What's Da Buzz?

This entry in Life Here and There is inspired by my father. He hasn’t set one foot outside of the Philippine borders unless the fishing boat they were on crossed the International boundary. In my recent discussion, he thought Wisconsin is part of Chicago and Hollywood and the Statue of Liberty are a short bus ride away. When he visits, he’ll fully appreciate the size of the USA. So this post on fishing is for him- for my Tatay.

Fishing in the Philippines is quite straight forward. The only thing you need to purchase is some fishing line and fishing hooks. You fashion the rods out of bamboo that is available from just about anywhere and add in some nylon fishing line, a hook and attach a worm to it that you dug up from the ground. Then you travel to your favorite spot and catch what you catch. If the fish isn’t a kind you like, then you throw it back. It is pretty simple really. (from my own experienced)

If you did that here in the USA though, you might be getting fined. For the sake of fairness, I will give only the comparison of fishing in the spring and summer months so the temperature is about the same.

Here are the steps to going fishing in the USA. First, you need a decent enough paying job so you have enough funds after all of the payroll and income taxes to afford to go fishing. Then you need to go to the sporting goods store to spend a few hundred dollars on a rod and reel then pay the sales tax on top of that. Depending on the kind of fish you are after, you may have to purchase a tackle box, leaders, bobbers, a fly rod, a regular casting rod, artificial lures, and supplement it with live bait such as minnows or earthworms from a live bait store. Of course, you need to pay the sales tax on all of that.

Just wait, you are not ready to go fishing yet. In order to get to where most of the fish are you will need to spend over $3000 for a boat plus the 5%+ sales tax. Then you need to pay the registration fee and get the insurance for the boat. Do you think you are ready to go fishing now?

Of course not!! You forgot to purchase your floatation devices or life jackets which are also required by law. Again, here comes the sales tax. Ready now? Nope, now you need to purchase your fishing license and get your booklet of instructions.

Ready now? Nope, now you have to figure out what kind of fish you want to fish for. Some kinds have a limit of how many you can catch in a day. Other kinds of fish must be of a certain length in inches. Also, you can only catch other kinds of fish in a certain period of time designated in the rules and guidelines. If you are caught violating these rules, you can expect to be fined.

Okay, now you are ready to go fishing. But if you want to go fishing with us, please give us plenty of advance warning so we can budget it for the future.

Thank you,

Anah

photo credits:http://www.greenhour.org

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