Tranquility

[tolle141]

Needed to share this. I always suspected that as sOon as I got a boat the yaks would gather dust. For those who don't know, this sprIng I got the boat I've been dreaming about since I wad 15 (2004 crestliner 1850 fish hawk dual console Honda 135). Even better than I imagined.

Since then, the yaks haven't seen water. They just gathered dust, and all I could think was "man those were great at the time". Been feeling guilty and felt like they wouldn't get the love they deserved

Then came the annual Backus trip. Terrible trail that I won't risk the boat on. Had to bring the yaks.

They don't paddle 45mph. They don't fit all my gear plus sunblock, and oh yeah, they dont paddle 45mph

Yet here I am, half deep on the bottle of jag, tube jig and lucky craft crank rigged up. Walleyes are moving in on the weed bed. Bass bustin top water. Summer doldrums leaving the water glass. Perfect reflection of the pine trees and moon sliver. And no matter how quiet that Honda four stroke is, it can't compete with the peacefulness of my paddle. It doesnt leave the glass wake of my keel. It doesn't glide indefinitely thru the cabbage.

The bOat may be the more efficient fishing machine. It may be faster and allow me to pack everything, but the yak gives a connection with nature that makes every night magical. As i stare down this remote lake, camp fire in the distance, I can't help but think about what life is all about. No doubt the boat will see more time, but the yak will never lose its place and will always be a place of escape.

For the yakers and canoers who are waiting to buy boat, paddling isn't over when you dO. If anything it becomes more essential for the soul.

Pause and watch the reflection.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Darn, I was hoping you would sell your yak to me

[Ufatz]

Blah blah blah with all that touchy-feely pablum. You hair net wearin' lip balm wipin' nature lovers miss the whole point: we live in a machine world!

Gimme my Ranger with a 300HP Black Max stormin' up the middle of Vermillion, spray flyin' and rooster tail reaching for the sky, little old guys in row boats pulling their oars like Eyptian slaves to get out of my way, my hat on backward and fastened in place with Velro and the instruments just a blur to me from all the vibration.

Now THAT's boatin' man. It must be-I saw it just this morning while I was sitting in my float tube watching a muskrat eat a water lilly bulb.

[Stick in Mud]

I know what you mean...I spend as much time as possible in my canoe, but I can't ignore the benefits of our "real" boat (as in, I spent last week *trying* to fish Pine Lake in the eastern BWCA but, with those big NNW winds, had a real, real hard time making anything happen).

Then again, when the wind died down at night and the bass started hitting topwaters, there's nowhere else I'd rather have been than in the ol' canoe. Well, except for maybe in a nicer canoe.