Bending Branches Navigator vs Angler Pro

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.