[Mr. Sandman]

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....)