Gas prices and fishing

[joerogrz]

I don't plan to let it affect me much. I usually fish within walking distance of my home anyway. If I do get to go to another place to fish, I have a motorcycle that gets 70mpg on average.

Keep in mind that the law of supply and demand work with gas as well as anything. The greater the demand, the greater the price is. The lesser the supply, the greater the price.

[Jed]

I just bought an ugly car, I mean a Prius. Holds less than my current car, is ugly, not as comfortable and gets almost 50 mpg. This will accomodate my fishing needs.

jed

[Lew]

I've been listening to arguments, both pro and con, about oil companies, and what they can and can't do about gas prices. I've not yet found a satisfactory answer to the following questions.

1-Are the oil companies required to invest some of those obscene profits back into the effort to alleviate the problem?

2-If they aren't, and you were an oil company, would you invest millions of dollars building new refineries to increase the supply, thus lowering the profits?

3-It appears that the few oil companies that are in business have no trouble whatever in fixing prices for fuel. Isn't that breaking our anti-trust laws, and shouldn't the government have a say in what they're doing?

4-Everyone talks about the "Environmentalists" that are keeping us from building refineries, drilling in new places, pursuing nuclear options and making us cap wells. Who are the "Environmentalists", and who put them in charge?

5-Why do we allow government entities to mandate the use of ethanol fuels, when it hasn't been proven that it does the least good, and in fact appears that it's production causes more harm than producing oil? sic producing greenhouse gases, reducing global food supplies etc.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...725975,00.html

I've got more, but that's enough for now. I've got an adobe acrobat pdf file that talks about the methodology that most scientists are using to obtain their conclusions about global warming. This study shows that their methodology, and the conclusions drawn, are flawed, and their methods shouldn't even be considered as scientific. I haven't found a way to import a link to it here, but I could forward an e-mail, if you're interested.

[Marco]

Between Wyoming, Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin, my wife and I drive about 9,000 leisure/vacation miles per year. Unlike Jed, I don't own a Prius. Probably average about 15 mpg. At current prices that translates into about +- $2200. You betcha that'll affect our plans. No more high falutin restaurants like Waffle House for breakfasts and dinners. We'll just have to pack sandwiches . But all kidding aside, I HAVE already negotiated our hotel/motel rates for this travel year. In all cases, except Gates AuSable, I was able to get at least a 30% discount from last years rates and that helps a whole bunch. If I hold back 25 % on my fly fishing equipment, that'll save an additional $20 or so ( not that far off reality). To answer the question bluntly, yes, gas prices will have an effect but I can deal with it by adjusting in other areas.

Mark

[DG]

As of today it would cost me $91.52 to fill my tank at the local station, which would get me through the week if I fished close to home. Heck yes it is slowing down my fishing. Much more of my fishing is going to be overnighter trips this summer, get in two days of fishing for one day's driving. And I keep considering a small dirt bike. Or maybe a horse.

[DShock]

The Honda Hydrogen Car might be an idea;http://www.hhill.org/images/uploads/...otomontage.jpg
Doug

[mnklagoon]

three years ago i bought a scooter to ride around on when im not working. it gets almost 100 miles per gallon and has a top speed of about 60 . i use it when im fishing within the local area and for trips to the store etc. i use to get stares and laughs as i passed by. i now have people wanting to buy it from me lol. best investment i ever made.

[Avalon]

Dear Board,

Absolutely it has changed by fishing habits. When I bought my truck in 2000 I could make a day trip for $ 10.00, the same trip costs more than $ 40.00 today. I could drive 1800 miles on less than $ 100.00 worth of diesel fuel in 2000 and now it costs $ 100.00 to cover my 380 mile commute back and forth to work each week. My truck gets the same mileage today that it did in 2000 so something sure changed?

It got bad enough that I parked my truck and bought a "town car", a well used Plymouth Breeze that gets 35 mpg to drive back and forth to work. The first week I had it I spent $ 34.50 to fill it on Friday and figured The payment and insurance is $ 170.00 a month and if I save $ 63.50 X 4.33 weeks in month I'll save over $ 100.00 a month by actually buying something plus save wear and tear on my truck. I figured the $ 100.00 could be money to put in truck to use it on the weekends and I'd still be even?

They must have seen me coming because I've had it a month and since I've had it the price of gasoline has risen more than 40 cents a gallon.

I'm fed up.

Regards,
Tim Murphy

[joerogrz]

I did a paper on fuel prices about 2 years ago for an assignment in one of my classes. There is a website that breaks down the cost of fuel and tells you what percentage of each process goes into fuel. Surprisingly, I found that during the time I did the research, fuel and oil taxes were decreasing while the cost of refining/drilling/transporting were increasing.

Another FYI- OPEC is a cartel. If you don't know much about cartels, they are illegal in the US. A cartel is an informal agreement that benefits each member by raising or lowering prices. For example- Companies 1, 2 and 3 form a cartel. Companies 1 and 2 will raise prices so that company 3 will benefit from sales of a cheaper product. Next Companies 2 and 3 will raise prices so that 1 will benefit.

Also the US is the largest user of oil in the world and can't even supply half of what we use. Drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska would benefit the US by increasing how much oil we can supply to ourselves. However, the NPR in AK covers almost the entire top half of the state and though it would benefit Alaskans by bringing jobs there, it will have a huge impact on migratory animals there.

There are other circumstances that affect the cost of oil also. Trade routes through Asia has an effect in addition to world conflicts in oil producing nations.

I recently found the perfect vehicle for on/off-road commuting that would benefit most sportsmen also. It is a diesel conversion of a Kawasaki KLR 650. HDTUSA builds these for the military and they are currently working on a civilian version that will get better than 100mpg (That's not a typo) at 45mph with a range of 630 miles at the same speed.

http://www.dieselmotorcycles.com/models.htm

While diesel may be more expensive than gas, the cost of operating one of these still trumps a car that averages 50mpg. If I had one of these, the cost of fuel wouldn't bother me at all until it started getting closer to 9 or 10 bucks a gallon.

[Gigmaster]

I am lucky. I live where people come from all over the world to fish. The Conasauga and Jacks Rivers run right behind the house...I can walk to them to fish. The Ocoee and Hiawassee Rivers are 25 minutes away by car. Carters Lake is about 30 minutes. The Tennessee River and Lake Chicamauga are about 35 minutes away, and there are several small lakes close by. Gas won't effect my freshwater fishing much, but I will certainly have to limit my trips to the Okeefenokee, and to the coast. I have been using my bicycles a lot more lately, for errands and such. My office is 24 miles from the house. I think I am going to see if I can do it on a bicycle. It should take less than 2 hours. I used to ride centuries (100 mile bike rides), not too long ago. I think I can still do it. And the exercise won't hurt, either.

Where gas is hammering me is on my Gigs. I have had to go up on my fees to compensate for increased expenses, and several of my jobs have ended because they can't afford live music anymore. I am also trying to play closer to home, and I am supplimenting my income by writing for a couple of fishing and outdoor websites through ELance.com and Guru.com. I am going to start writing for a religious site as well. I've also ghost written a book on crappie fishing that should be out soon. I may have to retire from music and just be a minister, and writer, from the house. It's a sad comment on our economy. I also hear the housing market is in an all-time record slump.

I am very afraid that the gas prices are going to have a profound effect on everyone's life, soon. Fuel prices effect the cost of everything we buy and use.