How far do you guys go to fish?

[EGbassing]

About 100 yards. It's the only pond I can walk to, and I don't have a driver's license yet, so...

[CHIP-MAINE]

my favorite spot for smallies is 5 min. from my house. throw kayak in truck and im  right there. favorite spot for large is about an hour away but worth the drive.

[Tim Kelly]

For bass? 1500 to 3500 miles. ?

[MN Fisher]

Phelps Bay launch point - 1 mile

North Arm launch point - 3.5 miles

Dutch Lake launch point - 2 miles

 

Those are my 'spots'.

[Quarry Man]

On 3/14/2018 at 10:43 AM, 2tall79 said:

Interesting thread.   My home lake is about 10 miles away, but it is a huge, gin clear, highly pressured urban lake.  If I want to fish a lake that has natural shoreline and less pressure, it's a 20 mile to 30 mile trip.  Having an 18 foot boat limits me as to the lakes with suitable launches.

having an 18 foot bass boat, what an inconvenience it must be. Id gladly travel 2000 miles too take it off your hands

[Mr. Aquarium]

Depends on what I want to catch. I travel 400 miles 1 way, 7.5 hour drive a few times of year to catch steelhead, salmon and brown trout.  For bass I travel up to 2.5 hours.  Pike 1.5 hours, carp 1.5 hours. my spots I frequent are 30 min- 1 hour drive. I drive a lot for the multiple fish species I chase. 

[moguy1973]

Too far.  When I got my boat, a 17' Bass Tracker with a 60hp prop, I thought it would be awesome to have a boat to be able to go out fishing all the time.  Being in St. Louis is a horrible place to live and have a boat like mine though.  The closest "decent" fishing lake is in Illinois about a hour and 15 minutes away.  There are other lakes closer but they have HP restrictions which mine has too much to run on.  We do have awesome lakes like Table Rock, Bull Shoals, and Lake of the Ozarks, but even those are all 3+ hours away, and Lake of the Ozarks anymore, unless you go on the week days you need a 21' fiberglass boat to even have a chance at all the waves created by the recreational yachts and wake boats they have there.  Being that far from these lakes makes day trips pretty worthless as 6 hours+ of driving makes for a short day of fishing.

 

If I did it all over I would have a boat with a jet on it.  I live about 5 minutes from a river ramp, and although the fishing isn't super great, it's super close.  That same river, if I drive 30 minutes to a ramp upstream, has amazing small mouth bass fishing, which I prefer anyways.

[roadwarrior]

Two days both ways to ToHo, but caught my PB!

 

[TcRoc]

My typical spots

Local small lake is 5 minutes .. so 5 minutes to about 50 minutes ..is my normal routine of Lakes /Reservoirs.

Lake 5 minutes from me is so nice but the most frustrating to fish.

[Elkins45]

My favorite place to fish (Eufaula) is an eight hour drive. My second-favorite (Kentucky Lake) is about four and a half. The place I fish the most is about 20 minutes away.

On 3/17/2020 at 9:44 AM, moguy1973 said:

Too far.  When I got my boat, a 17' Bass Tracker with a 60hp prop, I thought it would be awesome to have a boat to be able to go out fishing all the time.  Being in St. Louis is a horrible place to live and have a boat like mine though.  The closest "decent" fishing lake is in Illinois about a hour and 15 minutes away.  There are other lakes closer but they have HP restrictions which mine has too much to run on.  We do have awesome lakes like Table Rock, Bull Shoals, and Lake of the Ozarks, but even those are all 3+ hours away, and Lake of the Ozarks anymore, unless you go on the week days you need a 21' fiberglass boat to even have a chance at all the waves created by the recreational yachts and wake boats they have there.  Being that far from these lakes makes day trips pretty worthless as 6 hours+ of driving makes for a short day of fishing.

 

If I did it all over I would have a boat with a jet on it.  I live about 5 minutes from a river ramp, and although the fishing isn't super great, it's super close.  That same river, if I drive 30 minutes to a ramp upstream, has amazing small mouth bass fishing, which I prefer anyways.

Do what I did and get a separate small water boat. I fish the local lake with a Jon boat. You don’t have to save your pennies for too many months to be able to afford a pretty good used Jon if you look around.

[moguy1973]

24 minutes ago, Elkins45 said:

 

24 minutes ago, Elkins45 said:

Do what I did and get a separate small water boat. I fish the local lake with a Jon boat. You don’t have to save your pennies for too many months to be able to afford a pretty good used Jon if you look around.

I'd love to have both a lake boat and a smaller river boat, but the two limiting factors.  First is I don't really have a good place for one boat as it is, as it takes up one garage spot during the summer as it is and my truck has to sit outside during that time.  Not a big deal but there really isn't a place for a 2nd boat unless I store it somewhere else which is less than ideal.  I have a somewhat large yard but being it's a corner lot there are some local municipality laws which require it to have it's own pad to store it on and there are stipulations on that.  Second is my boss (wife) would require a river boat big enough to fit the whole family, which kind of goes along with not having room in the first place to put a 2nd boat.

 

[Tim Kelly]

Could you get a jet lower unit and convert your motor?

[YoTone]

Ive been trying to un subscribe for the last few days wondering why I keep getting these notifications about this topic then it just dawned on me I started it.lmao 

[moguy1973]

2 hours ago, Tim Kelly said:

Could you get a jet lower unit and convert your motor?

It's possible but not ideal, and Trackers aren't flat on the bottom and the rivers are rather rocky around here.  Plus it does well with the 60hp but putting a jet on it effectively makes it a 40hp and it wouldn't perform as it should.

[keagbassr]

2-15 minutes is as long as i drive regularly.  Couple places I'll hit a few times are 30ish min. Away. And for vaca.  I drive 5hrs. To Maine. 

[Ohio Archer]

35 mins to my local lake.  3 hrs to Cave Run.  5 to Lake St Clair.

[imbatman]

I have three that are 30 to 45 miles for me.  Bass Pro Tour / MLF is coming to them in 2 weeks (Raleigh, NC Stop)

 

There is nothing closer really to get a boat into.

[ETPH]

I live in a trout dominated state and area so the lakes and river I fish for bass are anywhere from a 1 hour drive to a 2-3 hour drive. The bodies of water that are 2-3 hours away make it a little tougher to get there at first light sometimes lol...

[Hillbilly Bennett]

The closest lake to me is 4 miles away (Dewey Lake) and it’s not too bad for this region  I have an ok lake about 10 miles away (Paintsville Lake) and the lake I fish the most is right at 30 miles from my driveway. (Yatesville Lake) Every year I try to take 5 or 6 trips combined to Chickamagua and/or Guntersville. Chick is a 4 1/2 hour drive and Guntersville is right at 6 but both are well worth the trip. Had to miss our annual March trip this year due to the #%+$ virus that’s wrecking everything but we will get to another one in due time. Stay safe out there and catch some fish! 

[Tlauz]

I drive about 2 hours one way. Good news is I have a camper there so when I get there it is usually for multiple days of fishing. 

[Hillbilly Bennett]

On 3/19/2020 at 5:31 PM, imbatman said:

I have three that are 30 to 45 miles for me.  Bass Pro Tour / MLF is coming to them in 2 weeks (Raleigh, NC Stop)

 

There is nothing closer really to get a boat into.

That’s a great area to fish though. Jordan and Harris are awesome. Only two lake in Your area I’ve been on. NC is an incredible bass fishing state. 

[HenryPF]

Walk - 60 feet to backyard retention pond

Drive - 20mins-1:15hours with boat in tow. Have multiple rivers, natural lakes, man made lakes and forest preserves within this distance.

[Munkin]

On 3/18/2020 at 5:25 PM, moguy1973 said:

It's possible but not ideal, and Trackers aren't flat on the bottom and the rivers are rather rocky around here.  Plus it does well with the 60hp but putting a jet on it effectively makes it a 40hp and it wouldn't perform as it should.

A lot of guys are running 60/40 jets on aluminum boats around here. 

 

Allen 

[basser27]

Anywhere from 10-45 minutes. Sometimes more 

[justin apfel]

For me it depends if I'm fishing for fun or fishing in a tournament. When I'm fun fishing I try to stay within 30 minutes to an hour from my house. If I'm tournament fishing I drive as far as I have to.