Everyone chime in with your story

Everyone chime in with your one thing that lead to another story here.
Mine is my son and I started to go to Canada fishing twice a year. We started out flying into International Falls, then renting a car to go to Eagle Lake, staying at various lodges and using their guides and boats. Well, one thing lead to another and now we have a 35' class A motor home and another boat that we drag up there to fish with. Somehow it just got out of hand that way. I do enjoy having our own place and using our own boat up there though. And a by product is that it is a lot cheaper than flying and using other peoples stuff.
So whats your story?

Re: Everyone chime in with your story

Well I've been a hardcore fisherman but a frustrated shoreliner for most of my life. I did pretty good from shore for many years. As I got older and crankier, and the peace of mind and solitude factors became much more important, I grew tired of dealing with the hassles of shore fishing especially - but not limited to - the cat and mouse game of finding a great shore fishing spot then seeing it blown up and ruined. I envied all the folks I could see out there in their watercraft. They had the freedom to go fish anywhere at anytime, away from the crowds, just themselves, their boat and the ocean.

Eventually I bought and rigged a kayak for fishing and went crazy on that for a few years. I still have it and it was great investment and is a great alternative in terms of getting me out on some nice water when I don't want to hassle with towing and launching a 20' boat just for one guy. It's a Hobie kayak with the fast foot-pedal drive that makes you very mobile and keeps the hands free to fish.

But a few years with that and I still had boat envy.

Surprisingly, for a lot of nearshore spots around here, say 1-2 miles offshore the kayak gets me there in less net time than the boat. It takes no time at all to throw the yak and gear boxes in the truck, then just launch off a beach and head straight out. Whereas with the boat and one guy to do it all, it's an hour - at least - to set it all up, tow it to the ramp, and launch it, and secure the truck then go back to the boat. From there, you're looking at another 40 minutes till you've cleared the breakwater.

So by a couple years ago I had saved and scraped for a fishing boat. Then came almost a year of boat shopping on Craigslist......we all know how that goes I'm sure.

After finally posting what it was I wanted in a boat-wanted ad, the right boat found me and that's the KW in my avatar. First crack at it came when the original owner answered my ad. Everything seemed good, except the power tilt was shot and the trailer was marginal, and he was 50 miles away. He had no idea how much that would cost to fix, so I passed. Turns out a broker/mechanic bought it, fixed it, and then sold it to me after we sea trialed it.

It was some of the best money I've ever spent, and I can't tell you how much I enjoy going out on my boat to fish and getting away from the city and the crowds and all that. It's been worth every penny and every minute of maintenance I put into it.

Re: Everyone chime in with your story

mphy98 said:

Everyone chime in with your one thing that lead to another story here.
Mine is my son and I started to go to Canada fishing twice a year. We started out flying into International Falls, then renting a car to go to Eagle Lake, staying at various lodges and using their guides and boats. Well, one thing lead to another and now we have a 35' class A motor home and another boat that we drag up there to fish with. Somehow it just got out of hand that way. I do enjoy having our own place and using our own boat up there though. And a by product is that it is a lot cheaper than flying and using other peoples stuff.
So whats your story?

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You are a backwards Canadian, canadians haul there trailers and motor homes to Arizona, Florida, ETC for the winter and leave them there for the next year.
Your pulling north, you just have to find a lot and leave it there for next year
only difference is you would have to winterize.