecemeal since I bought it. I'm moving up to a clamp-on Cannon portable -I'll let you know how it fares.

Rodholders:
When I got tired of sitting on my rod-butt while trolling, I picked up one of those cheap, metal, clamp-on K-Mart specials. Don't bother. They fail to hold well, bend and twist, and are likely to drop your rod in the water. What I use now are quality, plastic adjustable Roberts holders. I use the side mount that comes with the holder, bolting it permanently to the side of my canoe, and when I'm ready to fish, I just pop the holder into its mount.

Mounting the motor:
If you have a square back canoe, the location is obvious. I prefer traditional canoes, though, and although there are kits for mounting a board across the stern to clamp the motor to, they are really unnecessary for electric motors, which swivel 360 degrees. You can simply clamp the motor to the side of the canoe, slightly behind your seat. I bolted on a block of wood first, to reduce the time needed to tighten the clamp all the way to my canoe's thin hull. This also adds rigidity, as the Coleman's polyethylene material tends to flex and bend. A good idea before mounting such a block, rod-holder mounts, or any other permanent fixture, is to sit in the canoe and play with the positioning, making sure the location is comfortable, accessible and functional before drilling holes for bolts.

Anchors:
Necessary when casting to a specific area or soaking bait on the bottom when the wind comes up. For better control and strike detection when fishing bait, and especially when slow-retrieving flies such as chironimid pupae, use two anchors, one at the bow and another at the stern, to keep your vessel from swinging in the breeze.

Rivers:
Any canoe will do fine on flat, smooth rivers, but for whitewater, you really need one designed for the task and stuffed with extra flotation material. I have taken the Coleman down the East Carson (Class II) AFTER the high water runoff period of spring, and its plastic hull can take quite a beating, flexing to ride over rocks. Fiberglass can shatter, and aluminum can dent, splitting and leaking at the crease-point. There are the remains of several canoes that were destroyed (along with assorted, ruined camping equipment) strewn through the backcountry wild-trout section of the Carson. Research a possible river run, use common sense, and don't jump far beyond your current experience and ability levels. This brings me back once again to the most important subject-

Safety:
Read the boating regulations available at the DMV. Carry the required equipment- PFD's, a whistle, portable running lights if out in the dark. Know your limits! If you're not a strong swimmer, WEAR your PFD. Think about how far you really want to venture offshore on Tahoe, where people can die of hypothermia year round. My wife wants me to get a scuba-diving dry-suit.

Think about these issues before you are faced with a situation you can't handle.

Feel free to email me with further questions on this subject, as well as with any canoe-fishing stories of your own.

Until next time, don't drink and canoe!
Mark (Never stand in a canoe) Wiza