Planning for Future

[rps]

The beautiful wife and I have been discussing what to do after i retire (Spring 2020, I hope). One of the serious options is to buy into one of those communities where you start out in your own place and graduate to more intense care as needed. We intend to move closer to the younger daughter in Savannah, Ga. One such location is in Augusta, Ga. Both Savannah and Clarks Hill reservoir would be 20 to 25 minutes from where we would locate.

That lake is known for its largemouth bass, stripers, and hybrids. I have fished a lake such as that (Lake Texhoma on the Oklahoma-Texas border). My question: Has anyone fished that lake? Does anyone have knowledge about the guides?

The reason I ask is that the cost of a once a week guide compared to a boat purchase seems to be a no brainer, provided I can find a quality guide such as Babler, Wenners, House, etc. for a regular outing.My present boat is not well suited for that kind of lake.  $350 + tip a week for 30 to 40 weeks a year compared to 40 TO 50K for the new boat will be a good deal for me and for the guide.

Anyone have a thought, comment, or suggestion?

 

[mixermarkb]

Just a thought, but I think your tin boat would float just fine. Maybe not the same as what the locals run, but if It was me, and I was retired, I'd want to fish more than one day a week. I'd be tempted to keep my boat, use a guide a couple times a month, and put around on my own some too, weather and health permitting.

[Quillback]

I was stationed at Fort Gordon for a year, right outside of Augusta.  Fished Clark Hill and the river below the dam a few times from the bank, caught some hybrids below the dam, and that was it for fish caught.  Red clay country around there and I remember that lake having a reddish stain color. 

I have pondered the economics of hiring guides vs boat ownership myself, mainly back when I was working and didn't have a lot of time to fish.  It made sense when i lived in Washington state for fishing the rivers from a jet boat, when you only get a few chances a year to get out it was real easy to justify hiring a guide rather than tie money up in a jet boat to fish a few times a year.  Plus the guides supplied tackle, bait, were knowledgeable about what was going on and would do the boat handling which was a big part of fishing those big, hard flowing rivers, not to mention dealing with the crowds at the launch and on the river.  Kind of nice to step on the boat and just fish and not have to deal with all that other stuff that is a part of boat ownership.

Don't know any guides in that area.  And, I think it's about 2 hours from Augusta to Savannah.  And Clarks Hill is a little bit to the northwest of Augusta, you might want to double check your distances from where you are looking at to both places.