Lenexa, KS -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/12/2012 -- Central Illinois boaters started to take the water weeks early this spring because of the high fuel prices. The boating season started earlier than expected because of the warm weather.

Because of the warm weather and the concerns of high fuel prices, central Illinois boaters started the water weeks earlier. According to Scott Tucker, the sales manager of the Lake Springfield Marina, people have taken advantage of the warm weather and they brought out their boat while the weather is nice. It is said that during the winter season, Fishermen barely had an off-season. This is the reason why a lot of people especially the fisherman have been very conducive in getting out, based on the statement of Steven Poe, the owner of Eastside Marine.

The Marina Parking lot is already one of the indications that the water weeks started early. Two weekends ago, the lot was still full and according to Tucker, last Sunday was also a busy day. Basically, Memorial Day weekend is considered as the beginning of the boating season but this even is almost two months away.

Tucker said that they had an early start this year. He said that they already started pulling the boats from their storage about four weeks ago. He also said that they had around 15 to 20 boats on their slips for a few weeks. Basically, the amount of boats on the slips is nowhere near the actual capacity but according to Tucker, more boats are coming out of the storage and a lot of people are getting ready to start early.

It is also said that the warm weather helped the business of local boat dealers. Since the boating season started early, the mild winter has been helpful to the marine industry, based on the statement of Poe. He also said that the gas prices stayed with $4 before so he said that the $4 price does not have a huge impact this time. It means that the people are less affected on the increase now since the price stayed on $4 for a long time before. However, it is also said that more fuel is needed for a boat to move on the water than to drive a car on the highway.

Poe said that there are already a lot of advances in the technology to make boat motors more efficient but it is said that more fuel is still needed. He said that getting five miles on a single gallon when using a boat is already a good sign.

According to Poe, fuel is not a big problem if the fisherman will be boating or fishing on central Illinois since they only need to travel short distances. He said that on smaller lakes, the people only need five minutes to travel and they can already fish for many hours.

According to Tucker, unleaded gasoline for boats is steady at $4.49. The people decided to start the water weeks early because they are afraid of possible increase on the price of gasoline on the following weeks.