From school days long past, I remember some verse or sonnet with the idea that in spring a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love. After a small amount of research and personal observation, I’ve come to the conclusion that most Maine men beyond college age actually fancy spring with thoughts of fishing season. Regional sportsmen have endured a long winter and are now rewarded with a full summer of trolling, bait fishing, and fly casting.

Taking full advantage of these widespread desires for open-water fishing, area retailers, wholesalers, and sporting organizations have crammed the entire month of March and even early April with boat shows, sportsmen’s shows, and outdoor sports expositions. It’s no small coincidence that each of these productions features a selection of watercraft of every imaginable shape and size. Spring is a prime time of year to purchase a boat. A full season of several styles of fishing lies ahead, soon to be followed by various hunting seasons which also make use of watercraft.

Buy wisely

The purchase of a large multipurpose watercraft by an outdoorsman will usually be one of the most expensive pieces of sporting equipment ever selected. An all-around boat must meet many needs, and its particular usefulness will be measured by each buyer’s specific hunting and fishing requirements. Since it must have the comfort and safety of a car, but with more diversity and mobility, and since it will not be traded nearly as often, the final selection better be well thought out.

Entire books have been written on selecting a boat, but my suggestions are going to touch on only the most relevant needs. There will be no discussion of motors, electronic gear, or comfort conveniences as these are mostly matters of personal preference. The goal of this article is to offer ideas backed by experience to properly match boat benefits with sporting needs.

For remote lakes: flotation tubes

Remote lakes and ponds that have no vehicle access but offer great fishing will require special flotation that can be carried through the forest with ease. Even small canoes won’t meet this challenge, but a personal flotation tube will fit the bill. These devices offer stability and comfort with accessibility to every nook and cranny of stump-strewn or weed-infested waters. Float tubes are amazingly steady and durable and are available in sizes to hold sportsmen and gear in excess of 300 pounds. A myriad of pouches and pockets keep lots of gear dry and at the sportsman’s fingertips.

Flotation tubes can be backpacked along with fishing gear, be inflated after hiking to lakeside, utilized and then deflated for the trek back to the vehicle. These small-water wonders will also serve duck hunters well by allowing the gunners to easily camouflage themselves and wait in the most unlikely locations to intercept passing waterfowl.

These hunting tubes are camouflage-colored with special back support and extra flotation to withstand the discharge of large-bore shotguns. With one of these rigs, remote ponds can be gunned with no need for a canoe or dog to retrieve downed birds, so waterfowlers get to visit spots others can’t or won’t be bothered with. Good quality float tubes range from $100 to $300.

The unique: inflatable pontoons

If a bit larger craft is needed to accommodate a pair of anglers or shooters, but still must be transported bodily, there are inflatables to meet these needs as well. Surprisingly light to carry cross country, quickly inflatable by pump or CO2 cartridges, these stable pontoon-type craft can withstand heavy loads in rough waters and even use a motor.

There are zodiac styles with floorboards that sit low in the water like a giant oval doughnut which are good for hunting. Then there’s the double-pontoon style with high seats for fishing and casting comfort. A wide selection of sizes and amenities are available on these unique watercraft and prices range from $200 to $2,000.

Canoe is traditional favorite

The favorite watercraft of many sportsmen, myself included, is the traditional canoe. I have a 20-foot Jackson double-ender that is wide, deep and stable enough to have a barn dance in. It has transported me over many Atlantic salmon pools on dozens of rivers in extreme comfort and safety. This sturdy craft has carried three of us and all our gear through nasty waves and wind on a large lake with a 9.8 horsepower motor for steerage. It has even been loaded with decoys and gear to set up waterfowling on a large river, and camouflaged with reeds and brush to form an effective blind.

My all-around canoe has one major drawback in that it is heavy and therefore difficult to load, unload, and carry about. It’s not a car-topper, nor would it be as useful and effective if it were light, narrow and shallow. This particular canoe is a workhorse and can be easily controlled while afloat via a paddle or motor, despite how cumbersome it is to manipulate on land.

Many folks prefer a square-stern canoe if a motor will be used more often than paddles, but that’s a personal choice. I chose fiberglass, with reinforced fiberglass ribs and wood only for the gunnels and thwarts, therefore it needs very little annual care and maintenance.

Old-style cedar strip canoes with canvas covering, or a resin and paint outer skin, are by far the most traditional fishing canoes, but need to be kept up yearly. They are expensive, hand-crafted boats still custom-built by dozens of regional artisans, and well worth having for their tradition as well as their all-around effectiveness on local waterways for trout and salmon. The modern, nearly indestructible synthetic canoes, for all their benefits, just don’t have the heritage.

The growing sport of white-water canoeing and kayaking, and more recently sea kayaking, are big spring sports on local rivers and along the coastline. Sizes, shapes, and materials for these specialized watercraft built for one or two people cover a wide spectrum, and the line expands every year. Folks getting into this style of recreational boating need professional advice from experienced sales experts or other whitewater enthusiasts. The best bet is to try before you buy this style of boat, narrow the choices, and then make a selection.

As much as my big canoe is utilized for salmon fishing and lake trolling, I had to give up on it for waterfowling. I bought a light-weight, 19-foot aluminum square-stern, painted its camouflage pattern myself, and have car-topped it all over the state for duck, goose, and deer-float trips. I can load and unload it myself, it will hold hundreds of pounds of gear along with two or three people, and the shoe keel will allow flotation in inches of water with good control.

Aluminum will always be too cold or hot depending on weather, tends to grab and scrape along rocks, and dents fairly easily, but for me its effectiveness and mobility for waterfowling far outweigh these few drawbacks.

Johnboats for small water

I am not a fan of small canoes! Even 12- or 14-foot models seem far too unstable for my 6-foot-3, 250-pound frame. I want to concentrate on my casting or shooting, not on whether I’ll be able to dog paddle to the nearest shore in the current and cold water, with my fly rod or shotgun in my teeth. For floating small water I’ll take a johnboat every time.

They are as light and easy to handle as the mini canoes, and the square bow and stern make them far roomier and more stable from which to cast and blast. As an added benefit, johnboat will handle small gas motors or electric motors on the stern far easier than small canoes with a side mount.

Bass boats hit specific need

Bass fishing is the fastest growing type of angling across the entire U.S. and thus the need for specially equipped bass boats. These high-class, expensive craft are customized for their express purpose, but good for few other outdoor sports.

They are not set up for rough water or heavy seas, nor meant for rocky, weed-choked, narrow, and shallow waterways, nor any type of hunting, but then they’re not meant to be. I have seen smaller, less fancy versions work well for specific types of salmon and walleye fishing, but the rivers were deep, calm, and free of obstructions. If bass fishing is your prime interest, the boat choice is obvious, and the selection extensive and fairly pricey.

Other specialized craft would include flats boats and sailboats for their specific sports, sneakboats and scullboats for their particular hunting methods, speedboats for water skiing, and pontoon boats for family outings and scuba diving. These fall outside of our guidelines of interest in this article, yet can be easily bought or built by those in need.

All-around boats

Having discussed smaller watercraft for various uses on small- to moderate-sized waterways, and avoiding big-water boats for deep-sea fishing that require house mortgages, let’s discuss the middle ground of all-around boats. The size of the water will determine the effectiveness of a moderate-sized boat.

Several uses for the medium boat that come to mind include trolling larger lakes, sea duck hunting, and ocean fishing. Each of these sports will require a craft that can handle lots of gear such as downriggers, planer boards, and lots of boat rods, dozens of decoys, coolers, and much more dunnage, and have the stability to bring everyone home if the weather and seas take a turn for the worse.

Tri-hull boats tend to be somewhat shallower in depth, less roomy, and more apt to take on water in heavier seas than a deep V-hull model. Look for flat flooring over the boat deck to assure more stable footing and to keep feet dry and gear out of the salt water. High sides and a drab color will help with camouflage and hiding the shooter’s silhouettes from approaching waterfowl, not to mention keeping gear and people from falling out and water from easily getting in. A 17- to 20-foot length will be about the perfect size for an all-around, midsized sporting boat.

Three for all seasons

As you’ve probably surmised, few year-round, multi-sport, all- weather outdoorsmen will find contentment and fill all their needs with one boat. After buying, trying, and trading a dozen boats in more than 20 years, I’ve found three that satisfy my every outdoor requirement: a 20-foot, deep-V Lund Alaskan with midboat right-side control console; a 19-foot square stern freighter style, fiberglass canoe, and a 16-foot, 59-pound Old Town Royalex canoe. My wife says if one more boat comes home, I’d better be able to live in it.

Perhaps your outdoor interests are limited enough to get by with only one boat, and there are some great spring bargains out there right now. Research by talking to owners, reading, and testing every model that interests you and might meet your requirements. You will spend a lot of money and a lot of time on the boat of your choice, and eventually your life may depend on it, so take your time and float yourself well.

Outdoor feature writer Bill Graves can be reached at graves@polarisumpi.maine.edu