wow this is a great thread. i completely agree with devil's horse, if you love it you'll figure a way out to be on the water. me personally if gas got to high i'd sell my boat and buy a big ol' john boat with about 40 horse on it. you can ride around all day on 10 gallons with those. better than not fishing in my mind. as far as the kids go, the interest is there you just have put them on fish to keep it. my nephew is 18 now and he'd rather go fishing with me than go out on the town with his buddy's. an 18 year old. as far as prices go, it's sport related industry. I play golf also and you use to be able to buy a good driver for $250 when i first started playing about 18 years ago. now the good ones are $600-700. good set of irons were $200, now they range from $700-1500. again it goes back to if you love it you'll figure out a way to be on the water. and me, i love it.