Your 2017 Fishing Goals

[Josh Smith]

Knowledge-wise, no goals. I've learned this all my life and have been studying hard these past three years. There's always more to learn, but I'm going to take a more leisurely attitude this year.

 

My main goal will to be to fish more with my wife.

 

Josh

[SWMIBASSER]

I've been out of this for long enough  that I'm basically starting over. 

I need to put my boat together and rebuild a collection of rod and reels

[BillP]

I want to fish more for bass. I have mainly fished for walleye and lake trout.

Bass fishing will be a whole new area of water for me to fish

[DogBone_384]

Fish with more members.

[Jar11591]

There are a few goals I have every year. These are:

 

-Become proficient in a new technique

 

-less bassless outings (only 1 in 2016 that wasn't shortened by rain out of 50+ outings.) 

 

-catch a new PB

 

-catch a bass at a new body of water

 

[Airman4754]

I have to learn how to fish where there really is no deep water, current, and it's super hot most of the time.Going deeper has always been my fall back crutch. 

 

My goal this year is to get a few reliable seasonal patterns to build off of for next year.

[RichF]

I really want to edit and share the videos I've taken over the past couple years.  I have a lot of cool tournament footage to post.  

 

I also need to buckle down and really save up for a new boat.  I love my old tracker and she's won me a ton of money but I think it's time for an upgrade.  

[tander]

- Get my boat is tip top condition.

- Crappie fish more.

- Learn to ledge fish better.

- Take more people fishing.

-

[FrogFreak]

1. Stop and smell the roses more often
2. Get better at detecting jig bites - new rod will help I hope
3. Relax a bit more - don't try and fish for 12 hours every day out
4. Catch fish mostly on plastics I pour and lures I make

 

[WI_Angler1989]

I have all sorts of goals for next year. Always do. Some are bigger, some are little things, some are works in progress that I want to keep working at.

 

1) fish as much as I can.

2) I'd love to fish with friends more too.

3) track the weight and length of my big catches ALL the time.

4) get out in my canoe more!!! 

5) keep working on my jig and crankbait fishing.

6) learn drop shooting! I never did try that last season, despite planning to.

7) fish more topwater. I had a few days of success on the river with smallies and would love some more effort put in.

8) and of course.....the notorious new PB (smallmouth for me).

 

When it's all said and done, my goal is to always keep trying to grow as an angler. Whether that's learning new lures or new waters, or looking for the big girls in my local haunts. One thing I wanna steal from a few of the guys on here is to stop and see the beauty. Being out on the water, catching beautiful fish, seeing an amazing sunset.... all of these things are tragicly forgotten some days. Here's to taking it all in more than ever. And snapping as many pictures as I can along the ride.

 

[MichiganBass80]

1. Not rely on the same old thing like throwing crankbaits, wacky rig, and dropshots.  

2. Throw swimbaits (just ordered some rage Swimmers from Sieberts ), going to try them a ton a different ways, weighted hooks, underspins, swimjigs, etc.  

3.  Work on flipping/pitching with jigs and soft plastics.

4.  Get better at dissecting a lake.  

• I want to work on finding better spots based on conditions that day. There are a ton of lakes here in Michigan, we have plenty within an hour or so of us that we hit regularly, and every time we go out it feels like we just run straight to the same old spots and fish them without exploring anything else.

5.  We have a tons of lakes here in Michigan so I want to get out and fish at least 2-3 lakes we have never fished.

6.  Always a goal to catch a new PB both largemouth and smallmouth

7.  Last, I need to fish more.  The last couple years I don't feel like we got out a whole lot like we did the previous couple years.

[TriCityBassin']

1. JUST TO FISH MORE.  Life has really beaten me down the last two years...im gonna push back.

2.  Get my social media up and running (not a plug, hope that is not a violation)

3.  Run a few Kayak fishing tournaments

4.  Start a small non profit for fishing/outdoors

4.  Finesse less (probably gonna require rehab)

4a. big fish baits and offshore stuff...(A rig, +6" swimbaits, deep crank +10')

5. Get another Va State citation

6. 20" smallie from one of these dang rivers!

7. Finish my boat builds

8. ReBuild the rod/reel arsenal

9.  push the kayak limits...swamp paddling and hope i don't get lost, chesapeake bay bridge tunnel here i come!

 

Small list...

[pondbassin101]

My 2017 goal(s)- ACTUALLY CATCH BASS

[WTnPuddleJumper]

HoosierHawgs,  we actually put on a fundraiser tournament for them in July at Gibson County Lake in Trenton.  Also trying to build a west Tennessee bass club battle tournament at pickwick for carl perkins center as well.  Had our inaugural tourney this past October and had a decent turnout.  Hopefully over the next couple of years we can grow it into something special.

[12poundbass]

2017 goals: 

1: upgrade to a bigger boat

2: buy and learn electronics 

3: learn new techniques

4: get my son to catch a bigger largemouth

5: find more smallies

6: catch a 6 pounder (big in Michigan)

[kcdinkerz]

get out on my yak more and learn to fish deeper water. also need to put down that dang nedrig

[Hawkeye21]

Obviously getting out more often is number one.

Get out on my kayak more and to more locations, Mississippi River is first on my list of places.

Use the Neko Rig.

Get better at using the Ned Rig.

Beat my personal best.

Learn how to locate bass better in the Spring.

[basss]

I'm new to "more serious" bass fishing.  I've been fishing since I was a teenager, bank fishing that is.  Now that I have a boat, with a pair of fish finders, and several rod/reel setups; I want to fish more intelligently.  Meaning, using the electronics and layouts of the particular body of water I'm fishing to determine where and what to fish instead of relying solely on sight fishing.  Also, I would like to learn more about the sport and how to use each rod and reels as tools and not "one size fits all" approach.

On ‎1‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 10:55 AM, FrogFreak said:

1.  
2. Relax a bit more - don't try and fish for 12 hours every day out
3.  

 

 

12 hour fish outing, wow!  I'm usually good for 4 or so, on what I call long fishing outages; 12 now that's dedication.

[Jacob Phelps]

I've been thinking of some off and on throughout this winter.

1. learn to use electronics better

2. fish new waters

3. fish more topwater

4. learn to read topo maps to find spots

5. learn about seasonal movements to find fish quicker

6. have as much fun as possible

[Hawkeye21]

5 hours ago, basss said:

I'm new to "more serious" bass fishing.  I've been fishing since I was a teenager, bank fishing that is.  Now that I have a boat, with a pair of fish finders, and several rod/reel setups; I want to fish more intelligently.  Meaning, using the electronics and layouts of the particular body of water I'm fishing to determine where and what to fish instead of relying solely on sight fishing.  Also, I would like to learn more about the sport and how to use each rod and reels as tools and not "one size fits all" approach.

 

12 hour fish outing, wow!  I'm usually good for 4 or so, on what I call long fishing outages; 12 now that's dedication.

 

Really?  You must not have gone on any fishing trips before.  On a good fishing trip during the summer we'll spend anywhere from 12 to 15 hours out on the water depending on how the fishing and the weather is.  Some times it would be even longer if we had lights on the boat.

[afrayed knot]

Catch at least one fish on every single piece of @#$% that I purchased this winter because I really needed it.

[Sam]

I would like for my wife's back and hip to be repaired; have her lose the debilitating pain; get her off all of the pain meds; and have her join me on the water this year.

 

She either lays down on the back deck or sit in the seat and reads as I do some fishing. We then have a "picnic" and watch the birds and beautiful scenery you see on our American lakes and rivers.

[mwh33]

1. Catch another double digit largemouth

2. Buy my 1st bass boat

3. Fish more

4. Work on finesse fishing. I have never really had to use much finesse techniques

5. Get better at punching thick mats

6. Learn to skip docks better

7. Help my dad catch a new PB. I am taking him to El Salto with me so he has a good chance to do it. His PB is only 5 lbs.

8. Fish rivers more

[RoweBoatRVA]

1) take notes and breakdown my fishing success or failure

2) better videos and photography of other fisherman

3) catch my first smallmouth bass

4) catch a 5lb+ largemouth (best of 2016 still didn't break 4lb)

5) take advantage of summer night fishing

6) get my 3yr old to not completely freak out when the boat rocks:)

[basss]

16 hours ago, Hawkeye21 said:

 

Really?  You must not have gone on any fishing trips before.

 

I've not.  Maybe I should add that as one of my 2017 fishing goals.

 

We usually fish on local waters in the morning and in the later afternoon, but not fish all the way through.