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We love going to the Gulf, however today my wife threw me a curve. "Maybe we should spend our vacation money and buy a boat instead".
(3 - 4 thousand dollars) We have great fishing up here on Lake Superior...but I also want to fish the Pier again! Aaaargghh!
Buy the boat and bring it down here and fish the bays and the ICW. Tell her you're saving a bundle on pier fees.
Why didn't I think of that! LOL!
GET THA BOAT! While they can open your options on what you can fish for and where. Just remember they be like swimming pools...endless money pit.
buying the first boat is the happiest time ever .....till you sell it
Thanks Snake, I really am leaning towards the boat, no matter how much I want to get back to the Pier. In the back of my mind is the old thought about the two best days in the life of a boat owner are the day you buy the boat and the day you sell the boat.
I know ironman, but this may be my best chance at getting one...might have to throw caution to the wind!
vacations only last a week or so,you'll have whole summers on the boat to enjoy....I have a couple....one I haven't used for several years ....the fishing boat only a few times a year....the salt seems to spoil me and no desires to go in the fresh water when we get back on our spring trips ....but this year, I can see me going much more up here this spring since no trip again
Agree with the, "Happiest two days of a man's life---the day he buys his boat and the day he sells it."
Have had boats off and on all my life and it has always been a love/hate relationship
BOAT is actually an Acronym for...
Break
Out
Another
Thousand
;-) lol
About right if ur going far out. thats a problem with big boats
LOL! You guys aren't making my decision any easier!
I had one for years and enjoyed tinkering around with it in the off season when I wasn't fishing. I sold it last year and haven't looked back, have had more money in my pocket and witness fewer divorces on the boat ramp.
Ain't that the truth!! The hate half of my boats generally occurred after one of two situations: leave the house at 4:00 am, drive two hours and get the boat down the ramp and--BOOM. Won't start. Or, you're a couple miles from the ramp (downwind or down stream, of course) and--BOOM. Won't start. Hint. Keep jumper cables and a spare drain plug. If it's a pull start, ALWAYS keep a spare pull cord.
Boat motors are more unpredictable than women.
We sold our boat 3 years ago, no regrets. Putting gas in it became ridiculous with the gas prices. That was our only issue.
I would get the boat. A smaller boat would be alright if ur not going far offshore and u could us it where u live too. I could probably manage gas for a small boat once every week or 2 and i think they would be a lot more fun than coming down here for a week. Don't get anything too small for the gulf tho if u plan on doing that
Buy the boat. Wife suggests ==> husband obeys ==> happiness ensues.
Sell the boat. Wife suggests ==> husband agrees==> satisfaction ensues.
Those could be two guaranteed wins in your relationship, so don't pass them up.
Don't know if you have any kids or not but I bought my first and only Bumble Bee in January of 1979.I have a lot of fond memories with the kids when they were growing up and the times we spent on the water fishing or dragging a tube around.When I do sell it will sure will be missed.
Gas. Yuck. Went with a friend on his ranger bass boat recently. Between the truck and the boat it was a flat $200 bucks for one day. Add in a payment or a repair bill and you start talking serious money in a hurry. I can make a run to the gulf for about the same price......and then I am on the gulf. :)
some motors eat gas, some don't....my first smaller one with a 50hp used twice as much as my next one with an I/O 4cly. I could ski all day and barley move the gas gauge it was amazing how well it did on gas compared to the other that was at full throttle all the time....and Rich those rangers with the big outboards are fast, they don't care about gas conserving ....get to the next place fast....for fishing here my 9.9 or 20hp is all I need
that sure is true down there in the salt ....that stuff is so hard on everythingQuote:
Originally Posted by Pier#r
"A boat is a hole in the water, surrounded buy wood, into which one pours money."
Extreme joy took place when I sold my charter boat (40' twin diesel) and I've never had the slightest urge for another one. If I got another boat, it'd be a 14' skiff with a 20hp kicker to fish the jetties and bridges.
That's true, Bill. I had a 60 horse mercury on my boat that died last year. Even with it, it was still about $100 a trip for fuel by the time I got there and fished all day. About the same as what I pay for motel and gas for the gulf. But they don't have king mackerel in any of our area lakes.:D I just hope there are a bunch more down there this year and fewer sharks.
Well here's what I'm athinkin. You can find a nice aluminum boat 17-18 ft with a good Johnson 40 for about $2500-3000. A 40 Johnson will last forever and won't cost much to operate and hardly ever fail. Aluminum is the way to go as far as maintenance and upkeep. Momma happy new boat. Then you sneak down to the pier by yourself for a quick long weekend for under $1000 and get your fix. Daddy happy!
I highly recommend becoming friends with someone who has a boat, or convincing one of your current friends to buy one.
Buying fuel for a fishing trip on someone else's is way cheaper than all the surprise expenses of owning a boat.
Oh, and when a stray momma cat decides your boat is a good place to have her babies, you may not be able to use it for a while.
I don't miss mine!
Buy the boat! The pier will be here next year.
I love my little boat. I bought it new in 1997 and have spent nothing but routine maintenance on it. 6 gallons of gas lasts most of the spring.
but I love me some pier fishin too ;)
them small boats are way better then bank fishing, I found out using my Dad's you can actually catch good fish to eat in a boat verses the bank....crappie,walleye....verses cat's and carp....oh, on occasion you might catch something worth taking home from the bank, but stuck in one place , just doesn't get it any more and hasn't for years up here....I get many trips on 6gallons depending on how much trolling I do....but the car gas remains the same whether bank or boat
one good lake close by is 10hp limit, so the 9.9 stays on most of the time....that's all I need anyway, for fishing.
the grand kids are a little bigger now, this was an old picture
the pier sure does spoil me though with screaming drags and fish on
.
Well...after trying to decide between a trip to the Pier and a boat .....we decided to buy a utility trailer! Who would have thought those things were so expensive! So I have no Pier fishing and no boat. Even the name "utility trailer" sounds like work! Got to get down there sometime soon! If I'm not on the forum for awhile my wife most likely has me out "utilitating".
pick me up when you go south !!!! I know how to utility
Will do ironman!
WOW, I guess I missed the post suggesting a utility trailer! BDL, we have utility trailer lots down here like most areas have car lots.
You shoulda told the wife you could probably find I trailer cheaper down here and you coulda gone pier fishing and pulled your new trailer home to the frozen tundra.
LOL! Never thought of that Fin! Guess I have a lot to learn yet...still, haven't totally given up the fight. Maybe make her mad (easy to do) and throw me out for a week or so, and I happen to wind up on the Pier! LOL! (I'm just joking, I love her to death). However if I got the "OK" to go sans wife and kids....I'd be there in a heartbeat!Quote:
Originally Posted by FinChaser
Guess now that I have a trailer, I'll have more room to carry fishing gear the next time I make it down. Help! I'm trying to find a positive here. Back in the deep freeze in good old Wisconsin and now may have to wait until next year or this Fall to make it down. Grrrrr.....why did I let her talk me into a utility trailer!
On second thought, I know exactly why I did, but gentlemen don't speak of such things...LOL!