fishing closer to home or taking trips?

[slick2526]

I make two fishing trips a year. One during the summer and one during the winter. Normally they are a week or longer because the company I work for has two maintenance shut downs per year. I never made one this winter just with the way the weather worked out from all the snow and lack of ice when it came down to the time I had off.

Personally I dont think having one or two days is enough time for a fishing trip when bringing all your gear and traveling 4+ hours to some places. If I know the bite is hot or the weather has been right for a week straight already I would think about the weekend trip but normally thats not the case unless its early or late ice. On top of that you have to add in your travel expenses and thats why I frown on two day trips. A week with your own gear seems logical but renting a sleeper or staying in a hotel isn't really my thing.

I fish at least one day every weekend I have off. Sometimes it's two or three days I fish weather depending and other plans. For me and how much i like to fish I try to fish with in thirty miles from where I am keeping my gear at. I feel I would rather fish two or three days closer then one trip a weekend to a hour or hour and a half destination away. Then I am back into the area that I might as well go on long trip somewhere else. One of my biggest determining factors on being able to fish so close to home is I don't mind if I cant chase walleye all the time. I really like to catch and release panfish also so that opens up the door's for me on quality lakes to fish.

So what determines for you on how many trips you take or how close you fish to home?

[kye1020]

The determining factor for me.......the wife

[Jdjulik]

The determining factor for me.......the wife

x 1,000,000

[leechlake]

now that my kids are older my wife is very accepting of me going fishing, back in the day it was rough.

After years of fishing trips my favorite trips are the ones we fish 2-1/2 days. Fish the first afternoon we arrive and two full days and come home the next morning fully refreshed. No rushing to get there no last minute putting gear away and driving late at night. The best trips are with about 4 guys total.

That said, we have a cabin 3-1/2 hours from our house and I go up there 20 times a year. The drive is pretty automatic and I've been doing it since I was a kid so the distance doesn't bother me. I fish when I can and while I love it the older I get the being there is as much fun as the fishing if not more.

[BartmanMN]

The determining factor for me.......the wife

Pretty much sums it up!

[fishwater]

So what determines for you on how many trips you take or how close you fish to home?

I usually take a lot of 2 day fishing trips driving 5-8hours. My strategy is to leave at midnight and drive all night, fish all day, cook fish, sleep, get up, fish all day, then drive home and sleep in late. It works for me, allows me to be away from my family as little as possible. I've got 3 or 4 guys that are OK with this and can stay awake for the ride and swipe the gas card. It's a solid strategy, doesn't leave time for going to the bar, but I'm not into that too often.

[magic_minnow]

A week with your own gear seems logical but renting a sleeper or staying in a hotel isn't really my thing.

Every once in a while I like to rent a sleeper. One, it helps out the resort owners, two, its niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice once in a while to fish in your underwear

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Pretty similar here. I won't do any farther trips unless I can head out Friday morning, to be fishing by 2-3:00, at the very latest. It just isn't worth it to me to work a full day on Friday and then come back on Sunday. The last few years I've fished up north most of December & January, and then start fishing locally in Feb & March. Just depends on schedules and ice.

[fishwater]

Every once in a while I like to rent a sleeper. One, it helps out the resort owners, two, its niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice once in a while to fish in your underwear

I like to stay in sleepers on the ice once in a while too. Often I do it just because handling the gear at some resorts is a PITA. I'm paranoid about theft and packing up the truck and trailer fully is a time killer. It's nice just to leave everything outside the door ready to head out.

[magic_minnow]

*THREAD HI-JACK ALERT*

Speaking of theft....do any of you insure your gear? I mean.....equipment + gear alone you could have anywhere from $500-$1000 in gear on you.

[slick2526]

*THREAD HI-JACK ALERT*

Speaking of theft....do any of you insure your gear? I mean.....equipment + gear alone you could have anywhere from $500-$1000 in gear on you.

you should bring this up in a new thread but I will bite. I called my insurance company about having separate insurance on high end rods and electronics. Depending on the price that I want to insure for it was something like a extra five dollars per month per item. thinking hard about doing this to my auger, and 858hd di on my boat.

[magic_minnow]

Yeah I know...sorry for hi jacking your thread slick. Thanks for the info though!

[Redlineracer12]

I like to make at least one long trip every year. I can't do that drive too many times though. Last year I loved 1 night trips on Mille Lacs. Drive up Friday night after leaving work a couple hours early or even Saturday noonish. Get all settled in for the night bite, run rattle reels overnight, and wake up early and try to catch a few more before packing up and coming home. Some trips were more productive than others, but they were all a lot of fun.

This year I've been trying to experiment with local lakes (1hr or less). I've learned to lower my catch expectations a bit but otherwise I'm having a good time there as well. Being from the SE metro there aren't many lakes closer than 30 mins away unfortunately.

[fish_eat_sleep]

I fish within 30 minutes of home 3-5 times a week. Sometimes i take longer breaks in the middle of the dog days of summer to avoid boredom and water skiers and the middle of winter when the ice town villagers are in full force to avoid crowds. Once a year ill split the cost of a rental cabin with 2 friends. Comes out to roughly $300 per person, plus food. stay for 7 days and pretend we don't get phone service when we do! Other than the one walleye/crappie trip we stay around here. the metro has good bass/muskie action and occasionally crappies and walleyes depending on the season. a "trip" isn't worth the effort and the drive if its not more than 4 days as learning the bite and pattern is near impossible in 2 days most places.

Or maybe its because I'm that one guy that says i wonder if we tried this bait in that spot tomorrow night.. literally 5 nights in a row. i wouldn't be happy emotionally leaving prematurely

[slick2526]

I like to make at least one long trip every year. I can't do that drive too many times though. Last year I loved 1 night trips on Mille Lacs. Drive up Friday night after leaving work a couple hours early or even Saturday noonish. Get all settled in for the night bite, run rattle reels overnight, and wake up early and try to catch a few more before packing up and coming home. Some trips were more productive than others, but they were all a lot of fun.

This year I've been trying to experiment with local lakes (1hr or less). I've learned to lower my catch expectations a bit but otherwise I'm having a good time there as well. Being from the SE metro there aren't many lakes closer than 30 mins away unfortunately.

Lol I know all about lowering your catch expectations. LOTW really was a double edged sword for me last summer. I had the best walleye fishing of my life and caught some of my biggest walleyes ever but I cant afford to make it up there all the time.

It sets the bar so high for local fishing it ridiculous I maybe caught as many fish as I did on LOTW in a week as I did around home in 3 months.

[MattL]

I'd like to do more trips, but work doesn't allow it. Generally I'll do a week long summer trip and a 4 day winter trip. Most of my fishing is within a half hour of home, but I spend a lot of time on Pool 4 in the spring, which is an hour and a few day trips to Mille Lacs which is 2 hours.