Electric Canoe...

Let's face it. Sometimes you just get tired of walking. I think it was 2015 when I bought this canoe. I have always wanted one and decided to go ahead with the purchase while I was still hale and hardy enough to lift it in and out of the pickup. I've had good use at all the small park lakes in this area, on Sam Rayburn of course, in a few small creeks and state park paddling trails and in the Galveston Bay marsh. I decide though that the paddling was getting t be a bit much for long distances on hot days so I installed an electric trolling motor. 

I had this motor laying around since I traded in the old pontoon boat where it was originally installed  on the new pontoon boat one in 2005. I dug through the scrap wood pile and found a very hard wood 2x4, did a little shaving so the bracket would fit, came up with bolts, nuts and washers from the tool box and later added a bit of pant and I don't think I could have bought something this functional. I used the depth finder/running lights/aerator battery from the big boat to power it.      

It's a 34 pound thrust motor so way more powerful than needed and with it's long shaft I was concerned it might be too big and the mechanics for the running depth and reaching the tiller might be clumsy but it all worked out. The boat is rated for 675 pound load so weight was not a problem. Here's a photo of me cruising one of the paddling trails in Martin Dies Jr. State Park.  

We have caught large bream and google eye on these trails but yesterday we caught only a few small bass as I don't think the water temperature is warm enough for the bream to wake up yet. One thing that makes this area harder to fish with the small bream lures and light line is the weed growth. wo years ago after a big winter there was not much weed and we caught lots of fish. The past couple of winters have seen warmer temps so the weeds are not kept in check. The fish are there, just hard to reach with light tackle. 

Cathy scores an old green sunfish. Cathy hates the paddling because it's hard on her shoulders. Maybe she will go more often with the trolling motor. 

I did catch a fish. 

My State Park Pass, which cost me $70 bucks expires at the end of the month. I have made 27 trips to state parks in the last 11 moths and most of those were canoe trips including one guided paddling excursion. Everyone in the car got in free. To myself alone that's a $108 value and I have camping reservations at the end of the month which get half off before my pass expires. You can bet this kind of value I'll get another for next year. 

Best thing about this electric cruise is than on my return home I checked the battery with a multi meter and it was not hardly discharged enough to register. I look forward to some long cruises that were out of reach in canoe for an old man paddling.