Boat ramp traffic way down and fewer boats on the water?

[Boosh]

Everything over the last few years has just gotten crazy expensive. I'm only staying in Comifornia because two of my grandkids are still here. I think the middle class is just trying to keep a roof over there heads here in CA. There's no left over money for boating.

$1,400 month for Health insurance for wife and I (used to be $600)
$6K year Home and fire insurance (used to be $2,800)
$5.50 gallon gas
$600 month electricity
$250 month water (my friends tell me that's cheap)
$100 or more to take my wife to dinner
$62 year for CA fishing license
$22 to launch and fish on local lakes

I used to have larger boats because I fished the ocean. You'd burn through $300-400 in fuel going out for tuna. Now I just have my 16' Crestliner with a 40 hp and I love it. I can launch it on my own and there's pleanty of room for 2-3. AND, it's super cheap on fuel to fish our local lakes. I only go Mon-Fri and the lakes around here are pretty wide open with few boats. The weekend in San Diego is another story....

 

[Drock]

Everything over the last few years has just gotten crazy expensive. I'm only staying in Comifornia because two of my grandkids are still here. I think the middle class is just trying to keep a roof over there heads here in CA. There's no left over money for boating.

$1,400 month for Health insurance for wife and I (used to be $600)
$6K year Home and fire insurance (used to be $2,800)
$5.50 gallon gas
$600 month electricity
$250 month water (my friends tell me that's cheap)
$100 or more to take my wife to dinner
$62 year for CA fishing license
$22 to launch and fish on local lakes

I used to have larger boats because I fished the ocean. You'd burn through $300-400 in fuel going out for tuna. Now I just have my 16' Crestliner with a 40 hp and I love it. I can launch it on my own and there's pleanty of room for 2-3. AND, it's super cheap on fuel to fish our local lakes. I only go Mon-Fri and the lakes around here are pretty wide open with few boats. The weekend in San Diego is another story....

See your list of expenses we all have helps me understand how crazy it is out there, that’s a shame.
Best to you.

 

[Seafarer]

Everything over the last few years has just gotten crazy expensive. I'm only staying in Comifornia because two of my grandkids are still here. I think the middle class is just trying to keep a roof over there heads here in CA. There's no left over money for boating.

$1,400 month for Health insurance for wife and I (used to be $600)
$6K year Home and fire insurance (used to be $2,800)
$5.50 gallon gas
$600 month electricity
$250 month water (my friends tell me that's cheap)
$100 or more to take my wife to dinner
$62 year for CA fishing license
$22 to launch and fish on local lakes

I used to have larger boats because I fished the ocean. You'd burn through $300-400 in fuel going out for tuna. Now I just have my 16' Crestliner with a 40 hp and I love it. I can launch it on my own and there's pleanty of room for 2-3. AND, it's super cheap on fuel to fish our local lakes. I only go Mon-Fri and the lakes around here are pretty wide open with few boats. The weekend in San Diego is another story....

Its like that all over. I'm currently going through the task of trying to find a new homeowners policy, I've been dropped by four over the past four years. One won't insure me because I have a 'commercial' truck, (my F250 4x4 with a cap on it that tows my boats), another dropped me because I have trees in the back yard saying that they're an undo risk, another dropped me because they said my house is in need of 'renovation and updating'. Citing my roof is over 10 years old and my siding and windows haven't been replaced in the last 20 years.
The last one dropped me because they say my house looks neglected and that I need to remove shrubbery around the home and remove the rows of 'animal' cages in the back yard.
The 'animal' cages they refer to are my tomato cages, 18" round tubes that support my tomato plants, in a 20x10 patch of garden. It seems they're grasping at any excuse, and the only companies that'll insure me now want $8k a year to insure a house appraised at $80k.
My utilities are $450/mo, and being on a fixed income, I'm extremely careful about what I turn on.
Walmart here is worthless, they never have anything, fishing tackle or otherwise. Then they switched to the self checkout and things never ring up right, they scan higher than they were marked almost 100% of the time. The fishing tackle here is all crap, they have a few better rods and reels but noting really good, but their better stuff is double what I can buy it online for.
Not that I buy much tackle these days, I likely have everything I'll ever need and then some just from years of buying from estate sales and off CL. I just got a boat, 22 motors, and a crap load of tackle for free on Sat. (I made a separate post about it earlier).

The ramps here are still sort of empty, maybe 1/4 of the usual number of boat trailers there. None were out today at all. The older guys are suffering because SS doesn't cover their expenses these days. I was forced tor retire two years ago for health reasons and get only $800/mo and it'll never increase. The typical side hustle selling stuff on CL and FB is dead, the buyer went away two years ago. The only good thing I see is that there are a ton of really cheap boats out there to be had if you can afford to go get them or buy gas to run them.

I've cut way back on my time on the water too, as have most, at $3,83 gallon plus $30/gal for oil, its no longer a daily or even a weekly thing. My boat 16ft boat will use 12 gallons in a day on the river and my truck will burn another 10 getting there and back. Not counting the $300/mo in insurance on the truck. I'm lucky I've got a clean driving record, some are paying way more. Add in $200 oil changes and the truck is fast being left in the driveway more and more, as is the boat.

 

[oilsmoke]

A number of years ago I had a friend that worked for Walmart in their regional office and warehouse. I was told that any given Walmart store's inventory is driven by its past sales.
Item are first stocked in quantities of 25 per store, if that sells within 30 days the number is doubled, if 50 do not sell the item is dropped. If the first 25 items linger and don't sell, its up to the store manager to either leave them or clearance them out to make use of that space for more productive items. If a particular store does not have a good selection of a certain item, its a fairly accurate tell-tale that the local customers are not interested in those items. The problem is it does not account for changes over time and it doesn't account for the fact that price may be the reason items aren't selling other than demand. They don't care either way since if it doesn't produce enough profit they won't continue to offer it.
The program for a Super Walmart is a bit different than the smaller original sized stores in which the store manager has a bit more control but they all work on the same basis.
This holds true for all items. Theft can also affect inventory, items which repeatedly get shoplifted are often dropped as well, the cost of added security generally exceeds the amount those items would produce in profit if they simply were not there in the first place.
One local WM here stopped selling bicycles because they lost 70% of them to theft, they did the same thing with higher priced cuts of beef. Rather than fix the real problem they just drop the item.

Its gotten to the point where the only fishing tackle that can be found lately is at the local fleamarkets. WM and the few local tackle shops are way too expensive.
What's even worse is that I now see tackle boxes, boats, motors, and hunting gear for free on CL all the time, there's a newish looking LARGE tackle box listed for free right now under S. Jersey.
I answered an ad there a few months back for four massive older Plano Phantom boxes listed with surf lures. There were over 300 minty clean lures. They were listed for over a month when I spotted it. When I picked them up, the guy gave me an aluminum Fish Mate surf cart too.
If you figure those lures are on average $8 each or so, and the cart at least $200, its makes no sense why they sat listed for so long. I sometimes feel like I'm the only one here who still fishes or owns a boat. That's reinforced lately when I'm often the only boat on the water all day.

 

[mirrocraft16]

While probably too little too late, I saw this about Bass Pro Shops last week:
Bass Pro - Rising Cost and Inflation
Better financing isn't going to give people more money to spend. BPS relies on folks with disposable income, and that's rapidly become a thing of the past in recent years.
Apparently no one can afford those fancy new high dollar boats or motors they sell, or anything else for that matter.
Although I always enjoyed visiting their stores when I get the chance or am near one, I can say I've rarely bought anything there. I think over my lifetime, I bought a pair of rod racks and one surf pole, all of which were on clearance. There just has always been a cheaper option.
The problem is that in this economy people can't even afford the cheaper options.

I went out for a bit yesterday morning, around 7am, normally I'd pass a few old timers out fishing and maybe a few commercial boats heading in or out but the river was devoid of any traffic until around 11am, when a few kids on jetskis flew by at wide open throttle up and back about a dozen times till I just called it quits and went in. No big boats, no tubers, no fishermen, no old couples cruising the water for fun. In the parking lot there's two old rusty flat tires just laying there, a massive oil stain where something dumped its guts, and two long gouges in the ramp from a prop or skeg that was recently dragged across it. There's a pile of slag from a torch or something hot in one parking spot nearest the water where someone was doing a lot of cutting. Someone probably lost a trailer over the weekend while out on the water.

 

[airshot]

I could certainly see the big wake boat owners that might burn 20-30 gallons in a day hesitating a little bit. Gas is still cheap-ish here at $3.09 currently. Takes me about 3.5 gallons in the truck and close to that much in the boat to fish for an afternoon, not too expensive as far as hobbies go. Costs that much to go see a movie these days.

I did go out on Monday afternoon, there was plenty of traffic but not like I expected for a holiday weekend. The ramp was less than half full.

About the same for me plus another 4-5 bucks for minnows, but....I am putting food on the table, with Perch and Walleye running around 20 bucks a lb for fillets....I can claim to make money going fishing !! Lol...

 

[Boosh]

A number of years ago I had a friend that worked for Walmart in their regional office and warehouse. I was told that any given Walmart store's inventory is driven by its past sales.
Item are first stocked in quantities of 25 per store, if that sells within 30 days the number is doubled, if 50 do not sell the item is dropped. If the first 25 items linger and don't sell, its up to the store manager to either leave them or clearance them out to make use of that space for more productive items. If a particular store does not have a good selection of a certain item, its a fairly accurate tell-tale that the local customers are not interested in those items. The problem is it does not account for changes over time and it doesn't account for the fact that price may be the reason items aren't selling other than demand. They don't care either way since if it doesn't produce enough profit they won't continue to offer it.
The program for a Super Walmart is a bit different than the smaller original sized stores in which the store manager has a bit more control but they all work on the same basis.
This holds true for all items. Theft can also affect inventory, items which repeatedly get shoplifted are often dropped as well, the cost of added security generally exceeds the amount those items would produce in profit if they simply were not there in the first place.
One local WM here stopped selling bicycles because they lost 70% of them to theft, they did the same thing with higher priced cuts of beef. Rather than fix the real problem they just drop the item.

Its gotten to the point where the only fishing tackle that can be found lately is at the local fleamarkets. WM and the few local tackle shops are way too expensive.
What's even worse is that I now see tackle boxes, boats, motors, and hunting gear for free on CL all the time, there's a newish looking LARGE tackle box listed for free right now under S. Jersey.
I answered an ad there a few months back for four massive older Plano Phantom boxes listed with surf lures. There were over 300 minty clean lures. They were listed for over a month when I spotted it. When I picked them up, the guy gave me an aluminum Fish Mate surf cart too.
If you figure those lures are on average $8 each or so, and the cart at least $200, its makes no sense why they sat listed for so long. I sometimes feel like I'm the only one here who still fishes or owns a boat. That's reinforced lately when I'm often the only boat on the water all day.

I wish the same thing was happening where I live. I've always had salt water gear, so I've been looking for a loaded fresh water tackle box for the last couple of months in the San Diego area or outside and have it shipped to me. Haven't found one yet...but I'm also up in the air about what type of box I want. I THINK I want a pull out drawer type. I just think the old style drawers would be easier vs a bunch of individual flip top trays. I've been searching CL, Offer-up and Mercari. When I see something that fits my criteria, it seems like they're asking $400. The search goes on...for now I have a couple trays with some gear

 

[Hooligans]

Things have always been expensive in interior Alaska and inflation hurts here too but some of you guys sure have it worse. Those California prices make AK seem cheap.

We have a Conservative govt and voting population that keep taxes and some other expenses low, but the downside of that is decaying boat ramp/campground facilities due to loss of oil revenue (just my guess there..whatever the cause, they aren't maintaining things well).

It's just kinda slow and easy and shabby here...