"The canoeists I really bleed for are the paddlers who don't even own a wooden paddle to sand and varnish. For those of you with aluminum or fiberglass canoes and paddles, you might try carrying your canoe around on the roof of your car anytime after New Years Day. Anytime before that looks pretty ridiculous. But after New Years Day, you just never know. Spring could be early."

That quote is from Bill Mason's book "Path of the Paddle (Key Porter Books, 1984) and it jumped right off the page this month as the snow in the mountains took its own good time melting and the ice grew too anemic to fish on but remained too thick to launch a canoe. But it's almost April, spring is on its way and soon the weather will be perfect for canoeing, the most civilized mode of transportation mankind has ever devised.

Our region is not exactly the great northern wilderness that Mason and others like Sigurd Olson and Calvin Rutstrum paddled and wrote about, but we do have many fine canoeing opportunities in Western Pennsylvania. Ours is a land of rivers rather than natural lakes and the region offers every kind of canoe float trip from lazy meandering creeks to thrilling whitewater. We also have flatwater options, especially on the many smaller state park and Fish and Boat Commission lakes where high-power motorboats are prohibited.

On these waters it's possible to at least get a sense of the calm and solitude that reigns where canoes are most at home. They are also great places to use a canoe to reach good fishing.

With that prospect in mind, the following are a few considerations for anyone thinking about buying their first canoe, especially if it's to be used for fishing or for easy or moderate-difficulty trips on the region's rivers and streams.

The most important point to keep in mind is that "a canoe is not a canoe." There are an infinite number of different canoe designs, each with different features to fit certain uses. For instance, some canoes are built long and sleek for speed and "tracking," the built-in ability to maintain a straight line with minimal steering. Such boats, though, must sacrifice stability and maneuverability to achieve their intended purpose.

Other canoes are made wider and shorter, offering more stability for less experienced paddlers and lighter weight for easy handling and loading on a trailer or car. Boats built on this design are great fishing craft but would never win a race, which you won't care about anyway if you desire a canoe to enhance your angling adventures.

In the canoe market, wide-built stable canoes intended for fishing, hunting, nature photography, or bird-watching are termed "sporting canoes," and most canoe makers are now offering sporting models.

For fishing and casual recreational use on our lakes and milder rivers, look for a sporting canoe somewhere between 14- and 16-feet long and measuring anywhere from 35- to 37-inches wide at the gunwales (top of the hull). The width measurement will vary somewhat depending on the cross-sectional design of the hull. Some boats, especially those built for high performance whitewater paddling, have a taper or "flare" built into the hull, providing various degrees of protection from spray and waves, or allowing for easier paddling motion. A good sporting canoe should have a fairly uniform cross-section hull design, and measure about the same width at the gunwales and at the waterline.

"Rocker" is an important feature in canoe choice. It describes the degree of curvature in the keel line along the bottom. Whitewater boats have a lot of rocker, with a pronounced upward curve at the bow and stern. Sporting canoes are built without much rocker and the bow and stern will lie flat on a floor when you check the boat out at the dealer.

For most of us, price is a primary factor in canoe choice. The material used in construction has the greatest influence on price. Wood boats are generally most pricey, while aluminum and fiberglass tend to be less expensive. Other choices are modern synthetics such as Kevlar and Royalex. Most manufacturers offer only one or two material options.

Grumman, Mad River, Old Town, Scott Canoe, We no nah and other companies all offer sporting canoes specially designed for hunting and fishing. Check out their Web sites for more details. Most sites can be found by adding ".com" to the name of the company.

A canoe lets you reach water you couldn't before, helps you get closer to wildlife than you ever thought possible, and offers the perfect place to share a day with someone else who enjoys the outdoors.