RPreeb

There will always be trade offs. A longer boat will usually track better when traveling in a more or less straight line, but will not be as handy for maneuvering as a shorter boat. Those issues can be somewhat alleviated in the short boat with design features like a more pronounced keel (if a kayak even has a keel), and the longer boat will be more maneuverable if it has more rocker (that is more curve to the hull from bow to stern, but then it won't track as well for cruising. As a former whitewater kayaker, I can tell you that a boat designed for maneuverability is a royal pain to paddle for any distance in a straight line. Also, it seems to me that the pedal system would not be as easy to maneuver in tight spaces as with a conventional paddle. I can literally turn a 16' canoe on its own axis with successive forward and backward strokes on opposite sides, which doesn't seem possible with a pedal system. By the way, I've carried a 14 foot canoe on top of a '78 Toyota Corolla station wagon with no issues.

Here are some of my African trophies: Cheetah: Leopard guarding a 2 day old kill: Lioness and cub: Giraffe herd (there are 4 in the pano, but we counted 14 altogether): The endangered African Wild Dog: Helicopter tour over Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River (it was the end of the dry season and this is considered about 1/3 of the volume it would have a month later):

Here's our Miley. He's a 3 year old, 40 pound shepherd mix. We got him from a shelter just a month shy of 3 years ago. He's a great dog, smart and just a bit opinionated (meaning that he sometimes does what he wants, regardless of what we want). I don't know what I'd do without him any more. In this photo, he has taken possession of the bed in our camping trailer.

When you've lived for more than 50 years along the east edge of the Rockies like I have, learning to use a flyrod is pretty much a given if you fish at all. A friend taught me how to tie flies when we were working for the Forest Service the summer after my first year of college. We would go out most mornings and pick one of the many creeks that fed into the Swan River and catch our breakfast. My best memory was battling a 4 pound rainbow in the Swan River... wonderful fight for nearly 15 minutes before I could bring it into shore. All that said, I haven't even owned a flyrod now for 25 years. I've only fished rarely here and there with a spinning rig during that time, just trying to get back into a little bass fishing last year after a 50 year absence.

When I was buying my first one last spring, I did the same sort of research as you, and I came down to deciding on the Diawa Tatula CT 100. No regrets. Easy-peasy to get fishing right off the bat. I followed the instructions that are available in several places online (and the setup is different from most other brands). I had been fishing for nearly 2 hours before I got lazy and had my first self-induced backlash. It was fairly minor - only took about 30 seconds to pick out. As long as I use decent technique, I don't have any problems with most baits (I'm not very comfortable with trying to do weightless plastic with it, but I figure that's what I have a spinning rig for). I plan to buy another Tatula this spring, with a better rod to go with it (my current baitcasting rod is a medium weight Ugly Stik).

When I was shopping at Cabela's for reels a couple of months ago, most of the display reels had the anti-theft device attached in such a way that it blocked the guide from going all the way to the left side of its travel. Picking one up and cranking couldn't help but do some damage to the level wind mechanism. Since they didn't have any like what I was looking for in the box, they lost a sale that day. I will either go back in the spring when they begin to build up some summer stock, or I will hit BPS next time I'm in Denver and do my shopping there. I prefer buying hands on to going online for something like this (besides, then I don't have to explain to the wife why I'm buying another reel until I've already had it for a while). That way I can check out the main functions and know that it works before I leave the parking lot.

When you're built like me, trying to find a rain suit that fits is an exercise in futility. I'm 6'2" but my inseam is only 30". Too many suits have a jacket that's too short and pants that are too long when I get anything that fits my girth (280 lbs). I refuse to pay a small fortune for something that isn't really going to fit properly anyway. All my outdoor life I have used a poncho. I had one made from a kit that I used for 30 years, but it got moldy when we lived in the Bahamas and I couldn't get rid of the stink, so I had to toss it out. I am buying one from Amazon that is very similar for $22. I know from experience that there are situations when it isn't the perfect solution, but it's very functional, and I know how to get around it's shortcomings. I can use it in the canoe or on shore and stay quite dry from the calves up (when seated in the canoe it even keeps my feet dry). I've paddled and hiked and backpacked with just the poncho for raingear. No worries about breathability, it has unlimited airflow. I can wear anything necessary underneath it to suit the temperature. It packs away in a 9 x 12 bag. In a pinch, it can also double as a leanto shelter or a ground cloth. In the past I've pulled my head inside and eaten my lunch while reading a book in the rain. For me, it's the solution that works best for the greatest variety of uses.

Apparently it's good now, but this is the first time today that the site has loaded.

Wouldn't everything ice up? Fresh water freezes up fast at such cold temps. I would think that your rod guides and spool would quickly become iced over. Regardless, you won't catch me out fishing in that kind of weather.

Here's what I use for fishing and for golf: Tilley Hats They aren't cheap, but but they were originally designed for sailing. They are just about indestructible. Machine washable, UV protected, comfortable, and with both a chin and back of neck strap when needed to keep them on in the wind - even at full speed on the boat they won't blow off. I have one of the standard ones and a light weight one. The lighter one is great for traveling as it can be easily packed in a suitcase or stuffed into a backpack carry on. It was my hat for the African safari trip we did 3 years ago.

I'm getting a canoe for sure - my wife says it's my Christmas and birthday present for the next 2 years. Then she says it has to be big enough so she can ride along... not sure how that makes it MY present, but I'm okay with that. What I'm getting is an Old Town Discovery 133 - small enough to solo, but big enough for her to come along. You can cartop a canoe - I did it for years with my last canoe, even on a Toyota Corolla wagon (I even piled as many as 5 whitewater kayaks on that little car in my risk-taking days in the early 80's). Although I have an F-150 now, I still plan on carrying the canoe on top using a Yakima or Thule rack. I have to keep the hitch clear for my camper.

The only time I lived farther south than where I am now I grew to hate it in less than a year, and most would have considered living on the beach in the Bahamas to be living a dream. But summers were difficult with the humidity. I simply don't deal well with humidity after living for 53 years along the Rockies from Montana to Colorado - daytime humidity is fairly high here when it hits 50%. Summer has always been my favorite season, and when we lived on the island, I dreaded it. I'll take a few months of potentially cold weather over that any time. Tennessee isn't exactly tropical, for that matter. Besides, I actually like the weather and seasons, even though fall and spring can be somewhat indistinct here. When it snows too much, I hibernate. The rest of the time it's just a matter of how many layers do I put on? We can range from around 0° all the way to high 60's during winter. It keeps things interesting.

If it can only be one.... then of course, it must be the right one!

I cast right and reel right because that how I started fishing 60 years ago. It feels weird to crank a baitcaster left handed, yet I do it with my spinning rig just fine. I tried moving the crank on my spinning reel to the right, but I just can't cast lefty, nor does it feel comfortable to open and close the bail with my right hand. No logic to that, just how it is.

It could look like a Rube Goldberg contraption and that's fine with me as long as it still works as well.

We are having a fairly typical NE Colorado winter. Dec 20 it was 70° - Dec 21 (the official first day of winter) it was 30° - Dec 22 it was 22° - and today is the first day since then that it's been above freezing, just 33°. Tomorrow will be in the mid 40's, then Sunday's high is forecast at 11°. We have about 3" of snow on the ground - hard to tell when it moves around so much out here on the prairie. One day the wind is from the north and the snow moves south, then the wind is from the west and the snow migrates to southern Nebraska or Kansas, then it's from the southeast and the snow that blew away yesterday comes back today.

You must let it go, Grasshopper.

The first spot that I fished this year. Looks nice, stuck on shore and never got a nibble, but I didn't know what I was doing (still don't) but I hope that I'm learning from hanging out here. I plan to try it again next year after I get my canoe and see if I can cover some of those flooded willows from the outside.

Nice image. Very moving. I spent an emotional couple of hours there about 15 years ago. This one was taken the day of the eclipse while I was waiting for the action to begin:

Today's drive into town... took the scenic route and stopped for a photo from a bridge over the South Platte. Lot's of ice floating in the river after yesterday's cold front and last night's 6° temps.

On the road to Cabela's yesterday. Yup, that's right, this is the first 5 miles on the best route to my nearest Cabela's in Sidney, Nebraska.

Maybe you can't tell the difference, but the difference is there none the less. The vehicle with the tow package will typically last longer than one without, simply because it has (or at least should have) some less obvious modification like trans cooling and high capacity cooling system, lower range rear end, and better brakes that put less stress on the vehicle when under load - things you won't notice in normal driving. My F-150 was available without tow, with standard tow, and with max tow. Mine appears to be the max tow, and that gives it about 4000 pounds more range for max towing weight than the base model, plus adds class IV hitch receiver, high capacity radiator, trans cooler, 3.55 electronic locking rear end, 36 gallon gas tank, pre-wired with both 4 and 7 pin electrical, trailer brake controller, etc. I still need a weight distribution hitch for anything over about 700 lbs tongue weight. With my Husky WD hitch it's rated to 1100 lb tongue weight and max trailer weight at around 11,000 lbs (my camper is 5500 max). Like what the OP is thinking, I bought this truck specifically because it was fully capable of towing my 24 foot camping trailer. The dealer was actually uncertain just which package was in this truck, tow or max tow. It was a 2016 at end of the model year and the dealership was just being sold. The buyer had previously been a Chevy dealer and was just learning the Ford lineup. I did my research and decided that whichever package it actually had, it could handle my trailer (which it does effortlessly). I don't really know what Jeep adds to make up the tow package for the GC, but I'd suspect that it's something similar. It takes a pretty good sized boat to go over 3500 lbs, so with what the OP seems to be looking at, I can't think that he would have any issues.

Shore so far, but soon to be canoe as much as possible - buying an Old Town Discovery 133. Small enough to wrestle on top of my F-150 by myself and paddle solo, but big enough so that I can take my wife along when she wants to go too. Anything that needs to be trailered is not an option for me because I need to be able to pull my 24' Jayco camper most of the time.

I remember those too... a friend had one in yellow and black - looked sort of like a giant bumblebee. The surface action seemed like it should tempt a strike, but I don't recall that he ever caught anything on it.

Fishing a casting size Hula Popper on a steel rod with an ancient casting reel, black braid, and often a short steel leader with a snap swivel. If no leader, I still always had the snap swivel. For us kids, that was how we were taught back in the late 50's. The first "plug" I can remember using was a second, third or fourth hand red and white Bass-O-Reno (it was quite beat up, but still managed a few bass on it despite it being about 4" long). I also had a hand-me-down 4" flatfish, orange with black spots. They were all big lures because that was what you had to have with that old casting reel. Although there are some fond memories with it, I really have no desire to go back to that crappy old rod and reel. The first plug I bought for myself was a hula popper in leopard frog pattern, then one in black for dusk and after sunset (never could figure why a black lure worked better in the dark). I also had a jitterbug. I played around with pre-rigged plastic worms and black leaches... caught a few nice bass on them just wading out about waist deep in front of our cabin and fishing the weed beds parallel to the shore. I remember "borrowing" the bamboo flyrod that hung on the wall of my uncle's cabin when they weren't at the lake and fishing popper flies for rock bass, and sometimes threw a small (about 1½") flatfish. This fall I had to feed my memories and buy a couple of Hula Poppers... not quite what I remembered, and it remains to be seen if I will ever actually catch anything on them, but I did it just for the sake of nostalgia: