Cabin Fever Sucks.

[CPBassFishing]

This is terrible. The only pond with fish in it is a 20 minute bike ride away, and even if I do go, I only have 45 minutes to fish because it gets dark so early and I don't get home until 4:00. Am I the only one with cabin fever? I can't wait until spring. Weekends are not enough!

[tugsandpulls]

most of my post are in the winter months the rest of the year im too busy fishing to post

[Goose52]

Yeah - the days are shorter, colder, windier, and the bite is poor. BUT, at least some of us still have soft water; fishing is hard, but you can still fish....

Usually, by this time in December, I have REAL cabin fever - the kind you get when your lakes look like this.

[plumworm]

The boat is in storage, the tackle is put away, I just finished blowing a foot of snow from my driveway. My cabin fever temp is about 105 and rising. Four months from now, I'll be on KY. Lake for 2 weeks. If I can last that long.

[slonezp]

Be grateful. I've been laid up for 3 months already due to injury. Probably would have been fishing up until this week if I had not gotten hurt. We should have ice here by next week. I won't be seeing the water until March

[Tuckahoe Joe]

Yeah it sucks. I was going out a couple times a week and now its been a couple weeks since I went out. Waters not frozen but the bass bite has really died off. I can still go after trout and probably will a couple more times this winter but its getting pretty cold and windy. Fishing isn't quite as fun when your freezing and the winds taking your lure into a tree every other cast.

[papajoe222]

This is terrible. The only pond with fish in it is a 20 minute bike ride away, and even if I do go, I only have 45 minutes to fish because it gets dark so early and I don't get home until 4:00. Am I the only one with cabin fever? I can't wait until spring. Weekends are not enough!

What you're experiencing is NOT cabin fever. Cabin fever is what us folks up north have had to deal with since mid-October, NO FISHING. Oh yea, and NO FISHING for another 12 weeks.

All you guys that are able to, take my advice, but don't give me credit for it if asked. Cut school, call in sick, tell the wife a buddy needs help moving tomorrow, but get out there and fish if you can. Not having the option of going drives me nuts, being able to but not taking an occasional break from the everyday humdrum to enjoy my favorite passtime .........they'd be fitting me for a straight jacket after a couple of weeks.

So quit whining and get out there. You can thank me by observing a moment of silence in my honor as you admire your catch. You're welcome.

[CPBassFishing]

I'd skip if my mom let me! Lol

[CayMar]

Where I live you can pretty well fish all year round, but I have a new illness. It is called "Stuck at home with the babies while the wife works on the weekends fever". I get out when I can but it isn't nearly enough. I fish vicariously through you guys. lol

[RyneB]

Yeah - the days are shorter, colder, windier, and the bite is poor. BUT, at least some of us still have soft water; fishing is hard, but you can still fish....

Usually, by this time in December, I have REAL cabin fever - the kind you get when your lakes look like this.

All im thinking about is drilling some holes for my tip ups and then planting my heated Frabill about 35 feet off that point and jigging some Maki plastics.

[plumworm]

I think I'm going take my chain saw and cut a hole about 5 ft.wide by 30 yards long in the ice and " Carolina rig" It's how we think up here. Crazy ways to get through the winter.

[Goose52]

All im thinking about is drilling some holes for my tip ups and then planting my heated Frabill about 35 feet off that point and jigging some Maki plastics.

EXCELLENT site selection. That's a nice drop-off, about 10-12 FOW, with a small boulder field on the bottom - about 3' to 4' boulders - some good fish-holding cover down there.

The bad news about my lakes is that while they ice-over...the ice never gets thick enough for safe ice fishing...

[gripnrip]

I put 3 hours on the water today. No fish but hey at least I got to go! Sunny mid 50's slight breeze.

[Kevinator1]

You have no idea. I'm dying already! It snowed here in central Indiana for the 1st decent snow of the season....It sucks...I sit in my boat in the garage and look over my fishing gear and can't hardly stand it. I guess I'll have to hang around the house with the wife this winter.....Booooo!!!! I'm glad she isn't on this website.

[CoBass]

It's been pretty darn cold around here lately too and it's already driving me crazy. It got into the upper forties today so I went to a local pond that is fed by a ground water spring and usually has some open water around the inlet. There was a spot of open water about fifty yards wide and maybe seventy five yards from the shore to the ice. It wasn't much but it was enough to get one decent fish and four little dinks. I tried several larger presentations but didn't hook up until I downsized to a three inch grub worked really slow along the bottom. Sure felt good to get that one decent fish.

[papajoe222]

All im thinking about is drilling some holes for my tip ups and then planting my heated Frabill about 35 feet off that point and jigging some Maki plastics.

See, I told you a few weeks without being able to fish would drive you crazy. This guy can't even communicate anymore and it's only the first day of winter.

I don't know what he plans on drilling holes in, why he'd want to put good booze in them, getting his 'heated Frabill' (must be Canadian for hot butt) off the point. The only part of that I understood was jigging, but how the h@ll does he plan on getting that pretty boat to float on hard water?

[Sam]

CP, the winter is your time to orgainize your tackle and read, read and read about bass fishing.

It is the time to find the various pro's web sites, bookmark them, and read their articles.

It is the time to get on Facebook and "like" Ike, VanDam, Clunn and any other pros you wish to keep up with. You can also "like" Zoom, Okuma, Bass Pro Shops and other fishing related links.

Go outside and practice your pitching and flipping. Use a paper plate about 30 feet away and your goal is to hit it on every try by the time you go back fishing.

Get maps of the bodies of water you fish or check them out on one of the map links and study it carefully to learn all you can from a satellite photo. Contact your County's specific department to find out if they have any maps of the ponds and lakes you fish. Get a copy of what they have, too.

And do your homework; get into college; graduate; start a career; and you will have the funds to buy a nice bass boat, keep it up and running, and purchase all types of baits and tackle. Do this before you get married. Once you get married fishing is all over for about 10 years.

Also bookmark on WXrisk.com and their Facebook link. The guy is a professional meteorlolgist and you will find his forecasts way ahead of the local TV and radio weathermen. Here is a link to his last post showing the December 26 snow, ice and rain storm heading towards Virginia:

http://raleighwx.americanwx.com/models/gfs/00zgfs850mbTSLPp06_county102.gif

If you want to improve your fishing you need to set time aside to do homework. Get some fishing books on Amazon.com by Denny Brauer, VanDam, Ike. Go to Woo Daves web site and read all of his articles. http://www.woodaves.com/

Your most important goal this winter is to hit the school books and improve your grades so you can get into college and have a career that pays lots of money. JMU is a fun school if you can get in.

Merry Christmas!

[SirSnookalot]

I only fished for 30 minutes yesterday and didn't go to the ocean this morning because of high winds and cool weather, I already have cabin fever.

[Sam]

CP, jsut remembered two other things I wanted to mention to you.

Go to this site and view their maps. Get the ones for the bodies of water you will be fishing and study them. Learn where the ramps are located, too.

http://www.gmcomaps.com/

Also check out this site so your mom can take you to the show January 25th through the 27th. Walk around and meet the Virginia bass industry movers and shakers. Lots of stuff for sale. Check out the boats. Meet the GMCO map guy, George. Really nice person. Say hello to the local guides. Bring money!!!!

Check out the seminars, too. Ish will be there and he is an excellent speaker and bass professional:

http://www.ncboatshows.com/show.php/eventId/3

Winter is a great time for all bass fisherman to regroup, plan, dream and educate themselves.

And don't forget YouTube for information on various baits and techniques.

Speak to your parents about you joining a local bass club. Many will allow youngsters 16 and older to join and to fish their tournaments. Go to the top of the Forum page and look for Links and then check out Bass Fishing Clubs and go to the BASS and FLW sites to locate a bass club near you.

You will learn a lot from fishing with older bass fishermen and the investment is well worth the money.

Stay warm in Asburn, if that is possible!!!!

[RyneB]

See, I told you a few weeks without being able to fish would drive you crazy. This guy can't even communicate anymore and it's only the first day of winter.

I don't know what he plans on drilling holes in, why he'd want to put good booze in them, getting his 'heated Frabill' (must be Canadian for hot butt) off the point. The only part of that I understood was jigging, but how the h@ll does he plan on getting that pretty boat to float on hard water?

you must not ice fish

[Bluebasser86]

All but our power plant lakes are iced over, that means only fishing one day a week now It gets a lot harder once hunting season is over at the end of January but at least our water is usually back open by mid March.

[SirSnookalot]

Despite my original prediction my cabin fever only lasted a few hours, I did skip the ocean but did some late morning bass fishing and it was pretty nice out. Back to my normal routine today, I got the jones on for a snnok or tarpon.

[Fishing Rhino]

No cabin fever here. I look forward to the off season. Gives me a chance to do the inside stuff around the house. We have a spare room we started renovating last year. Then the weather warmed up enough to go fishing. Paint the walls. Put down a hardwood floor, after ripping the carpet up. Sanding down the edges of doors that stick a bit. Nothing major, but enough to keep my wife happy.

Getting ready for the family Christmas dinner we have every year. In the middle of February we're off to Daytona for the races with a stop at our daughter's home in GA on the return drive. Be home in early March. There should be some fishing days around here starting in late March, but it has to be a nice day. I doubt there will be much action to make it worthwhile fishing on windy chilly days. April will be better.

On April 26 the boat will be hooked up to my pickup, and about one in the morning I'll pull out of the driveway, headed for the Pickwick road trip, and hopefully about ten days of fishing.

Just thinking about it is enough for me to need a nap.

[aceman387]

Cabin fever seems to hit me around jan-feb when the bitter cold keeps me indoors.I have this ritual i do every winter which consists of me dragging all my tackle out of the cold garage into my warm basement and sprawl it all over the place on the floor,as weird as it seems i find it kind of meditating to grab a cup of coffee and go down in the basement and sit amongst it and try and sort it into different binders and boxes.I am mainly a soft plastic fisherman and i have accumulated a vast inventory of soft plastics over the years ,so much so that i always happen upon bags of stuff i had forgotten i even bought.I will find my self organizing and unorganizing my tackle over the next couple months to keep my sanity lol. Thank god we have bass resource for this time of year to read,i would think this site is responsible for the reduction of bass angler cabin fever suicide deaths every winter.lol

[Bankbeater]

This past weekend is the first that it has really been too cold to fish around here. I hope that it warms back back up a little before I have to go back to work.