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A pontoon is a strange boat to fish from. It carries six people, a cooler, a dog, and roughly a quarter of a ton of fuel, and it presents about four hundred square feet of flat surface to the wind. The outboard that gets you there is not built for holding a spot over a … Read more

A canoe is the easiest watercraft to motorize and the easiest to get wrong. A square stern gives you a clean transom mount, while a round-stern fiberglass hull gives you nothing but a gunwale and a prayer. We put ten of the most popular trolling motors through the canoe-specific questions that matter: how they mount, … Read more

Here is the short answer: a fishing kayak built for a big angler needs a rated capacity of 425 pounds or more, a beam of 34 inches or wider, and an elevated, sliding or 360-degree swivel seat so you can cast without standing up. Those three specs are what separate a real big-angler boat from … Read more

Salt water is where a pedal drive kayak either earns its place or becomes a very expensive beach toy. On a lake you can tolerate a drive that steers lazily, reverses badly and collects rust you never see. In tidal current the same boat fights you the whole tide, and every ferrous part you did … Read more

Cold hands end ice fishing trips early. More often than not, the reason an angler packs up at hour two is not boredom but frozen fingers that will not work a knot or hold a fish. Finding the best ice fishing gloves for anglers comes down to one question: how much water will your hands … Read more

The number one mistake I see on early-ice mornings is a boot that looked fine in the truck and turned into a problem by the third hole. Feet lose heat far faster on a frozen lake than on land, because ice pulls heat straight out of you and there is nothing to insulate against except … Read more

Two anglers sharing a spot is the hardest test an ice fishing tent can face. One person wants to stand up, the other is wearing a bulky parka, the heater is running, and there are rods, tip-ups and a sonar unit competing for floor space. Most shelters labelled “two person” were never tested against that … Read more