I recently picked up a Bending Branches
Angler Pro paddle for my fleet of plastic boats. Anyone who has seen
me at demos knows that I love my Bending Branches Navigator wooden
paddle, but since picking the Angler Pro I thought I would do a
little comparison between the two. These two paddles are by far the
best paddles I have used but they are fairly different paddles. The
Angler Pro is a part of the Angler series of Bending Branches paddles
and as such has a couple features that are geared towards the angler
while the Navigator paddle is more of a touring style paddle.
However that doesn't mean the Navigator isn't an excellent fishing
paddle.
The first thing most people notice when
the see the Navigator is how beautiful it looks. Wood paddles are
not typical amongst kayak fisherman. Most guys have some kind of
plastic, carbon fiber, or fiberglass. These are all great materials
and each has their benefits, but the wood paddles look good and
perform even better. It is possible to scratch it up but there is a
rock guard system on the bottom of each blade to protect the wood.
Should you ever want to have the blade refinished you can send it
back to Bending Branches, or even do it yourself with marine grade
polyurethane if you are handy The first thing I noticed about my
Navigator was how light weight it was. For comparison the Angler Pro
comes in at 30 oz with fiberglass blades and a carbon fiber shaft. A
very lightweight paddle by anyone's definition. However the navigator
weighs 28 oz so it is even lighter. The other thing I have noticed
is that the wood blade seems more buoyant. That combined with the
sleek profile make it dead silent when the blade enters and exits the
water. As I mentioned before it is more of a touring style blade so
it isn't as tall. That means it is going to move through the water
more easily giving the user less fatigue.
The Angler Pro on the other hand has a
large powerful blade. With so many large kayaks coming into the
market the larger blade is beneficial because it really pushes a lot
of water and gets your kayak moving. It isn't as silent as the
Navigator and while it is slightly heavier it is still super
lightweight. It has a ruler built into the shaft to allow you to
measure your catch. The blade is fiberglass and the shaft like the
Navigator is carbon fiber. With the Angler Pro you can choose
between a tan/olive colored blade, or a lime green/yellow blade.
Both blades look fantastic.
At the end of the day what really
determines which paddle I take is the kayak that I will be using. If
I am using one of my big hulking yaks I will grab the Angler Pro.
The extra water it pushes really makes paddling the heavier yaks a
breeze. If I am taking one of my smaller yaks like my Slayer 12 I
will grab my Navigator in a heart beat. You really can't go wrong
with either paddle, but sometimes it is good to get some insight on
how others are using them.
