"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
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.

I wasn't after those slimy, stinky kings. And I can catch grouper all day
long over on this coast. I wanted dolphin and/or wahoo for the grill.

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.

I do the "fishing" part of fishing all of the time. But I wanted to make a
run to the other side to troll the blue water. Over here, I'd have to go
150+ miles out to see the depths that I was in less than 10 miles off Miami.

This time of the year it gets boring soaking live or dead cut baits on
bottom structure weekend after weekend. I went to Miami to mix it up a
little.

In two weeks when snook season opens and the tarpon start their southern
migration, I'll be sight fishing snook and tarpon just off the beach.
That's when things get fun again.



"Men will go fishing their entire lives without knowing it is not fish
they are after." --- Henry David Thoreau. (but sometimes it is)