re: Hunting and fishing by yourself

Reading through these, I wonder if some of the preferences are driven by personalities. I am very extroverted, and enjoy being with people that I like. I fish with someone almost 100% if the time, not just because I enjoy the social aspect, but it’s often more effective, trying different lures/presentations, and certainly fishing for my favorites like specks, mangroves and red snapper, the more baits in the water at once, the easier it is to get them into a frenzy.

Deer hunting is in itself an activity that creates long periods of solitude, whether sitting in a box or on the side of a tree, but after the hunt, I love having company to cook for, have a cocktail and cigar with, and tell tall tales. And at my age, I surely like having a partner with me hoisting that deer in the back of the truck or 4 wheeler, as I occasionally manage to get one bigger than I can lift. Also enjoy being in a duck blind with good buddies, the BS-ing and teasing makes the time fly on slow days, or when one gun is hot and another not.

Being somewhat retired, and eyeing the day I won’t have my cell phone ringing all week, I’ve started really cultivating the friendships with guys my age, that share my love for woods and water. My boat is almost bigger than I want to launch and manage alone, so I just upgraded to an iPilot so I could tell my deckhands they won’t have anchor duty anymore. My biggest challenge is my two main hunting buddies own/lease their own places, so I often find myself on 1000 acres solo, especially with two boys busy with their own lives and jobs and my older relatives hiding at home from the ‘rona. My gf enjoys coming to fish with me if it’s not overly hot or cold, but hunting is not going to happen.

I fish alone all the time, I don't need to be pampering someone else while I'm trying to enjoy what I love.

I took my nephew bass fishing last year, we were catching one to two solid fish an hour, to me this was a good day but he was bitching and bored so I had to take him home.


We have a small tract of private land I hunt on, usually I'm the only one on it and want to keep it that way.

If my boat would launch and load itself, I'd do about 100 times more fishing than I do now.

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If my boat would launch and load itself, I'd do about 100 times more fishing than I do now.

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It’s one thing that I have mastered. Makes life so much easier when you get that figured out. I watched and listened while making observations on what works for me and what didn’t.

Now I can do it quicker by myself than when I bring a buddy to help.

It’s just getting everything setup and doing it the same every time.

I'm a bit older, but this is exactly what I do. If I set the alarm but am still sleepy, I just roll over and try the next day.

Fishing alone means I can stop fishing and head to the landing as early as, or as late as, I want to. Today I heard some thunder - had 21 nice slabs and 3.5 bass. Called it a day, released the bass and had more fish to filet than I wanted.

Fishing alone also means less concerns about COVID/flu/whatever is the disease du jour.

ETA: If my sons or grandkids want to go, we'll do whatever they want (which for the grandkids usually means eat snacks all morning and help drive the boat).

I prefer alone. Most of my friends are barely weekend warriors that likely will show up asking for shells, coffee, or a spare pair of boots. I keep my equipment in top condition and there’s very few people I care to deal with about showing up on time or helping with all of the duties. I’d rather just take my time, do it on my own, and enjoy my solitude.

I've done it a lot, hope to do it more if possible. Nothing like being your own boss.

Dbeck what park of ark are you in? I've been debating on getting a kayak myself

I'm in conway

I'm near fort Smith. Kayaks are fun but you gotta love paddling. When it's windy you end up paddling as much as fishing. Doesn't bother me because I like being on the water anyway but I could see it be off-putting to a lot of people.

And they're not really set up to fish "out of the box". Most people find they need to do a lot of mods to really enjoy fishing. Anchor, anchor trolley, tackle storage, brush clip, etc. I have a 14 foot jon boat with a transom mount trolling motor and it was about the same cost as what I've put into my kayak.