Confessions of a Convert - bank-tangler that is

[Tin-Can]

I never owned a boat until after I had been here in Utah for 5 years. I fished most of my life from the banks of rivers, lakes, farm ponds, piers, and beach sand surf. I did fish out of a couple larger boats (other peoples) in the Pacific as a kid, a few bass boats in Georgia and Florida, and one very small leaky aluminum boat on Lake Gatun In Panama. I still fish off the banks of the Bear River. BUT.....after having very little success off of banks here when I first arrived, and not being a great fan of fly fishing, and wanting to encourage my kids interest in fishing by helping them to actually catch something, I bought my first boat in 2004. I will admit, it was a steep learning curve for me. Learning to operate a boat in a state where many of the other boaters are as bad or worse than the drivers on the roads, and still get on the fish, and help 3 kids be successful at boating fish. But our catch per trip rate made significant increases, and I was successful in locking in the fishing interest in the kids. I've been fishing from a boat now for over 15 years here in Utah. I continue to learn new tricks and tactics every year. I think had it not been for having a boat and meeting other boat anglers at various venues, I may not have learned about BFT. Many folks fish from the banks, but rarely do I get close enough to other bank tanglers to get to know them.
So, while I have no animosity toward bank fishing, and I still do quite a bit of it (especially during the Catfish Contest) [], I tend to prefer being on the boat for the ease of location changes, the ability to "tote" all my fishing gear to where I want to fish without making several trips on foot (of which I don't have 2 good ones anymore) from vehicle to fishing bank location.
But from the bank or off of a boat, fishing is and will always be my "drug of choice".
[fishin]
[signature]