Newsgroups: alt.fishing



Ok, back into the foray. I'm learning a lot through the discussions going
on here. Thanks to all. Some have asked why I need all this technology
(toys) to catch a fish. Well, I'll admit, when in Iowa or Minnisota or
Canada, I don't need a sonar to help catch fish, turtles, weeds, rocks,
or my hat. In CA, near the S.F. Bay area, there a herds of fisherpersons,
very few freshwater areas, and there has been a drought around here for the
past 5 years! The powers that be haven't yet learned to control water
supplies, so instead of planting 7 lb fish for me, they drain the reservoirs 
dry and suck the delta area down to grow rice and cotton in the desert! My
fish lobby hasn't got the power and money that the farm lobbies have.

I get to go fishing VERY few times a year. To those who benefit from my
buying a license and stamps for my limited time using them, you're
welcome! :-) No way can I 'learn' a lake or fishing area like those fisher-
persons that get to go 10 or more times a year to the same spot, year after
year. Even if I did pick a single place to study, they drain the thing dry,
clean up all the structure, like dead trees, beer cans, and 454 ci hot rod jet
boats or pieces thereof, with the creek being the only thing left down there
to change the moonscape. You HAVE to find that 3" bump on the bottom!

I love to just sit there, using the stealth approach, with a bobber or
dredging the bottom with dead worms too. Just being out on or next to
the water is GREAT! My new wife will eat almost anything I catch and
loves fish. It IS kinda embarrassing to never bring anything home larger
than the bait. It is also frustrating to never to be able to practice all
this catch and release I keep hearing preached. 

Guess who(m) out on the water gets at least a few fish? The guys that have
the time to sit in the same spots week after week, OR the ones with a
sonar fishfinder! Although, I haven't dove a lot in freshwater, I have gone
out quite a bit in the salty stuff around the Pacific rim. It's not
like I don't know where to look, dive after dive. Freshwater fishing is
more challenging to me after all the diving. 

So, besides spending LOTS more time out fishing, (I have the wife almost
convinced this is needed to bring home a couple of fish :-) ) cutting
off the water flow to the farmers and Los Angeles, building my own
pond in the 20' by 80' backyard, watching more fishing shows, reading
more "GREAT FISHING" reports, and spending less time writing posts to the net,
any suggestions (funny, serious, flammable) as to the best way to improve
time available vs fish caught that are better than trying a pinger toy?
Keep in mind what driving conditions can be like CA. The further you
drive from the maddening masses, the more fishing time you lose.

This is my (too long) response to those of you that tell me I shouldn't
need this toy. Are your waters as crowded, overfished, and mismanaged
as ours are here? How far, time wise, do you have to go to get to your fishin'
hole? Surely, I'm not the only one that feels the fish crunch. It is worse
here than any of the few places I've fished around the US and Canada.


Maybe I'm getting (even more) lazy?

Bill
wb6rzg