Fishing as a past time is great.  All you really have to do is decide to go and then do it.  I like to go fishing pretty much any time of year.  The only thing that ever sneaks up on me is renewing my fishing license.  I also forget about sunscreen too often.

I was on my way out of town to go fishing and made it all the way to the lake before I remembered that I had to renew my fishing license.  Thank goodness there was an Academy Sports and Outdoors in the neighboring town for me to complete the renewal.  I would have been in trouble with the game warden if I’d gone fishing without a license.

I spend a lot of time and money on my fishing hobby.  I belong to a fishing club that costs about one hundred dollars a year for dues.  There are also a lot of expenditures throughout the year.  Fishing in a tournament costs a little bit of money.  You have to put money in for the lunker pot.  There also seems to be something that is new that you need for a tournament.

The lunker award is the most fun.  The lunker is the biggest fish.  The lunker from each tournament is recorded at the fishing club and the lunker of the year is awarded every December at the annual Wives’ Party.  They give a trophy for Lunker of the Year and they give a trophy based on total weight for first, second and third place.

Half of our fishing club members are boaters and own their own boats.  The other half of the fishing club members are non-boaters.  I am a non-boater and I have to provide lunch for the boater that I fish with on the first day and pay for some of the gas used during the tournament.  This is pretty fair because there are a lot of expenses with owning a boat.

I have been fishing all of my life and I find it very relaxing.  I don’t mind working so much when I know that I have an upcoming fishing trip.  I look forward to every one of the ones that I attend.  I hope to be able to go fishing whenever I want when I retire.  I look forward to that, too.

The term “deep sea fishing” can be very confusing to those that are not familiar with the ways of the angler. Deep sea fishing means going way out to sea to catch some fish, not fishing for deep sea fish as most people believe. If you were to catch a deep sea fish, such as the humpback anglerfish, your fishing line would have to be at least ten miles long. That would take several days to reel in all that fishing line and your bait would have to be some sort of vibrating mechanism which would probably stop working due to the intense pressure that far below the ocean surface.

The Gulf of Mexico, offshore of southwest Florida, is well known for its calm sea conditions and excellent year round deep sea fishing. Venice, Florida, located just south of Sarasota, Florida, and directly on the Gulf of Mexico is the perfect launch point to access and enjoy some awesome deep sea fishing. Depending on the fishing season, you can catch all sorts of different species of fish.

Deep sea fishing on the Gulf of Mexico for grouper and snapper is good most any time of the year. Other offshore fish such as kingfish, cobia, tuna, amberjack, Spanish mackerel, shark, barracuda, tarpon, permit, mahi and giant red fish are all caught as they seasonally migrate through the deep sea waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

To go deep sea fishing you must first charter a deep sea fishing boat. Most captains will offer a flat rate for four to eight people that include all the bait and tackle with prices set on the number of hours from the time you leave to the time you get back and how far off shore you go. For four hours you will get about eight miles off shore and pay a group rate of about five hundred dollars. For six hours you will go about twelve miles off shore and pay a group rate of about seven hundred and fifty dollars. For eight hours you will go about sixteen to twenty-eight miles off shore and pay a group rate of about nine hundred to thirteen hundred dollars. For an extended deep sea trip you can go twelve hours and up to forty miles off shore for around two thousand dollars. All of this can be booked online or you can just visit the local docks and ask around.

There is a great demand for fishing in Alaska whether off shore or on land (ice fishing). Ice fishing is the sport of catching fish with lines and hooks or spears through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Fisherman may sit on a stool on the open expanse of a frozen lake or sit in a heated cabin on the ice with bunks and a heater.

Many anglers fish with no protective structure, merely heavy coats and gloves and other winter wear. Longer fishing expeditions can be mounted with simple structures. Larger, heated structures can make multi-day fishing trips possible. In Alaska, ice fishing is often a social activity. Not infrequently, the consumption of alcohol is involved. Some resorts have fish houses that are rented out by the day called ice huts. Often, shuttle service via snowmobile is provided, eliminating any need for sobriety on the part of the participants.

There are many dangers involved with ice fishing. Ice needs to freeze to at least four inches in depth to support the weight of humans, and a foot to support the weight of vehicles. Care must be taken, because sometimes ice will break and move with currents, leaving open areas which refreeze with much thinner ice. In Alaska, off-shore winds can break off wide pans of ice stranding large numbers of fisherman. Late winter warm spells can destroy the texture of the ice, which, while still of the required thickness, will not adequately support weight. It is called rotten ice and is exceedingly dangerous. Some ice fishermen will continue to fish, but will carry a pole horizontally to hold them, if they fall through. Fishermen may carry a self rescue device made of two screwdrivers connected by a string to help pull them back onto the ice out of the water.

Ice fishing gear is highly specialized. First, an ice saw or auger is required to cut a circular hole or larger rectangular hole in the ice. Power augers are sometimes used. A strainer is sometimes required to remove new ice as it forms. There are three main types of ice fishing techniques. Small, light fishing rods with small, brightly colored lures may be used in jigging for fish. Tip-ups, which carry a line attached to a flag that tips up when a strike occurs, allow unattended or less-intensive fishing. The line is drug in by hand with no reel. In spear fishing a large hole is cut in the ice and fish decoys may be deployed. The fisherman stands over the hole while holding a large spear attached to a line.

It is incredible how much time and money is spent if bass fishing is your hobby. My first husband, Gregg, really loved bass fishing. It was an activity that gave him great pleasure.

Gregg spent about one weekend every month bass fishing. During the five years we were together, we purchased three different tents, various camping gear and countless lures and plastic worms.

He joined a bass fishing club in Houston in the late 1980s. His brother was a member of the club and sponsored him. He fished as a non-boater in the club tournaments. I think that at some point he bought a boat, but no longer has one.

His bass fishing club met about once per month for a meeting to discuss and vote on future tournaments. The bass fishing club had ten tournaments per year at various Texas lakes. The members of the club vote and decide where the tournaments will be and they have their favorites that seemed to be fished every year.

Just before I met Gregg, he had caught the largest fish at a tournament at Toledo Bend. I took that fish to a taxidermist for him and we had it stuffed and mounted. I liked having it on the wall as a monument to his bass fishing prowess. I hope that he still has that fish on his wall.

Most of the wives or girlfriends of the members of the bass fishing club did not attend tournaments. I liked to attend the tournaments where the members were camping. I had a lot of fun at one lake in particular, Coleto Creek in Victoria. The wives and girlfriends of the members’ usually only see each other once per year at the Wives’ Party to award the Top 6 and the Lunker trophies.

Bass fishing can be costly. Gregg had at least eight rods and reels and a tackle box full of all types of lures. He had a really cool duffle bag that was waterproof that he stored his artificial worms in. He had a tremendous amount of stuff to take with him when he went bass fishing.

When I was with Gregg, he had subscriptions to several bass fishing magazines. He received the BASS magazine and Honey Hole magazine. I think he used to read them cover to cover. We used to save old issues, but I don’t remember him ever going back to old issues to reread them.

On the weekends he wasn’t fishing, bass fishing television shows were the norm at our house. I thought that they were a little boring, but he was enthralled when they talked about a new bass fishing technique. I can still remember the excitement at our house when pig ‘n jig was a popular new technique.

Since Gregg and I split up I have not been bass fishing. I don’t really miss it. It was his hobby and not mine, the main thing I ever enjoyed about bass fishing was that he liked it so much.

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Bass Fisherman