Canoes, kayaks open doors to fishing adventures for paddling enthusiast
Aug. 18—THOMPSON, N.D. — Bryan Ford has a nice fishing boat parked in his yard, but it probably won't see water this summer.
Don't feel too bad for Ford, though, he's still getting plenty of quality time on the water.
Mostly in a canoe or kayak.
A senior security engineer for the North Dakota University System, Ford owns four canoes — one of which is a solo canoe — two kayaks and four paddleboards.
"It's an addiction," he said with a laugh. "It really is an addiction. I'm always looking for new paddlesport toys."
Ford, 58, says his passion for canoes and kayaks dates back to his years growing up in Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, where he spent hours fishing from shore and wading the Red Lake River. He also made annual summer trips to his uncle's lakeside place in Brainerd, Minnesota.
"The only option was to fish from the dock — where there were no fish — or take his canoe and go canoeing," Ford said. Along with his cousins, they'd "take the canoe out and go canoeing and fishing all the time," he recalls.
"We were always on the water," Ford said. "Even at 8, 9, 10 years old, that was our freedom — get the canoe and go somewhere."
His uncle was a Boy Scout leader, and hearing the stories of trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness only fueled his passion for paddling and fishing from a canoe, Ford says.
Since then, that passion has taken Ford and various paddling companions on numerous trips to such destinations as Quetico Provincial Park in northwestern Ontario, interior lakes in Isle Royale National Park on Lake Superior and Crowduck Lake in Manitoba's Whiteshell Provincial Park.
Ford's first trip into Quetico in the early '90s would have been enough to deter many paddlers from going back, but not him. Ford and three companions went up the Gunflint Trail, paddled into Mack Lake in the Quetico and then back through the Falls Chain of Lakes to their pickup point at Hook Island on Saganaga Lake, Ford recalls.
"That was a brutal trip," he said. "It was like 10 days out there, but it was wind and storms and rain and everything."
Their equipment — heavy tents, heavy canoes, heavy gear and "crappy" paddles — didn't help. Especially when it came to lugging everything across the portages.
Mack Creek, where they started, and the Wawiag River were particularly memorable for their mud, Ford recalls. By the time they got back to Hook Island, their canoes and gear were covered with mud.
"The one thing I remember is our tow service giving us an ice cold beer and hot shower when we got back," Ford said. "They seemed to think we needed both, and to be honest, we really did. It kind of reminded me of winning a championship of some kind."
Since then, Ford has upgraded his equipment and now paddles a Wenonah-brand "Minnesota II" canoe on his remote fishing trips. Made of Kevlar, a lightweight, high-tech fiber, the canoe weighs about 40 pounds, Ford says, compared with nearly twice that much for an aluminum canoe.
On the downside, they're not as sturdy as an aluminum canoe. Ford says he always carries a roll of duct tape just in case he needs to patch the canoe.
Ford and longtime friend Troy Hoffman of Minnetonka, Minnesota, a high school classmate who was also on that first Quetico trip, recently returned from the Quetico on a trip through the Falls Chain of Lakes into Kawnipi Lake, a favorite fishing destination known for its walleye, pike and smallmouth bass fishing.
"A Kevlar canoe is the way to go," Ford said. "Kevlar gives you the speed. We went like 17 miles in six hours, but that was including five portages and a stop at the ranger station."
Ford and Hoffman usually paddle separate canoes, but they traveled together on this year's trip, since it was only the two of them. On a trip into Manitoba's Crowduck Lake a few years ago, Ford says, they lashed their canoes together to create an outrigger system that was similar to a catamaran.
That gave them more flexibility when fishing, Ford says, especially Hoffman's sons.
"The boys could stand up and fish, and they could bounce around," Ford said. "People do that with young children a lot, so that's one way of rigging up a canoe for a family."
Lashing systems are available commercially, Ford says, but they used 2x2s, eye bolts and straps.
Ford has a commercially made outrigger he'll put on his canoe if fishing alone with his two Chesapeake Bay retrievers, Molly and Liberty. Made by Spring Creek Manufacturing of Mountain Iron, Minnesota, the outrigger doesn't weigh more than 4 or 5 pounds, Ford says.
"Basically, that just stabilizes everything so the dogs can jump in the water, and you can pull them back in," he said. "(Spring Creek's) outriggers work really nice."
Ford clips rod holders to his kayaks and canoes when fishing. On wilderness trips, he'll also carry a drift sock, a parachute-like device that slows the speed of the drift, and an anchor bag he'll fill with rocks to help hold the canoe or kayak in place.
"We do a lot of drift fishing, so if the weather is nice, we will drift, find a pocket of fish and then drop the anchor bag," Ford said. "They're pretty simple and they work really nice."
During the recent trip to Quetico, Ford landed his largest-ever pike, which measured 41 inches. Landing a fish that size out of a canoe can be a challenge, but Ford was able to play the pike into shallow water — a trick he learned from an old paddling buddy who recently died.
Having an experienced canoeing partner like Hoffman in the canoe also helped, Ford says.
"(The pike) pulled us around for 5 minutes and finally we tired it out enough, and then I said (to Troy), 'Well, just get me into shore now,' " Ford said. "And then from there, he jumped out, I handed him the rod, and I beached the canoe. By this time, the fish is in the shallows and I grabbed the fish with both hands, and I was like, 'Oh man, this is a big fish!'
"If you get them into the shallows, you can control them a lot better."
Ford for the past 19 years has made his own paddles. Like any hobby, it can be as basic or as complex as you want to make it, Ford says. He uses a simple spokeshave planer tool for "probably 95%" of his paddles.
He learned the craft from books such as "Canoe Paddles: A Complete Guide to Making Your Own," by Graham Warren, and from Doug Ingram of Red River Canoe & Paddle near Winnipeg.
Ford has used a variety of wood to make his paddles, including birch, poplar, cedar, maple, white oak, cottonwood, cherry and black walnut. He's made about 25 paddle over the years, usually applying spar varnish to protect the wood.
He prefers the paddles to those made from materials such as Kevlar or aluminum.
"To me, wood has such a warm feeling to it," Ford said. "You can customize them so much."
For beginning paddlers or someone interested in learning to fish from a canoe or kayak, Ford says the
Crow Wing River State Water Trail in central Minnesota
would be a good starting point. The Crow Wing is a tributary of the Mississippi River and is one of 35 state water trails across Minnesota.
"It's a pretty flat river," he said. "It's not a challenging river and you can camp out as you go. You don't need fancy gear. Get a good tent, and you can take a cooler because you're not portaging and it's still good fishing. Floating rivers like that would be an excellent start."
Master paddling and fishing on more challenging rivers, Ford says, and trips like his recent Quetico excursion "are just a piece of cake."
"The big thing is watching out for the big winds and loading your canoe properly, so you have the heaviest weight on the bottom of the canoe and the lightest weight on top," he said.
Ford says he still fishes the Red Lake River whenever he can, and his wife, Darla, also enjoys paddling.
He'll fish from a canoe or kayak 12 to 15 days during a typical summer.
"I love fishing the Red Lake River — any river," Ford said. "We have a camper and basically, we take the camper out and just load it up with a canoe and a kayak or two canoes or whatever.
"There's so many places I'd love to go fishing," he adds. "I just haven't made the time to do it."
