What's scoop, so to speak, on landing fish in a solo canoe. Is it more difficult to do without tipping and how do you like to do it?

I use a fish gripper made by Rapala (lighter, different makers are available). It does not solve all the problems, especially with long rods and larger fish. Bigger fish I unhook in the water at the side of the canoe. Still working out what to do with a 40 inch northern on a 9 ft. fly rod!

butthead

PS; I should have given the reason! A net encourages reaching out to land a fish, very unstable! The gripper is only good close to the side. If releasing the fish just trap it by hand next to the canoe, then use a hook remover to un-hook the fish.
bh

I recently bought a fish gripper. The orange one. In the past I would lip bass and grab walleye and small northerns over the neck. Big northerns I would grab under the jaw.

However - I could not land a very large northern because he had my crankbait somewhere in his mouth and I didn't want to get impaled by it if I grabbed under the jaw. It eventually broke my line. So now I think the gripper is the way to go.

Small fish are no problem - just raise the rod tip over you until you can grab the line with your hand, draw it in next to the boat, set the rod down and pick up the fish. I also have the glove for this to use sometimes.
Lindy fish handling glove

If I want to net-land something small, I have a little wading net that I can use right next to me:
Frabill Trout/Wading net

I haven't had much opportunity to use it yet, but for big fish on a long rod, I have a collapsible landing net. As others have noted, the key with that is to not take the temptation to reach out from the boat, but rather only *along* it - bring the fish up next to the bow, and use the reach of the net just to get to the other end of your rod, rather than further from the boat. Also remember that near the bow and stern the canoe is narrower, so you can get a fish closer to the centerline of the boat while in the water, and thus have less tipping leverage when you finally pick it up.
Stowmaster folding canoe/kayak net

Then of course there's the usual tools for fussing with hooks:
Rapala hook remover
Rapala plier & cutter combo

GRIPPER!!

JB

I use a rubber glove, just grab 'em.
also helps prevent my fingers from getting dried out and cracking, which for me is a huge problem
I wouldn't use a net even in a boat or pontoon

I land them by hand and turn 'em upside down, which calms them. I put the rod between my legs and pinch it to free both hands. If it's a trophy, I use a big net I just bought.