Timothy and Karen Emmons love camping and fishing Floridas lakes in their Sea Eagle 8. Timothy recently caught this handsome tilapia on Webb Lake.

“To say we LOVE our new Sea Eagle 8 is an understatement! Since we do a lot of camping at fresh water lakes and rivers, we decided Sea Eagle would be the right boat so we ordered the SE 8 with the Fisherman’s Dream Package. It came complete with Minn Kota electric motor, oars, pump, seats and motor mount.”

Fishing’s their thing

Karen shows off the crappie (pronounced “croppy”) she caught on Lake Manatee in their Sea Eagle. Timothy told us it was 10 inches then revised his report to 12 inches when Karen learned shed been shortchanged. “She always out-fishes me,” says Timothy.

“Now we get to do some trolling and have fished in areas that were too far to paddle. We’ve caught more fish and cruised more areas than we ever thought possible. People we meet comment on how much they like our little boat and we’re seeing more and more of them at the parks we camp in around Florida. Thanks Sea Eagle, you’ve made our fishing life a lot easier and with more fish for dinner!”

Timothy and Karen Emmons moved from Hawaii to Cape Coral, Florida, about five years ago. “We’re right across the river from Fort Meyers,” Timothy told us, “120 miles south of Tampa.” Timothy’s retired after a career in property management and though Karen’s still working, “We go camping, boating, and fishing on long weekends every couple of weeks,” said Timothy. “We fish all the time. That’s our thing.”

Great camping & fishing in Florida

The couple previously owned a hard hull kayak, and liked it, but found it didn’t suit their fishing needs very well. “We couldn’t cross a large lake with it,” Timothy said. “We’d fish just the shoreline. Paddling half a mile was just too much.” The Sea Eagle 8’s Minn Kota electric motor takes them far afield effortlessly. They sold the kayak with an online ad on craigslist.

The Emmonss are ready to go for a weekend of camping and fishing — RV and pickup truck with their Sea Eagle 8 tucked securely in the bed.

“We like the outdoors a lot,” said Timothy, and camping and fishing suit them just fine. You’ll frequently find the Emmons’s camped at one of Florida’s many private campsites or state and federal parks. Standard equipment is their RV behind their pickup truck with their Sea Eagle in the back. No boat trailers for Timothy and Karen.

“We like Lake Manatee State Park.” Another of their favorite hideaways is W.P. Franklin Locks; a federally operated site where locks separate bodies of salt and fresh water.

Webb Lake gets a big thumbs up, too. “It’s 25 miles north of us,” says Timothy. “It’s a manmade lake created in the 1970’s when they built I-75. Now a private lake stocked with tilapia, bass, bluegill, and crappie (pronounced “croppy”). It’s one of the greatest fishing lakes around here.”

“I’ve been a fisherman all my life,” Timothy tells us. “We like bluegills, bass, crappie, and Mayan cichlid” that look like a fat perch. Timothy says tilapia hard to catch but put up an impressive fight. And from the smile on his face in the photo, you can see who won the battle. But Timothy confesses, “Karen out-fishes me all the time.”

“…and it was on sale!”

The Emmons’s report, “The Sea Eagle has opened so many doors for us. We wanted to get something easy to handle in and out of the water.” They chose the SE 8, one of Sea Eagle’s Motormount Boats  — a substantial fishing craft — and added the Fisherman’s Dream Package. “We priced everything a la carte,” said Timothy, “and by the time we added it all up, the package was cheaper. And it was on sale.”

Timothys handy – he built this clever rope-and-pulley wall storage system for about $10 worth of hardware.

Between camping and boating trips, the Emmons’s inflatable boat hangs out – quite literally – on the wall of their garage. Timothy’s own clever rope-and-pulley arrangement cost him about $10 and frees up floor space.

“Sea Eagle, keep up the great work,” Timothy advised us. “This is one of the best products we’ve ever owned. Don’t change a thing. The material it’s made of is almost like leather — virtually indestructible.”

Any advice for other boaters? “Don’t hesitate. Sea Eagle is the best thing for someone looking for a little boat. Construction quality is great. I can’t believe it’s made so well. It’s very safe and I like it’s got three chambers. It’s improved our life. We sure like it!”

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