SUP Anyone?

battle

Curious about Wooden Canoes
I know, I know, this IS a canoe forum, but I just had to share my latest project with y'all! The last two winters were spent building big canoes for use on the lower Mississippi river, and I had planned on building a 30 footer this winter,but I have had a little distraction. Last summer I was bitten by the stand up paddle board bug! At first, like many of you I'm sure, I figured the SUP thing was just a fad, and had little interest in it. Time will tell if it is a fad- but one thing is undeniable- it is a load of fun! They are certainly not the most efficient paddle-craft but paddling from a standing position is a really cool experience. The line of sight is great for sight fishing in still water, in fact I'm planning on using my board to sight cast flies to redfish in the Louisiana marshes this spring.

I just finished building a 11' board made from cypress, mahogany, and maple. It was a blast to build, and was done using the same methods as building a strip canoe( no bead and cove though). I must admit the whole "fin" thing was foreign though!

Just wanted to encourage any of y'all who are interested to give it a shot. It is a lot of fun, and anyone who has built a strip canoe could knock one of these out in about a third of the time it takes to craft a canoe.

I'll try to upload pictures in the next day or two.
 
Fly casting from a SUP board? Hmmm... Let us know how that goes. Although now that I think about it, the last time we ran the Nantahala there was a guy running it (successfully) on a SUP and it's Class II/III. (I wasn't in one of my W/C boats :cool: )
 
Fly casting from a SUP board? Hmmm... Let us know how that goes. Although now that I think about it, the last time we ran the Nantahala there was a guy running it (successfully) on a SUP and it's Class II/III. (I wasn't in one of my W/C boats :cool: )

Yeah-I may be overly ambitious, there! I'll definitely be wearing my swimming trunks!
 
Looks like a warm weather thing, not sure I'd want to use that to get to camp and fish from during a normal opening, ie, with snow and ice. :)

Dan
 
Fly Fishing for Reds? You got my attention. I've seen s.u.p in the Gulf (Fla Panhandle) in the winter. Wet suits or dry suits. I was lucky to fish Plaquamines (sp) Parish, Port Sulfur, La. I think your idea is definitely do-able. However, those fish are big and I think they can pull you around quite a bit. Kayak fishing is big now too and they sometimes stand up in those.
 
I recall watching an interesting video of a guy in New Zealand building one, but couldn't find it quickly. There are lots of resources (images, videos, etc.) to be found simply by searching "DIY paddleboard", etc.
 
Lets not forget that you can stand up in your canoe to fly fish, and then sit down if you actually catch something. I'm trying to imagine getting in and out of your tackle box or unhooking a fish from a sup. That being said I have used one on the ocean a couple of times and it was entertaining enough but I expect you will be able to pick them up for a dime a dozen in a few years when the next paddle sport fad comes along.
 
Tarpoon on a sup

Lets not forget that you can stand up in your canoe to fly fish, and then sit down if you actually catch something. I'm trying to imagine getting in and out of your tackle box or unhooking a fish from a sup. That being said I have used one on the ocean a couple of times and it was entertaining enough but I expect you will be able to pick them up for a dime a dozen in a few years when the next paddle sport fad comes along.

I saw a utube video of 40 pound taroon caught on a SUP.
 
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