Your Season

[Mainebass1984]

 There comes a time each year when most fisherman, even die hard fisherman have to call it a year. A few people will still get out on the water where there is no ice and there are still opportunities to catch bass. I would consider myself a die hard fisherman but its time to call it a season here. The last 3 times out this year I had to break ice with my small boat. One of the days I had to break through well over an inch of ice for 200 feet to get to open water. The water temps here are now in the mid 30s. I was going to get out fishing one last time before the season closes here in VT at the end of the month. With weather forecast for highs in the 20s and snow for this weekend I have decided to call it a year. Now is the time to look back on your season. There were surely countless memorable moments and big fish caught for everyone out there.  I would love to hear how everyone's season went.

 

An amazing day ?

A funny story you want to tell ?

Did you catch more fish then ever before ?

Did you set a new personal best ?

Were you tearing up lunkers ?

Learn a new technique ?

Was one season or time of the year better then the other ?

[BassinLou]

One particular day stands out for me this year. It happened over the summer. I went to a new location, and frog was on the menu that day. I was at this location for less than one hour and I caught a 4lbr on the first cast. A 3 + lbr shortly after, and 6+ lbr, which is the one on my avatar. I was on a roll to catch some more lunkers, when I was chased out by state troopers. Little did I know that I was not suppose to be fishing there, eventhough there were no signs stating other wise. Oh well.... 

[MIbassin]

I have learned the most about angling in one year than i ever have before, thanks to bass resource! This season i bought lots of new equipment and really learned how to become a more successful angler altogether. I dove headfirst into big swim baits which has been paying off and has rewarded me with the biggest bass of my season( a five pound 9oz beauty) and has allowed me to hoop and unfortunately lose what i believe were my new personal bests. Oh well! I also have discovered what is possibly the best pond in the world(Ok maybe i am exaggerating a little!) and i can't wait to fish it next season or this winter even! Many trips i have read about a new technique on  the forum, and tried it out. The results are usually very good! One day that stood out to me was when i caught over 20 bass including the 5 pound nine ounce on a homemade 8 inch swim bait! I LOVE BASS FISHING!

[papajoe222]

I had one of those days, late this summer, that I dream about.  I found an active school of big fish (18in.+) holding just offt he bottom on a small ledge that dropped from 10-12ft.  It was a perfect set up for cranking and my Norman Deep Little N was getting the job done.  Add to the fast action the fact that I'd built the cranking stick I was using and had my favorite reel (Daiwa Sol) spooled with 12lb. flouro and it was a cold winter night's dream come true.

Don't get me wrong, I've gotten into good sized fish that were schooling other times this year.  This one was special as these were the first fish I'd contacted after two hours of chucking and winding some of my favorite structure.  The biggest was just under 21in. and the smallest was almost 19. Every one of them engulfed that crank and took off for deep water.  I thought the others would follow and made a couple of casts deeper, but the rest of the school stayed put and I was able to pick off the majority of the fish I'd marked. 

I kept that crank tied on that combo until my season was over and it produced consistantly for me.

[Bankbeater]

So far my season has been pretty mediocre.  With work and family issues I haven't been able to get on the water nearly enough this year.  I'm really hoping to rectify this over Thanksgiving.

[Todd2]

No real good stories. This was the first year that I've kept notes in a spreadsheet. Hopefully I'll stick a few more, but as of now I've caught about 90% of my keepers on jigs and brush hogs (c-rig/t-rig). The thing that stood out though, the % was basically the same between the jig vs brush hog. However, even though I don't have the data, I know I fished the jig way more often. So....next year, I will focus on brush hogs. Keeping a log is kind of a pain, but it brought back a bunch of memories going through the notes.

[Sam]

Yes, I learned the JIKA rig which I like.

[Preytorien]

Undoubtedly this was my best year yet, but every year seems to be.

 

This was the year of "learning/experience" to me.

 

I got my first baitcaster this year, a Johnny Morris Carbonlite combo. But unless I'm wrong, under the tree is a Curado....I'm drooling already.

 

Three things stand out to me this year

 

1. I was able to fish quite extensively with a local pro who would take me to pre-fish. I can't begin to convey the amount of knowledge he imparted to me. I learned more in 6-7 trips than I learned on my own in 3-4 years of fishing

 

2. BassResource forum guys are the true pros of this sport. You all get out there, field test, practice, find new techniques, new equipment. You've always been helpful in answering my sometimes novice questions, and it never fails that I'll find the answer to a question of mine on here

 

3. Lastly, and most importantly.....my wife and I had our first child this year. A healthy, adorable, little baby girl. She's a wonderful and entertaining part of my life, I couldn't imagine it without her now. But my best fishing day was when my wife was first able to leave the house, after getting out of the hospital, she wanted to go someplace calm and quiet, but outside and pretty. It was about 75, and a gorgeous day, I took her to a smallish pond with a fountain, and a small island in the middle of it, connected by a small wooden bridge. On the island is a nice wooden gazebo. I fished a bit, played with the baby a bit, and then just enjoyed the outdoors with my wife and daughter....on our first (but not last) fishing trip. I think I saw her eyeing the Disney Princess fishing poles at Wal-mart last week. She thinks we're just fishin.....

 

Great year....and ready for next!

[Oregon Native]

So glad to live in an area now where I can fish every month of the year. Am tying up hair flys right now in 1/16 and 1/8 for fishing the colder water this winter. My best days are usually the months of December thru March depending on the cold. Glad we don't seem to get hard water here...but cold is good.

Tight Lines

[Felix77]

This year my goal was to learn the drop shot rig.  I spent a lot of time practicing with it but when tournament time came I ended up in situations where the drop shot was not ideal.  I reverted to the Mojo Rig and ended up catching a ton of fish on it.  Ended up doing exceptionally well with it all season long.

 

As for the tournament trail ... I had my ups and my downs.  I will say that all the efforts to learn what I did wrong last year paid off.  I just made new mistakes which I need to learn from for 2014.  I kept a mini journal and I might share it if it would help others.  Just need to record it electronically.

 

This weekend will most likely be my last attempt before I call it a season.

[ww2farmer]

Highlights:

 

3 tournament wins

 

3 2nd place finishes

 

finished in the money in 8 out of 14 tournaments.

 

Top 5 big bass:

7-1

6-12

6-3

5-11(x3)

5-9

 

Fished with my kids

Never skunked once this year in 130+ trips

Never fell off the boat

Never hooked myself past the barb

didn't lose anything expensive in the lake

 

Lowlights:

 

Terrible fall for smallmouth

Chewed up two boat props

broke half a dozen rods

got 2 PFD tickets

needed a trip to the ER after getting my hand mangled by a pike

I had tournament where I failed to even catch a limit

Didn't fish with my kids enough

[SirSnookalot]

Highlights:

 

3 tournament wins

 

3 2nd place finishes

 

finished in the money in 8 out of 14 tournaments.

 

Top 5 big bass:

7-1

6-12

6-3

5-11(x3)

5-9

 

Fished with my kids

Never skunked once this year in 130+ trips

Never fell off the boat

Never hooked myself past the barb

didn't lose anything expensive in the lake

 

^^Pretty darn good.^^

 

As for me I may never bass fish again.  My season of serious bass fishing starts about 11/1 and goes about 3 months, not that I haven't been catching some nice bass but just haven't been all that excited to catch them.  Yesterday I got attacked by fire ants, not the first time, and vowed never to bass fish again as I was walking home in pain cursing on the top of my lungs, lol.  I may be rethinking it once the snook stop hitting, they're getting slow now, haha.

[MacP]

I had a great year.  I didn't accomplish my goal of a 30" trout though.  Although, I'm chalking it up to the tail water generation schedule being so wonky due to the rain.

 

I did catch two 25" browns and a 21" rainbow in one weekend.   My two best days fishing this year were on Father's Day stream fishing in the creek behind my parents house.  I probably caught 50+ little bass, red eye, panfish and my daughter got to reel in a bunch of them and had a blast.  The other great day was out of my kayak.  I started with a 3.5lb LMB, followed by a 6lb LMB, then a 4.2 lb LMB followed by a 5 lb stripe.  This was like in 2 hours.

 

My favorite fish this year was a 8lb stripe I caught on 6lb test and a light spinning outfit out of my kayak.  I caught him in a spot where stripe aren't usually found.  I thought I had a monster trout coming out.  Turns out it was a foul hooked stripe.  Hooked right below the gills and before the pelvic fin.  It felt HUGE!

[olegs]

This season I learned  new techniques and got confidence in slow presentation fishing : wacky rig, texas rig, jika rig.

I have caught about 80% of my keepers on these rigs.

[Dwight Hottle]

This season I got to fish with Topwaterspook, A-Jay, South FLA and 00 mod from this site. All fine fellows & good fisherman. The smallmouth season was average but the largemouth season was very good. Got to share  A-Jay's new personal best smallie & largemouth. Got to share Jeff's 4th DD. And I got to net a couple of bass & several really nice walleyes for Stitch. I finally got into the DD largemouth club with a new pb. Hoping to share some new PB's next years on Lake Erie as well as Lake Baccarac and maybe even down in Florida.

[A-Jay]

My Fishing Season started out with quite a bit of excitement and anticipation.

Traveled to catch both a PB LMB and SMB while sharing some fond memories with a couple of good friends.

As the spring turned into summer the reality of a very slow year as far as local results were concerned set in.

 Then my normally abundant fishing opportunities reduced drastically.  I was fortunate to get out a few times during the summer for an excellent late night spinner bait bite and did OK.  But that was about it until the last month or so.

Closed out the year with a Bang; Locally landing a couple of fine SMB in early November.

Then traveled once again.  Shared some good times on what turned out to be a mutli-species trip and then in a friends PB and first Double Digit LMB. This same trip ended with what could very well be the biggest LMB I may ever catch.

So despite some highs & lows, this will go down as a fishing season like no other I've ever had. 

  I certainly appreciate it, I'll never forget it and I have no right to ever expect anything more . . . . . .

 

A-Jay

[lmbfisherman]

 There comes a time each year when most fisherman, even die hard fisherman have to call it a year. A few people will still get out on the water where there is no ice and there are still opportunities to catch bass. I would consider myself a die hard fisherman but its time to call it a season here. The last 3 times out this year I had to break ice with my small boat. One of the days I had to break through well over an inch of ice for 200 feet to get to open water. The water temps here are now in the mid 30s. I was going to get out fishing one last time before the season closes here in VT at the end of the month. With weather forecast for highs in the 20s and snow for this weekend I have decided to call it a year. Now is the time to look back on your season. There were surely countless memorable moments and big fish caught for everyone out there.  I would love to hear how everyone's season went.

 

An amazing day ?

A funny story you want to tell ?

Did you catch more fish then ever before ?

Did you set a new personal best ?

Were you tearing up lunkers ?

Learn a new technique ?

Was one season or time of the year better then the other ?

1. Amazing day for me this year was to set my PB LMB caught on my birthday at 5lbs. 

2. I was in my inflatable boat, while fishing with a KVD Squarebill.  When a fish picked up my lure and took me for a nice ride, it was an interesting experience.  Unfortunately, I do not know what it was, as I was trying to reel it in as it was dragging me around I couldn't get enough leverage to pull it away from the timber it was heading for.  I waited a few minutes hoping I could pull it out, but alas I had to cut the line.  So I don't know if it was a bass or whatever it was, but it was a fun "ride".

3. Yes, I have definitely caught more this year than last year.  My best day was 14 bass.  This year I caught 144 fish, however most of them were in the 1-2 lb range (118).  Also caught more pike than ever, I am at 81 this season so far. (They were extra crazy this season, must've had a good spawn few years ago in my area.)

4. Set a PB for LMB 5lbs, SMB 4.4lbs and a 33" pike was my biggest.

5. No not really tearing up lunkers, would like to get more "quality" next season.

6. Drop Shot, Senkos/Wacky Rigging - I was killing them this year with both techniques.  I tried to do more cranking this year, I caught a few on it, still learning to be confident with them.

7. This is only my 2nd year of serious bass fishing, there was a definite improvement.  Thanks to bassresource.com too!

[bighed]

First year in several that I didn't break 8 pounds but still had a great year.  Got to enjoy the Bassmaster Classic and BR dinner at Grand Lake.  Went on the Pickwick Roadtrip which was awesome.  Got to attend the BASS Nation Championship as a guest of my son and had a blast on Dardanelle.  Won a couple small tourneys and began backseating in a new to me draw club.  Downer of the year was watching my first bass club wither away to the point where it's time to shut it down.  The club that produced a BASS Elite series angler and produced many other great sticks has fallen victim to the economy. 

[DogBone_384]

Overall a good year. I've improved greatly with B/C gear and caught my personal best. I had particularly good luck from April to early August, but after that, it got pretty thin. I was shut out after mid September and packed it up for the year a couple of weeks ago.

This was the first year using soft baits and must say I did much better with Zoom curly tail worms then Senkos, but I'm not giving up. So many of you report great success with Senkos, so I'll continue different approaches and try to accelerate my curve.

T-rigged worms worked for me much better than Wacky, but like my success with Senkos, it's something to improve on.

I don't get out as much as I'd like, but work & family responsibilities take precedence, but some is better than none.

I've learned much from this forum, for that I thank you all, and look forward to learning much more over the Winter months.

[Waterlogged]

It's been a HUGE year for me. Finally got off the bank and got my first boat about a month ago. Thanks to BR and it awesome group of people my knowledge has soared in the sport. Can't wait to try my hand at some tournament fishing next year!

[Topwaterspook]

The highlight of my year was fishing with Dwight. He's a true gentleman and a heck of a fisherman. Thank you, Dwight.

[FD.]

Pickwick road trip.  I fished with Procrafter, Keri, and BeckieC. Finally met Glenn, LongMike, Alpster, RW, 00mod, and many others.  Met Steve Parks and learned the Rage Rig.

 

tstone and I caught an 18 lb limit in 45 min, at noon, in April, on a frog, in the bright sun. Go figure.

[BassnChris]

X2 what FishinDaddy says. The BR roadtrip. Seeing/meeting all the guys he refers to and many others, including FishinDaddy himself. Everyone great people.

Just fishing more than I did the year before was a big boost for me.

[thehooligan]

Still fishing, but highlights would be.... Caught my first muskie, about 9-10lbs. Broke my pickerel record at 4.8lbs. Bass season was alright, biggest was a few 3.3's on buzzbaits. Really got the flickshake and dropshot down, hoping to learn some new techniques for 2014.

[mnbassman23]

I focused my year on chasing quality fish and it paid off. Ended up with more 4-6lbers than I ever have in a single season. Considering I only got out 3 times this fall I was really happy with how things turned out. Fished a few new lakes, found new areas on my go to lakes, and both equalled more quality fish in the boat. I also started throwing swimbaits later in the year and ended up with a few nice fish on them. This was one of the best highlights for the year because I got a lot of chit from people up here for throwing a Hud 68, they thought it was to big. It was pretty rewarding when it was choked down a largies mouth after throwing it for only 10 minutes.