Your usual fishing spot. How far a drive is it?

[Darth-Baiter]

I have a tiny, very kayak friendly golf course lake 8 minute drive away.  But it gets hammered, especially since COVID forced everyone to take up fishing and sourdough-bread baking.  Decent fish in this lake but it’s a “Town meeting” most days out. 
 

my other spots.  The California Delta is two hours + drive,  Clearlake and Berryessa 1.5 hours.  The mother-lode lake chain - three hours. 
 

there is one lake I archery pig hunt around 1 hour away, but it’s code is very tough to crack. Lake Sonoma. It’s been kicking my butt.  And the easier arm to figure out is closed indefinitely because of the pandemic. 
 

im happy I have options but I’m racking up the Mike’s on my truck.  I’m not even talking about the kayak miles. There is a honey hole 3.5 miles into the delta.  Tidal currents could literally be “uphill both ways” 

[scaleface]

My usual two spots are 25 and 30 miles away .  

[jimmyjoe]

   I'm lucky. Depending on where I want to fish it, the river is 1 to 12 miles away. Nearest good bass lake is 15 miles, sand pit is 25 miles, two lakes good for shorecasters are 65 and 75 miles away, and the furthest lake is 90 miles away. So I'm sitting pretty.

   One lake has a little town nearby with Amish women selling pastries on Friday. Guess which day of the week I go fishing there? (Hint: it's not Monday.) I call that a can't-lose situation!

 

 

   jj

[jbsoonerfan]

My driveway to the ramp is 12 min. I can leave work hook up the boat, change clothes and be on the water in less than 30 min. Not a numbers lake by any means, but there are good ones in there. Other than that, I have 2 good lakes about 30 min away and 3 or 4 more within an hour and another 4 or 5 within 2 hours. So I would say at least 10 lakes within 2 hours.

[slonezp]

Home ramp is 45 minutes

[A-Jay]

Lots of options up here ~ Plenty of decent local stuff 10-30 minutes away.

Best big fish water is all 45-90 minutes away and  quite a bit more further.

Never felt the urge though. 

The ride there goes by quick, usually happens in the dark.

How the ride home goes is directly related to my level of success.

Which can be defined in a few different ways depending net, scale, camera use

and of course, the weather. 

Didn't mention or include 'the boat rides' to get to my spots,

as they are almost always one of the best parts of my trips.

A-Jay

 

[MN Fisher]

Depends on where I'm fishing that day

 

Tonka; Phelps Bay ramp - 1 mile

Tonka; North Arm ramp - 3 miles

Dutch - 3 miles

Little Long - 5 miles

[Michigander]

For my kayak, I look at satellite maps and go explore anything that I can float in.

[Aaron_H]

I like to beat the banks of ponds, mostly. My neighborhood has some ~10 acre ponds and a number of canals that have been here since the 60s-70s that are all within 3 miles of me, lots of big bass to be found here. My usual spot lately though has been a string of ponds about 15 miles from me.

 

I'm about 40 minutes from Lake Toho, an hour or so from Harris Chain.

[12poundbass]

My home lake is 50’ out my back door. I have a ton of lakes 30 minutes or less from my house. 

[slonezp]

2 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

My home lake is 50’ out my back door. I have a ton of lakes 30 minutes or less from my house. 

Jealous. 

[Darth-Baiter]

6 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

My home lake is 50’ out my back door. I have a ton of lakes 30 minutes or less from my house. 

Amazing.  

[Logan S]

Depending on the ramp, the Potomac is as close as 30ish minutes or as far as about 2 hours...My favorite ramp is about 45mins away.  There's a few other places including the upper Chesapeake that are around 1.5hrs away too...I consider all of these my home waters, fish all of them frequently.  

 

There's an electric-only lake about 15 minutes away that I also fish quite a bit, but it's been taken over by the kayak and paddleboard hoards...So I don't go as much as I used to .

[MIbassyaker]

There are over 150 distinct fishable "spots" (publicly-accessible natural lakes, impoundments, gravel pits, bayous, and free-flowing river stretches between launches), within an hour's drive of my house that I know of (and surely more I don't know of). 

 

I have fished 40 of them at least once, and each year I fish around 15-20 different ones, rarely visiting the same one more than 3 times a year. The closest four are all about 8-10 min away, but the ones I visit the most are 20-50 min away.

 

 

 

[Williep99]

Not a great number of fisheries around me, hence the fact I want to move in a couple years. I’m at 2 hrs. for a couple lakes I fish the most.

[12poundbass]

5 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

There are over 150 distinct fishable "spots" (publicly-accessible natural lakes, impoundments, gravel pits, bayous, and free-flowing river stretches between launches), within an hour's drive of my house that I know of (and surely more I don't know of). 

 

I have fished 40 of them at least once, and each year I fish around 15-20 different ones, rarely visiting the same one more than 3 times a year. The closest four are all about 8-10 min away, but the ones I visit the most are 20-50 min away.

 

 

 

I was doing a job on Wabasis Lake a couple weeks ago and I was checking it out and really liking what I was seeing. I might have to fish it this year. I looks like it would be a good flipping and frog lake which I love doing both. 

[DitchPanda]

I've got two pretty solid lakes about 40 miles away and one small city pond that produces on the way to one of those lakes. My two usual spots...both county park ponds/small lakes...are very close. One is 6.7 miles the other is 1.2 miles.

[MN Fisher]

12 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

There are over 150 distinct fishable "spots" (publicly-accessible natural lakes, impoundments, gravel pits, bayous, and free-flowing river stretches between launches), within an hour's drive of my house that I know of (and surely more I don't know of). 

 

I have fished 40 of them at least once, and each year I fish around 15-20 different ones, rarely visiting the same one more than 3 times a year. The closest four are all about 8-10 min away, but the ones I visit the most are 20-50 min away.

If I had the free time to go an hour's travel to get to a ramp....I think it'd be near 100 places I could launch. Including my 4 current spots, there's at least a couple dozen within 15-20 minutes - granted that almost half are different launch points on Minnetonka - but considering my canoe's speed (or lack thereof), to me it'd be like a new lake.

[JustJames]

I’m lucky to move to Canyon Lake, or I would say lucky to marry my wife lol. It is not a big lake by any mean only 400 acres but a lot of shoreline with different depth and structure from sandy beach, rock flat, drop off ledge to old river system to riprap. If I ever feel the need to fish other it only about 30mins to Lake Perris, Lake Skinner and Diamond Valley Lake.

 

[Koz]

When I lived in SC there were hundreds of lagoons within a 10-15 minute drive through the community.

 

But now that I moved to GA I just walk out to the back of my hotel and fish off the dock. When it gets warmer I'll grab one of our kayaks or canoes. It's about a 2 minute walk from my office.

[Michigander]

22 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

I was doing a job on Wabasis Lake a couple weeks ago and I was checking it out and really liking what I was seeing. I might have to fish it this year. I looks like it would be a good flipping and frog lake which I love doing both. 

Fished a tourney there in 2019. It was... Interesting.

32 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

There are over 150 distinct fishable "spots" (publicly-accessible natural lakes, impoundments, gravel pits, bayous, and free-flowing river stretches between launches), within an hour's drive of my house that I know of (and surely more I don't know of). 

 

I have fished 40 of them at least once, and each year I fish around 15-20 different ones, rarely visiting the same one more than 3 times a year. The closest four are all about 8-10 min away, but the ones I visit the most are 20-50 min away.

 

 

 

Lucky you. I'm basically in the second worst Michigan desert, fishable water usually means at least half an hour in the truck, if not an hour or two. At least I'm not in the thumb, lol.

[MN Fisher]

3 minutes ago, Michigander said:

Lucky you. I'm basically in the second worst Michigan desert, fishable water usually means at least half an hour in the truck, if not an hour or two. At least I'm not in the thumb, lol.

If I wasn't so single minded on my 4 spots (maybe 5 this year), I could chose from several dozen spots within 30-40 minutes of me...including the lake that produced the state record LMB.

[Deephaven]

Boat launch is 500 yards away, but could also just tie my boat up to my dock.  Lots of other choices within 30min.

[NYWayfarer]

I live less than a 10 minute drive from my favorite fishing spot on the Hudson River.

[ABrugs]

My spot at Lake St. Clair from shore is about a 20-minute drive from my house. It’s where the Bassmaster Elites launch when they come up here for their annual LSC tournament. I’m blessed to live this close and have access to this phenomenal lake.