Are canoes a regional thing? I live in the Southeast (SW Virginia) and it seams that this area is 95% sit on top fishing kayaks. Very rarely do I ever hear anyone in my area on our waters fishing in anything other than a SOT kayak. But when you go to the northern states, it seems that it is flipped, mostly canoes. Anyone else observe that? If so why do you think that is?

Down here in the Southeast, I constantly see everyone with these heavy SOT fishing kayaks all decked out with fish finders, trolling motors, and all these fancy peddle kayaks.

I personally have three SOT fishing kayaks for myself, wife, and kids, along with a Nova Craft Fox 14 in TuffStuff.

Is it because the SE has more shallow rocky rivers? The SE does not have places that are geared towards overnight paddle trips? Anyone else have an observation?

I'll take a stab at answering your question, but everything I say is strictly theorizing.

I was at a canoe and kayak dealer in Green Bay a few years ago and the dealer told me he had virtually given up selling canoes because kayaks outsold canoes 100-1. My wife and I have a favorite chain of lakes that we like to paddle (in our canoe, btw), but canoes are definitely the exception. We might see 25-50 kayaks to one canoe. There are also a lot of stand-up paddleboards on this particular chain.

My point is that kayaks are popular everywhere you go. They're relatively easy to paddle, it's difficult to damage them, the likelihood of dumping is quite low, most are solo kayaks where you can do your own thing... and they're fun! Cliff Jacobson wrote in one of his books that you can't kiss your paddling partner if you're on opposite ends of a canoe, but you can if you're in separate kayaks or solo canoes. :)

The sit-on-top kayaks have no appeal to me personally, but I'm sure they're great for ponds and flat water. They're certainly not for the BW or Q, but they serve a purpose. To each their own.

One of the key differences between the two is what they are being used for. Single person SOT kayaks are easy to fish from, not so sure a two person SOT would work well for two people fishing, however two people can easily fish from a tandem canoe. While it is possible to canoe camp and portage a kayak, it's not easy. If you are covering many bodies of water and have to portage between them a canoe is much easier to load/ unload and carry. Kayaks would be a better fit for a single lake where you can launch directly into it. I personally wouldn't want to put 200 lbs. of gear into a two person SOT kayak and set of for a 40 mile loop.

Poly yaks are also much less expensive than good composite canoes which are mostly made by hand. Yes I do feel that canoes are regional. In the midwest Northstar, Wenonah, Savage River, and Souris River are popular and construction reflects the local geography with larger tripping styles. In the east Placid Boatworks, Swift Canoe, and OldTown having there own popular style such as pack canoes. In the west it's predominantly yak's and float boats/rafts for rivers. Local member Ben tried his hand at delivering canoes across the nation and while kept busy hauling up to 30 at a time, he did not get rich doing that.
I'm convinced the market is niche and driven by regional recreation demands.

butthead

The kayak vs canoe debate is complex and boils down to personal choice, kayaks are light, nimble and require very little experience for a quick day trip. If you have a small car and little storage space a kayak is a great option, my daughter who lived in a small 2nd floor apartment had two kayaks standing up in her living room behind the couch, a canoe would not have been an option for her. Canoes are harder to store and haul, less agile and less forgiving as far as skill level. Regionally your area has a lot of small rivers and streams that are much easier traversed and fished with a kayak, where as the Minnesota, Wisconsin area has many more large lakes and rivers with camping infrastructures that are ideal for overnight trips with canoes. I live on a river in Northwest Wisconsin that is ideal for canoes and kayaks, on a summers weekend day I can see 100 people paddle past 90% are in kayaks, but if they are fishing 90% of them are in canoes. I have ten kayaks and four canoes that friends, family, and my adult kids use at will, rarely does a weekend go by in the summer when at least a few of them are not used, with that said no one other than me has used a canoe in three years.

Ironically canoes have the least representation at Canoecopia. SUP and fishing Kayaks have really good foothold in the paddling world. I look at the number of quality canoe manufactures now compared to when I started in the 80s. I think having sizable amount of navigable rivers like the Midwest and Northeast makes it a regional thing. I'm sure there's other factors .

It may be that there are more lakes up north where canoes make most sense, and kayaks make best sense in the streams and rivers like the North Fork Holston or New River.

My wife and I came to a portage to find a kayaker there preparing to make the portage. We unloaded our canoe, moved all our gear and the canoe across and as we left the end of the portage with the last of our gear the kayaker was still preparing to cross. We are past our mid 60's and had already done 5 portages so we weren't the kids nor were we fresh for the first portage of the day. I think that may be the difference.

My brother-in-law brought his kayak on one of our trips. At the end of the trip his son said, "never again".

I just want to say one word to you.
just one word
are you listening?

inflatables

ZaraSp00k: "I just want to say one word to you.
just one word
are you listening?

inflatables"

If you're talking MN then no, inflatables suck because the water moves slower than you want to and thus you get to compensate with more power to propel. If you're talking west coast where we're in a river and I don't need to propel because their rivers move faster, inflatables are king cause they bounce off rocks rather than crack.

To the OP. Yes in that canoes here are very very popular and are the centerstone of self propelled watercraft here (midwest). On the west coast there are canoes around and we all use them if we have nothing else but out there a canoe is the least optimal watercraft. Rafts, drift boats, personal tubes, inflatable pontoon boats, all take the cake by far if money isn't an object.

I think another factor is willingness to learn. To stick with something that takes time to master. When my youngest daughter was 9 should could jump in my pack canoe and fly up and down the lake. Put her in a canoe with her 12 year old sister and they do Crazy Ivans all over the lake. It has taken them many hours to learn to effectively paddle a canoe, where as with a kayak paddle they get instant gratification. I have not given up on encouraging them, and they have both taken more and more of an interest in mastering the J-stroke, etc.
Also, besides personal preference, a canoe really shines when loading and unloading. When portaging in the BWCA I want a yoke and an easy way to load and unload. If your not doing that, a cheap kayak is a great way to be on the water.

I've been waiting for the name change: Kayakcopia.

I am not much or a "joiner" when it come to clubs, but in a weak moment several years ago I joined the Hoosier Canoe and Kayak Club. They had an outing near me at a large well known lake, so I went to say hello. I got as far as the parking lot, but there was not a canoe in the crowd, in spite of having first billing in the group's name. Apparently I was not dressed for the event either, looking mostly like the Central Indiana HillBilly that I am.

Maybe I was the snob this time?

MB

SOT kayaks are used on big water, like Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. They're not good northern tripping boats because they don't carry much, they don't portage well, and they're heavy. However, for the lakes I paddle, where I drive up to the lake, I think they'd be great: comfy, stable, and it'd be fun and handy to be so close to the fish.

If you dive back to the roots of the canoe, then yes, it’s a regional thing. Having been invented by Natives of the northwoods specifically for lake travel, portages, hauling goods, wild rice harvesting and fishing. As others have said, the kayak surpassed the canoe in popularity a long time ago for many reasons. However, the canoe obviously will always dominate the lakes and rivers of the Canadian Shield as it was designed specifically for this area. I believe canoes are fairly popular in upstate New York and some pockets out west as well. My two cents.

Tony

MidwestFirecraft, a canoe really shines when loading and unloading. "

there is a writer here in MN, a woman, who has always written that part of the reason women especially have taken to kayaks is the ease of loading and unloading

I tried to enlighten her to the fact that a solo canoe weighs a good 10 pounds less than a kayak, but to no avail, she had already committed to a kayak

MidwestFirecraft: "I think another factor is willingness to learn. To stick with something that takes time to master. When my youngest daughter was 9 should could jump in my pack canoe and fly up and down the lake. Put her in a canoe with her 12 year old sister and they do Crazy Ivans all over the lake. It has taken them many hours to learn to effectively paddle a canoe, where as with a kayak paddle they get instant gratification. I have not given up on encouraging them, and they have both taken more and more of an interest in mastering the J-stroke, etc.
Also, besides personal preference, a canoe really shines when loading and unloading. When portaging in the BWCA I want a yoke and an easy way to load and unload. If your not doing that, a cheap kayak is a great way to be on the water. "

Heh, now I want to watch Hunt for Red October

prettypaddle: "Heh, now I want to watch Hunt for Red October"

Back in the 90's when the Minn Kota Autopilot first came out we were using it on Coon Lake. If I recall correctly it worked by staying at the depth you set it. We were going along and all of a sudden it went full power and started doing figure 8's looking for the depth it lost. I almost fell out of the boat. My fishing budding started yelling "Crazy Ivan!" It has been burned into my memory ever since.

MidwestFirecraft: "

prettypaddle: "Heh, now I want to watch Hunt for Red October"

Back in the 90's when the Minn Kota Autopilot first came out we were using it on Coon Lake. If I recall correctly it worked by staying at the depth you set it. We were going along and all of a sudden it went full power and started doing figure 8's looking for the depth it lost. I almost fell out of the boat. My fishing budding started yelling "Crazy Ivan!" It has been burned into my memory ever since. "

Too funny!!

A lot of good info and opinions. My kayaks are heavy but can take a beating in the shallow rivers without getting damaged unlike a light weight Kevlar or carbon canoe. I really wish we had more area's in our area that afford opportunists to escape to for overnight and extended trips.

It sorta is... even the builders... in the northeast you have the master craftsmen of the wood canoes. Like going back in time... there is a good one north of Seattle also.
In upstate New York you have a number of builders... Dave Curtis, designer David Yost... Joe up in Lake Placid has a couple great designs. Hornbeck canoes are very light weight. Tucked away in north eastern New York. In Tennessee Merrimack and Narvoo (that spelling doesn’t look right. Two brothers split the original family business. Randy by far had the better product in Merrimack. But Bruce down in Rock Island Illinois does a pretty nice job. Briefly Merrimack was bought by someone thinking he could make big money. He sold to sanborn canoe in Winona Mn. Now these guys can build canoes!!! And have developed an actual Sanborn canoe... as pretty as their paddles. Of course you have the rivals wenonah and Northstar canoes... both high quality... these guys really pump out the boats!
Then tucked on the north shore is Alex with Stewart River Boatworks. You’d be amazed at how many small shops build canoes and kayaks miles from anywhere.
In Spokane there is John with the Bark Canoe store. This guy can build a great birch bark original or he can make a cool fiberglass replica. Check out Call of the Wild... John built the birch bark canoes in this movie. I could go on and on... But our great system has allowed these companies to flourish and create some great vessels for us to paddle to places unknown. Well, kinda unknown. Haha! But the op in Virginia you have Savage River not real far away... and Marathon / Grumman just up from them in New York.
Hauling canoes and kayaks had me visiting Miss Molly after going through Portland Maine and in the same month in Portland Oregon. I’ve delivered canoes in just about every state in the lower 48 and all the way to Edmonton. Even to Red Lake Ontario.
I’m slowly getting my stuff in order... back on the road I may go...

I chose a solo canoe over a kayak because of our annual BWCAW trips. The amount of gear I can pack into my canoe vs what I could have packed in a kayak is no contest.

I was taught by the folks at CanoeSport in Ann Arbor that canoes are for inland people and kayaks are for coastal people. To me that still makes sense but I don't claim to be normal.

CanoeSport had a superb selection of top quality canoes and a smattering of lowly kayaks stuck in the corner. Then they went out of business.

I cut my teeth paddling in Virginia...around Quantico for a few years we lived there and rest of my time before and after has been here in coastal South Carolina.

Used to see a lot of canoes, john boats and backwater boats but as Kayaks specifically sit on tops became popular the canoes have faded.

I have a Jackson Cuda kayak...it is a great boat but is very heavy and to me..not as versatile as a canoe.

My last canoe I bought from an outfitter here in South Carolina in upstate...as a lot of these rental and guide services will sell their canoes and kayaks at the end of the season...some banged up more than others but some are very good condition.

My Northstar B16 I wanted in IXP and bought from dealer in North Carolina as other than outfitters and the big box stores there are not many options.

Down here we have a lot of tidal rivers and creeks...so a boat layup that can handle submerged logs, concrete or oyster beds depending on water depth, tide height, season, etc...is high on my list of priorities. That is why my last boat was Royalex...but no longer made. So the Northstar I got was their IXP layup....supposed to be a royalex replacement for most part....resin coated so no cracked gel coat to worry about like with Nova Craft and others using Tuff Stuff or similar material.....and was lighter than the plastics offered...I think my B16 is 57-60#...my Royalex was 72#...and some of the plastics or plastic/fiberglass are heavier.

I prefer the canoe even if chasing reds, flounder or trout in shallows on abandoned rice field flats...can float just as shallow as my kayak...not as maneuverable in really really tight areas....but I love a canoe.

I think they are. Canoes still have strong traditions in the NE and Midwest.

Kayaks are taking over because they are cheap, light and easy to paddle. They are easy to transport and easy to put on a roof rack. They are also tend to be slow, and don't carry much.

It takes some time to learn to paddle canoes competently. All of this suggests that people are now driven by convenience, low price, and instant gratification. They like to car camp and day paddle. They do not care about tradition, and performance.

I don't like kayaks on my overnight trips because people always want us to carry some their equipment. The whole kayak rage is disappointing to me. It is almost like if everyone only paddled Coleman canoes.

I have lived in Nevada for 30 years. Nearly all of the competent paddlers I have met here learned to paddle somewhere else. There are not that many of them.

It has been 15 years or so since I joined and in a couple of years dropped out of the St. Louis (Mo) Canoe and Kayak Club. 2 canoes and plenty of Kayaks then and probably still based on what you see on local lakes.

Things change. Pre contact the Southern Indians used dugout canoes extensively. I am part American Indian and have studied their culture extensively. They even used large one to travel to Cuba and the Bahama Islands. Later they used horses to travel long distances. Years ago when I was a Scoutmaster, we had a limit of 50 boys in the Troop. Our favorite trip was a three day canoe camping trip. The troop had acquired a fleet of 18 canoes and three trailers. We also borrowed many canoes. All Scout camps taught canoeing. In later years I would guide the troop down the river as I knew how to negotiate the rapids and which sand bars to camp on. Often at least one Scout would want to take their personal kayak and they were allowed to. The other Scouts would take their food, gear, tent and other things. I never knew a Scout that took a kayak the second year. Now the Troop is much smaller and canoeing is less important. We have two sons and both own canoes and Kayaks. I still prefer canoes and my wife and I have paddled at least 7,000 miles by canoe. Verlen Kruger who paddled 100,000 miles would only use a canoe and a single blade paddle. That probably tells us something.

The culture may shift back to canoes in the future.

When people say kayaks are easier to paddle, I’m guessing they mean sit on top kayaks. For sea kayaks where you sit inside and and have a spray skirt, places won’t rent them out without you taking a class that generally lasts half a day to a full day on paddling technique, including bracing, and self-rescue. But they will rent sit on tops just the way BW outfitters rent canoes. So kayaks are sort of a broad category.

I will say that canoes are definitely rare near San Francisco compared to all types of kayaks.