I know it is vague but how long should a 10mile trip take, river not much flow, downstream, not a lot of dragging, fishing

I probably average 1-1.5 miles per hour on the Brazos fishing and relaxed paddling.

If you're fishing? All day.

I believe one thing I'd do is get an overhead shot from Google Earth, find some identifiable features such a bridges, then make certain that you are "on pace." You don't want to drag along too slowly and have it turn dark on you if you need better lighting to take your kayak out, load it, or set up camp.

So, if you are supposed to be at "Old Man Bridge" at the 3 hour mark, and you show up an hour late, you would know to make up that time in the next segment, a little more paddling, a little less fishing.

Sounds like a fun trip length to me.

I posted this one (see below) over near River Ridge on the Sabine River (for a white bass fishing trip) where I thought it looked like a cool float trip to run down to a launching area down river. I can't recall the distance. The blue line would be a car driving from the drop off to the pick up, about 41 minutes. Look close and you can see the Sabine River one would be floating down. I think it was 8 miles.

And, lots of white bass!

Brad

2 mph paddling should be attainable without too effort using an average SOT.
So the paddling time is probably going to be 5 hours. Add fishing/resting time.
I've timed about 3.5 mile one way with maximum output and with my SOT the speed was about 3.3 mph.
Using another more efficient kayak I achieved 4mph in 1h duration.
To go from 2mph to 3mph, you'll need to double the energy (exponential energy output over speed).
For certain boat, to go from 3 to 3.5mph you'll need to double the energy. So sometimes conserve energy you need to find a sweet spot in speed.

Plan on twice as long as you think for return trip if you are dragging a billion white bass on stringer.

i would say just paddling around 5 hours

Good point about what is really diminishing returns as we approach theoretical hull speeds and limitations. You can actually paddle/pedal a vessel faster than its theoretical limits, just at considerable costs in units of energy.

On "sweet spots," though as regards energy, a larger paddle moving more water at a slower turnover speed requires less energy than achieving the same speed with a smaller paddle and more strokes. While Momentum = Mass X Velocity, Kinetic Energy = Mass X Velocity squared. In essence, you'll burn less calories using a big paddle blade and less paddle strokes.

Sounds like a fun trip to me at just about the right distance.

Brad

so great trip, drove 2:45 , got up at 5.00, water looked great, launched down steep bank, paddle missing, hauled back up steep bank, drove 2:45 home.

Just tell everyone you were scouting out the launch area.

dang... I'd have stopped at a walmart and bought a new one.

closest walmart was 45 miles away, that's prob 2 hr round trip. I think it got stolen out of my truck when I stopped for gas. I don't think it could have blown out. It was under the straps holding my yak.

darn..

Good question. I've never considered how long it would take going any distance without a lot of fishing. I've always focused on how long I can fish going a set distance in one day.