Canoe Questions

[Steverino]

I had some family over for a smoked salmon Fathers Day meal (it's an annual since dad likes his salmon this past weekend and had an uncle that mentioned that he had a canoe sitting out behind his garage that he hasn't used in years and would I be interested?

My mind flashed immediately to at least a half dozen good looking small lakes, reservoirs, and ponds all within a good half hours drive from home, that I pass from time to time-all the while wondering what these small bodies of water hold within them. My own words surprised me when I said "Sure!!!Absolutely I'd be interested."

Well, yesterday after work, I went to pick up the canoe after work. After about a good half hour of dislodging it from the earthen floor that struggled with me for claim to it, I knealed down, chest pumping up and down to view my new treasure. The canoe is somewhat larger than I thought. Instead of the 10-12 feet that my uncle said it was, I measured it and it's a tad over 16' long. It's a Lowe 16 model. Have no idea of the year made since there's no serial number on the Coast Guard identification tag other than the standard maximum weight capacities, etc.

It's a real nice looking aluminum canoe. I bought one of those canoe carriers from Fulton that you can hook unto your existing trailer hitch and notched some foam blocks from my work to support the gunwales. Did a nice job and balanced well atop my pick-up while allowing full access to the bed of my truck.

The canoe only has two small bences at the very front and back of the canoe. The question that I have is should I fashion a bench and seat in the center of the canoe to balance it (I'll be fishing alone) out weight-wise? I am planning to use a transom mounted trolling motor that I have for some of the larger inland lakes but would just use paddles for all the other stuff. I'm in the process of making a bracket for the motor to mount to the canoe now. I also have one of those anchor mount-stops that you just pull to release and raise that I had on my first jon-boat, that I am planning on mounting on top of the canoe front strap.

Would appreciate any other helpful advise from those of you that fish from a canoe! Thanks a bunch.