Quote Originally Posted by htr2133 View Post
I love this thread; I have long accepted I was in this exact club but I couldn't have described it better Tony!

You guys don't know me so allow me to make my case and Tony can make the call officially. I don't think I have ever posted this on here but I am a Financial Advisor, so I use historical data and numbers for a living. I believe the evidence is depressingly in my favor that I belong to the "LOSER" club. I will use conservative #s below for things I have not tracked closely:

1. Purchase fishing rig 2 years ago-$2,200
2. Batteries, Outboard maintenance, general boat maintenance to date- $500
3. Misc. fishing tackle and gear over 2 years- $250
4. Licenses for 2 trips to AR to "catch" crappie when I still lived in VA- $200, plus in state license last year of $10.50
5. Airfare for 1 of those trips- $400
6. Gas and food for my 17 fishing trips the past 2 years- $500

Lets stop here for now and evaluate. I have only caught 33 keepers in 17 trips. Keeper defined as 9 inches or better...on a good day. That is 1.94 fish per trip for a cost per fish of $123.04!!! I can only imagine what that number would be if I bought a 1/3 of the equipment I really wanted.

But here is where it gets really scary; if I factor in my time spent on CC, watching crappie fishing videos, and reading other related information so that I can be the expert that Tony so wonderfully described that can tell you anything about how to catch crappie you want to know it just gets absurd! On a below average month I earn about $25 per hour. I would conservatively estimate all of the above mentioned time spent at 200 hrs over 2 years. If I had focused my efforts during that time on my business or sharpening my knowledge of my industry it could translate into thousands of dollars over the past 2 years. So, the way I figure it at best crappie fishing in undoubtedly the worst way to spend my time and money.

There you have it; numerical data to prove I am definitely a LOSER! Now, somebody tell me where I should fish this weekend!
I'm very impressed with your mathematical skills. You have truly made me feel like a "LOSER" this morning. The per pound cost of your fish must be staggering, as the weight of a filleted 9" fish must be around 1/8 of a pound. If you ever return to the East AR. or N Sippi, give me a call. I'll be glad to take you fishing and we can get depressed over our catch together.

I feel however that my time on C.C is priceless, because the cost of group therapy is so expensive in the real world, and here we get it free. Most of our fellow "LOSERS" are great people, and just knowing that there are "Loser Pro Staff" guys out there that are worse fishermen than some of us is a major relief, and provides a huge therapeutical value to this site. That value offsets the per hour cost of wasting time on C.C!!!!!

Welcome "LOSER".