Love it. Good thoughts. I can't practice it universally but I try to start out that way.

[quote=ghaynes1]Not to open a debate about global warming here but I was curious what my fellow anglers thought about the following question:

For whatever reasons(weather, too much fishing pressure, pollution, lack of public access, etc), have you noticed a decline in your success fishing? Are you catching fewer fish? Do you work harder to catch now than you did say 5 or 10 years ago?

I really can't weigh in much past 5 years ago and most of my early years were fishing in the Midwest and for the past 47 years been in California. I took a 42 year hiatus from fresh water fishing here until picking it up in earnest about 5 years ago. As in any fishing, there are ebbs and flows just because that's what they do. What my limited experience has been recently is my favorite lake has never been higher than 13% of capacity the last two years. In 2017 and 2019 we had decent rain and snow melt. Reservoirs filled up. The other years have been tragically low and there has been precious little snow to melt and fill the reservoirs. When the reservoir is down 100 feet, that isn't horizontal, it's vertical. You add punishingly hot summers, little water, and algae growth, the spawn has to suffer. So yes, fewer fish and less quality because of conditions and I'd say pressure. Covid got people out again that fished because they couldn't work and it was an inexpensive outlet for cabin fever. I think that people who fish more regularly tend to treat the environment and the fishery with a little more understanding and reverence. Just my observations. Greg, I know this wasn't about climate change but at least in my case I can't extricate it from fishing. I'm not espousing a point of view on whether its cyclical or man-made and I too hate it when a subject degenerates into keyboard punch and counter punch. I just am experiencing this little blip of time where lack of rain has been a huge factor. As for the other effects like bees, too bad gophers don't pollinate plants. Mild winters I suspect has enabled an explosion of gophers out here. I keep waiting for an uptick in owls, hawks, and snakes but so far I have only noticed a lot more eagles and I think those are mostly fish eaters.

Congrats G. There will always be people with better boats and always be people with worse or no boat. Just like other things in life. The point is to try to be grateful and enjoy YOUR boat.

Oh, and I suggest your bow line be one foot short of reaching your prop. Don't ask me how I know...lol.

Greg, congrats on your boat. Obviously the entire stage is weighing in and rooting for you. As Doug said, snagged in all different kinds of places. Aside from the boat, and please forgive me if you already know this, but when you get snagged, troll your boat 180 degrees opposite of the direction you were reeling in from and pull backwards. It unsnags most of the time, even in wood if you haven't wrapped it around branches. Of course, you could "blow up the water you're trying to fish but you can always come back to it and get snagged again....

they giveth and they taketh away.

Hmmm, where do I apply for a rate increase on social security and my retirement to pay for all these rate increases they are applying for. Funny how that stuff works huh?

Guilty of all the above. Used to work construction years ago and used to sit in the job shack after work and drink beer and tell jokes. Fun times. I'll p.m. you with a couple you might share if I can figure out how to do that.

I'm at a time in my life when I can afford a boat and can't imagine not having one. Had a 14" Alumacraft with a 25 hp Evinrude two stroke that for 18 years sat in the driveway most of the time. I used it very sporadically over the years and did little to no maintenance on it. The Evinrude always started without much effort, much to my surprise. I sometimes fog oiled it and sometimes I didn't. I can't even begin to guess why I didn't pay the price for failure to maintain but I didn't. Now I have a 17' Crestliner VT with a 60 hp Merc for the past 4 plus years, bought new. I've had no trouble with it (that I didn't create myself) and change oil and lower end oil according to their recommendations. Next will be the impeller. I use it once or twice a week all year so it doesn't sit idle. Can it be expensive? Yes it can because you can damage it yourself, have unplanned breakdowns, and you start to buy goodies for it like better fish finders and trolling motors and on and on and on. On the other hand, my former fishing partner bought two used boats and blew the engines on both within a year of owning them before he bought a better boat (new) than mine. Now his sits on his property because he moved to a small farm and has a new baby with his wife. He works a full time job and operates a tomato/vegetable farm. Now he misses having opportunities to fish. So that probably doesn't help you make up your mind much but if you do take the plunge, I would suggest getting the best you can afford and have the engine checked out prior to purchase. Also you have to consider the water you intend to fish on. It its on small lakes, you might get by with a trolling motor. Bigger lakes and rougher water you'd have to consider what makes you feel safe and gets you where you want to go. Good luck. P.S. I also like most of your daily jokes. Most....lol.

Shore fishing or boat? I boat fish for bass on the rocks and docks on the north side of the lake, generally from Sheriff's island towards the dam. I fished it last week and got four but I'm stuck in the "less than 1 1/2 pound" category and have been for over a year there. All of them were 20 to 25' deep. Might be because I pretty much just drop shot anymore. The lake bottom is weedy so weedless helps but isn't magic. Drop shot tends to be better because usually the sinker catches the weeds and the bait tends to stay above them. Green ribbon tails are my go to but have had some success with wacky stick baits, again generally in the green arena including "baby bass" color. Good luck.

I laughed at both of your posts because I relate. Good job.

I haven't fished it since before memorial day because of the summer crowds. Are you boat fishing or shore fishing?

[quote=OJdidit]Buckley Marvin Oates born at 10:12…arriving at 6# 3oz and 18.5oz.
Great pic and great addition. Congrats. to you all.

[quote=FixorFish]One of my (and many others concur) favorite baseball players was the marvelous Satchel Paige,

Great story and what an experience. Very cool.

As for age, my plan is simple. I plan to live until I die.

I would suggest that good people need to serve on juries. If you don't, pretty hard to complain why the world is going to heck. Somehow serving on a jury got to be a negative while in fact, it allows you some opportunity to try to preserve a decent community. I know its not perfect but it's better than letting people too stupid to get out of it decide the fate of the future. Do the right thing.

Spent my whole life trying to live within my means, sometimes successfully, sometimes not so successfully. There were times in my life when I spent a nickle, if you looked closely, I squeezed it so tight there was a little pile behind the buffalo. Anyway, it set a "deferred gratification" way of thinking in my brain. My two sons are adults who own their own homes, are doing well, wife and I are content and pretty much debt free. Around the age of 67 I was thinking about upgrading my 14 footer and the deferred gratification thinking set in, "maybe later" my brain said. Fortunately, as I mulled it over, I eventually had the thought, "if not now, when?.... When I'm 70? 75? 80? Would it be ok for me to buy a new boat when I'm 80?" Anyway, I got a new boat, actually my wife bought it for me as as surprise but that's not the moral of the story. I don't know what your financial situation is but if you are serious about fishing, choosing something that isn't going to work for you is not going to be satisfying. I'm now 70, 6' 1", and 240. I have a yak but don't fish out of it and honestly don't think I could although I can do belly crawls under a house and reroof it in the afternoon. I know that isn't going to last forever either. A boat doesn't have to be new, but if you don't have to, don't rule it out either. As others have suggested, there are a lot of factors to consider and buying a new boat without considering suitability for purpose isn't very smart either. But if your holding up because you've spent your life making sure others needs are being met, you might want to consider if it might be time for bilgebreath to enjoy some of those years of sacrifice. So be careful of asking for opinions, you just might get some. ;-)