It stands to reason that higher fuel prices combined with an economic slump would take a toll on fishing and boating and there’s growing evidence of that, almost all anecdotal. I’ve seen reports from areas of concentrated fishing—the lower Keys, for instance—that there are fewer boats on the water this year than last. The head boats aren’t going out every day like they used to. The captains want to be 80% or 90% full before they crank up those big diesels. Another sign of stress: Business at some bait and tackle shops is off substantially from last year. 

But apparently conditions aren’t bad enough—at least yet—that sizable numbers of boaters are selling their fuel-hungry boats with the aim of trading down to something more efficient or, horrors, leaving boating or fishing altogether. The “Boats For Sale” classifieds don’t seem any longer than they have been for years and I don’t see a lot of boats on trailers with “For Sale” signs on them. We’ll know times are tough when we see a reversal of a decades-long trend of sailors selling their sailboats to switch to power. Free wind power may prove attractive once more.

Tactics for coping with high fuel prices vary. I know some people are planning their trips better. They’re only going on days when the weather is cooperative. Why waste a day beating your brains out in seas of four to five feet? Others are taking shorter trips, foregoing the long trips out to favorite deep-water reefs or the edge of the Gulf Stream to fish closer to inlets. The folks on Florida’s East Coast from Jupiter through the Keys are lucky in that respect since the Gulf Stream and productive reefs are so much closer to shore than further north.  

Sharing expensesis another popular tactic. Boat owners who used to take two friends with them to split costs are now taking three or four so the hit to any one person is proportionately less. Finally, some people are making trade offs, sacrificing on other pleasures, such as eating out at restaurants, to be able to continue to pay for their fishing or boating addiction.

My own tactics are pretty straightforward. The 90-horsepower Yamaha that powers my little 16-foot Redfisher isn’t that thirsty, of course, but I’m still running at slower speeds, I don’t venture that far afield in search of fish and I now fill the 30-gallon capacity tank only half full. That’s 100 pounds less fuel for the engine to have to push around.