Leonard, sorry to miss your post, but it was great talking to you on the phone. Lyn and Lee built their boats during the seventies. I bought my boat from them in the late seventies for $1100, which was a lot of money in those days. Other scull boats new were selling for around $700, which included an oar. As I mentioned to you on the phone, the wind or wave dodger at the top of the cockpit was attached with Velcro on the outside of the combing. Similar to an old-fashion baby buggy cover, an aluminum rod thread through the top of the dodger so it would swing up in place. It was held by two bungee cords attached to each side of the combing. I have no idea how many boats the two Benecia welders made, but the year I ordered mine I was boat number eight or nine. In those days Cliffton Court would have up to a dozen scull boats out on the reservoir during the second half of the season. Everyone anchored up or just took a position. Many of us would lay out a small set of decoys to mark our area. If a bird or two landed between zones, it would be a race to see who became the lead boat. Once it was determined who was closer, the other sculler backed off. In those days pintails were the dominant bird followed by teal and mallards. We had lots of wigeon, redheads and some canvasbacks. Most everyone ignored the spoonbills and rudy ducks. In the afternoons the Canada geese would land out in the middle of the lake. Some scullers would come late after the duck hunters had left. They would set out a dozen geese decoys and anchor off a hundred yards. One old man had built a God-awful scull boat out of wood. It had a high profile. It was so crude that the front end was a section of an old wood door that protruded from the bow, presumably to act as a keel. He had a piece of fire hose wired to an old, solid oar. It would take him over an hour to scull on the birds that landed near his decoys and preened themselves in the afternoon sun. He had patience; however, time passed easily for him as he had a small tv, which ran on batteries. He had ear plugs and his antenna ran all around his cockpit. He was unkept, dirty and down-right unsocial, but he closed to within ten yards before he sat up and fired. He was a legend!
I hope that you will email me next fall, or anytime, to discuss sculling. After so long of an absence from sculling, I am both eager and worried that I may have lost my skills. Sculling requires a lot of skill and finesse on open water. Sometimes it would be so easy that I would scratch my head in wonder. Other days I could do nothing right. I would flare birds and not really understand why they were so spooky. I welcome any insights to add to my article on sculling on the blog, www.fishingtips101.com. Finally, short of taking off by glasses and becoming Mr. McGoo, I hope some sculler out their tells me what he does about wearing glasses!
Dave Archer
