I'm looking to buy a small boat for the purpose of fishing on lakes. Nothing fancy but it has to be easy to use, maintain, and can "troll" slowly like many fishermen here described. Something below $3k also.

Another question is whether I should buy a boat at all since I don't know much about fishing. All the jigs and lures baffle me. I have been fishing many times over the years but haven't done any big game fishing or any fishing where you have to be on a boat. The biggest fish I ever caught were the shads down in Bonneville dam. They're aren't that good to eat so I ended up giving them away but they sure know how to put up a fight.

Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Btw, this is not some sort of phase I'm going through.

Thank you,

Brian