Trout Bums -- Fuel vs. fishing: A reel problem

By Randall Sumner, Yakima Herald

I was reading an online fly-fishing forum the other day. This is a great place to get the pulse of a fly fishing community; you find out how much time the cubicle people have on their hands at work.

Mostly it's the same old questions about waders, rods, reels, knots, boats, etc. "Should I buy the $700 waders or wear shorts?" or the classic, "How much should I tip the guide?" I always say, if you have to ask, you can't afford to hire a fishing god. But I digress.
The most interesting subject I found was about the price of gasoline as it affects your fishing travel plans. A lot of people apparently are upset at the price of gas and are angry at the Greedy Rotten Oil Companies (from here on referred to as the GROCs).

The cubicle people seem unhappy, restless and, I sense, horrified that their garages are full of gas guzzlers. What were you thinking when you bought that whopper one-ton truck with a tractor motor, especially if you're not using the thing for work. Now don't get me wrong. I am a free marketer -- I say if you want a big, smoking, rod-knocking beast of a rig, go for it, but then your whining later comes off a bit disingenuous.

Here is a gut check: The price of fuel may modulate some, but it will never come back down. How do I know that? Well, I asked my mom about it; she is wise beyond her years, and she says forget it, the cheap fuel is gone.

So where does that leave us and our fishing travel plans?

We Trout Bum types will probably just stay home and try and grow something to eat in our backyards and huddle for warmth around our BBQs, dreaming of all those good times we'll never have again because of the evil GROCs.
NOT.

No, I suspect we will adapt quite nicely with smaller vehicles and some carpooling to our favorite distant fishing venues. We will embrace the new fuel reality, because that's what fishing teaches us -- to constantly adjust to the conditions as we find them and, most of all, to stay optimistic about the future. My advice is to dump the behemoth monster rig soon while the dumping is good. Or get a second job.

As to the cubicle people and their rants about the GROCs, here are some other by-the-gallon prices that are likely to chap some hides.

Diet Snapple, 16 oz., $1.29: that's $10.32 per gallon.
Gatorade, 20 oz., $ 1.59: $10.17 per gallon
Evian water, 9 oz. $1.49: $21.19 per gallon
Printer ink for your PC's printer: $5,200 per gallon.

My favorite is a gallon of Vicks NyQuil, 6 oz., $8.35 or $178.13 per gallon; it would just be fun to see a gallon jug of NyQuil. Now I realize we don't need to use much of -- or any of -- these products, and that's my point: We don't need to use as much fuel either.
When you consider all the trouble and expense it takes to find, drill, produce, ship, refine, and deliver fuel, it makes you glad the cold medicine people are not in the oil business.

* Trout Bums At Large, written by Randal Sumner, appears six times a year on the last Thursday of every other month. Sumner, a fly fisherman since 1972, is owner of Blue Skies Guide Service on the Yakima River. Trout Bums can be reached at randal@blueskiesfishing.com or randalsumnerart.com