Best Fishing Of Your Life!

[DelfiBoyz_One_and_Only]

What is the best fishing trip of your life?  Share your story.  It could have been a 30 minute fishing trip, a all day fishing trip, or multiple day fishing trip. What made it so great?

 

 

J-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

I was 19 went to see my uncle who lives outside of Topeka KS, -Auburn. He lived on a farm and took me to one of the farm ponds that was on his property. He said it never gets fished and to have at it, he had to go get some work done. I had a chummin minnow spinnerbait and proceeded to catch a bass every cast for a good hour. They were all roughly the same size 18"-19" so no lunkers but still my most memorable trip/outing. That trip was the last time I got to see my uncle as well so I think of it as his last gift to me.

[Oregon Native]

A number of years ago when I had a tourney on Lake Orville, California where BASS put pro on pro I remember having a 150 tubes called old ugly.  In ten days between Orville and Shasta I went through all the tubes.  It was spring time and my fingers were soooo sore.  Couldn't even pick my nose with right hand or land a fish with that hand it was so tore up.  Left was getting bad too by time I left.  Those ol spots have teeth!!

[jdw174]

It was one day on Lake Erie.  I was cruising on idle on the main lake in about 15' when I noticed a bunch of "hooks" on the graph right on the bottom.  I tossed out a marker and proceeded to land 24 smallies in two hours.  Smallest was 3lb, largest over 5.  That doesn't count the ones that shook off.  I never moved more than 3-4' from that marker the entire time.  Lure was a 1/2oz Silver Buddy.  When I left, my right arm felt like wet noodle and my thumb was all tore up.

[mod479]

Good thread. The best day of fishing I have ever had was a team tournament. We launch out of Chamount Bay in Lake Ontario but the boat motor wont go into gear. Talk about losing confidence. We were originally going to make a run to Henderson and fish some rock piles. Without the main engine we dropped the trolling motor and took off into the bay. I had a smallie on before the rest of the teams had even got out of the bay, and we caught them from 630 til when we trolled back over to the launch around 230. Easily a 80+ smallie day between the 2 of us, and all on senkos. Black and blue flake in the am, pearl hologram after the sun got up. 20.54 for the day...which only got us to 4th place. 

[roadwarrior]

January 15 & 22 2005

 

On Saturday January 15 I caught fifteen smallmouth on the Tennessee River

below Pickwick Dam. Eight of the fish were over 5 lbs. The following Saturday

I caught the two smallmouth in my avatar. The fat one was the hardest fighting

freshwater fish I have ever caught. She weighed in just over 7 lbs. An hour and

a half later, around 1:30, I landed the second fish. Although she was nearly 4"

longer, she was only one pound heavier. That fish remains my PB smalljaw.

 

 

 

[geo g]

For shire size of big fish it was a trip to the Stick Marsh in Felesmere, Florida.  Through this sport we love I have met some wonderful people over the years.  One of the best was a friend Bruce Campbell who lives close to the Stick Marsh.  Bruce fishes the Marsh all the time and invited me to join him on one of his trips.  I had talked to Bruce on line for several years but had never met him in person.  That morning was like meeting an old friend you hadn't seen in years.  Bruce was the ultimate host.  We ran to the south east end of the pond, and the pump station area.  We could see big fish moving around the culvert pipes but couldn't hook up, so Bruce moved us into a stump field.  I had never fished stumps this thick anywhere.  Some stumps were sticking up, most were under water.  Entire trunks were laying sideways.  We were constantly banging into something.  Many times we were stuck on two or more stumps and had to rock the boat off.  No sooner had we got there we started catching fish and some big ones.  I was throwing senkos and Bruce a dark swimming stickbait, a special bait he got from some guy in NC..  We fished from first light until 2:00.  Bruce had 36 pounds for the best 5.  He had a 9.7 and a 9.1 for big fish.

  I had about 27 pounds with a 7.2 big fish.  All big fish were weighed and a counter used. 

 

We caught 37 fish that day with approximately 15 over 5 pounds.  We left because the wind was hammering us into the stumps.  This is not the place you want to take your new $50,000 bass boat.  It would get beat up, big time!!!!!!!!!   What a great day, with a fantastic new friend, all thanks to this sport we love.

[papajoe222]

On an early Tues. morning eith years ago I had the best top water fishing in my life. I boated 21 bass in under two hours and only three weren't caught on top.  Sadly, I had to leave for a fishing trip to Wisconsin an hour later.  I seriously considered canceling, but didn't.  I sure am glad because upon arrival I was able to boat eight smallies in the 2-3lb. range and one nice 43in. musky.  I can't imagine what kind of day it would have been had the drive not been over six hours up there.

[DelfiBoyz_One_and_Only]

The best fishing of my life happened when I learn to offshore fish on the Potomac river when I was 15. Prior to that all I did was beat up banks, lay downs and grass flats. An old buddy of mine took me out in his bass boat to a creek channel that hugged a little point in about 10ft of water. The entire time I am eye balling the bank and wondering what we were doing. Till this point I only thrown a jigs at trees or shore cover (trees, shopping carts, lawn chairs, old tv's, etc. lol city fishing). My old buddy casted his jig out into the middle of nowhere, or at least that is what I thought. Before I could asked him what he was casting at, it was "FISH ON". I am no sucker after netting his 4lber (that was a huge fish to me back in the day) I grabbed a jig and was mimicking his every rod movement. We must have caught a couple dozen or so fish before the bite completely died. They were all 3lbs + with the biggest being 6.5lbs but it seemed like a bite on every cast. I have for sure had better days and caught more and bigger fish since then but it was such a eye opening experience and so exciting that I am not sure that day can ever be matched.

 

J-

[Master Bait'r]

I remember it very clearly.  It was a beautiful day and I was out with my friend Shane.  He was having a rough go of things as his little sister had died of cancer not too long before and I wanted to take him out in my little tiny rowboat just to get out there and fish- he is my #1 fishing buddy and he hadn't been out in a while.  We had a cooler full of beers and snacks, loaded tackle boxes and a full day to float away.  We went to a larger area pond that we frequent that has great cover vegetation and structure, and it was in full swing.  We mush have caught 75+ bass that day out of that little 8 foot rowboat.  Back-to-back-to-back catches, both catching fish at the same time, and just beautiful little consistent 2-3lbers like I've never seen before.  We were hootin' and hollerin' and high fivein' all day- and nobody else on the lake was catching anything!  

 

 

Well as the day goes on the wind picks up a bit and we had no anchor with us, so we were getting blown around quite a bit.  After about two hours of constant adjustments, we were ready to pack it up.  Shane says in total frustration "Man, what I wouldn't do for an anchor right now, this is ridiculous!  I've had it!!" literally not even 10 seconds later, I noticed a piece of yellow rope coming up from the depths.  I row over, he grabs it and wouldn't you know it- the other end was tied to a rock!  We had just been given an anchor in our hour of need!  He gets it in the boat and we look at each other and he says "Thanks AJ!" (his sister)

 

    

He went on to beat his personal record for most fish caught that day.  We fished probably 3-4x a week for the next two years or so.  Thanks AJ indeed.  Talk about the healing ability of fishing...  I know for a fact that he really needed that outlet and that day was just the perfect example in my mind of what fishing is about:  Getting away and clearing your mind- even if it's just down the street you're a world away when that lure hits the water and something slams it.    

[Catt]

Other than fishing with my kids & grandkids!

 

Hemphill Bass Club

 

Lowe's Creek Marine Toledo Bend Reservoir August 12, 1975

 

1 st: Tommy (Catt) Thibodeaux 15 bass 82.5 pounds

2 nd: Tommy Martian 15 bass 79.0 pounds

3 rd: Larry Nixon 15 bass 77.75 pounds

4 th: Lonnie Stanley 14 bass 75.88 pounds

5 th: Harold Allen 15 bass 75.02 pounds

 

I knew I could not only hang with the big boys but compete with them

[Dinky]

January 15 & 22 2005

 

On Saturday January 15 I caught fifteen smallmouth on the Tennessee River

below Pickwick Dam. Eight of the fish were over 5 lbs. The following Saturday

I caught the two smallmouth in my avatar. The fat one was the hardest fighting

freshwater fish I have ever caught. She weighed in just over 7 lbs. An hour and

a half later, around 1:30, I landed the second fish. Although she was nearly 4"

longer, she was only one pound heavier. That fish remains my PB smalljaw.

 

 

 

 

Nice story RW and of course nice fish! I never knew the big one in your avatar was 8+ pounds!

[joeeagles36]

It was one day on Lake Erie.  I was cruising on idle on the main lake in about 15' when I noticed a bunch of "hooks" on the graph right on the bottom.  I tossed out a marker and proceeded to land 24 smallies in two hours.  Smallest was 3lb, largest over 5.  That doesn't count the ones that shook off.  I never moved more than 3-4' from that marker the entire time.  Lure was a 1/2oz Silver Buddy.  When I left, my right arm felt like wet noodle and my thumb was all tore up.

Put-In-Bay in the month of may! love catching them smallmouth.  but what made it more fun was we were using our ultra lite rods and 4lb test and not only getting smallies but also a lot of sheephead and some of them were pretty big and on little ultra lite rods made every fight a good one.

[Scott F]

I'm having one of those days today! The fish aren't all huge, but there are a lot of them. 83 smallmouth and 7 largemouth between 7 and 11:30 this morning and that was just my catch. My partner had nearly as many. We could have caught dozens more but we were hot, tired and hungry and we quit for lunch. Believe it or not, it has been like this almost every day for the past 5 days. I just love Northern Wisconsin for prespawn action!

[KYBassin']

I'm having one of those days today! The fish aren't all huge, but there are a lot of them. 83 smallmouth and 7 largemouth between 7 and 11:30 this morning and that was just my catch. My partner had nearly as many. We could have caught dozens more but we were hot, tired and hungry and we quit for lunch. Believe it or not, it has been like this almost every day for the past 5 days. I just love Northern Wisconsin for prespawn action!

Wow. Sounds amazing. I'll be up there next week....can't wait. My best day, which was actually 6, was about 7 years ago on a canoe trip in the BWCA.

[DelfiBoyz_One_and_Only]

I remember it very clearly.  It was a beautiful day and I was out with my friend Shane.  He was having a rough go of things as his little sister had died of cancer not too long before and I wanted to take him out in my little tiny rowboat just to get out there and fish- he is my #1 fishing buddy and he hadn't been out in a while.  We had a cooler full of beers and snacks, loaded tackle boxes and a full day to float away.  We went to a larger area pond that we frequent that has great cover vegetation and structure, and it was in full swing.  We mush have caught 75+ bass that day out of that little 8 foot rowboat.  Back-to-back-to-back catches, both catching fish at the same time, and just beautiful little consistent 2-3lbers like I've never seen before.  We were hootin' and hollerin' and high fivein' all day- and nobody else on the lake was catching anything!  

 

 

Well as the day goes on the wind picks up a bit and we had no anchor with us, so we were getting blown around quite a bit.  After about two hours of constant adjustments, we were ready to pack it up.  Shane says in total frustration "Man, what I wouldn't do for an anchor right now, this is ridiculous!  I've had it!!" literally not even 10 seconds later, I noticed a piece of yellow rope coming up from the depths.  I row over, he grabs it and wouldn't you know it- the other end was tied to a rock!  We had just been given an anchor in our hour of need!  He gets it in the boat and we look at each other and he says "Thanks AJ!" (his sister)

 

    

He went on to beat his personal record for most fish caught that day.  We fished probably 3-4x a week for the next two years or so.  Thanks AJ indeed.  Talk about the healing ability of fishing...  I know for a fact that he really needed that outlet and that day was just the perfect example in my mind of what fishing is about:  Getting away and clearing your mind- even if it's just down the street you're a world away when that lure hits the water and something slams it.

What a truly amazing and motivational story... Its awesome and amazing how therapeutic fishing can be.

It also amazing how having a buddy with you makes a awesome fishing trip a memorable one!

J

[lazyfish01001]

About 3 weeks ago I bought a lunker frog and I was dying to try it out. A customer of mine had given me permission to fish his private farm pond weeks earlier. I always catch fish there, it's inevitable. But, there is this one corner that is always covered with moss and earlier times I was there I seen a big fin come out of the water and large ripples under the moss. So I knew I had to try that spot. I caught 6 LMB all over 13" in 2 hours. One fish was my personal best which is my avatar. It was supposed to be my wifes first fish, but I took the rod from her to show her how to throw the frog, and BOOM! I was shaking for probably 30 minutes. The earlier fish had me giggling and jumping around like a little kid, but this fish was magnificent. I let it go and ended the night with sending the picture to pretty much every person in my contstcs list on my phone. Man that was a good night!

[Big Swimbait]

In the late 80's, a guide that I booked a lot at Toledo Bend, Bill Fox (RIP), told me about a trip he was planning to Mexico. A guy in S. Texas had hooked up with a Federali Game Warden that "controlled" a small lake in Mexico. The Game Warden allowed him to set up a pretty nice facility for the time, with the stipulation that he would only book trips in December & January of each year, & limited to 8 fisherman at a time. The cost was $475.00, lodging, all meals, a boat runner & transportation from McAllen, for 3 full & 1 half day fishing.

 

We were told that the bass were hitting plastic worms in any color, as long as it was purple/white tail & to bring all we could find in Dallas because there were no tackle stores anywhere near. I managed to find 20 bags of Creme worms in that color, thinking that would be plenty. I was wrong.

 

The lake was about 250 acres & absolutely full of hydrilla. The boat runner could run about 50 yards, then we had to stop & reverse the prop & go again. We would cast the worm on top of the mats & reel until we came to a pocket - then let the worm fall on free spool (before pitching/flipping LOL). Most of the time it never hit bottom, but when it did, all you had to do was hop it once & you got bit. No DD's, but we averaged 175 - 200 bass per boat per day with the biggest 9.75. Being on that first trip in December, the fish had not seen a bait in 10 months. I was out of worms by the 2nd day. The night time poker games were for worms instead of money! The only forage besides baby bass were Tilapia (which had purple & white markings), which we also caught up to about 2 lbs.

 

I was lucky to make this trip twice before some legal problems shut down the outfitter. I always wonder about this lake now as it was in a very remote area between Aldama & Tampico on the Gulf side of the country.

[missouribigbass]

Caught 12 bass out of a private property watershed that weighed between 5-8lbs. We fished from sun up to sun down. Caught around 50 more between 2-4lbs. All from the bank I might add. It also happens to be where I caught my mounted fish and the biggest bass ive ever caught. Wasnt caught that day but the body of water had produced some great memories for me.

[RoLo]

My most memorable outings were centered on striped bass, northern pike and mako sharks, but some outings were memorable
simply because they were comical. One that comes to mind involved 'summer flounder', which in Jersey are called 'fluke'.
It was the early 70s and I invited 4 toolmakers (coworkers) to go fluke fishing. I took them to Flynns Knoll off Sandy Hook, NJ.

Fluke are the toughest hombres to hook...let me explain. With porgies (nicknamed 'bait-stealers') you'll feel one rapid ratatat

and the hook is stripped bare. When fishing for porgies, I used to say jokingly: "Set the hook right before they bite". 

Well...'fluke' are just the opposite of porgies. A fluke comes up behind a drifting bait and seizes the end of the tail far behind the hook.

You're going to feel a series of sharp jabs but you need to refrain from setting the hook until it finally chomps its way up to the hook.

I rigged everyone with a fresh belly-strip about 8" long, you might say I was fishing and cutting bait.

The boys kept jerking impulsively after every bite, but could not put one fluke in the boat, we were all cackling like a bunch of hens,

there were more laughs than fish. I put a few in the well so they kept asking me, what's the secret to hooking these things?

There's no secret I said, just remember one thing: You can strike too soon, but you can't wait too long.

That didn't do any good, and the more fluke they missed, the more impulsively they would strike. To reinforce my point

I even drifted a baited hook in the rod-holder and it eventually caught a fluke. Long story short, we ended up with 35 fluke that day,

and I put all but 1 in the box. That was not what I wanted and was not why I invited them to go fluke fishing.

I said kiddingly, it's good that things went the way they did, because my cooler would never hold 150 flounder.

Roger

[FD.]

Fathers Day 2012.  She landed this one all by herself.

 

 

Her 1st double, Thanksgiving 2007.  The next day I found a school of spots where she caught 7 spots over 2 lbs, back to back to back... on a spinnerbait.

 

[Dwight Hottle]

My best day smallie fishing for quality fish was pre spawn on lake erie in April about 4-5 years ago. I found a pocket of good fish & I kept drifting over them using jerkbaits. Dead sticked one rod & worked the other. I was fishing by myself mid week without any other boats around.  Had numerous big fives & three over six lbs with the biggest at 6.75bs. Hooked a good fish & she came up and jumped right away. When I saw her the first time I knew she was a big smallie. She proceeded to jump time after time time as i worked her closer to the boat. As i remember she jumped about 11 or 12 times. The last jump was close to the boat & I knew she was a heavy six or 7lber maybe. Any how she threw the bait back at me on the last jump & then I knew I blew it. I was into such good quality fish I did not strive to keep her from jumping. I was a little too cavalier with my approach. I think I had between 11 or 12 fish that day with the smallest  over 4lbs. I never added it up but I think I had over 30lbs with my best five fish. If I had landed that big fish I was probably over 32-33lbs for the best five. A very fun day by myself.

[A-Jay]

Some great stories already in this thread.

 

"The Best Fishing of my life" has been improved upon seems like every few years or so.  Here recently I've had an opportunity to fish on some incredible bodies of water with some really good people.

 

But for me the "best" has to be The First.  The one that started it all.  The seemingly Huge (back them) 2 lb bass that attacked a rebel jointed minnow right in front of me as I waded a small pond near my home as a 8 year old boy.

 

That one fish started me on this life long journey of angling that means more to me than any words I can come up with could ever do justice to.

 

A-Jay

[DogBone_384]

Haven't gotten there yet... That's why I keep fishing!

[BassObsessed]

Would have to be while on vacation in Florida a few months ago when I caught one 11lber, one over 10lbs, one pushing 9lbs and a handful of bass between 6-8lbs and dozens of smaller ones within a span of 5 days. Can't wait to go back.