The only poling I have ever done, was years ago when i lived in Northern Minnesota. We picked wild rice in Grumman canoes with the thwarts removed. One person knelt on the bottom of the canoe with a cedar ricing sticks in each hand, one stick would sweep the rice stalks over the canoe, then with the other stick gently rap them, making the ripe rice fall into the canoe. The other person would pole the canoe with a long pole with a duck bill in the end to give purchase on the muck & loon poo bottom. The poler and beater would trade jobs to give each other a break from a somewhat grueling work. The last time I picked rice we got 142 pounds of finished/ready to cook wild rice, that most we had ever pucked in a day. From what I hear from my friends that lake is no longer producing much rice.
One of the big learning curves was keeping the canoe in thick, easy picking rice. Every now and then you would see people tip over losing their hard earned rice. We always brought along dry clothes in a water proof pack in case that ever happened, luckily we never needed them, but came close many times.
Quinn......
Have you written a trip report of your Esnagami trip? If you did I must have missed it. If you have not, I would love to read about it. I have been interested in that area since I was in the sixth grade reading TRAPLINES NORTH by Stephen W. Meader. Saddly, my life's little adventures never got me to that area of the world. I do however like to hear about that area.