Canoe racks?

After trying with little success to find a suitable rack solution on various websites, I finally took the advice on their website and called Oak Orchard Canoe. My roof rack solution was answered in detail, with options and pricing, in a 10-minute call. They also helped me figure out that what I thought was the easy part--a bed-mounted bar for the back end--was not so simple. I'd already figured out that the Better Built rack I have won't fit the new Ranger, but it seems that finding one that will work will be difficult. They think they have a solution, but it's one that is not currently in stock. They offered to call me back on Monday after more research. Chuck--many thanks for not only offering this tip, but pushing me after I ignored it the first time. By now you'd think I'd know enough to listen to advice I get on this site!
 
No problem Jeff, glad they are still being very helpful like they were for me. There is a vast amount of info on the WWW but sometimes you just need to talk it through human to human.

Yakima stuff has always been pricey, but I have always found it to be high quality and adaptable.

Best
Chuck
 
Well, it's taken a while--and that's killing me in fishing season prime time--but I did end up with a combination of a roof bar from Yakima and a pair of rails with one set of uprights and crossbar for the bed. It took a surprising amount of back and forth to confirm that both will fit a 2024 Ranger. Apparently Ford has changed both the width of the truck bed rails and the height of the plastic overlay such that virtually all other bed racks will not fit without substantial modification. I did consider cutting down the plastic so the clamps on my old rack would fit, but decided I was not willing to do that to save little money. My wallet is hurting more than I had hoped, but will hopefully have the rack installed in time for late season stripers in July and August, and be fully restored to function for fall fishing and hunting.

Meanwhile, not being able to carry my own canoe has reconnected with me an old fishing and hunting partner, and in last Saturday we had an epic with fantastic fishing. Drive to the river featured multiple hen partridge with broods on the side of the road, as well as a nice little black bear browsing on wild strawberries on the road edge. (Probably what the partridge were eating, too. That took us to brook trout and landlocked salmon from a pool in the middle of Class V rapid--literally casting great big stonefly dry flies to the edge of standing waves. Best day of river fishing I've had in a couple of years--landed salmon of 19" and 20", and lost a brook trout that was of similar size. The same night we hit the Hexagenia mayfly hatch on an old favorite trout pond of mine that I had not been to in years. The mayflies--which are enormous--as long as your thumb--started emerging a half hour before dark, and the fishing was just silly if you could get a decent imitation into a rise quickly and twitch it. No truly big trout, but between us I think we landed and released at least a dozen in 45 minutes before full dark, sodden flies, and leaders twisted into macrame by the enormous flies shut us down. Nothing exceptional, but no small ones either--they were all between about 13 and 15". Two hour drive back to camp in the dark with 2 near-miss moose events on the logging roads.
 
Carl said:
Cool fishing story, all good, except the moose near misses!!
Click to expand...
Moose numbers are way down these days. Still plenty of them for a lottery draw hunt with a pretty high rate of success, but a combination of changes in forest management, climate change, and the related emergence of winter tick in much larger numbers to reduce calf survival in their first winter has dropped them a lot. Nobody really knows how much since there is not consistent population estimate, but sightings are way down and the reduction in yearling survival is very well documented. ~25 years ago, I made the same trip out of that pond after dark and there were 47 moose that I saw in 20 miles or so of logging roads from the pond to pavement--and I am sure many others that were just outside the range of the headlights. Moose are scary at night--big, all dark, and even their eyes don't shine much until you are very close.
 
I agree with you Jeff, there are fewer moose than years ago. Still enough to keep us alert while driving though.

Glad to hear you saw birds. We've been seeing them too, unlike last year. Yesterday a hen charged out of the brush at the edge of the road, playing the old crippled routine. She nearly hit my foot on the way by, when i ignored her she came back and made a sound ive never heard from a grouse. Somewhere between a purr and a growl. Very un bird like. I could only make out two or three little ones, they were tiny. Probably a second nesting.

Stopped by a couple of bogs, good numbers of ducks. Several broods of blacks and woodies, more than I've seen in a couple of years..
 
I’ve watched a couple of documentaries on the decline of moose populations along the southern end of their range. Seems to be mainly due to the tick issue you mentioned. As climate warms, we’re seeing similar issues with other species, doesn’t bode well for many as their southern limits get pushed north. There may be a similar shift on northern range but that can only go so far.
 
Two weeks since I last posted, and the saga continues. We did find the correct--and reasonably affordable solution I was looking for with a bed-mounted Adarac frame on one set of uprights with a 66" bar, and a cab mounted single Yakima bar with appropriate hardware to fasten to a 2024 Ranger. The Adarac half of the rig is ready for local pickup, and most of the Yakima components will be here soon. But the "Base Clips" that fasten the "towers" to the roof are backorderd and not available for at least 60 days. I called around to every Yakima dealer I could find in Maine looking for a pair of the right clips, but nobody had them in stock. But on a whim I called back to Oak Orchard Canoe--thanks again, Chuck, for the suggestion!--and they have 3 in stock. Two are on their way to me, and I may have a functional truck again by the weekend. I didn't miss much trout fishing--we've had temps with 85-90+ highs and 70-75 lows pretty much non stop since the fourth. Some local waters I fish for trout are over 80 degrees now! I did get out once for stripers on a buddy's boat. We had to work at it, but a combination of local knowledge, playing a hunch, and the three P's (patience, perseverance, and presentation) got us each a mid-20's schoolie out of very shallow water on flies.
 
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