What Was Your First Boat?

[RoLo]

Like most fishermen I suppose, I began as a shore-bound angler.

Though I've owned about a dozen boats since that time, no boat has ever lessened my love & respect for bank-fishing. 

Old fishermen never die, they just end up on the bank from whence they came  

That said, I thought it might be fun if the boaters in here described their very first watercraft.     I'll start the ball rolling:

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In 1964, the same year we married, Lois & I came upon a beautiful sight.  Modells department store received a large shipment

of affordable boats. Several piles of 10-ft jonboats selling for '$70' were stacked like Pringles potato chips.

I didn't know it at the time, but we entered on the cusp of the aluminum boat explosion kicked off by Appleby's success.

Carl Lowe (Lowe Boats), Tracker Marine and other boatmakers all setup shop in Lebanon, Missouri to shake the money tree. 

During the first season I rowed the little peanut shell, then sprang for a new 5-HP Eska motor that cost $100,

so the boat & motor together cost a tidy $170       

 

1964 SEARS & ROEBUCK AD FOR APPLEBY JONBOATS

                                         

 

 

5 HP Air-Cooled ESKA 

            (Noisy & Butt-ugly!)

  

 

 

 

Okay, now it's your turn to UNpimp your ride, and tell us about your first soaky toy   

 

Roger

[Goose52]

Never had a boat until after I retired and moved from California to Tennessee. Finally got a canoe as my first boat at age 57.

 

After studying all small watercraft from float tubes up to bass boats I decided that the best solution for me was a heavily-accessorized canoe. I only fish my local, small (1.5 to 201 acres), no-wake lakes. Some of these lakes don't have boat ramps. I needed something car-topable without a special rack, modular, very light weight, with as much capability as possible. I wanted stability so I could stand and fish all day, lots of inboard storage, motorized, and little to no maintenance. I didn't want to have to buy a truck or other tow vehicle, I didn't want to consume a garage bay or driveway space with a boat and trailer, didn't want high recurring expense and maintenance, and didn't want to use gasoline. Taking everything into account, I ended up with my funky canoe.

Trolling motor, outriggers, DI/SI sonar, anchor system, rod racks, etc.; it's not really a traditional canoe...it's a bass boat that you can car top...

 

This boat just finished it's 4th season and has scored over 2,300 bass.  This boat, or something like it, may be the only watercraft that I ever own.  I still can't think of a better solution to fish my particular water.

 

 

[Fishing Rhino]

Marcia and I got married in 1965.  That year, I got a 12 foot jon boat from Sears for 99 dollars.  The next year my father connected with someone where he worked.  They had an old five hp Johnson with the tank on the motor they were selling for fifty bucks.  No more rowing the jon boat.  It was a little jewel.  Ran like a top, smooth as silk.  It got that jon boat up on plane with two in the boat.

 

The aluminum on the jon was only slightly thicker than aluminum foil.

 

Nevertheless, when my job moved to Cape Cod, we moved with it.  And, as looney as it was I made many forays onto Cape Cod Bay in that jon.  A couple of times I didn't think I'd make it back to the beach. 

[Fishes in trees]

My first few boats were borrowed, i.e. I fished ponds & small lakes where various acquaintances kept boats and i was allowed to use them from time to time.  Early on in my fishing career I bought a Minn Kota 65 trolling motor & deep cycle battery & charger.  The first boat that I owned was an 8' Water Scamp that I car topped on a 1979 Datsun 200 SX.  At that point in my fishing career, I was primarily focused on fishing central Missouri Strip pits.  Not in Trophy Country per se, but in different pits in and around that general area, and a little further south in the Finger Lakes State Park.

[Scott F]

I got my first boat in 1988. A Ranger Fisherman. It was my first boat and my last boat. I still have it. It's a little scratched up and the gel coat is not as shiny as it used to be, but it still performs and I still catch a lot of fish in it.

 

[slonezp]

1988 Chris Craft ski boat with a 70 Johnson. I bought the boat from a customer of mine who was getting a divorce and they were liquidating their assets. Even though it wasn't a fishing boat it got me on the water. I sold the boat 8 years later for more than I paid for it.

[FD.]

In 1976 I got a Monark 10' Jon boat with oars.  This boat was absolutely unsinkable.  I tried many, many times.  You could fill it full of water, sit in the middle seat and balance, the sides would just be above the water, start with a dixie cup and you could bail it out in just a few minutes.

 

The next year I got a 1950's, 3 hp Chief outboard with the gas tank in the cowling.  From that point it was me and the dog all over Lake Norman.  From Skippers to the 150 Marina to the State Park.  Those were the parental set boundaries for a 13 year old with a Golden Retriever.

[BassnChris]

In 1985......Old 14' jonboat that I found leaning up against the back wall of a house located on base.

Asked the owner if he was interested in selling. He said it leaked but would take $25 bucks for it. It was bondoed on the back corner and it did leak. Added little more bondo and silicone.....leaks stopped.

Painted it up woodland camo.......cut plywood and added outdoor carpet, swivel seats on swivel clamps, trolling motor.

Toss it in the back of my '67 Chevy truck and carried it around base with me everywhere.

My buddy and I would go out to the base lake before duty in the morning.......sometimes run out for a bit at lunch......and out after work......those were some great times.

[wnybassman]

[Ima Bass Ninja]

First thing to get me off shore was a used bass raider style boat I ought for $50 . Very soon after that I bought a nitro nx750 that I still have and use.

[cadman]

1989 Bass Tracker Magna 17 fish and ski. With a 90 h.p. Merc and a 9.9 kicker. Had that boat for 17 years. The guy who bought it from me still has it.

[Catt]

1962 DuraCraft aluminum jon 14' 32" bottom, 1958 7 1/2 hp Evinrude Fleetwin, trolling motor 12' slick dowel.

[ww2farmer]

I had (still have) an 8' Bass raider that I bought new in 2003, and I also have a 2006, Bass Tracker Pt170 that I bought new........in 2006. Only two boats I have ever owned. Prior to that I was stuck on the bank, or I rented 14" V-hull boats with 5.5hp johnsons from the local boat livery.

[wnybassman]

Truth be told.................in 1994 I bought 1963 Crestliner closed bow fully welded aluminum runabout.   The hull was in great shape and the rest of the boat was trash.   Completely gutted it, got the jigsaw out and cut out the bow, replaced support, built decks and added all the feature of a decent fishing boat.  It served me well for a few years.   The 40hp Evinrude that was on it was rock solid for an old motor.

 

 

 

 

[ww2farmer]

That would be a nice boat to have for the aluminum boat tournaments............too bad you still don't have it

[quanjig]

Bass pro shops bantam 3X with a minn kota 65MX trolling motor, chucked it in the back of my chevy S-10 and away I went!

[KevO]

I had a 12' Pelican (plastic) jon boat with a 30# minn kota trolling motor and a cheap humminbird depth finder.  Fished small ponds with it for a few years.  Then I broke up with my gf and she claimed it.  So I bought a 2005 polar kraft HP 180 pro w/ a 150 Yamaha, haven't looked back since.

[BassinLou]

After a buddy of mine introduced me to real bass fishing in the everglades out of his 14ft aluminum boat. That following year, 1999, to be exact, I bought myself a Tracker Pro 165. 14yrs later I still fishing out of it. Motor and TM are still working fine. 

[Tom 513]

 After 5 yrs of Racing go karts on dirt here in the midwest, at 54yrs old I decided racing was getting to be to much work and cost too much. I decided to sell my racing equipment and buy a fishing boat, I hadnt fished seriously since I was a kid too. I bought this nice little Crappie boat a 1968' 13ft Safe-T-Mate with the original 9.5hp evinrude, 2 throlling motors and depth finder, I have ran this boat about every week since I bought it in the Fall of 2012', the weeks I didnt take it out I was wade fishing local rivers and streams. Fast forward to last week, I sold my 18ft toyhauler camper to finance a like new 04' Bass Tracker pt 175 se, best Christmas ever!  

[Pa Angler]

Mine was a new 2004 Tracker Targa 17 SC Deep V with a 90hp ELPTO Merc., 60" 24v Powerdrive AP/Co-Pilot US1 with an FishMark 480 and an LMS 480 on the Dash.

 

Tight Lines

Pa Angler

[Way2slow]

My first was a wooden boat I built out of a bunch a scrap wood and plywood I rounded up when I was about 12.  A couple of friends helped  drag it about a 1/2 mile to a little pond where we would use it, not sure there were any fish in it because I don't remember ever catching any but we had fun trying.  We could use it about an hour before we had to drag it up on the bank and dump the water out.   My first real boat was a 17' Grumman canoe my dad and I went in halves on for $40 in about 1961.  I even had a sail you could attach with a rudder and keels that went on each side of the canoe, but don't think either one of use ever tried to use them.  Since then, I've had too many to count but always kept the canoe until someone stole it from one of the pounds on our land last year.  My first power boat was a 14' Glass Master with a 65hp Merc I bought in 1965 and paid $1,427 for boat, motor and trailer.

[Insanity]

A Skinny shallow 12 ft flat bottom john. It's a wonder the big boats never drown me. I fished out of it a lot when the 250 black max engines came out. Theres nothing scarier then seeing one coming at you at about 60 and realizing he is going to jump off the throttle at the last min because of the stupid law. Even if you wave them on they still did it. The hole back of there boat went under the surface and pushed like three ft wakes at you. Oh boy at the fun I had. You could see a perfect imprint of my butt on the middle bench seat. Wear my butt had tried to get a grip on it every time someone passed. .