State Of Fishing Affairs

[bulletbob]

Sadly my days of fishing in NJ salt water are nearing the end.. 68 years old, no one to take down there with me, and solo trips are out of the question.. It cost me $60 in gas when it was $2.25 a gallon, just for the ride down, not including boat fuel, bait, and ramp fees.. Can't justify better the $200 just to jump on a head boat, as it could be a skunk day, and I would get totally disgusted.. My grandkids take most of my time these days, I have a 9 YO grandson thats an incredible athlete, and competes all around the upstate region in 3 sports in travel leagues for athletically advanced kids his age. Its not fishing, but its become a focal point leaving less time than ever..I get out locally when I can, and even nailed a fat 20 inch Walleye in a tiny little stream in Candor that usually yields nothing.. Matter of fact, I am probably going to list all my saltwater stuff on this forum and sell for next to nothing.. Dozens of rods reels, boxes and bags of lures and tackle... I'll probably never use them again, as it doesn't seem likely I'll have the wherewithal to fish salt water any longer.. Distance, age, time restrictions, and cost of fuel have had their way, finally, after many years... bob

[Dclark2]

You can't beat the face of a grand children catching their first fish or any other child on their first fishing trip..... Moments and memories last FOREVER ....

[hammer4reel]

Originally Posted by dales529

Have 5 charters 2 seabass and 3 fluke plus the PP Elks and FSOS tourneys. All 7 trips filled and will do some PB and friend trips along with surf as well.

Not changing my plans and will kick in extra to the boat if required but do understand that not everyone can do that and I am not the one putting gas in the boat!

Being on the water is the right thing even at the wrong time and the "catching" while well accepted is secondary.


As with everything this too will soon pass!

Also if you leave the politics aside the economy and most indexes are strong. Not a time to panic but be cautious. Being in business I am not seeing a slow down and taking advantage when / where possible.
The major corps are NOT losing money!

You must drink some strong koolaid .
Investments have lost everything they had made in the last 8 years .

Business would REALLY flourish if supply chains weren’t broke .
And the electrical supply chain needed for real infrastructure repair can’t even manage to keep up with normal maintenance, let alone new work .

Wait until fall and it costs thousands to heat a modest house .

.

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[hammer4reel]

Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski

You think this is partly an age/energy/wisdom thing Dan? 30 - 50s it seemed although I had less time and money, I fished every spare moment I got and a lot more often. Weather didn't stop us as much to a certain extent and we fished a lot after work and at night.. Gas was a lot cheaper then and it was also seemed a lot easier to find guys wanting to get out no matter the time or weather... You make a few calls and you had a crew.

Maybe some , but I always fished when I was off unless it was really wicked out .
Now if it’s not going to be productive it’s like throwing money in the ocean .

After work trips haven’t happened down here yet because the chessy bass haven’t got here in normal style yet .
.

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[dales529]

Not really Dan
Yes my investments are down 15% but were up 30 plus compounded over the last 8 years. Maybe someone should take a hard look at your portfolio?
Supply chain was hurting my business but now every customer is getting that and since it affects all they understand so we all agreed to a different business model. I deal with many fortune 500 companies who are doing well and not only my business but my vendors and others are having record sales. Sorry you are not.

I learned many years ago to ignore the politics and look at the major indexes.

And again this will all pass soon as we are a free market capitalist country which means GREED will prevail in the markets LOL

[Gumada]

10k before I even turned the keys. I am certainly not going to underutilize the boat and not fish for an extra 2k in fuel. Damn the torpedoes.....

[Detour66]

I guess I'm lucky. Boat is paid for. Cost to keep the boat in the rack for the year including winter storage is expensive but not off the hook. I have good fishing buddy that help me pay the expenses plus a few friends and family that are willing to join me. I know it will not last forever but for now I am good. But I do feel everyone's pain as far as the cost of living being ridiculous. Tight Lines!

[hammer4reel]

Originally Posted by dales529

Not really Dan
Yes my investments are down 15% but were up 30 plus compounded over the last 8 years. Maybe someone should take a hard look at your portfolio?
Supply chain was hurting my business but now every customer is getting that and since it affects all they understand so we all agreed to a different business model. I deal with many fortune 500 companies who are doing well and not only my business but my vendors and others are having record sales. Sorry you are not.

I learned many years ago to ignore the politics and look at the major indexes.

And again this will all pass soon as we are a free market capitalist country which means GREED will prevail in the markets LOL

.

You can’t compare record sakes to what sales you could actually have if you had product .
I just finished an 11 million dollar job for a major hospital .
Because of (2) 1000 dollar relays they have ti run a temp gen set at 36000 a month .
Yet current agenda is let high gas prices push for more electric cars .
Pure fantasy because suppliers could never get the components to Make it happen in one state let alone the country .

And as far as portfolio , losing in one quarter what takes some people a lifetime to earn is a tough pill to swallow .
I should have just bought a new Freeman .

.

[Skolmann]

Originally Posted by Duffman

Fewer people fishing nowadays? Gerry, I gotta ask, what you base that on? I’ve been on Raritan Bay for the better part of 45 years. Never seen the crowds and amount fishermen……. boat, kayak, shore and pier than ever before. If nothing else I feel like there are more people out there than ever before.

Get back to us when the stripers migrate out. Last few years the bay as been empty during the summer.

[Skolmann]

I’ve been doing more & more land based fishing over the past few years and have found myself enjoying it just as much as doing party/open/charter boat trip. Since moving to the Brick area, I’ve discovered 5 or so spots that in the past few years I’ve gotten to know the ins & outs of and have caught everything from stripers, bluefish, fluke, blackfish & weakfish.

That being said, my son and I still try to get out at least once per week from now until October on our boat (which fortunately we have docked behind our house so we do not have the extra expense of paying for a slip or trailering). We made the decision to do more bay/river fishing partly because of the cost of fuel, partly because of the new fluke regulations & party because we really do enjoy the ability to catch fluke & bluefish on very light tackle. We will still will be doing ocean fluking, chasing bass in the fall, bluefishing and bottom fishing out front BUT we are going to head with a definite game plan based upon good intel and our past history. I don’t think we’ll be doing to many trips where we start out fishing the Manasquan Ridge and surrounding lumps for bonito/false albacore then streaking up to the Shrewsbury Rocks to jig bluefish (which we’ve done many times). We’ll decide on one or the other based upon the latest intel and roll the dice.