For fly fishermen it’s the number we’ve always feared. We think about it with every trip but it’s strictly a “don’t ask, don’t tell” topic in the parking area.
Spouse and family members have brought it up multiple times, we shrug and pretend we didn’t hear, often followed by some weak retort on what they’ve spent recently.
Not one for politeness, I’ll just stomp on your hobby and tell you.
Six dollars and thirty four cents per pound.
… and that makes your average 12″ mountain bred trout worth nearly $3.16 each.
Figure a $1.50 per fly, you’re at break even if it takes two to catch one.
I’m wincing too, given the cavalier way I treat my bugs. They’re quick to tie and just as quick to adorn a tree branch, yet somehow I figured my investment was being squandered a little less quickly.
… and here I am poking fun at hedge fund managers for pissing away our collective earnings – when they may have done us a favor by taking it all at once.
Figuring a typical weekend afield is; $40 worth of gas, $50 lodging, $40 in food, and $50 worth of tippet and flies, you’ll need to catch and eat 28.4 pounds of trout to break even.
Look at the bright side, a brownliner has to eat nearly 300 pounds of carp in the same period. Yummy.
It is all about the metric.
If you compare the ROI against the cost of trout, (or carp heaven forbid) caught and consumed you will never be able to make a case for it.
I justify the ROI for my lifestyle choice with the keeper of the checkbook by matching it against the saved cost of mental health professionals, mood mediating drug prescriptions, and health club memberships.
Remember, it is all about the presentation.
A well thought out counterpoint to be sure – it’s obvious that practiced fishermen have spent hours developing arguments, facts, and “presentation” …
I would love to hear others, just so’s I can use them in rotation when braced in the hallway by an enraged spouse clutching this month’s VISA bill.
Well Done, HDW.
tell her you’ll promise to cut back spending by scavenging all roadkill finds for tying purposes. When the stench coming from the garage is too overpowering she’ll buckle and give you back your credit card.
Either that or you’ll find all of your stuff on the front lawn one day with a sign that says “for cheap”.
Well, if Wall Street is now on the T.A.R.P. diet, it wasn’t going to be long before Keith would put Main Street on the carp diet.
Pingback: Pages tagged "cavalier"