He was a single father with 2 boys and didn't have extra cash for boats and such. You can imagine what kind of trouble 2 boys can get into and I'm sure he was saving his extra pennies for bail. It was August, we were suppose to go shopping for school clothes but we ended up at Arts Marine in North Little Rock, AR instead. Me and my brother climbed up in this new boat and fell in love. I was fooling with the trolling motor, working a big bass from some thick cover. My brother was imagining himself kneeboarding. Of course it wasn't going to happen, Dad had saved for clothes not boats. We left disappointed but in full negotiation mode. We knew he had cash for our clothes and knew the price of the boat. It wasn't long until we informed him we didn't have a need for new clothes. I mean seriously, we were 3 guys living on our own. We wanted a boat and to be camping and fishing every weekend. At the time, I couldn't imagine being with a girl that didn't fish...so a boat over labels made perfect sense to a 13 year old. Boy was I wrong...none of the girls in my life fish...NONE!
Like a good parent he didn't cave right away. I knew he wanted that boat too, but he had to be responsible. I'm sure he checked our clothing situation as he did the laundry. In the end, we wore holes in our old jeans and everything we owned smelled like a camp fire or fish b/c we ended up with a new 17 ft Alumacraft and it's been in the family ever since. It kept me out of trouble in high school. I was home early every Saturday night, and up early every Sunday morning.
It carried me, my brother, and dad around the lake for years. Several Lake Ouachita island camping trips. At least 1 trip to the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, where he got a ticket for pulling a skier w/o having someone old enough to spot. Guess why we never went back! Now it carries me and my family around the lake.
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| Couple baitfish patterns I tied last night - getting ready for SMB season. |
It doesn't have that new boat smell anymore. Rather, it has a few leaks and shows its wisdom in every scratch. But I love it and consider it part of the family. Like any family member, it's far from perfect, but can't be replaced.
