For Carolina Skiff owner Emily Edwards, boating is truly a family affair.  Not only does she enjoy spending time on the water with her husband Dennis and her children Trinity and Jackson, the reason her family has their boat – a Carolina Skiff J16 – is because of her father-in-law, Joe. Emily, her family and her father-in-law all live in the New Bern, North Carolina area.

How did you obtain your Carolina Skiff boat?

My father-in-law bought this boat when he retired in 2000. He used it for about seven years, but then his wife got really sick and passed away, and he lost interest. He let the boat sit for about 12 years before he told us to take the boat, fix it up and use it. The motor required a thorough cleaning and the boat’s carburetor was reconstructed due to the boat being stored for so long, but it really required no other update besides replacement of the fish finder and a seat.  The boat runs so well. You really cannot tell it is a 20-year-old boat. We cleaned it up and have been using it for about four years. We take it out almost every day.”

Tell us about your family outings on the boat.

Our 12-year-old son Jackson and 19-year-old daughter Trinity love to go out on the boat with the family.  The kids prefer fishing in the summer, but my husband and I love to get out on the water year-round. In the winter, when we go fishing, it’s just the two of us. The kids aren’t into going out in the cold. We live about 40 minutes from the beach. We’ll put the boat in the sound, bottom fish in the bay, fish in the marsh in saltwater. Where we live is brackish, but near our house is fresh water where you can catch bass. You can catch just about anything in this area, it’s really diverse.

Talk about some of your favorite features of your Carolina Skiff.

One of my favorite things about the boat is that is gives us the ability to access water that other boats cannot.  It’s amazing the places we can go. We can get into these little sloughs.

We have made many memories on this boat.  Whether fishing by myself or out with the family, every day is remarkable on the boat.  We enjoy fishing in a variety of settings and simply cruising together. My favorite memory was one time we went out in the winter, and both of our kids caught their first striper within a day of each other.  It was about three years ago. With teens, it’s hard to keep their attention.  But I told them ‘we’re going here, and I know you’re going to catch a fish.’  They both love the summer fishing, and we go three to four days a week, depending on the weather.  We have such a good time together.

What else would you like to tell us about your Carolina Skiff?

From a practical standpoint, my favorite thing about the Carolina Skiff is the fuel efficiency. I see people all the time who buy these big boats and they cannot afford to take them out. I get wanting to have a bigger boat, but what’s the point if you cannot afford to take it out and don’t use it often?  We don’t usually go very far when we go out, so a tank of gas lasts us a really long time.

Tell us about your family.

My husband is retired from the military, and I worked previously as a medical assistant. Now our days are filled with fishing, deer hunting and family time. We like to stock the freezer with fish from our frequent outings, then gather the family for a fish fry. Jackson caught a huge crappie recently, and he got to watch my father-in-law cook it. And then he ate it. It’s cool to introduce our kids to that kind of stuff. My kids both do love their screens, but if they have an opportunity to go hunting or fishing with us, they do enjoy that.

Do you someday dream of owning a different boat?

Well, I’ve considered buying a different, larger Carolina Skiff boat, but the whole family is very attached to this current boat.  There are so many memories associated with this boat. And it does exactly what we want it to do. My sister-in-law will tell Joe (my father-in-law) when we are out on the river. He calls us as soon as we are off the water to find out what we caught.  Even though he won’t go out anymore, it gives him such joy to know we’re enjoying the boat. He’s passing the torch.

When Joe was still using the boat, he tore a hole in the bottom of it after getting stuck on a submerged stump.  But he fixed that hole, and you cannot even tell.  The patch still holds today, and there’s nothing wrong with it. This boat is great, and it can take anything. Joe really has some of the best fishing stories. And now, we’re happy to share our fishing stories with him.

Anything else you’d like to tell us?

We aren’t going to stray from Carolina Skiff. We have friends that have other brands. They are all great boats, but they just don’t have the same feel.  They just don’t have what our boat has.  If we ever get another boat, it’s going to be a Carolina Skiff.  It’s a great boat for everything that we do.