Turbulent times making travel ever tougher

My plans called for me meeting a friend in northern Wisconsin for the annual opening of the fishing season. This get-together was supposed to take place in May of this year.

Our plan was to stay at a resort offering great, tasty, inexpensive food and dry boats. The prime rib had always been very good and very easy on the wallet. And the friendliness of the locals was superb, not to mention the coffee there which was strong enough to keep me fueled for three straight days.

The only fly in the ointment this year is the extra-high cost of fuel to help get us there. When I pull into a gas station I try hard to avert my eyes from looking at the pump price because I know I'll have an instant case of heartburn.

Now, I realize my travel plans and fishing expeditions are not up at the top on the President's or Governor's list of priorities. Still, that stuff high on my list, and I suspect yours as well.

So I ask the economic wunderkinds, the ones who belong to that famous group known as the National Association of Talking Heads and Dispensers of Semi-Believable Information, How can you sit there in front of the cameras and tell Americans we will be spending 5 bucks for a gallon of gasoline? How can these people continue to pour irritants on already festering wounds?

From where I sit, my take is that the economy is already something akin to dumpster diving. Lots of people, and I mean lots, have lost or about to lose their homes, since they've already lost their jobs and self esteem as well. Food prices are heading for outer space, and the price gougers are having a field day with our nickels and dimes.

I realize fishing and other various outdoor sports are used to occupy our minds and bodies as a way to calm our inner beast. And I know we have a massive list of issues to solve aside from chasing smallmouth bass.. But what about those businesses that rely on tourism and tourist dollars to help local economies flourish?

There is something terribly wrong with the way federal and state lawmakers are dealing with the state of affairs these days.

I spoke with a half-dozen resort owners in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Canada, and every one of them told me they're not sure they will make it this year, since last year's business was marginal at best.

I spent the entire winter thinking about smallmouth bass fishing on the Menomonee River in northern Wisconsin. I stood in waist-high snow wondering if I would ever join my south Florida bass fishing friends for another rounds of lunker-busting. And to help sweep away those winter-time blues, I dragged the pictures out from a closet to refresh my memory of the northern pike rampages I experienced in Manitoba and Ontario.

In my very humble opinion, state and federal lawmakers continue to try and peel off more greenbacks from taxpayers in order to make up for their very own foolhardy spending rampages.

The Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources has already been sliced and diced by Springfield politicians because the DNR cannot adequately defend itself against the pols who have no idea how important fishing and hunting is to the folks who pay their salaries.

Better oil the gears and chain on that bicycle and find a lighter traffic pattern to so you can get to the Fox Chain for some bluegill and walleye angling.

• Contact Mike Jackson at angler88@att.net, and catch his radio show 6-7 a.m. Sundays on WSBC 1240-AM.