My middle son Ian and I went to Loon Pit yesterday. It was the first time just the two of us have paddled together, and we took Lisa’s Saranac 146 tandem canoe. It’s a neat little fourteen foot-six inch family knock around boat. It has bucket seats front and back, and a center bench for a third passenger with a storage box and a dry safe in it. She’s not fast, but quick enough with two paddling, turns and handles well, and stable as all get out. It’s just a great little boat to just fart around in, fish out of, and whatever else you might care to do I reckon. They are relatively, inexpensive and very tough. The only drawback of the poly boats is the weight. She comes it at seventy-nine pounds dry weight. It takes two people to load and unload her, but given the price, durability and overall performance/stability for a boat that length that is thirty-six inches wide, it is well worth the effort and we’re glad we bought her. Now if Lisa’s hip replacement will just heal…
Loon pit is in Blue Grass Fish & Wildlife Area, which is old strip mine property. It is in the process of being rehabbed, and the larger lakes are very popular with fishermen, kayakers and paddle board enthusiasts.
If you can read it, that should pretty much cover everything I know about Blue Grass. The only problem is that it is still in early recovery, so there are no large trees around the lake. That’s great if you’re a sun worshipper and want to paddle your board in your bikini or man thong, but for fishermen and casual paddlers in self-propelled craft like kayaks and canoes it can get a bit bright and hot out there. The best times for us are dawn to 10:00 AM, and around 4:00 PM to dark. And of course a paddle on a wide open lake like Loon under a full moon is just absolutely splendid. I have to run off for a bit now, but I’ll add some pictures from previous trips to Loon Pit when I get back so you can get an idea…