RPreeb

Well for me it's a Jayco camping trailer with a canoe on top of the F-150 instead of towing a boat, but as far as affording it, retirement is a good thing. We both worked and socked a way all we could afford. This is just my 4th vehicle since 1989. I had an '89 Toyota 2wd pickup, 4 cyl and standard cab that I paid $9000 for new. I drove it for 14 years. Then a 2003 Honda Accord which I drove for the next 8 years. We moved out of the country for 2½ years in 2012 and drove a 2000 Toyota Avalon that we bought from my wife's dad and shipped to the island. We moved back here in 2014 and bought a 4 year old Ford Edge. When we decided to get the camper, we had to get a truck to pull it, thus the 2016 F-150 3.5 Ecoboost came into our life. We just traded the 2010 Edge for a new 2017 Edge for my wife, and now we should be set for at least the next 10 years. Going easy on the spending, driving rather vanilla vehicles and living in a modest neighborhood while we were still working has allowed us to be comfortable in retirement. I could afford to buy a moderate size bass boat, no problem, but I don't want the potential headaches that come with the boat. I have very little experience in motorized boats, even as a passenger, and I'm not comfortable with trying to learn the ropes now that I'm in my 70's. I'm not much of a do-it-yourselfer either, so a cheaper used boat would be a mistake for me. I'll be a canoe kind of guy till I can't push a paddle any longer.

I guess a lot depends on what you consider predictable. This time of year, I'm not surprised that inventory on fishing gear is low. In talking to the guy in Cabela's the other day, they are just starting to get ready for spring, but haven't really ordered anything yet. I think that they can get away with it more these days because they can just refer a customer to their website for anything that isn't in stock at the store.

I actually like blue... mine is not a dark blue, more bright and happy. I don't have to match a boat so that isn't a concern, and this blue really doesn't show dirt all that much. That is a good thing as I drive a lot of gravel roads out here in wheat and cattle country.

Yes, and don't count on your state fish and game management to do it right either. Here in Colorado, this is the first year where I've see that they actually have different size limits for largemouth and smallmouth. It's always been 15" minimum for both. Now I'm seeing 12" for smallies and still 15" for largemouth. They are at least acknowledging that the 2 species tend to mature to different sizes. Trout have also been managed with a one size fits all mentality, and in many Colorado trout streams, it's catch and release with artificial flies and lures, and barbless hooks. You have to be very aware of where you are because the regulations can change just by the posting of a sign, and if you miss the sign, you may be illegal. In many of those areas it's understandable simply because of fishing pressure. I mostly quit fishing at all because I do like to occasionally keep one or two for the table, and it was becoming nearly impossible to actually catch a keeper. Now I'm less concerned about keeping since my wife wont eat fish at all, so I'm turning my aim away from trout and going more for the warmwater species more common out here on the prairie.

It is pretty normal and logical. The stuff that sells fastest is harder to keep in stock unless you carry excessive inventory. My limited experience in retail was of a standard ordering schedule, and it never seemed to account for the stuff that sold faster. They didn't want any more stock than what they could be certain of selling during that cycle, because excess inventory is an added expense. Many companies are going more and more to a zero inventory business plan, with some items only purchased when current stock is depleted. As a result they do sometimes run short of some items. However, they should be able to tell you when the next shipment is expected. They count on their suppliers to be able to respond to orders in a timely manner.

I think that you see some of the problems with your project. A great many of the members here already live in areas where they have good fishing, so the idea of paying more for it than the the fees and expenses they already deal with doesn't appeal to them. I grew up in such an area in NE Wisconsin, but now I'm living in a place where there isn't enough available water to inspire much fishing. A large percentage of Colorado fishermen are trout oriented. I on the other hand, would pay a reasonable price for some decent bass fishing. I'm already looking at a few resorts in northern Wisconsin for a summer road trip. For me, anything with a larger lake would have to include boat rental, since I'm not planning on any marathon outings in my canoe. To answer your questions: 1) Yes 2) It would depend on the situation. If there is reasonable free fishing available, then probably not. 3) Depends on the size of the pond. It would need to be large enough that I wouldn't feel like I was being crowded. One of the things that attracts me to fishing in my canoe is the relative solitude that I can find. 4) If there was good content, useful information about the area both for fishing and for any other activities, then yes.

I was in Cabela's in Sidney NE last week, and I asked the guy in the fishing department what changes he had seen. The only thing notable was the Tracker boats. They will be getting stocked up for fishing around the end of this month and into March.

No guesses for me, 'cause I'm always wrong, but who would have thought that the halftime winner of football pools across the US would be 2-2 (22-12)?

This is the first video I've seen which really made clear the difference between flipping and pitching. Most seem to feel that the viewer has a basic understanding of the two techniques. This guy (looked it up... he's Mark Hicks) does a very good job of demonstrating the differences. He also could be the twin of my sister's husband, who is an avid fisherman.

I don't have any recent experience, but back in the early 60's our goal was to catch "keeper" bass, i.e. anything that was big enough to be worth filleting. We were self policed, and I think we had a good handle on sustainability without any actual size limit regulations. Panfish like sunfish, crappie, bluegills were fried on the bone, just heads cut off, scaled and gutted, but bass and walleye had to be big enough to be worth filleting to be keepers. The only way my mom ever cooked them was to fry them, and once breaded and fried, they are all fairly similar, and I thought they were quite tasty. I never ate carp, never caught one myself. I don't think that there were any in the Wisconsin lake where we spent our summers when I was young. I did have a friend after we moved to Montana who said that they ate carp often when he was a kid. As long as the dark strip was cut away from the fillet on both sides, he said that they were good.

Not to mention boats going full out in "no wake" zones. Colorado doesn't have anything in the way of commercial boating, but we have lots of recreational boaters and not much water to float them. On any given summer weekend, most of the reservoirs east of the mountains are packed, and between the jet skis and water skiers, I don't think I'd feel right being more than about 10 feet from shore in my canoe on several lakes that come to mind. I will be restricting my lake meandering this summer to Monday thru Friday and leave the weekends to the crazies.

I feel the same way. Around here, the local shops are mostly dealing with trout fishing. In Colorado you are a second class fisherman if you don't use a fly rod. Cabela's and Bass Pro do a better job of catering to the rest of us.

We do buy regularly from Amazon, but most of the time we are in no particular hurry, so the 5-7 day free shipping option is how we order. I doubt that for the few things we buy from Amazon "associates" with no free shipping available total any more than the Prime fees, so we don't bother with it. Most of the time our Discover Card gets 5% back on Amazon purchases, so we make out okay.

Colorado and Iowa in 2017. Haven't really fished widely in my life - I can only add Montana, Wyoming, Minnesota and Wisconsin for my lifetime list (plus The Bahamas as my only salt water fishing).

Here's a real oldie - Summer of 1963 at Charles L. Somers Wilderness Canoe Base on Moose Lake, 22 miles NE of Ely, MN. This is the crew from my 2nd canoe trip to the Quetico in Ontario with my Explorer post. We paddled 140 miles in 8 days. One of the guys caught a northern pike right after he came off a portage that was big enough to feed the whole crew that night for dinner. Landed it in a canoe with no net.

Helping my 94 year old father-in-law burn his brush pile out at the farm this morning.

Those developments may not have killed civilization, but they certainly changed it, and often with a downside to balance the good. The speed of life today is certainly not always a good thing. We don't connect with people like we once did. We don't do the same sort of community celebrations and gatherings. Too many of us don't take the time to smell the flowers as we race to the lake to put our 150 hp boat on the lake, and then race again to our honey hole in an attempt to get the fishing done before we are run off by the jet skis and water skiers. I have fond memories of bass fishing in the 50's from my friend's 16 foot aluminum rowboat with a 5 horse Johnson. It was an amazing upgrade when his dad replaced that Johnson with a 10 horse Evinrude. Boy oh boy.... now we had a speed boat. We could go all the way across the lake to The Stumps in half the time. We could fish all day and never see more than one or 2 speedboats (and most "fast" boats then only had a 50 or 60 hp motor). Almost every boat with fishermen that drifted past our cabin was the same kind of open row boat, and for a trolling motor, they used oars. I never felt out of place in our canoe as I often do today. I certainly never felt in danger of being run over. However, I would not want to give up my computer, my digital SLR camera, my cable internet connection, my satellite TV and Sirius radio. I love my F-150 Ecoboost pickup - have no interest in revisiting the beat up '60 Chevy 1/2 ton truck I bought after I got home from my active duty Army service in 1971. So you can put me down as one of those boomers who is stuck between 2 eras, and wants the best of both.

Google Maps still doesn't show one closer than Foxboro. There's an REI just west of Fenway.

Just cherish the good memories. I only wish that I had known either of my grandfathers. I don't even have any memories of them - both died before I was old enough to understand who they were. Sounds like you have a good plan for the future.

Maybe I don't have the same sense of attachment to them as some of you do, but I doubt that I'll ever buy a lure that won't be fished. I don't have anyone to pass down any antiques to me, nor anyone to pass them on to after me. We moved away from Minnesota and our Wisconsin cabin (1/3 mile of lakefront and 25 acres of woods) when I was in high school. Had I known then that my grandmother would sell the lake property and all 3 cabins without so much as consulting the rest of the family, I'd have taken some of that stuff with me. That was 1963. By the time I was able to go back for a visit a lot of years had passed, there were 2 huge "mansions" on the property where our 3 little clapboard summer cabins used to sit. The fishing gear was always stored in the cabins for winter (it wasn't much to think of then, but some of it would be considered collectible now), and we left Minnesota for Montana on Jan 1, 1964, with no reason to think that we would never see the cabin again.

I get a flu shot every year. Even on a year like this one where it doesn't guarantee that you won't get sick, it still gives your body a jump start on fighting it. Usually that will shorten the duration and lessen the severity.

Which brings a question to my sometimes peculiar brain. Would you need to make it a different shape for a woman vampire? She would clearly be somewhat different shaped than say Dracula. To the OP, I always thought that the terms were interchangeable, as I'm sure most people would.

God rest his soul.

I spend far more time driving in temps above 40°, so the mileage swing isn't a big concern for me, I was just curious as to the reasons for it. Now, if I could figure out how to get more than 10 mpg when towing my camping trailer, then I'd really have something.

No wind to speak of either day. I've experienced that often enough out here. Even a strong crosswind makes a difference in mileage. I could have attributed it to this if it hadn't been on trips just one week apart in January. Right this... my F-150 has power to burn. Amazing what they've done with only 6 cylinders.