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"Swedes in the Weeds" Boat History
Back in the day when Edwin and his son Bruce fished Muskie's, Edwin would rent a cabin on the lake he wanted to fish and a 14 to 16 foot cedar strip boat would be suppled along with the cabin rental. He would then bring his own outboard motor to attach. These boats were not very stable for standing and casting Muskie's, plus they did not work well for setting hooks and battling giant fish.
In 1963 after losing a world record Muskie, Edwin had enough and decided he would have to build a real Muskie boat. It would need a large casting deck and be super sable, plus room to move around when battling big fish and setting hooks. Edwin came up with the answer, a pontoon boat with a 10 X 7 foot deck and extra center pontoons that would make it plan over the surface and run almost 30mph with a 25hp tiller outboard. He built it out of marine plywood with redwood framing so it was very light weight. He designed it with two separate half sections, so it would come apart and load on a smaller boat trailer in only minutes. It made this pontoon boat totally portable, so it could trailered to different lakes the same day if needed. Edwin had now designed and built the perfect Muskie boat of its day.
He made special long oars, so it was easy to row. Note, the open rear hatch cover, which allowed for great storage inside each pontoon.
No power tools back then. Edwin assembled the entire boat, driving brass screws every two inches, with a hand drill he modified to a flat driver blade.
The boat was loaded on the trailer, deck-to-deck with the railings stacked between. It was compact and streamlined for towing. Assembly at the lake only took minutes.
After Edwin's passing, Bruce bought a new 1977 Ranger 1600-1. It was the first year for this new model tiller boat. These Ranger 1600 series boats became very popular for Muskie fishing. Bruce fished Muskie's with it for many years. That Ranger boat gave them so many beautiful memories, from Barbara razing at record sized Muskie, too Blakes first fish and then his first Muskie. They fitted it was lights inside and out. Swedes in the Weeds wrote the book on fishing Muskies after dark. They had some great adventures with that old Ranger, but after many years they needed an upgraded and sold that little blue Ranger. They miss all the great times that Ranger gave them, so now they are trying to hunt it down, just to park it in their boat shop. Crazy Muskie guys.
In 2017 Blake decided they needed to finally upgrade their game, so that's when they sold the old Ranger. They sat down and made a list of what would be needed to enhance the chase of a world record Muskie. Number one was a boat that could take big water. They had always run two stroke outboards, but now it was time for a motor with less noise and better fuel efficiency. They also needed a boat that could handle big water, which the old Ranger could not. Blake had just bought some of the new 9- and 10-foot Muskie rods and then realized, all the new boats didn't have rod lockers that could hold them. The last thing they wanted was having rods laying all over the deck when fighting a big fish. The only option would be to find a boat they could modify and make work. They decided the Aluma-Craft 185 Competitor with modifications, could do the job. It was a large deep V which could handle big water and with a new 4 stroke 90hp Suzuki they could fish all week on a tank of gas. It also had a center rod locker, which could hopefully be modified to fit the new longer Muskie rods, and at the same time they could extend the casting deck, for fighting and dealing with giant Muskies. They set up a special factory tour to get an inside look at the framing of the Competitor just to make sure it would work. Everything looked good so a few months later, they took delivery of a new 185 Aluma-Craft, with 90hp Suzuki tiller outboard. They brought it home and processed to take it almost completely apart. Months later, after a total rebuild, they had the boat they wanted. They loaded the boat with all the latest electronics and much more. Like Edwin had done some 60 years before, they built the Muskie boat they needed. It was a ton of work, but that's Muskie fishing.
In 2025 they picked up this ESCAPE 165 for smaller lakes and rivers. With the addition of a jackplate, it should be a good Muskie boat for that purpose.
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