What do you do in the off-season?

[Knightiac]

Here in Orlando there is only a slowish season, no offseason. I spend my time working a shakey head or dragging jigs. I'll even toss some topwaters and lipless cranks here and there too. I'm not sure I could ever get into ice fishing, and I love drinking beer and shootin the ****. 

[S. Sass]

Fish any time its Texas. But I do have truck and gun hobbies. So if its to cold or windy being single I can find plenty to do.

[beardown34]

cry, wipe my tears, and repeat

[stk44]

@wdp It's nice that I'm forced to relax on the weekends now, but I'm in the same boat as you. I can't wait til March..

Hopefully this year I can time it right where I can catch river smallmouth in prespawn and spawn, while also being able to hit largemouth during there prespawn and spawn. 

7 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

Throw in a rod build or two and this will work until sometime in Feb. Then I start thinking about driving 300-400mi. to wet a line and the bait monkey hasn't been fed in months, so by April 1st, I'm out of reloading supplies because I've spent everything at fishing shows.

I have a fly rod that I still need to build. I bought it just before I got hooked on bass. It's a 7 weight too, so that would be perfect for bass flies. Fly fishing is cool and all, but it's usually never the most effective way to target bass most of the year.

I was talking to my wife about heading south to do some fishing. I don't know if I can make it without fishing until March...

[Master Bait'r]

 I'm the Operations Manager at a northeast ski area.  The work load and stress level pretty much guarantee I won't even be able to glance at my gear until May.   

 

 

 

 

[the reel ess]

Count the days. I usually keep trying to fish. But this year, circumstances have conspired against that. Family obligations have dictated my activities. My daughter is also involved in an activity that will take up a bunch of Saturdays in Jan & Feb. I will try to get some Sunday afternoons in in February though, weather permitting.

I'm replacing the trolling motor on my big boat with a spare one my buddy has. It's a Minn Kota foot control 46 that comes with the Bass Tracker. He replaced it with one with variable speed control. And I'll buy and set up a new combo.

[.ghoti.]

Servicing reels, building rods, trying to bring order out of chaos in my tackle bags and boxes,,,,,,

[Scarborough817]

organizing tackle, looking at tackle, wish i could fish, repeat 

[CybrSlydr]

My brother and I are currently wondering how cold is too cold to fish.

Hasn't really dipped below freezing here yet (couple nights, about it) or hit that winter chill so...

My days off work I'm sitting at home thinking...  "Man, I want to go fishing..."

That said, most of my time is looking at new gear and reading articles/watching videos (I'm becoming a fan of Jon B on YouTube and 1Rod1Reel ).

[wdp]

1 hour ago, Scarborough817 said:

organizing tackle, looking at tackle, wish i could fish, repeat 

I look at tackle websites & online tackle stores, constantly. Even during fishing season. ?

[bigfruits]

snowboard, poker and buying more tackle I don't need gets me through.

[YoTone]

lift weights and try to get back all the muscle i lost while being overly obsessed with bass fishing.

to put it in to perspective before i rediscovered my love for fresh water bass fishing i was lifting weights to gain muscle mass. 3 years before that i was a sickly 115 lbs at 5'7'' . it took 3 grueling years to get up to 157 lbs by lifting and eating like crazy. then all of a sudden i got into bass fishing and lost almost everything i worked for and shriveled up to 128 lbs in 8 months. i didnt care about nutrition or lifting just  catching bass. people were asking me if i had cancer or became a crack addict the way i lost so much weight. lol

now that the seasons over im trying to get back to respectable size but will probably lose 80% of it when spring starts. 

[stk44]

1 hour ago, YoTone said:

lift weights and try to get back all the muscle i lost while being overly obsessed with bass fishing.

to put it in to perspective before i rediscovered my love for fresh water bass fishing i was lifting weights to gain muscle mass. 3 years before that i was a sickly 115 lbs at 5'7'' . it took 3 grueling years to get up to 157 lbs by lifting and eating like crazy. then all of a sudden i got into bass fishing and lost almost everything i worked for and shriveled up to 128 lbs in 8 months. i didnt care about nutrition or lifting just  catching bass. people were asking me if i had cancer or became a crack addict the way i lost so much weight. lol

now that the seasons over im trying to get back to respectable size but will probably lose 80% of it when spring starts. 

My peak was 5'10 195 @6 percent body fat. When I would bulk, I would have to eat around 4500 to 5000 calories per day. Then I got injured and I'm back down to 175. 

Ive found I'm much happier exercising to be in shape, not so much just to look in shape anymore. To each his own though. 

[JT Bagwell]

19 hours ago, Knightiac said:

Here in Orlando there is only a slowish season, no offseason. I spend my time working a shakey head or dragging jigs. I'll even toss some topwaters and lipless cranks here and there too. I'm not sure I could ever get into ice fishing, and I love drinking beer and shootin the ****. 

Some people think Ice fishing is super cool. I am not one of those people. I would rather go bass fishing any time. Ice fishing is just something that I do in the winter to occupy my time when the lakes are frozen after bow season ends.

[gim]

I usually fish until mid to late October, then I deer and pheasant hunt in November and December.  January through March I play in a racquetball league, ice hockey league, and watch a lot of sports on TV.  I turkey hunt in April and then start fishing again in May when the season opens.

6 minutes ago, JT Bagwell said:

Some people think Ice fishing is super cool. I am not one of those people. I would rather go bass fishing any time. Ice fishing is just something that I do in the winter to occupy my time when the lakes are frozen after bow season ends.

I am also NOT one of those people with regards to ice fishing.  Some jackass just went through ice already here because he thought 2.5 inches of ice was safe to drive his snowmobile on

[CybrSlydr]

2 hours ago, YoTone said:

lift weights and try to get back all the muscle i lost while being overly obsessed with bass fishing.

to put it in to perspective before i rediscovered my love for fresh water bass fishing i was lifting weights to gain muscle mass. 3 years before that i was a sickly 115 lbs at 5'7'' . it took 3 grueling years to get up to 157 lbs by lifting and eating like crazy. then all of a sudden i got into bass fishing and lost almost everything i worked for and shriveled up to 128 lbs in 8 months. i didnt care about nutrition or lifting just  catching bass. people were asking me if i had cancer or became a crack addict the way i lost so much weight. lol

now that the seasons over im trying to get back to respectable size but will probably lose 80% of it when spring starts. 

You poor man, at my tiniest when I was in the Army and had the vaunted "deployment body", I was still 211lbs.  lol

Right now I'm about 265.

[crypt]

off season? what's that…?

[fishwizzard]

I do a ton of hiking in the winter, the lack of ticks and thorns is very nice.  I also plan to do some wading this winter and see what's still biting.  I mean, the fish have to still be in the water somewhere in all the small rivers around here.  

[CrustyMono]

23 hours ago, Columbia Craw said:

No Crusty, kidding.  I wrestled in high school.  It was the best six years of my life.

Nice, I'm glad to see someone who knows the difference between training really hard and losing a big match and fishing hard all day and catching nothing. It is like a paradox, because they are similar but very different sports.

[everythingthatswims]

2 hours ago, CybrSlydr said:

You poor man, at my tiniest when I was in the Army and had the vaunted "deployment body", I was still 211lbs.  lol

Right now I'm about 265.

@YoTone is in fact catching bass at that weight though

[CybrSlydr]

1 minute ago, everythingthatswims said:

@YoTone is in fact catching bass at that weight though

lol  Ouch - apply cold water to burn!

[everythingthatswims]

Just now, CybrSlydr said:

lol  Ouch - apply cold water to burn!

You've got plenty of time ahead of you to get situated and slay them this spring. Looking forward to hearing about it.

[Gundog]

6 hours ago, YoTone said:

 

now that the seasons over im trying to get back to respectable size but will probably lose 80% of it when spring starts. 

Wish I had that problem. Sadly its just the opposite. I lose some weight in the spring/summer/fall and gain all of it back (+some) in winter. 

4 hours ago, CybrSlydr said:

 

 

Just wondering....umm...can I borrow that gun sometimes. My neighbor thinks its funny to park in the spot I shovel out for my car. I think if I walked out of my house with that over my shoulder not only would he not park in my spot, he would also probably clean off my sidewalk for me. 

[wisconsin heat]

5 hours ago, JT Bagwell said:

Some people think Ice fishing is super cool. I am not one of those people. I would rather go bass fishing any time. Ice fishing is just something that I do in the winter to occupy my time when the lakes are frozen after bow season ends.

I dont bow hunt yet, but otherwise share the same feelings as you. Ice fishing can quickly become a lot of work, running around and drilling holes to try and mark fish; it's so hard to be mobile which is the main reason I don't like ice fishing as much.

[scaleface]

On 12/12/2016 at 6:17 PM, Bunnielab said:

I do a ton of hiking in the winter, the lack of ticks and thorns is very nice.  I also plan to do some wading this winter and see what's still biting.  I mean, the fish have to still be in the water somewhere in all the small rivers around here.  

I do the hiking thing too , especially if we get a couple of inches of snow . Play with knives ,  shoot a couple of rabbits , sip bourbon and smoke a cigar if I can get a fire  lit . I take a fire starter, no lighter , no matches . Sometimes its difficult  to get that fire going . No sense staying inside ,its the best hiking time of the year.