Yep. There's just something about the serenity of canoe that does it for me. Back in the early 80's we went to a job. The tree we had to work on had a canoe chained to it. I knocked on the door and asked the woman for the key so we could move it. She came back with the key and said; When your finished with the tree, instead of chaining it back up, just take that canoe with you. I said to her; You don't have to ask me twice. She kinda back down a bit and said she'd have to talk to her husband first. Apparently it had been chained to this tree for 5-6 years and she was sick of looking at it. Her husband came home before we left and asked what it was worth to me. I told him thanks but I had no money to spend on a canoe and figured that was the end of it. As we were packing up the tools to head out he came to me again and asked if I would actually use it. At the time there were a bunch of us that rented canoes to run the creeks in Pa in the spring. So I said yes, I will absolutely use it and having one would save me money on our trips. He walked over to his shed, pulled out 4 paddles and 6 life vests and said; it's yours. I couldn't say thank you enough times. We tied it onto the roof of our F700 box truck, threw the paddles and jackets in the back with the wood chips and back to the shop it went. The boss looked at us a little funny when we rolled in with a canoe on the roof but all he said was; got a canoe huh. It's a 16' Gruman knock off and while it hasn't seen a million miles of rivers and streams, I'm sure it has several thousand miles on it. I still have it all these years later.
If you want light and durable, get a canoe made from royalex. Are you using it for lakes, or rivers? I bought an Old Town Penobscot 17' when I lived in Maine. Bought it right from the factory store. That canoe was fast, and light. Iirc, it was about 40 lbs, and I could easily carry it myself. I used it quite a bit on many rivers and lakes in Maine and New Hampshire. I had no other boat when I lived there, and I had always spent my Summers on the water. All of the boats in my family were back in Wisconsin. I ended up moving back to Wisconsin, and I used the motorboats and my canoe. After a year or so, I ended up buying my ski nautique, and barely used the canoe, so I sold it. I sold it for basically what I paid for it about 10 years previously.
We'll be getting the boat de- winterized sometime in the next month. Gotta get a new cover once the winter cover comes off. Excited to catch all the native trout in the area, as well as pike, which isn't something we had in Pa. Excited for the views of the white mountains while relaxing.
There is a couple small finger lakes that I'd try it on but mainly small rivers and creeks. Also it would be for fishing probly 75% of the time. So stable and light is the biggest thing me and the wife and my little guy when he's old enough so lighter the better for out of water handling since it would be me alone doing it. What does one weigh in general?
I have a 14' Sea Nymph skiff for chasing schoolies in the local river. We have a larger runabout with my brother that we would take out near Gloucester, MA. Lots of good times catching schoolies, blues, mackerel, flounder and cod. Raising a family went to the front burner and both boats sit right now. The skiff is nice getting into the flats off the channel when schoolies are chasing bait in. Great action when the bite is on, esoecially in the fall when the bass are feeding heavy. Lots of good memories, and hopefully more down the road when time permits.
All this fish'n talk And the weather stinks. 44f. Rain. Wind. Grrrrrrrr. Guess I'm a fair weather fisherman!
Have you got to the point of casting from the boat in the driveway yet? I mean just cause it sounds funny not that I've ever done it
Bass season here starts the third Saturday in June I can't wait either!!! Someone pulled a 6 pound smallie out of Lake Erie the other day I saw just an FYI