WI_Angler1989 Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 Alright, guys and gals, let's take a poll. I wanna hear what everyone's biggest goal is for this coming season. We all have the obvious ones: catch fish, learn new techniques, etc but I wanna know the unique ones. Mine is to explore my local river, the chippewa, in my canoe rig. I've lived here most of my life and feel like I've missed so much time and adventure in my own back yard! Well that's mine, let's hear yours! ~Nik Quote
Basspro3106 Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 I know must guys don't want to hear this but I need to take it easy with buying tackle I think I only use 15% of the things I buy. 4 Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted February 9, 2016 Global Moderator Posted February 9, 2016 I want to figure out how to catch fish on a drop shot. It seems like such a simple rig and concept, yet I can almost never have any success with it. I also would like to stick with my usual yearly goals of a largemouth over 6 and a smallmouth over 4. I haven't managed to do it two years in a row yet, so maybe this year will be that year. 1 Quote
WI_Angler1989 Posted February 9, 2016 Author Posted February 9, 2016 1 hour ago, Bluebasser86 said: I want to figure out how to catch fish on a drop shot. It seems like such a simple rig and concept, yet I can almost never have any success with it. I also would like to stick with my usual yearly goals of a largemouth over 6 and a smallmouth over 4. I haven't managed to do it two years in a row yet, so maybe this year will be that year. I'd like to learn dropshot as well. I haven't tried it yet. Hopefully I can figure it out! As for you're weight goals, good luck! I will definitely have a 4+ smallie here but 6 is a big largemouth in my neck of the woods. Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted February 9, 2016 Global Moderator Posted February 9, 2016 13 minutes ago, WI_Angler1989 said: I'd like to learn dropshot as well. I haven't tried it yet. Hopefully I can figure it out! As for you're weight goals, good luck! I will definitely have a 4+ smallie here but 6 is a big largemouth in my neck of the woods. The state record smallmouth in Kansas isn't even 7 pounds, so a 4 pounder is pretty huge, but I still seem to have better luck reaching that goal than I do the 6lb largemouth every year. I had a 4+ pound smallmouth in 2014 also, but fell just shy on the largemouth with a 5.89lb fish being my biggest. I'd love to hit the 7lb and 5lb mark in the same year. I haven't caught a 7lb largemouth in a few years and it's been several years since my last 5lb smallmouth. 1 Quote
WI_Angler1989 Posted February 9, 2016 Author Posted February 9, 2016 14 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said: The state record smallmouth in Kansas isn't even 7 pounds, so a 4 pounder is pretty huge, but I still seem to have better luck reaching that goal than I do the 6lb largemouth every year. I had a 4+ pound smallmouth in 2014 also, but fell just shy on the largemouth with a 5.89lb fish being my biggest. I'd love to hit the 7lb and 5lb mark in the same year. I haven't caught a 7lb largemouth in a few years and it's been several years since my last 5lb smallmouth. Good luck to you! I finally have my own scale this year instead of using a friends, assuming they're with me. I'm looking forward to finally knowing the weight of those special fish that get the hands shaking. Quote
Fishinthefish Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 My goal is to find more people to fish with. I've lived in north west Illinois for four or five years now and hardly know anybody. I'm origionally from New York. So I might have to bite the bullet and join a bass club or something. Quote
Super User scaleface Posted February 9, 2016 Super User Posted February 9, 2016 My goal is to find some deep cover or subtle structure on some flats . There are these three flats I know of that always show lots of fish at the same location , on the depth finder for a reason I dont know . The fish are a mixed bag of crappie , channel cats , bluegill and bass . I cant help but think there is some subtle structure or cover there with some monster bass . I just have to take the time to find it . Quote
Super User Nitrofreak Posted February 9, 2016 Super User Posted February 9, 2016 Mine is to get a lot better at understanding structure, just took a trip to my home lake this past weekend and did not even wet a line, with the exception of dragging a heavy jig around some areas to get a feel for what I was seeing, just focused on where the fish were this time of year and tried my best to locate some productive areas, I learned where the fish were not at unfortunately but at the same time I learned a lot about what I did see. 1 Quote
Super User scaleface Posted February 9, 2016 Super User Posted February 9, 2016 7 hours ago, WI_Angler1989 said: Alright, guys and gals, let's take a poll. I wanna hear what everyone's biggest goal is for this coming season. We all have the obvious ones: catch fish, learn new techniques, etc but I wanna know the unique ones. Mine is to explore my local river, the chippewa, in my canoe rig. I've lived here most of my life and feel like I've missed so much time and adventure in my own back yard! Well that's mine, let's hear yours! ~Nik Rivers are cool , they are alive . Exploring one from a canoe or kayak is a lot of fun . 1 Quote
Super User Oregon Native Posted February 9, 2016 Super User Posted February 9, 2016 To relax more in the boat and not worry so much about @!#$ that happens. Stuff is going to happen....need to take more deep breaths...enjoy the company I'm with. After all its "JUST FISHING" For some reason last year I lost a lot of good fish.... 2 Quote
Super User scaleface Posted February 9, 2016 Super User Posted February 9, 2016 2 minutes ago, Oregon Native said: To relax more in the boat and not worry so much about @!#$ that happens. Stuff is going to happen....need to take more deep breaths...enjoy the company I'm with. After all its "JUST FISHING" For some reason last year I lost a lot of good fish.... I went through a period where I was losing almost all of my big fish. I was trying to horse the fish in like I seen the pros do on TV. Now I'm back to a more finesse approach at landing them and lip almost all of them . Quote
Super User Oregon Native Posted February 9, 2016 Super User Posted February 9, 2016 This was a weird year. Had it happen a number of years ago too. A lot of them were on small 1/8 buzzbaits. On prefish days they ATE it. On tourney days they SPIT IT!!!! Quote
Super User WIGuide Posted February 9, 2016 Super User Posted February 9, 2016 1 hour ago, Oregon Native said: This was a weird year. Had it happen a number of years ago too. A lot of them were on small 1/8 buzzbaits. On prefish days they ATE it. On tourney days they SPIT IT!!!! That seems like that type of thing happens a lot during tournaments! Two things I want to get better at are improving my deep game, and my other goal is to better pattern fish every day I'm on the water. Quote
Racerx Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 I'm setting out to do more soft plastic techniques. I suddenly realized that I tend to be more of a hard bait angler, primarily cranks and jerks, so I wanna change things up and hopefully, in the process, improve my catch percentage. Just bought a new Curado I in the past couple months, and just waiting on some cash flow to mate it up with a good sensitive rod for throwing plastics. 2 Quote
Super User buzzed bait Posted February 9, 2016 Super User Posted February 9, 2016 i "think" one goal is going to be to fish a tournament of some kind this year, either draw or a kayak tournament just to see if i like it. my real goal is to dial in on my depth finder and really figure out how to use it to my benefit rather than just having a screen to look at! Quote
junyer357 Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 I have 3. First is to fish with some guys who really know and understand how to read the si/di equipment and really learn how to use it fully to my advantage. Spent too much money on it not to be able to take advantage of it. Second is to start fishing more places on my local lakes, rather than fishing same spots, same launch, etc.. i have used for years. Really get out and learn the lake, not just my comfort areas. Third is to learn to flip better. Really concentrate on being able to put a lure were i want and barely make a splash when it lands. I am fairly accurate with a baitcaster but normally not very subtle on the landings. I know this is probably costing me fish. 1 Quote
WI_Angler1989 Posted February 9, 2016 Author Posted February 9, 2016 4 hours ago, scaleface said: Rivers are cool , they are alive . Exploring one from a canoe or kayak is a lot of fun . Yeah, they are, always changing. Especially if we get high water this year. Last year the water level was normal in the spring. I want to make a long trip down it and explore/fish the whole stretch. Quote
MDBowHunter Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 To learn how to use my FF in the way it was meant to be used. What I mean is that I can use it to find structure and stuff, I just don't really use any of its real features like mapping and stuff. Heck I'm still trying to figure out what it is I'm looking at sometimes. 1 Quote
WI_Angler1989 Posted February 9, 2016 Author Posted February 9, 2016 1 hour ago, MDBowHunter said: To learn how to use my FF in the way it was meant to be used. What I mean is that I can use it to find structure and stuff, I just don't really use any of its real features like mapping and stuff. Heck I'm still trying to figure out what it is I'm looking at sometimes. Haha I can't blame ya, I have pretty much no experience with them. It's like hieroglyphics. (Also, dang that's a wierd looking word......hieroglyphics) Quote
stkbassn Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 Fish more than I did last year. Learn new techniques, finesse fishing and glide baits. Get another boat. Quote
WI_Angler1989 Posted February 9, 2016 Author Posted February 9, 2016 7 minutes ago, stkbassn said: Fish more than I did last year. Learn new techniques, finesse fishing and glide baits. Get another boat. +1, I think we can agree on "learn more techniques." 1 Quote
Derekbass02 Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 Catch a 4.5 pound or bigger largemouth and a 4 or bigger smallmouth. Also would like to catch a big pike. Biggest one I've caught is only 29 inches. 1 Quote
BaitMonkey1984 Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 My goal is not to have the boat trailer come off the ball. No damage other than having the safety chains snap. Been trailering boots for 6+ years on an almost daily basis and that still gets to me almost 4 months later. In all seriousness, my goal is to learn presentations I set out to learn last year and quickly abandoned. Specifically drop shot, carolina rig, and deep cranking. My small lake has one deep area 22-30 feet. I know it hold the big girls seeing the rest of the lake is avg 12 ft depth and there is a rock ledge and several points nearby. But I just love fishing docks and shallow cover. I want to beat my PB, caught 2 years ago at 6lbs even and up here I think I really need to move deep to have a shot at that. 1 Quote
Steveo-1969 Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 My goal for 2016 isn't to catch more fish or bigger fish or set a PB (although all of those would be nice!) My goal is just to fish as much as possible. For me the enjoyment is the act of fishing itself, and the catching is the icing on the cake. Oh, and maybe I'll finally tie on a Ned rig this year and try that out... 1 Quote
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