The Basswife likes to fish for bass, but does not want to be uncomfortable. This means no bugs and some shade when it is hot. I got her a “buzzoff” hat to deal with the bugs (works great), the shade eluded me;after all, this was the basscanoe; a floating bass fishing machine that is about as far from being a pleasure craft as is humanly possible.
Up until recently, the solution was to take a small umbrella with us and she would pop it up when she felt like it. But… being a guy with power tools, I realized that I could do better than that.
So, I got a beach umbrella that hooks onto a chair and cut a small piece of wood, which I attached to a big dowel with a metal joiner plate, one normally used on decks. I beat it with a hammer to make it conform to the curve on the dowel and then screwed it together.
The umbrella clamps right onto the small piece of wood. The dowel goes in the rod holder attached to the seat, allowing the Basswife to pop open the umbrella at any time. This allows her to continue casting and fishing while enjoying the shade.
I was in a pickle the day I took these pictures because I forgot to bring the Basswife’s canoe seat and got the “look”. Next time out, I’ll take a cable tie and attach the umbrella stand to the metal rim of the seat to give it another point of stability. We found it moved around a bit more than we wanted when it was stuck into the hole as shown.
As for me, I just bake in the back.
The old approach shown above – she had to hold an umbrella
Here is a close up of the rig:
Umbrella stays furled until needed, out of the way
She can pop it open, use the adjusments associated with the umbrella and make herself comfortable. All of the above translates to more fishing time
Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore