Fishing vacations used to be the simplest and cheapest vacations one could take. In fact, many families, especially those with
children, went fishing on vacation, in part because that’s all they could afford to do. In some ways, that has changed.
Today’s fishing vacations are elaborate guided tours with elaborate equipment in far-off places. There’s nothing wrong with that ofcourse, but sometimes a simple back-to-basics vacation can be just what the angler ordered.
Do they still sell tents? There was a time you could pay $2 to pitch that tent, build a fire, roast some marshmallows, and turn in earlyso you could be up with the birds to catch your breakfast.
After you fished and cooked, you’d eat and take a nap and then go for a dip in the lake. Drying off in the sun, you’d sigh and think “oh,this is great; no phones, no TV and no pressure”. You’d do the same thing for 2 or 3 days and then go home, refreshed and ready totake on the world again.
If you were lucky, you took home a cooler of trout or perch that would last in the freezer for months. If the truth be known, you probably
made a couple of bucks on the whole trip because you wouldn’t buy as much meat in the coming weeks as you’d be eating the fish youcaught.
Today, you’ll pay hundreds of dollars for a night or two in a luxurious fishing lodge and most likely fish in a catch-and-release body of
water. Even if you were allowed to keep your catch, you wouldn’t be able to take them home on the plane. So you spend a thousand ortwo for fish you can’t eat and go to sleep with chocolates on your pillow.
Actually, we’ve come a long way! Pass me a chocolate.
