[kissarmygeneral]

Originally Posted by 32-40win

A good place for you to start would be something like Dickson trout pond.
It's a bit further than you may want to go, but, it is likely an easier place for you to get the feel of the boat. You can learn your movement speed, get used to how it rows, and moves around in an area somewhat sheltered from the wind. You can get some idea of what to pack on it, and where to put it, when you go out on the water, what you may need to add to it, or leave behind. You'll need to set up the seat, to balance it out in the water, so make sure you have what you need, for tools to do that.
You don't want to go out on a place like Crawling Valley, or Chain, until you have a good feel for the boat and how to secure everything you have with you. Wind comes up out there and you will get an education in a hurry.
I would recommend you go out early in the AM, as this time of year the wind will arise, and storms will arrive most afternoons. Smaller waters are the place to learn that stuff. Pontoon will handle 4ft waves, but you won't get a choice in which direction you are going. Something you do need to pay attention to when going out on larger water---which way will the wind blow later on? There are lots of small lakes up around Caroline /Rocky zone for you to try, and some decent fishing.
Other than the Bow, it's 1-1/2hrs to nearly any public, small, trout lakes around Calgary anyways.

Thanks for the advice, I went out to Sibbald earlier today for a few hours and everything went just mighty fine. I need to fine tune my seat position/ foot peg length and peg-holes for my oars for a tall dude....and hey... I even caught a few fish.