3284 Commercial Way (US 19)
Spring Hill, FL 34606
(across from Flammer Ford in the WellCare Plaza)
352-686-9520
A LITTLE GHEENOE STORY
For 15+ years I was a tournament fisherman in Michigan. My Champion bass boats and I fished the big water of Lake Erie, Huron and St. Clair mostly for smallmouth bass.

Upon retiring 9 years ago, my wife and I toured the "retirement areas" across the south and out west from California to British Columbia only to find that the nature coast and Tampa Bay area were the best suited for our recreation and environmental needs.

As soon as I had the opportunity to fish the gulf out of Bayport, Homasassa and Chassahowitzka, I knew that these waters were not for my latest fast and beautiful bass boat. Although the Champ would handle all the gulf weather and water that could be thrown at her, the salt water combined with rock bars and oyster beds would certainly ruin her beauty. The decision was easy -- sell her up north in the big fresh water fisheries where she would be appreciated.

I looked for comparable "bay boats" but they would have similar problems with the Nature Coast in-shore fishing environment. Not having a solution to the problem, my wife and I
"agreed" to a used 18' Smokercraft Pontoon boat as the best for the visiting family tours and my attempts at learning the in-shore water.

After a couple of years it was evident that the pontoon was not the easiest to manipulate on the ground or on the water. Spot fishing by anchor and rope was not the most efficient means of handling the skinny waters and those two pontoons created some scary noises when contacting Oyster beds.

Then one day a few years ago I saw this small boat that looked like a Canoe fly past me with a relative large engine mounted on the transom. Passing me on his return, I saw "Gheenoe" on the side of the boat. When I went home, I immediately "Googled" the name and found a website that told the whole story of the Gheenoe line of boats. Seeking more info, I found that Custom Gheenoe had a forum on their website. At that time, it had a couple of thousand registered users with many thousands of comments and interesting facts about the Gheenoe "cult". Being impressed with the forum I joined it to begin asking the questions I had about the boats.

After 3 months of my questions and answers by forum members, I was convinced that a Gheenoe was the boat suited for how I wanted to fish the in-shore waters. After getting really turned on to the potential, I looked into buying a new custom Gheenoe. when I found that the lead-time for a new custom was 14-16 weeks, I was too impatient to wait. I found an almost new 15'6" Custom Classic with center console, front trolling motor, poling platform and 25HP Tohatsu 2-stroke for sale in Fort Myers.

That was the beginning of an adventure that has gone on for nearly 3 years now. My little Gheenoe has been all over the Nature Coast. From catching trout in 10 feet of water 10 miles out in Gulf, to 3 inches of water in the back country creeks for Redfish and Snook, this little Gheenoe has done everything that I hoped for and more.

Her speed with equipment onboard is 26 MPH, considerably less than the 68 MPH Champion, but she gets 11 miles to the gallon (GPS verified) when cruising at 21 MPH. With my fishing partner and gear, her top speed is 24 MPH and we cruise at 20 MPH.

From the flats out from Homosassa and the creeks of Chaz, to the backwaters of Fillman's Bijou, this Gheenoe has taken me to places of beauty and serenity that I never knew existed on the Gulf Coast. These places where the "Kayakers" go with great aerobic exercise, stealth, and discomfort are indeed some of the most beautiful explorations in Florida.

Standing in my stable little Gheenoe, I view the waters and adventures ahead, fish with a wide variety of equipment and styles, all with no beneficial exercise and discomfort.

My friends at Precision Tackle hepled me learn the backwaters of the area and how to fish them, and in doing so became interested in the Gheenoe adventure. So much so, that I believe my little boat was part of the inspiration for Precision Tackle to acquire a Gheenoe Dealership, as it complimented their specialty of in-shore fishing.

For nearly a year now, Precision Tackle has sold Gheenoes ranging for the 13' & 15' Hi-siders, to 15'6" Classics and 16' Supers.
Their latest available boat is the new Custom Gheenoe LT 25 -and what a boat she is- even drier, faster and more stable than......... My Little Gheenoe