Trout Whisperer posted on April 24, 2007 06:19 :: 3232 Views
So in 1999, I bought a 1965 aluminum fourteen foot boat. It was well used. I do not mean to imply worn out, I mean it was used well, as in properly cared for. I put a down payment in with a boat broker. He said to sit back and relax and he would find me exactly what I wanted. I relaxed all that summer and most of the fall and after I could relax no more I called him just prior to thanksgiving.
Dec 27th, that year he called me back with the exact boat I wanted. I gave him my email and he sent photos. Needless to say I bought the boat having never met the seller. I knew this was the type of boat I wanted and the price was a great buy, but I found out years later there was some unseen value to the original purchase.
This is one of the old guide series boats with heavy gauge aluminum, four seats, not three, and solid oar locks. I can also, with the motor off the transom, lift the boat onto a trailer by myself. I wanted a one man guiding boat. If I get stuck or in trouble I need to be an army of one.
Who ever had the boat before me never touched a rock with the keel or hull. No dents or patched rivets. The transom was still solid and no water rot. The seats had been modified to accommodate the new cushioned and folding style boat chairs and the person who installed did a class A job. I know he was a craftsman who did the installation because I had to change out one of the cushions this spring. To undo the well thought out original installation was a snap.
Bolts with washers and lock washers, not stripped when installed, with metal bushings and wood spacers to keep the metal frame off the factory installed aluminum seats was a
very thoughtful approach. This guy was a forward thinker. Like he knew I was coming some day to sit in his boat. Maybe he knew he’d never sit with me.
Well I changed out the old seat and replaced it with a 2007 comfy version − but reused his old bolts and I did not have to tweak anything. I want to thank him. I want to tell this guy what a great job he did on the initial install. Then I’d like to spend the day fishing with him.
The anchor system and the metal cup holder where I set my soda cans, and the rod holders, could only have been made by a guy my size. The reach for anything is too easy to be a coincidence that many times. He was me, years before me. He is my past and I’m his future but we both keep using the same boat.
It’s got a new boat license, fresh anchor rope, and I put new oars in the boat. His old wood oars are hung in reverence along my trapping shed. Those two rowing sticks I retired. I like to think maybe me and the previous owner were a matched set of oars, he’s gone and someday I’m gonna be. But that boat is just gonna keep fishing for a new owner, and then we can both thank the last guy.
The fisherman may change, the lures keep getting fancier, and the regulations just boggle the mind. But the boat, this old boat, has kept up with it all. So whoever the boat owner was I have to tip my cap and say thanks.
The trout whisperer
Karl "Trout Whisperer" Seckinger is a respected JustNorth author and outdoor adventurer. His guide service, DuNord Guide Service, and the trout waters that he fishes in the Superior National Forest, are some of the most tightly guarded secrets among Trout enthusiasts in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Contact Karl at 218 - 525 - 0442 or write to him at:
DuNord Guide Service - 6999 Culbertson Road, Two Harbors, Minnesota 55616
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