John H. wrote:
On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 10:54:05 -0400, Harry Krause wrote:

NOYB wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
thunder wrote:
On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 19:16:35 -0400, NOYB wrote:


Do they own any recreational boats?
Sweden and Denmark appear to own more boats per capita, than we do. The
rest of Europe, however, falls way behind.

http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/key_mkt_facts/
One of my Norwegian friends has a nice 20' or so fishing boat with a Honda
outboard. What I did notice when I was in that country was a lot of small,
dory-type, fishing boats in the harbors, pulled up on the beach, tied to
moorings, et cetera, not unlike what you see in many parts of Maine.

When I was a kid, hardly anyone we knew had a fishing/recreational boat
much larger than 20 or 21 feet. Most boats of that sort were 14' to 18',
with, by today's standards, modest horsepower outboards. The guy who took
me fishing several times a week when I was between 7 and 12 years old ran
a 14' dory with a 3 hp Evinrude and he later upgraded to a 5-1/2 hp
Johnson. I daresay he could outfish any non-pro fisherman who posts here.

In the part of Florida I like best, NE Florida, a 14' to 18' flat-bottomed
skiff is all you need for some of the best fishing in the world. NE
Florida's ICW is unmatched for easy fishing opportunities, and the smaller
the boat, the better the opportunities. You can also use these small boats
for near shore fishing in the ocean on decent days. Were I to move back to
that area full-time, I'd buy a simple Carolina Skiff and a 75 hp four
stroke outboard, and go fishing for $5 in gas money.
I just towed my 17' Whaler to the East Coast and launched out of Haulover
Park Marina. Bakers Haulover Inlet is a terrible inlet when there's a
strong outgoing current and an onshore breeze. Seas in the pass were
confused and stacked high (about 6 feet) in your face on Saturday. I
watched a 25+ Proline take one over the bow, but decided to give it a shot
with the engine trimmed out, and the bow high. We made it just fine, and
once we cleared the pass, seas dropped to 3-4...but still in our faces. We
managed to limp out to 6 miles trolling plastics at about 6 knots, and then
the skies cleared and the seas laid flat. We ran out to 21 miles dragging
dead baits and plastics, and only managed a couple of barracuda. There was
not a single bird working bait, and the weedlines were all broken up from
the early morning storms. We stopped at the near-shore reefs and got a
small grouper, and a very large remora (thought it was a cobia while in the
water). Nobody did well that day with the dolphin or wahoo. I only heard
of one boat catching a 10 lb dolphin, and another hooking into a wahoo and
losing it to a broken hook.

At the end of the day, we had travelled close to 80 miles, with alot of it
trolling (and 2 strokes burn a lot of gas trolling)...and burned about 20
gallons of fuel. If I lived in Denmark, that'd be a $150 day. Small boat
or not, that's pretty damn expensive when you don't catch anything for the
dinner table.



Well, you went out too far. I fish that area at least twice a year. I
just head north a mile or so and pick up the reef about between one and
two miles offshore. The last time I was there, I caught two kingfish and
a grouper. Caught the kings freelining dead cigar minnows and caught
the grouper just off the bottom. I use a borrowed boat for this trips,
and the tank is always full in the boat, so I top it off when I return.
Five bucks usually does it.

You're too much into the "macho" part of fishing, and not enough into
the "fishing" part of fishing.

You're always good for a laugh, Harry!



And, of course, you're good for nothing, or so I have heard.