Using economic analysis to decide when to quit fishing for the day

You can maximize the net happiness derived from a fishing trip by using economic analysis to decide when to quit fishing for the day.

I have vague recollections of an economics course I took in college.  Supply, demand, price, widgets, and stuff like that.  There were all those graphs with one line rising and the other line falling, and where the lines crossed, or the area under or over the lines, was usually significant.

Catching fish is a good thing.  I'm sure that economists have a term for the additional increment of happiness which a fisherman receives each time he or she catches a fish.

But it takes time to catch each fish.  And each additional fish you catch means that you will get home later, you will finish eating dinner later, and you will finish processing all those fish later.  I'm sure that economists have a term for the additional increment of unhappiness which a fisherman receives for each half hour later at night he or she is up processing fish.  Those increments of unhappiness get bigger around and after midnight.

So on a day of fishing, even if you're catching lots of fish, at some point you can feel the lines on the happiness graph converging and crossing, and you can sense that each additional fish you catch, when you take into account how late you will have to stay up to process it, will have a net effect of making your day less happy, not more happy.  At that point, no matter how good the fishing is, it's time to quit fishing for the day.

Fill cooler with ice ... fillet tomorrow ... works great.

I imagine you are a utility maximizer, as well. I am.

The term you are looking for is diminishing returns.

My limit on the day of fishing is usually based on nausea.  If I'm puking more than catching it's usually about time to head in.  And if I'm catching the adrenaline is usually plenty to keep the puking at bay.  So if I'm catching, I'm staying out until I hit my legal limits, clock be damned.  As noted, a bag of ice in the cooler works if I stay out too late to get the processing done that night.

So you're saying someone who practices CnR can fish longer with the same level of happiness becuse they won't have the task of cleaning fish when they get home? 

I've never taken an economics class but I know the lines crossing feeling.

For me it usually has to do with time I've been on the water and less to do with what time I finish.  For example the best fishing often occurs at dusk or night.  I would be less happy if I missed those prime times and plan my start time accordingly.

An overwhelming number of variables would go into quantifying someones happiness while fishing, but I do know the feeling.

Fill cooler with ice ... fillet tomorrow ... works great.

Yup!!

After a day of fishing whether it was productive or not, there's always the drive home to reflect- usually with a big grin on my face. Although I am generally not looking forward to the cleanup and put-away, I have to keep reminding myself that that is all part of the "fun". They are my "toys" and interests and its certainly better than being at work! The clean-up part can really be enjoyable if you allow it to be.

Yes, I'm usually tired, hungry and want to just plop down and have a cold one and deal with it all later. I've learned to prioritize and I find there is a happy medium what NEEDS to be done and what can wait.

My limit on the day of fishing is usually based on nausea.  If I'm puking more than catching it's usually about time to head in.

There's a line you don't see on many economics graphs: Frequency of puking versus frequency of catching fish, or total number of pukes for the day.

Nate once gave me a nice FRLPT (fishing related life pro tip). When you come home late and you still need to rinse off your rods and reels take them in the rain locker with you when you are taking the stink off of yourself. Maybe we should start a "timesavers and shortcuts" thread?

I learned long ago to never look too closely at the economics of my fishing.   If I did, I'd have to give up fishing completely.

I call it quits when I have caught enough fish for 3 days, or when my dog Molly starts giving me the stink eye, whichever comes first. 

We do live in the era of Modern Economics though.  For instance there are 92 million unemployed Americans, in a country of 350 million people and we have an unemployment rate of 5.5%.  All adjustments to economic data only go one way.  In addition, we can always print money, loan it at 0% to primary dealers, who charge consumers 19%, and oh yeah we will be dead before the generation that comes has to eventually pay for it.  Only the top 10% seem to be making any advances even though we are in a "recovery".  Costs of labor do not have to increase do to the infinite amount of labor that is avail due to open border policies.

So applying it fishing......

Have a great time, and then make stuff up to justify it after the fact. Seasonal adjustments like "yeah but I didn't go marlin fishing" always help if the Ways and Means committee" asks about your economic calculations.

Delay the hard work as long as possible, have the next generation deal with it as much as possible.  They need the practice. 

Since only the top 10% are the only ones catching fish anyway, the economics of fishing really only impacts them.

We do have an unlimited amount of people buying fishing licenses and if not we can just increase the fees without doing more.

I am glad to just get out and get my Obamatrout. 

Fill cooler with ice ... fillet tomorrow ... works great.

Yup!!

Third!

After a day of fishing whether it was productive or not, there's always the drive home to reflect- usually with a big grin on my face. Although I am generally not looking forward to the cleanup and put-away, I have to keep reminding myself that that is all part of the "fun". They are my "toys" and interests and its certainly better than being at work! The clean-up part can really be enjoyable if you allow it to be.

Yes, I'm usually tired, hungry and want to just plop down and have a cold one and deal with it all later. I've learned to prioritize and I find there is a happy medium what NEEDS to be done and what can wait.

Love this post. Wisdom. I've been working on that too - reminding myself that taking care of my gear can be fun in the right mindset, even if I'm beat or it's midnight or whatever.

Not sure about economics, but from a psychological view, fishing is a type of operant conditioning, or nature's own skinner box. It's a basis for video game design, to create addicting behavior, slot machines also utilize it well.

Basically as we're fishing we're chasing the carrot dangled in front of us, for us it's the take down. Not knowing when the next strike will be keeps us playing longer, and along the way we're encouraged to continue our behavior based on feedback (fish biting?). If we're about to pack up for the day and get a bite on our last cast, we're probably not done for the day anymore.

Similarly, if you keep snagging the bottom, after enough negative feedback (lost gear), you're probably going to try something else.