Greetings LOU Community!!

[CatFisher]

Name: CatFisher

Location: Pittsford, NY 14534

Home Port: N/A

Boat Name/Type: 1970's Sears brand Ted William's Gamefisher 12 foot fiberglass V-hull rowboat

I fish for: I like to focus on the smallest of the finger lakes, especially Canidice and Hemlock, with hopes for trout, pickerel and pike, bass, perch, and crappie. When all else fails, carp at the local Barge Canal sometimes has to do

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Greetings LOU Community!!

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to introduce myself to everyone! My name is Greg, I'm in my mid 30's, and although I was born on Long Island and have lived for a short time in Baltimore, I basically consider myself to be from the Rochester area. I grew up in Pittsford, I have lived downtown on Park Avenue and off Culver Rd, and I now live with my girlfriend in Pittsford. After a lifetime love of biology, I decided to return to school to pursue a degree in the natural sciences, and so I am currently a full time student. I am close to completing my first two years of study at Monroe Community College, and will soon be transferring to either SUNY Brockport or Geneseo as a third year biology major. I hope to focus my studies heavily on ichthyology and herpetology, and I aspire to continue on to earn a graduate degree.

Though I am far from an expert, and I don't get out nearly enough, I was introduced to fishing by my father as a youngster, as I'm sure many of you were too. My father has since passed on some years ago, but I still enjoy wetting my lines whenever I can. Unfortunately, with the exception of my inflatable raft project, no one in my immediate family has ever had a real boat of our own, and this has always made it very difficult to pursue the most sporting piscatorial quarries, due to the often limited and crowded public shore fishing.

As a student with a meager budget, I had really given up hopes of having any kind of boat, anytime soon. But, I am very happy to report that only very recently, and through the magic of the internet, I was able to find an old row boat for free. It's an old Sears brand Ted William's Gamefisher 12 foot fiberglass row boat. I'm pretty sure these were made in the 70's. This is a V-hull styled boat, and not the popular, flat-bottomed, "Jon boats" Sears is well known for. On inspection at it's prior home, the mighty craft was found to be in sorry shape; it had sat in someone's back yard for many, many years uncovered and unattended to. No, this would not have been my first choice for a first boat, but I could not beat the price, and my girlfriend and I heaved it on top of my aging '98 Ford Ranger pickup (come to find that my tail gate no longer goes down, lol!), and off we went with it.

In no time at all we had it cleaned up, and although still not super-pretty, it looks like a whole new boat, and we're quite happy with it. I patched the only half-inch hole I could find with some fiberglass epoxy, and sanded some of the patchwork done by previous owners. We dragged it once more atop my truck and out to Mendon Ponds Park for it's first float in probably more than a decade. Much to our amazement, the darn thing floats - and quite well!

Although our humble craft, dubbed The CatFisher, is a small, light boat (about 168 lbs, I think), we quickly tired of lifting it on my truck and scratching the heck out of the truck in the process. After about 5 weeks of scouring a popular internet trading list, I was able to find a decent (I hope!), affordable trailer. For $200 I now have a clean-looking, galvanized trailer. I was told the trailer would handle a boat between 12 to 16 feet long, which I thought was great since I'd love to upgrade to a larger boat some day. Additionally, it came with a spare wheel, two new-in-the-box waterproof trailer lights, and the ball hitch I'm going to need to tow the trailer with my little truck.

So I've joined the LOU forum for two primary reasons; to share information about fishing, hunting, and the great outdoors in general, and to ask for help in setting up my humble boat and trailer, so that I am safe to cruise smaller bodies of water, ranging from the Erie Canal and Mendon Ponds Park up to Hemlock and Canadice lakes. I am admittedly clueless on nearly all facets of boating, even in it's micro form, and I am graciously appealing to the LOU community for help with my project.

I'd like to ask if this is an appropriate forum for me to seek advice concerning my little twelve foot rowboat project? I need help mostly with the trailer at this point. I have some concern for the condition of the wheels, and I'd like to be able to post some pictures of the trailer, in the hopes that someone can tell me just what I have, and how to ensure everything is safely setup. Although I do not have a gas motor, I do have a nearly new 40 lb thrust Minn-Kota electric, decent deep-cycle battery, a modest Eagle sonar unit, GPS, and some other "essentials", and I'd really appreciate some advice in getting my rig setup right, and in using all this fancy gear effectively.

I would be very, very grateful to any and all LOU members who may be willing to help me with my project!! If this is not the place for small boat questions, could someone place direct me where to go for help?

In closing, I'd like to add that my girlfriend and I have a wide rage of outdoor interests that include fishing, camping, hiking, backpacking the ADK's, biking, and just about any other excuse to be outside. I look forward to meeting all of you in this virtual community, and to sharing our adventures.

Thank you to all who have taken a moment to get to know me, and for considering my boating concerns!!

-Greg

[BlueEye]

Welcome aboard Greg! Lots of great guys here who I am sure will be willing to help out. Enjoy the site and make yourself at home

[CatFisher]

Thank you for the prompt reply and for the warm welcome, BlueEye. I'll be sure post some questions in the boating forum, and I'm sure more than a few LOU members will be able to help me out.

Thanks again!!

-CatFisher

[LongLine]

Wewlcome to the site CF. We'll help where we can.

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[larry]

Welcome aboard Catfisher Greg and fiance', ( I only say that because if you found someone to help you clean and fix the boat then you better marry em) Anyhow, with your back round in biology,ichthyology and herpetology you should realize you have a disease that starts with a 12' boat and gets worse, there is no cure or HMO coverage so you will just have to do the best you can to stay comfortable and relaxed.

[CatFisher]

Wewlcome to the site CF. We'll help where we can.

Tom B.

(LongLine)

Thanks, Tom! The site looks great, and I'm sure I'll get the help I need to get my little boat floating right. Good luck on the water!!

-CF

[CatFisher]

Welcome aboard Catfisher Greg and fiance', ( I only say that because if you found someone to help you clean and fix the boat then you better marry em) Anyhow, with your back round in biology,ichthyology and herpetology you should realize you have a disease that starts with a 12' boat and gets worse, there is no cure or HMO coverage so you will just have to do the best you can to stay comfortable and relaxed.

LOL, thanks for the welcome and the wisdom, Larry!!

Yes, the girlfriend is definitely a keeper!! I hope to make it official real soon too

Yes, I most certainly recognized the symptoms of a terrible, chronic disease!! Much like my aquariums and other projects, I can see already how owning a small boat just makes you want a larger boat more

Fortunately for me I was able to find an oversized trailer, and my plan would certainly be to trade up to a larger boat in the near future. In the mean time, I think my little craft is a good intro to boating and trailering for me, and I'm looking forward to getting it all set up, with the help of the LOU forum members, of course. The wife and I are very much looking forward to getting out on the water this summer, and hopefully we'll see you and some of the other LOU members out there as well.

Thanks again, Larry!!

-CatFisher (Greg)