BEST FISHING VEHICLE?

[TimRobinsin]

whats the best fishing vehicle? this can be one you have owned or just one that you think would be great.

personally my favorite I owned was my 89 volvo 740 station wagon. i put overload springs in the back so I could carry four people, their gear, their beer, and our food all the way to Oleona. that car made the trip up there fully loaded and still got 27MPG and hauled some serious a$$ up those hills before williamsport and rode like a caddy, nice and smooth. it also got up and down the hill at tiadaghton with out breaking a sweat or scraping out even with a little mud on the road/trail, shudda seen the faces when we got down to the parking area! Great car thats still going with over 300,000 on it now, my buddy owns it now.

Currently I have a 95 toyota pickup 4x4 and its decent but I haven't gotten it up to good running condition. I bought it a little over a year ago and it was rough. but its getting there, mpg is good but the real test will be getting up to erie this spring and then down to AK to fish the white in the beginning of the summer. I put a yakima rack on it with a homemade rod tube on the passenger side. we'll see how it performs on the long trips, not the most comfortable ride.

I think if I have to get rid of the truck (its only a two seater and we have a one year old) I would go with a 90's volvo xc wagon. thoughts are; mpg is not terrible for its size/power. its big enough to hold multiple fisherman and gear. long enough that you dont have to completely break down going hole to hole. thats my thoughts what do you think?

 

[gfen]

Like everything else, this thread has been done before. The only place my Honda Element can't hold its own is actual offroad scenarios, but for firetrails and dirt roads it'll do just fine. Plastic interior. Stainproof seats. Seats convert into a bed or just come out, and its purpose designed as a rolling changing room, with a rear tailgate meant to be used as a seat.

Its everything the VW Type 2 syncro should have become, right down to optional pop top camper conversion.

 

[TimRobinsin]

NICE! I never thought about an element but that totally makes sense. I didn't know this thread was already done...sorry. I don't really spend my life on here, my apologies. Thanks for your input i have to look at those, I have a 01 CR-V I work on myself and I have had several hondas so that may be a good one to look at. thanks

 

[gfen]

Its all been done before. 🙂

The Element and the CR-V are the same thing under the skin, if you know one, you know them both.

 

[troutbert]

gfen wrote:
Like everything else, this thread has been done before. The only place my Honda Element can't hold its own is actual offroad scenarios, but for firetrails and dirt roads it'll do just fine. Plastic interior. Stainproof seats. Seats convert into a bed or just come out, and its purpose designed as a rolling changing room, with a rear tailgate meant to be used as a seat.

Its everything the VW Type 2 syncro should have become, right down to optional pop top camper conversion.

You can sleep in a Honda Element? I didn't think they were long enough.

Is there any vehicle big enough to sleep in that gets 30 mpg or better?

 

[jdaddy]

TimRobinsin wrote:
NICE! I never thought about an element but that totally makes sense.

Seriously? Look in the parking lot in front of fly shops, every hole on the LJ, Spring, Penns and you see those damn Elements everywhere. They got all kinds of fishing accessories for them. I saw a big "fly patch" on a glove box at the LJ one day.

http://www.paflyfish.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=170782

 

[sundrunk]

I like my jeep cherokee. It's old enough to where I don't mind taking down dirt roads.

 

[mcfinn]

Gotta plug my hoopty Subaru Ipmreza/Outback Sport.
AWD turbo for the hills, holes, and slush, but i REALLY dig the big windows all around for those quick over-the-shoulder glances at moving water we all take. (You know the glances i mean; shoulders forward pokin' our chins out the open window like Labradors lickin' the creek air... the 'covered bridge slow-down technique'... as well as the famous 'inching closer to a trailhead birm to look for fresh tire tracks'...).

 

[RyanR]

I like my Chevy Colorado 4dr Crew Cab 4x4. Sliding rear glass window, bed with folding lockable tonneau cover. Its got full-time size rear bucket/bench seats for comfort and legroom for rear seat passengers. Its 4wd so its good in snow, mud or dirt roads yet its got an inline or straight 5 cylinder engine for better gas mileage than others.

 

[gfen]

troutbert wrote:
You can sleep in a Honda Element? I didn't think they were long enough.

Is there any vehicle big enough to sleep in that gets 30 mpg or better?

For the second, a classic VW Type 2 of any vintage up to and including the diesel powered T4 Eurovan. Good luck finding an affordable model, though.

Element mileage basically sucks. You're driving an underpowered brick. Its better than most real SUVs, worse compared to most CUVs. I dont think it was really optimized for highway cruising.

As for sleeping in it? All four seats convert ot a bed. THe rears come out. People build sleeping platofrms back there, plus there's the expedition style roof mount tent option. I'm 6'3", and I'm convinced I could comfortably pass the night in the back of that thing on an air matress on the floor with the front seats moved forward.

I wouldn't want to sleep on the seats in bed mode, though. Looks way lumpy.

They also sell a cabana tent attachment, plus screens for the removable rear sunroof. Its a pretty sweet plastic box, if plastic boxes are your thing.

 

[SBecker]

I got a Neon, Nuff said

 

[gfen]

LRSABecker wrote:
I got a Neon, Nuff said

 

[jdaddy]

LRSABecker wrote:
I got a Neon, Nuff said

Redsuns got you beat. Acura with 22's. I laugh hard when it drags bottom down to the Waterworks hole. I laugh harder when I see him get out of it. Then I wet myself when I realize he is jamming to Hamlet or War and Peace on CD.

 

[gfen]

Bright orange, at that.

 

[wsender]

I love me a good book on tape but Shakespeare on tape is a little heavy.

 

[TimRobinsin]

RyanR,

My buddys dad has a colo and that thing is awesome for fishing. we took trails around the south side of rt6 near the lumber museum that i thought were pretty rough and that thing handled them like nothing.

I slept the night in my toyo last year up at that campground near poe paddy during the GD hatch at colburn and thatll be the last time i sleep in the back of that thing with the tailgate up! there were some bears snooping around i didnt want my piggies getting bit!

 

[pete41]

VW camper-other than being a little under powered for western mountains[especially in the snow] it was great-bed very comfortable.
Worse-pick up trucks with uninsulated tops.
If it was cold the condensation from your breath would freeze and then you would have mini-rainstorms when it warmed up-lol

 

[osprey]

In 1974 bought my first new vehicle a rag top cj-5 Jeep , old turn in hubs . in line 6 cyl , factory warn winch , that was the meanest fish wagon i ever had. 3 speed on the floor , went places i would never go now. My Ford F-150 302 c.i. 4x4 with extended cab and cap over the bed for a sleeper is my old fart fish wagon now. If i had the $ my buddies Hummer would be nice except for the gas. And my daughters GMC Jimmy , which i took to the Jam was ok too , enough room for all my stuff and sleep in too. My CJ-5 saw more action than any though. in 1974 was $2,999.00 brand new. ripped up 4 rag tops though.

 

[Librarian]

I'll put in a plug for my Suzuki Equator. I can just throw in my kayak for striper fishing in OC or LM fishing in SJ or (kayak or not) fishing in PA. Handled the OBX with no problem.

 

[tracker12]

Nissan Xterra. Everything most wagons have plus the ability to go 4x4 which I have to have. Plus it will haul 5000lb. Nice for the times when I need the ATV.