Why is fishing so Expensive these days?

[fishfight]

I was telling my other fishing buddy the same thing days ago. The less fish we catch these days, fewer stocking program from MNR, the more equipment it seemed we need to own, and the more addictive we get to this sport. We can substantiate all the excuse of catching one single personal best fish of the day, or enjoying the scenery and nature regardless of a bad day of fishing. I do not ever recall me ever being so obsess with this sport. I fish when I can make time.

Less than 30 years ago, I remembered owning only a Semi-flexible Graphite Mitchel rod and reel USA made combo for $30 from CT. The rod lasted me for 10 years, no bearings on the graphite reel. I was using 15 lb cheapest mono and never changed my line, nor even know how much line I needed, as long as some were still in there, it was fine to fish with. What drag? it was set tight to the max, since I only catch and then land fish by the seconds. I only carry 1/4 oz un-sharp jigheads on 3" grub, and worms to be cheap. I told others, fish In Canada were so un-tapped, stupid and willing to take even an un-scented fake plastic. As long I go, cast on most waters within 1hr away from GTA, FISH On! I do not even know that we should control our jig heads action then. There were lot of fish back then, and lesser angler. I did not even know that Walleye were tough to catch, I just go rent and boat fish at Scugog on weekend, fish close to boat launch to not waste time, and all I landed that day were some fish called Pickerel and bass, so does every boat I spoke to, boat fishing was a half day event. I hardly heard of the word Skunk. Took my girlfriend(now my wife) fishing on shore, and she just casted, to try to avoid the rocky banks, without hardly any distance,,,... bass on! Fishing was a weekly event for me, maximum of 5 hrs total time spent, including driving time. No need to catch in numbers, just contented of always catching some fish. Who needs picture? Fishing was actually catching some fish!

These days, after I had accumulated all the toys in the world, such as a boat and its up-keep, electronics, 15 rods and reel, Pin, Fly gear, salt water surf fishing equipment, tons of knowledge, WFN channel, member of 5 fishing forum, and enough backup lures to open a mini stores. Fishing seems to be tougher then ever. Skunk is not necessary associated with some wlld animal name anymore. I do not even go as often as I used to these days.

I would say..........Blame it on the ILLUMINATI!

[MuskieBait]

Gear doesn't make the angler. There are a lot of anglers with all the bling gear (ahem...float guys and fly guys especially) who don't know how to fish.

After all these years, I'm going back to the K.I.S.S principle...and sold off a lot of my lures and other gears not used...because I simply fish for fun...not trophies, not numbers...etc. I'm still crazy about fishing for species...but simple presentations is actually the best way to catch a large number of species. You can catch almost anything on a piece of worm on a split shot and float rig. You can catch countless saltwater fish with just a dropper loop rig with a piece of shrimp or squid.

Get a number of hooks, different size sinkers and you're good to go after spending $5 on bait.

Fishing isn't much more complicated than the past...we're just making it complicated ourselves.

This weekend, I went back to the K.I.S.S principle and had a blast and a tasty lake trout meal. And we spent $8 on bait for 8 guys, I used 2 hooks and one sinker all day. All my pretty shiny lures worth over $300 in total caught nothing all day.

On the other hand, if you are branching out into various methods of fishing, it can get expensive simple because each method may require its own gear. Like you, I've gear for a lot of methods and as budget allows and experience warrants, I've been getter higher and higher quality gear.

To be honest, a lot of my gear is very low end...my 5wt and 8wt fly rods are TFO Professional and the fly reels are Sage 1600 series. It is not even medium level gear but it does the job so that's all I need. My float rod is a 12'6" Shimano Convergence that has done the job for me for the past many years. I'm not looking to upgrade that anytime. My nicest reel are actually two reels that I've yet to receive...an Avet JX that will be arriving...and a Penn International 50SW-2 that a friend is holding for me. Both of these are used gear and I got them on pretty good discount.

Fishing does start to add up, but again, it depends on what you are accumulating. I'm more strategic with purchases now and make sure each piece of gear can be used for multiple potential situations instead of specializing each piece of gear for a very specific technique.

[MESCANDON]

I think we all go through a stage where we feel "if I buy that next thing, I'll catch bigger or more fish".
When I rediscovered fishing almost 10 years ago, I think I was paying someone's salary at the sporting goods store. Over the years I bought a pontoon boat, and all kinds of cool gear. It's when I got my young daughter into fishing with me, that I learned the painful truth... Gear makes little difference.
I bought her very basic gear, and to save money I taught her to tie flies with me. I would make works of art and she would make ugly monstrosities that would look nothing like an insect or baitfish. However, at the pond, she would catch just as many fish as I would with her ugly flies and cheap rod. (OK, I'll admit I'm not a very good angler!)
I have since sold my pontoon boat, and most of my gear, and fishing is actually more fun. I don't worry too much about loosing or breaking stuff and I don't waste time fiddling with gear (my pontoon boat used to take 1/2 hour to assemble).Much of my fly tying material I get from the dollar store. I'm no longer afraid to loose flies, since they don't take much effort or money to make.
These days I pack so light; almost everything I need fits in a small chest pack.
The thing I would spend money on, is the stuff to keep you comfy. Good boots and waders that won't leak...

[OldTimer]

(02-16-2014 11:28 PM)MuskieBait Wrote:  .....I simply fish for fun...not trophies, not numbers...etc.

Me too. Big fish and big numbers are great - but not critically necessary to my enjoyment.

One can make fishing as expensive and as complicated as one wishes.

.... But, as MB says, simple works just fine and is deadly when combined with correct knowledge and thought. (consider the commercial rod/reel surf fishermen of USA)

I don't need, want , or own much top of the line gear. However my gear is solid and of decent quality and didn't break the bank.

Each to his own.

Bottom line - if it makes you smile - you're doing it perfectly.

Cheers,

OldTimer

[Dave Bailey]

It can become a mania for some, they just have to own as much gear as possible. And it isn't just anglers, other pastimes have the same problem. I hang out on a lot of aircraft modeling boards, and every so often a guy will boast, and post pictures to prove it, of an unbuilt stash of models that is literally large enough to start their own hobby store.

[Dropshot]

I`ve spent quite a bit of money too on the sport.. First it starts of with that kiddie rod, worm and bobber.. the spinning outfit, flygear... Still haven`t gotten into baitcast... Buying all the new fancy lures on the market they have now, most of which doesn`t seem to work! lol... The worst part nowadays is the bloody gas prices!

I did miss the simple times fishing as a kid when you`d just bait fish and having that excitement of not knowing what you were gonna hit on to next... Last year I kind of re-kindled that... Nevermind the boat rentals, hours of driving north... Just geared up with my light spinning outfit and flyrod on the side, take a few lures, some bait, and try some local storm ponds, Toronto waterfront, and it re-kindled that childhood excitement of fishing for me again... No worries about how much it`s going to cost, the hours of driving, etc.. Just simple pure fishing...

[MichaelAngelo]

(03-18-2014 04:04 PM)Dropshot Wrote:  The worst part nowadays is the bloody gas prices!

Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup. This is exactly it.

Everything else is almost a one-time entry fee, but gas just keeps hitting me.


Fishfight brought up an interesting point about fish caught per dollar spent. Of course, if there are less fish caught today than there were a few years back, the cost per fish is going to skyrocket. When we equate number of fish caught to the amount of fun, then the cost per unit of "fun" is also going to go up. Catching fish sure is fun, can't argue with that.

However, there may be less fish caught tomorrow than there were today. I guess what I take from this is to embrace our fishery right now, and appreciate it for what it is. Tomorrow there may be even less fish!

The alternative is to head for the hills and give up on fishing.

[MuskieBait]

(03-23-2014 08:03 PM)MichaelAngelo Wrote:  Fishfight brought up an interesting point about fish caught per dollar spent. Of course, if there are less fish caught today than there were a few years back, the cost per fish is going to skyrocket. When we equate number of fish caught to the amount of fun, then the cost per unit of "fun" is also going to go up. Catching fish sure is fun, can't argue with that.

By that argument, we should all be fishing for panfish then...because cost is the lowest and fish caught is highest...making the CPF most optimal.

But we all know it doesn't work that way...otherwise, why would you spend hundreds of dollars on the snowmobile + power auger + 4 mile/gal just to get skunked on Whitefish? Or Burbot? Or Round Whitefish?

And why would you spend hours tossing a poor bait in unfishable condition to tarpons while hundreds of reef fish are willing and waiting for a sabiki rig?

Because we know that sometimes somethings just can't be quantified and equated...because personal preference and personal utility varies.

I do have a similar metric though...It's the Cost Per Species. Simply, it is used to determine whether I'm hunting new species with optimum efficiency. In order to lower the CPS, I must have the best information, a highly dependable location and fish at the peak time. Any amount of blind searching or lack of preparedness on my part will increase the CPS. My average CPS is about $50.

I'm already doing the alternative...fish less at home, save up the limited time and resources, and spend it on travels where the UTILITY of that experience (and catching new species) is higher than catching (or skunking more often) at home...to me...since my personal utility is different.

[MichaelAngelo]

Each fish has it's own, personal, fun value. Some people have more fun with bass, others with steelhead, for example. Or, one can spend all day looking for a trophy muskie and catch one muskie and say that they had more fun that catching six bass had they been fishing for bass. Or, one can spend a week trying to catch a trophy muskie, not have any fun, and still prefer it to catching 42 bass.

[MuskieBait]

Exactly my point...so simply trying to optimize CPF doesn't really work.

Some can catch bass all day and every day but will not be happy until they catch a personal best bass. They are still catching bass, and optimizing the CPF...but their utility factor is different.

Some people can do the same thing over and over again and find the same utility...while some just get bored and don't receive the same utility.

The utility factor is different for every situation...so it can't really be quantified.

How do you compare catching a 5lb Brook Trout vs. a 100lb Tarpon? How do you compare catching a record 60lb Northern Pike after a 30 year dedicated pursue vs. a guided and chartered 1000lb Black Marlin depending on the captain and mates expertise?

If CPF is the metric for measurement, then I would have had a piss poor time last weekend in Quebec. But instead, I had a good time because of the company and the surroundings. I already knew it wasn't a prime time for burbot...but I do want to fish with Eli at least once this winter since he gave me the invite.

Like Nick's signature says:

Many men go fishing all of there lives not knowing that it's not the fish they are after.

As I've said in our past conversations...nowadays, I get the most enjoyment either:

1) sharing new fishing experiences (helping people catch new species or sharing a new technique, especially with foreign visitors or new arrivals)

2) visiting new areas AND meeting new people AND catching new species of my own

3) meeting up with old friends I don't see often and having a good time

Simply catching fish just don't really do it for my anymore...unless there is good company to go along with it...

Why do you think I'm so particular with my fishing trips these days? Unless I'm maximizing my utility, I would rather save that money and time for something else that will maximize my utility. Simply getting out "as much as I can" to "maybe or maybe not get skunked" on a trip to Simcoe for "species I've already caught plenty before" in "places that I'm familiar" is very low on utility for me...even if it is close, available and potentially exciting...because I'm not satisfying either one or the other of my above criteria...