Overnight trip - How far would you go??

[soflabasser]

I have done several 1 day fishing trips that I drove over 8 hours. For me it is worth driving far since I usually catch very nice fish on these fishing trips. With that said I live close to the Everglades and other good fishing locations so I don't have to drive far to fish in places with amazing fishing.

[Stratocat_Joe]

I live about 1 & 1/2 hours from both Lake Eufaula and Lake Seminole, so I make those drives regularly for day trips.  The farthest I've gone for an overnight trip is six hours down to Headwaters.  I actually stayed two nights there (slept in the back of my SUV) and hit Stick Marsh, too!

[Way north bass guy]

I drive 3-1/2 hours one way to my parents place with the boat once a year, but that’s usually for a week or so worth of fantastic fishing. Otherwise, there’s so many lakes around me that I never have to drive more than 1/2 hour, and I could hit a different lake every day all summer doing that if I wanted to. I’m very lucky here. 

[Trox]

My single day trips are 2 hours one way typically, sometime 3 if I decide to fish Amistad. There are not a lot of tournament lakes in my general area so I've had to get very used to driving... With that being said, I'd gladly drive ~5hrs one way for an overnight trip to a lake like Rayburn

[12poundbass]

About 2.5 hours straight north! ?

[gim]

On 3/9/2022 at 5:52 PM, Way north bass guy said:

Otherwise, there’s so many lakes around me that I never have to drive more than 1/2 hour, and I could hit a different lake every day all summer doing that if I wanted to. I’m very lucky here. 

Most of northern MN is like that too. There’s so many lakes that receive almost no bass fishing pressure whatsoever and I could fish a new one every day for 5 months. 

[slonezp]

On 3/9/2022 at 12:09 PM, WRB said:

Travel 180 miles for 1 day of fishing several times. Leave at 2 AM fish all day and get home around 11 PM same day.

Over night trips about 300 miles or 5 hours one way leaving at 1AM fish all day, sleep eat breakfast fish another half day, have lunch and hit the road home.

Tom

I've done this for walleye and sauger when I know the bite is on and I'm going meat fishing. Haven't done it for bass. Bass, I'll drive 1/2 a day to fish a full day and drive 1/2 a day home and I've been doing it for years. Sturgeon Bay is a 4 hour drive. Leave Friday after work, put in a long Saturday on the water, and drive home on Sunday.

[A-Jay]

27 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Most of northern MN is like that too. There’s so many lakes that receive almost no bass fishing pressure whatsoever and I could fish a new one every day for 5 months. 

Plenty of Lake Menderchucks to chose from over this way as well.

I never do overnight trips, no need.

But what I will say that being on the water and in 'my spot' for that first light topwater bite (an hour before sunrise) usually requires a commitment.

Biggest & best waters include a 60 minute transit time and a 10 mile boat ride.

With first light at 5 AM, I need to be up & moving @ 2:30-ish.

Not a fan of sleeping at the wheel so on these trips I try to be off the water by noon.

If it takes 1/3 of my energy to get there and 1/3 of my energy to fish,

I have to expect it will take the last 1/3 of whatever I have left in my tank to get home safely.

The head bob is not an option.

I lost a very close friend while in the service who feel asleep at the wheel while home on leave.

Wicked Sad.

Stay Safe. 

A-Jay

 

 

[gim]

32 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Biggest & best waters include a 60 minute transit time and a 10 mile boat ride.

With first light at 5 AM, I need to be up & moving @ 2:30-ish.

Not a fan of sleeping at the wheel so on these trips I try to be off the water by noon.

If it takes 1/3 of my energy to get there and 1/3 of my energy to fish,

I have to expect it will take the last 1/3 of whatever I have left in my tank to get home safely.

The head bob is not an option.

I lost a very close friend while in the service who feel asleep at the wheel while home on leave.

I hear ya. I think you generally fish bigger water than I do too.

 

I used to do the midnight opener thing with my brother for walleyes using lighted bobbers and live bait. Some years were good, some were really good, and some were bad. It was a gamble every time. The worst part was the drive home at 6am right when the sun was coming up. I always got stuck doing it and it was a full hour home. I found myself head bobbing a few times and finally after 10 years of it in a row, we stopped doing it because it was just too unsafe for the driver, whoever that was.

[Deephaven]

Hard to do more than 4 hours each way for an overnight...but mostly because going further than that here doesn't mean better water.  3 seems to be the sweet spot and I am totally fine with it.  I've done that drive plenty of times for just one day of fishing as well, but obviously the more you drive the less time you have to fish.

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

Biggest & best waters include a 60 minute transit time and a 10 mile boat ride.

With first light at 5 AM, I need to be up & moving @ 2:30-ish.

Ugh, that would be harder than a long drive.  Anything before 4:30 an my body aren't very well in sync.

[Fallser]

When I was younger, it wasn't a problem to get up at Zero Dark Thirty, drive 4 hours, fish and drive the four hours back.  Now, overnight, probably two hours, which would be up to the Poconos.  That use to be the most common day trip we did, but one of the guys I fish with brought a house near Lake Wallenpaupack last year, so now we can fish all day and crash at his place and head back the next day.

I make a 7 hour drive to my sister's eventual retirement place in Vermont.  That's usually a three or four day stay before I head back.  7 hours is about my limit on how far I can drive in a day now.

The longest drive this year will be a trip to a lodge in NE Ontario.  Realistically it's a 13 to 14 hour drive.  The first time my buddy I went up there, we drove straight through.  That was in 1986.  This year he is going up with me again.  Right now we're debating whether we want to drive almost straight through, 12 hours or stop after about 9 hours.  Either way it's a two day drive.

 

[Kayak Fishin]

Pretty great replies guys. Thanks for all the input. The reason I posed the question is my record is 4.5 hours one way, stay the night, leave by noon and go 4.5 hours home. Now I've done the same trip with a full day in the middle and it made a world of difference. The one night trip is doable for sure, but man it's exhausting, especially since it's a wading excursion. Glad to see I'm not crazy though!

[Dwight Hottle]

I typically will do 1.5 to 2 hrs one way in the same day. For an overnight trip its usually capped at 4 hrs one way. 

[Junk Fisherman]

I done this many times for 3.5 hours each way.  Doubt I would do that if gas was much more than $6 a gallon.  Some of my favorite places to fish are 5 hours away.  I've never gone there unless I've had 3 full days of fishing.  With gas prices as they are, I'd need a week to drive that far.  

[scaleface]

 Two hours .  

[rtwvumtneer6]

I've gone to Erie for a trip like that.  Normally a 2-1/2 hour drive but towing and construction on 79 usually takes a bit longer.  I think that's about where I'd cut it off.  Last thing you need is to fall asleep behind the wheel on the way home.  

[bigspirit]

Geez. Multiple times this year I’ve driven an hour and a half each way for a half day of fishing. 
 

I’ve also driven 4 hours and 15 minutes each way for a day trip - multiple times LOL. 

[steve-pierce]

4 hours. 1.5 is common for a day trip. Leave at 4am. Fish 8-4. Fish 7-3 next day. Home by 7pm

[flyfisher]

my normal drive to fish is 45-90 minutes for a day.  I have done a 4hour one way "day" trip more than once and it was always worth it.  My general rule of thumb for a day trip is more time on the water than driving  

[12poundbass]

I used to do the on call rotation for my work, I did plenty of the midnight call outs for a broken water mains in the middle of the night. Hang my arm out the window to stay awake, and spent plenty of nights in a Walmart/ Meijer parking lot. I did my time and prefer my bed next to my wife. That being said , I’ll get up at 3-4 am to go north for giant smallies but that’s it! I’d head to Mexico for a few giant largemouth too! 

[MidwestBassAttack]

My cutoff would be 2-3 hours max. Anything longer I’d want 2 nights to allow for a solid, full day of fishing.

[A-Jay]

8 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

That being said , I’ll get up at 3-4 am to go north for giant smallies but that’s it! I’d head to Mexico for a few giant largemouth too! 

It's like me and my shadow . . . .

A-Jay

[NoShoes]

I do 2 1/2 regularly for Friday, all Saturday, and half of Sunday trips to my families place on a lake. 
 

I have the St. John’s river about 4 hours and Santee cooper about 2. I’ve been tempted to try what y’all are talking about doing, that’s a lot of driving though to fish somewhere unfamiliar though that’s too far to get regular enough to be familiar. 

[throttleplate]

I wouldnt drive more than 1 1/2 hrs to fish. There are so many lakes and river dams around me in minnesota from minutes away. Many dont get fished as some dont have a decent ramp or no ramp.

Many lakes dont get fished because they are not popular, dont get the big headlines of fish stories which is good for us bank and wade anglers.

As it is i fish starting at around 2pm untill the sun goes down which in spring early summer is 9.30 -10 pm.

[N Florida Mike]

2 hour one -way   trips are my absolute limit. There’s a lot of good water  under that time for me. When I was young, I would leave so I would be at the ramp by daybreak, fish all day til dark, load up and drive home. I would be a little tired.

Now I dont see too  well in the dark, especially coming home tired. So I rarely do that anymore unless someone else is driving!

I used to drive to camping spots on lakes by dusk, set up camp, run a trot line for a few hours, eat what we caught, sleep, then get up at daybreak, bass fish almost to dark the next day, load up and drive home in the dark. Never had any problem.