P4 "Perception is everything"

I’m not sure if the Grizz still runs a ranger. I did see in one on ML a few years ago.

“no matter what you or I have.”

Even ME?!

Nick brought up a good point.

People work hard to make enough money to buy the boat they want and then find out work is taking up to much time for them to use it.

Much like that “I want to buy a cabin on the lake” syndrome where they are always working on the house/lawn and don’t have the time to fish.

I’m going to buy a bait shop when I retire!

A spam sandwich and a cold Hamms tastes just as good in a 14 ft tin boat as it does on a Ranger right BK

Great SCRATCHER story, BK.

My buddy and I always do a shout when we see him – “It’s thhheeeeeee SCRATCHA!”

Btw, the small boat stories reminded me of last fall. My buddy and I were out in my boat (16 foot, basically the Scratcher with slightly better paint job) and noticed 2 guys next to us in about 12 or 14 foot old boat. With a grill. Grilling burgers or something. And then the grill flamed up and nearly burned the one guy. Alcohol may have been involved. But boy was it funny.

You never know what you’re gonna catch in the river….and you never know what you’re gonna see.

“noticed 2 guys next to us in about 12 or 14 foot old boat. With a grill. ”

LOL

Collecting fishing gear is the new fishing.

That’s my theory. In our time-compressed society where everybody is doing more and more in less and less time, collecting the things to fish [or whatever, this applies across a lot of hobbies] has replaced, or at least is more often substituting for, actually doing it.

I called out this trend because I observed it in both hunting and fly fishing over 10 years ago. The sheer amount of gear guys owned was vastly out of proportion to the amount of time they actually fly fished or hunted. I noticed that guys that lived in major urban areas and were trout fishing 2-3 weekends a year, were buying new rods, new reels, etc almost constantly. It wasn’t like they were wearing them out, so what gives?

I think it’s the same with fishing boats. Collecting boats and assembling/fiddling with all the gear that goes in them, on them, etc has become a substitute hobby for actually fishing because fishing takes time that many of us have less and less of. You can’t compress a day of fishing into 1 hour of available time, but you CAN use that hour to go on the interweb and order a new do-dad for fishing.

Grouse

Brian Klawitter wrote:

“no matter what you or I have.”

Even ME?!

I do have standards and as you know that bar is not very high.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

I called out this trend because I observed it in both hunting and fly fishing over 10 years ago. The sheer amount of gear guys owned was vastly out of proportion to the amount of time they actually fly fished or hunted. I noticed that guys that lived in major urban areas and were trout fishing 2-3 weekends a year, were buying new rods, new reels, etc almost constantly. It wasn’t like they were wearing them out, so what gives?

It’s them damnation Cabelas and Bass Pro Guys…Everyone wants to be an outfitter or look like one anyways. LL Bean, Orvis.

Grouse,

That’s pretty accurate from my perspective. I do have time to look at a new pack of plastics or new crank occasionally. I’ve gotten away from buying many new rods etc…. as I’m pretty stocked on that end, but along your lines of thinking, I can tell you this much for sure. I have way less time to fish than I used to, so when I do get the opportunity now days, I’m going to make the most of it. I’m going to get where I want to go in a reasonable time, I’m not going to let my once every month or two get pushed off another 4-8 weeks because there was a 2′ chop.

If there is still such a thing as “retirement” when I reach that age, hopefully I’ll be able to slow down and smell the roses as they say.

Fishing, hunting, bowling, softball, any hobby you might have—-you don’t have to justify the cost because if you do you won’t have a hobby.
I don’t judge the guys that drink, smoke, gamble, etc. That is the way they want to spend their $$$$. I don’t care. In turn they had better not judge how I SPEND my $$$$.
My 2cents.

wimwuen wrote:

That’s pretty accurate from my perspective. I do have time to look at a new pack of plastics or new crank occasionally. I’ve gotten away from buying many new rods etc…. as I’m pretty stocked on that end, but along your lines of thinking, I can tell you this much for sure. I have way less time to fish than I used to, so when I do get the opportunity now days, I’m going to make the most of it. I’m going to get where I want to go in a reasonable time, I’m not going to let my once every month or two get pushed off another 4-8 weeks because there was a 2′ chop.

In the field of consumer psychology, this is an excellent example of what’s known as an intellectual alibi. The justification of a purchase by saying, “I need X because Y might happen.”

Oftentimes, this intellectual alibi is our own internal cover story for much deeper psychological processes that form the real reasons why we buy things. We won’t delve into those here, like everything else in psychology, most of them involve sex.

Sometimes, a justification for a purchase is actually true. We need a raincoat because it might rain.

But where the intellectual alibi comes in is that it allows us to justify purchases, both to ourselves and to others, that are way beyond what our needs really are. Or might reasonably ever be.

The example I always use is the suburban mom that purports to “need” a Chevy Suburban for the daily school run to drop off/pick up 2 children. Because as she says, “Sometimes there’s snow.”

Now there’s a grain of truth to that, sometimes it does, in fact, snow in Minnesota. But is a Chevy Suburban really the only vehicle that could get her and her 2 children through 3 inches of snow to survive the 1.2-mile drive to school and back? Probably not. That intellectual alibi is a rational-sounding cover story, but her REAL reasons for choosing the Suburban probably goes a lot deeper than that.

I’m not saying that anyone’s NOT entitled to spend money however they see fit. I’m just pointing out that when anyone purports to “need” a 20 foot walleye boat with a 350 HP on the back because if they don’t have it, their day off might be ruined by a combination of brisk NW breeze and a couple of old farts in a tin can beating him across the lake to the hotspot… well…

Hey, on the plus side, gear collecting being the new doing is GREAT for the economy.

Grouse

I’ve fished p4 in a 12ft duck boat with an 8hp motor in the bumper boat action! It was awesome to out fish the $50,000+ Rigs. I’ve seen The Grizz once on the St. Croix last year and he never even acknowledge I was near him! I’ve never seen the scratcher on the river however while I was in the bumper boat action I would often say to others “I don’t care if mine gets scratched” shiny boats would move on. I’ve upgraded to a 16.6ft rig now that was full of scratches when I got it. I could not be more proud! See you in p4.

Frog farm wrote:

I’ve fished p4 in a 12ft duck boat with an 8hp motor in the bumper boat action! It was awesome to out fish the $50,000+ Rigs. I’ve seen The Grizz once on the St. Croix last year and he never even acknowledge I was near him! I’ve never seen the scratcher on the river however while I was in the bumper boat action I would often say to others “I don’t care if mine gets scratched” shiny boats would move on. I’ve upgraded to a 16.6ft rig now that was full of scratches when I got it. I could not be more proud! See you in p4.

My whole point exactly frog farm!!!

Frog farm wrote:

I’ve fished p4 in a 12ft duck boat with an 8hp motor in the bumper boat action! It was awesome to out fish the $50,000+ Rigs. I’ve seen The Grizz once on the St. Croix last year and he never even acknowledge I was near him! I’ve never seen the scratcher on the river however while I was in the bumper boat action I would often say to others “I don’t care if mine gets scratched” shiny boats would move on. I’ve upgraded to a 16.6ft rig now that was full of scratches when I got it. I could not be more proud! See you in p4.

So your saying since your boat is all scratched up you can move into a spot and the “shiny boats” will move because you don’t care if you run into them? So much for common courtesy.

I call “bull cans” on some of you. This is just classic class envy, plain and simple. That, or stupidity. You know dang well if money were flowing out your ears you’d buy not just one new boat but several for various applications and conditions.

I grew up in a 14 footer and had to wrap bailing twine around the head to pull start the engine cause I couldn’t afford a replacement pull cord. Then owned a tin Jon with a 25 hp, then upgraded to a bigger glass when I could afford to. I did it for the safety and opportunity to fish bigger water. I have no Jones’ in my social circle to keep up with. I never heard any large boat owner criticize or mock a smaller boat…never. Why would a small boat owner poke a stick at a larger boat owner then?

What if part of the fun in a bigger boat is simply the adrenaline rush of 60mph on flat glass? So what if it strokes our ego when it sparkles? Perhaps not all big boat owners care about catching fish as much as just being outside enjoying recreation. We don’t lambast the man for buying a fish and ski, do we? It serves a dual purpose for the owner just like perhaps the big glass walleye boat does for the guy that enjoys the Cadillac of the northern waters. There is comfort in a bigger boat that makes getting together with buddies just a little more fun.

Perhaps if we could look into the hearts of each fisherman and really see their intentions for their purchases, we would be justified in our scathing judgement of them. But I don’t feel much like playing god today and will leave the judgement to him.

Got a small tin river rat? Fine. Go fishing and be on your merry way. But starting a thread just to say you don’t need a big boat to be a good fisherman is just plain rude and obvious. I didnt buy a bigger boat to catch more fish. I got it for safety, I love gadgets, I like speed and I can finally afford it. I’m a multi-faceted big boat owner that really could care less about catching the most fish. After all. I only need a couple of fish a month anyway. I just want to enjoy the fruits of my labor before they put me in the ground.

Well, well, well,
The all powerful man behind the green curtain has spoken…
Once again JD Winston you post idiotic remarks which got you flagged in the first place for being a duche bag.
You missed the whole point here that 99% of the rest of the guys got.
I’ve got that sparkly big boat with the hot rod motor and all the electronics that a guy could want but never figure out all the features they have to offer. I was simply making a statement to look at the guy who catches more fish than the rest of us and not get so wound up in all the “Bells and Whistles” that we think we need to have to catch more fish!
I can care less what people own or what people have to have for an upgrade in their boat. I’m a “Toy collector” too just like the “famous Grouse” pointed out. I buy sh.. Just to pass the time so I can dream about the upcoming season. … Its what gets some of us through the boring Winter.
If you can’t get past the point I was making about enjoying the resource no matter what you have to do it with then I would be more than happy to meet you in person to discuss this further.
PM me if you want to set up a time and place.

Pearls before swine bullcans. Sorry your precious felings got hurt.

JD Winston wrote:

Pearls before swine bullcans. Sorry your precious felings got hurt.

No feelings hurt here man.
Takes a lot more than that Junior.

I know a few others in this post thought you were being critical too. Perhaps you could improve your writing so no misunderstandings happen. Oh, your offer to meet sure was sweet. Veiled physical threat or did I misread that too?

drifter295 wrote:

I’ve said this for years and others look at me like a deer in the head lights….

No matter how new or big your rig is, you’ll soon see something bigger, faster, and more new than yours, and you say to yourself man I wish I had that…..

No matter how small or old or ratty your rig is, there is someone fishing from shore saying to themselves…….man I wish I had that……

Be proud of what you have and have fun with it

I have a 98 Alumacraft Tournament pro 170. I fish in a league and a club and it seems everyone has a new ranger or skeeter. Every now and again I find myself with a little boat envy.

Last year at a local launch a guy and his 2 highschool aged sons were drooling over my boat. They had a boat, I would guess it was an early 80’s alumacraft with a 40 horse Johnson on it. But they saw my boat as the next step up for them I would guess. Reminded me of when I was boatless and what I would have done to have the boat that he had.

At the end of the day if you can safely get on the water you are doing better than most.

Also FWIW I didn’t find JDs first post to warrant that strong of a reaction

JD Winston wrote:

I know a few others in this post thought you were being critical too. Perhaps you could improve your writing so no misunderstandings happen. Oh, your offer to meet sure was sweet. Veiled physical threat or did I misread that too?

Unfortunately there is one in every crowd that likes to put a different spin on a simple statement that was made and that 99% picked up on it and appreciated it with “good ‘ole memories” That’s all the post was intent ended to be for. The fact that you had to take it to a different level shows me that “You” actually may be the threat here. Leave it alone, sleep it off, and re-read all the posts again tomorrow when you’ve got a better handle on reality.

Well bullcans, it used to be the norm, and we thought it was bumper boats before the internet, as long as your fishin it’s all good

You Sure your feelings ain’t hurt? for someone who likes to call names and make threats, that smacks of childlike insecurity. Not becoming of such an old man like yourself.

Sure, maybe I misread some of your intentions. But don’t blame me cause I know others read it the way I did. Be a better writer and state up front you’re not criticizing big boats then none of this happens.

Bullcans I’m in now. Mxskeeter I’m the first boat that will help you need it. You have never fished out of a small boat, you see big boats think the can run up on you and push small boats off the spot. I would never intentionally run into another rig. I will not get pushed off by another angler either. JD Winston, “be on your merry way”? Lay off, I can buy anything I want. Yet the idea of finding a quality scratched up pos makes me smile!

Frog farm, ” be on your merry way” is another way of saying to Just be you and do your thing without judging anyone else. Nothing malicious there. Yep, you buy that old tin…I won’t judge.

Your a funny little dude. Aluminum not tin. This is fun.

Frog farm wrote:

Your a funny little dude. Aluminum not tin. This is fun.

Hah, been a while since anyone called me little. Thanks, I’ve been working out lifting weights and dieting lately. Oh, and we’re being literal? Dang, yep…you got me. Aluminum ain’t tin. True story.

Ff you don’t know me or what kind of boats I’ve all fished out of. You made the comment that implied that you would run the shiny boat off the spot. I never run people off spots but I have been run off of spots by all sizes of boats. The only thing is it isn’t the boat that runs a person off the spot it is the inconsiderate boat owner that runs someone off a spot. I have the boat that will fish big water BECAUSE I don’t like to be in a crowd. Just for your information my 1st boat was a used 12 ft. Sears with 6 hp SeaKing. Don’t make assumptions or be more specific in your writing.

I’m thinking cabin fever has set in. Warm weekend everyone get the boat out!