That's why I put in these grueling 6 and 6.5 hour days at work during the winter. I need to have more time to fish during the spring, summer and fall. I'll be going at night after work more this season. Any time you want to go, call me. Oh yeah, I now have an eel tank, so you don't need to worry about untangling all your plugs. :devil2:

We're looking to sell the boat and downsize this year. My dad wants something in the 17 to 19 foot range so we can trailer it more. I only fished 3 times from the boat last year and only 1 trip was for bass.

So stop chasing bunker. I called it quits on the bunker after ARK Bait cleaned out the upper bay. I went to eels at night and 3 way eels in the daytime. Pulled Montauk Bunker spoons on wire and lead core and started to fish Brenton Reef and Anawan. Lots of fish at all the usual places.
Don't get me wrong, I love livelining bunker. Nothing is as exciting as when the bunker start their nervous dance and a big bass blows up on the surface. I just saved a lot of time, aggrevation and gas by using other methods.
Jimmy, try livelining Scup. Works great and you have double the fun. Once catching the Scup and then catching the Bass on the Scup.

when gas spiked to $ 4.50 a gallon 3 years ago i saw no decrease in boat traffic .

There is no question boating activity and fuel costs have an inverse relationship. For me the long exploratory runs (which I like to do) just won't happen nearly as often when fuel is high. I tend to fish more locally and do more short overnighters and spend more time with the engine off on the boat. Many guys who are stretched to own a boat don't even de-winterize it.

I too wasted WAY too fuel last season in search of bait. I estimate 300 gallons. Was it worth it?...I can say without question: NO. I enjoy catching bait but spent just too much time looking. I covered a lot of coastline. In general I think the fishing was poor, at least for bass around the islands. Yeah, we caught fish but nothing like in years past. Both quantity and quality sucked IMO.

To be honest last fall I was planning to get the boat in early and move the boat out to Ptown for a few weeks to get some cod fishing in then bring it back home and do more distant offshore stuff this summer. But right now I am deeply involved in a lot of (unfinished) boat projects that I want to complete this spring and at this point I am hoping to splash it around the 4th of July. And if the fuel stays at these levels (which IMO has spiked for NO REASON AT ALL because there has been no supply decrease and refineries have more crude than they can use now anyway)...anyway if it goes over $4-5+ (for diesel) this summer there will be fewer long distance runs for me.
Further, I am thinking of moving my boat from a private slip to a town slip or mooring which would not be as nice but would save me a few grand which could go towards fuel and/or boat stuff.

Frankly, when the gas spiked a few years ago, marinas had a BUST year. They went for days without a sole fueling up. Much different last spring. There was more small boat activity and I was able to fuel up in NB last spring for 2.39/gal from the commercial truck... right now I am afraid to look.


(PS...the problem with scup is the legal size limit....)

I SOLD MY "HOLE IN THE WATER" Thank God...

1 fish and it's all paid for :hee:
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I've owned the same boat since 1980... been birthed in the same slip since '86.. my "mud" slip hasn't gone up in price in 10 years... I wont leave the river , excepting a few cod trips, until mid July... a heavy fuel night is 3 gallons until that time... then I can make my round trip with 9 gallons.. .. I can do it on 7 if I back off the throttle... electric motor supplies most of my propulsion..... when the day comes I deem it too expensive or tiresome.. I'll sell the boat and I'll sit on the couch and play WEI fishing and call it a lifetime...

I've chased bunker less than 4 times last year. I'm 90% eels. And spend most of my time in Newport and Narr. Its all doable when gas is less than $4. If its $5, that changes the story.

Well, YOU were the one who said he spend a lot of time and money chasing bait. Maybe it wasn't bunker you were chasing.:smash:

that was a few years ago.2007-2009. I only went up the river to get them a few times last year.