Dream Job For Anglers

Few people get more opportunities to fish in more locations, and for more species of fish, than truck drivers.
by Dan Anderson

Dave Lochner gets paid to travel between fishing spots. Last year he traveled to Florida to fish for sharks, to Minnesota to fish for walleyes, and around the Midwest to fish for bass, bluegills and catfish, all courtesy of Combined Transport, Inc. of Central Point, Oregon.
Combined Transport, Inc. is a heavy hauling trucking company, and Lochner is a company driver who pulls a double-drop trailer outfitted to carry large sheets of plate glass. Lochner calls his dispatchers, “my travel agents,” and focuses on the positive aspects of a challenging career.

“In this business, there’s lots that happens that’s beyond your control,” he says. “It’s easy to get upset with traffic, weather and the people you have to deal with. I decided to take a positive approach. I like to fish, and I like to fish in different places, so I take the attitude that I’m getting paid to drive around the country to go fishing.”

Because Lochner often hauls to the same warehouses, he consciously works to build friendships with dock workers and warehousemen as part of his strategy to fish whenever and wherever possible.

“When I walk in the door, I make sure I’ve got a smile on my face and that I’m not whining about being late, or bad roads, or being a grump,” he says. “A lot of the guys in those places like to hunt or fish, so it’s easy to strike up a conversation about those topics. If you pull to the same places long enough, you get to know the guys, they get to know you, and eventually they can’t wait to tell you the best places to go fishing if you’re going to be there for a while.”

Fish For An Hour, Fish For A Weekend
Lochner has contingency plans for short layovers as well as long ones. “In Decatur, Illinois, they told me about one lake that’s in the middle of town, and two more that are right off Highway 121 that are good fishing. I drop my trailer and drive my truck to parking lots by the boat ramps, and fish for a couple hours while I wait for a load. I’d rather be sitting on the shore of a lake with a fishing pole in my hand, compared to sitting in a smoky trucker’s lounge or leaning on a warehouse counter killing time for a couple hours.”

Several long-term friendships with warehouse workers now provide opportunities for multi-day fishing trips when Lochner gets laid over for a weekend. “If I know I’ve got a load going to Albertville (Minnesota) that has to be there first thing Monday, I’ll pull into town on Friday night or Saturday morning. If I call ahead, some of the guys I’ve made friends with there will meet me at my truck. Last winter we’d load up in their pickup and go out to their heated ice house and spend the weekend fishing for walleyes, ring perch, bluegills and crappies. They love when I come up—I don’t drink, so I’m their designated driver for the weekend, and we have a blast.”

Last summer Lochner began hauling occasional loads to Florida, and quickly took advantage of the opportunity to try his hand at saltwater fishing. “The first trip, I asked the guys I met for good places to fish, and ended up at a fishing pier near Venice,” he recalled. “I just hung around the pier for a couple hours, watched how they fished, what they used, helped kids bait up, and helped other guys land fish. I had lots of fun just helping other people and learned a lot about saltwater fishing in the process. It was way better than sitting in a warehouse or truckstop all afternoon. The next time they sent me to Florida I brought my 9-foot Fenwick fishing rod and fished off that pier. It was so cool, catching all sorts of weird saltwater fish that I don’t even know the names of.”

While he includes a special 9-foot-long fishing rod on his trips to Florida, most of the time Lochner uses a 5-1/2-foot long ultralight rod and small, open-face spinning reel loaded with 4-pound-test line that’s always stowed in his truck’s sleeper. “I like using ultralight tackle because you can catch small fish like trout and bluegills as well as big fish like catfish, bass and walleyes,” he says. “The biggest fish I’ve landed so far with that outfit is a 27-inch tiger muskie, in Illinois.”

A small tacklebox in Lochner’s sleeper contains a limited assortment of twistertail jigs in various colors, Rapala crankbaits, and a collection of hooks and weights. He’s not an artificial-lure elitist; if his local sources tell him that nightcrawlers, minnows or crawdads are the hot baits, he ask for directions to a local baitshop and loads up with those natural baits.

“Baitshops are good places to get more tips and directions on where the fish are biting,” he notes. “They look at you weird when you pull into their parking lot with a bobtail, or when you pull into a parking lot or camping area at a local lake, but I figure once I’ve dropped my trailer, my truck turns into Winnebago—it’s got my bunk, a microwave, an APU, just like all those fancy RV’s you see on the road.”

Legalities, Technicalities and Necessities
Like other anglers who travel around the country, licensing is a concern for Lochner—but not a big one. In Florida, no fishing license is required for saltwater recreational anglers who fish from land or a structure fixed to land (fishing pier, bridge, jetty, etc.). To fish for freshwater species in Florida, anglers can buy a 3-day non-resident license for $17, or if they’ll be in the state frequently they can opt for a $47 non-resident license good for 12 months.

Lochner says non-resident fishing licenses are actually economical entertainment. Spreading the cost of a 12-month or multi-day non-resident license over the time spent fishing often makes the per-hour cost of licenses far more economical than movies and other time-killers used by truckers during layovers.

“I’d much rather spend a couple hours in the sunshine, fishing on the bank of a lake than sitting in a dark movie theater or in a smoky trucker’s lounge,” says Lochner. “I hear other truckers grumbling about being bored and wishing they were home. My attitude is, take advantage of the opportunities that trucking provides, and enjoy life on the road as much as possible. There are guys stuck in office jobs that dream of traveling the country seeing the things we get to see, and doing things like fishing. We’re crazy if we don’t take advantage of fishing and all the opportunities that trucking offers us.”