Sad day -- end of fishing season :(

[Boomstick]

So I just looked at the weather forecast and with upcoming highs around 50 and lows in the 30s plus chemo which makes my hands super sensitive to cold temperatures, this will be the end of my fishing season.

 

My takeaways from this season:

#1) I got far less time on the water than I would have liked -- or last year.

#2) I still caught a whole lot more fish.

#3) Minus one giant smallie, I caught bigger fish.

 

My goals for this season was to improve my drop shot fishing and crankbait fishing. I didn't get to do a lot of drop shot fishing because I didn't have energy to rent a canoe or rowboat most of the season and ended up shore fishing a lot of shallower water. That said, I did land a few good fish on the drop shot. As for crankbaits, my youngest son always made a killing on a crankbait so I wanted to fish them more, and there is a particular area where I did succeed. I caught more fish on either a River2Sea Ish Monroe Biggie Smalls or a Norman Fat Boy than any other lure this year.

 

R.I.P. 2018 fishing season. Next spring can't come soon enough.

[jbmaine]

Sorry your season is over. We are rapidly heading that way ourselves. But congratulations on some nice fish and here's to next year, may it be a good one.

[Oregon Native]

This might get you another day or two......I've been wearing those Nitrite gloves either by themselves or under gloves.  My hands.....which are not good.....get many more hours on the water.  

Just saying.....

Tight Lines and good luck

[TnRiver46]

End of fishing season???? I couldn't handle that....... If you make it south we can take you fishing in shorts on Christmas.........

[Todd2]

The Bass bite is usually good through November here...goes downhill quickly after that. Although I have caught Largemouth in upper 30's water temp. But Crappie, they will bite all through the cold if you find them and jig em. 

 

I met an old man on the water last Winter, very cold day. He couldn't believe I was there.saying that he normally had the lake to himself on days like this. We shot the bull and sat there and caught some nice Crappie. Not how I prefer to fish, but does get you out. My lake rarely freezes over though. 

 

 

[Boomstick]

6 minutes ago, Todd2 said:

The Bass bite is usually good through November here...goes downhill quickly after that. Although I have caught Largemouth in upper 30's water temp. But Crappie, they will bite all through the cold if you find them and jig em. 

 

 

Yeah the problem is really that my hands go numb with chemo -- even my legs do with lined pants when it's in the 50s. I'd be fishing all month otherwise or at least until my kid's travel hockey games start.

[Todd2]

4 minutes ago, Boomstick said:

Yeah the problem is really that my hands go numb with chemo -- even my legs do with lined pants when it's in the 50s. I'd be fishing all month otherwise or at least until my kid's travel hockey games start.

Sorry to hear that, you can really bundle up while Crappie fishing since you're not casting so much but I understand. I went through chemo a few years back and it's not a walk in the park. Good luck with everything and kick it's a$$.

[Tennessee Boy]

3 hours ago, Boomstick said:

Yeah the problem is really that my hands go numb with chemo 

Sorry you have to go through that.  Best of luck to you. 

[Gundog]

Feeling the 2018 season is just about over for me too. With the temps, rain and starting a new job its time to start looking forward to 2019 spring. Might get out once or twice more but I doubt it. Lake fishing is over and river is too high to even think about fishing it. 

[TnRiver46]

13 minutes ago, Gundog said:

Feeling the 2018 season is just about over for me too. With the temps, rain and starting a new job its time to start looking forward to 2019 spring. Might get out once or twice more but I doubt it. Lake fishing is over and river is too high to even think about fishing it. 

Why is lake fishing over?

[Gundog]

23 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Why is lake fishing over?

Our temps here are dropping quickly from 80's yesterday to a high in the mid 50's tomorrow. That combined with the rain we got yesterday and today makes the lake muddy and cold. The temps are suppose to stay in the 50's to lows in the mid 30's. That will shut down the largemouths and the smallmouths in the river are flooded.

[TnRiver46]

27 minutes ago, Gundog said:

Our temps here are dropping quickly from 80's yesterday to a high in the mid 50's tomorrow. That combined with the rain we got yesterday and today makes the lake muddy and cold. The temps are suppose to stay in the 50's to lows in the mid 30's. That will shut down the largemouths and the smallmouths in the river are flooded.

Man that’s rough. There’s usually at least 4-5 reservoirs here that almost never get muddy, at least on the downstream portions. Some are 30,000 acre flood storage deep lakes that move very very slowly and the others are smaller lakes just downstream of the deep ones. They have constant clear water flowing from the bottom of the big deep lakes

[Gundog]

sigh

Here we go again. 

[Boomstick]

Well I did not get the chemo drug that makes my hands go numb in the cold, so I might get out fishing on Sunday afterall

[gnappi]

After living in So. Florida so long with fishing 24/7/365, I completely forgot that some states / countries have closed seasons due to regulations or weather, I remember your pain.

 

It's a good time to clean/repair/upgrade/organize gear that we (at least me) are too busy / slovenly during the season to attend to.  

 

PS. A couple of plugs for living in Florida...

 

Besides no closed fishing seasons, fishermen at or over 65 are not required to buy fishing licenses, we have no firearm registration, you can grow tropical (mango, starfruit, jakfruit, oranges etc.) fruits,  there are no need of winter clothes,  or need for dry heat in the winter. ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Boomstick]

8 hours ago, gnappi said:

After living in So. Florida so long with fishing 24/7/365, I completely forgot that some states / countries have closed seasons due to regulations or weather, I remember your pain.

 

It's a good time to clean/repair/upgrade/organize gear that we (at least me) are too busy / slovenly during the season to attend to.  

 

PS. A couple of plugs for living in Florida...

 

Besides no closed fishing seasons, fishermen at or over 65 are not required to buy fishing licenses, we have no firearm registration, you can grow tropical (mango, starfruit, jakfruit, oranges etc.) fruits,  there are no need of winter clothes,  or need for dry heat in the winter. ?

It's not as much about regulations (all year round is open season for bass in MA) as it's just my inability to tolerate cold right now. However, it's becoming more tolerable as I did not get the oxaliplatin last week which is what makes my hands especially sensitive to the cold. I would fish until at least November otherwise or until my youngest son's travel hockey games start to keep me busy.

 

This winter I will be doing not only re-organizing, but purchasing some new cranks and spinners as I lost a few and broke a few more. I'll also probably add some more jigs and jerkbaits as well, as just like with crankbaits and spinnerbaits, these are also lures that I can find a use for a variety of colors and sizes. I'll probably pick up the bass mafia crankbait and spinnerbait coffins as well, as they hold a lot of lures and I can load what I want into my 3650 boxes I carry with me when shore fishing and once I get a boat, they'll just reside in the boat.

 

 

 

[Boomstick]

I did make it out Sunday but didn't catch anything -- it seems the bass moved out deeper. Without the oxaliplatin, my hands were fine. It was 55 most of the afternoon, and I lasted until it hit 47 and then I started having issues with my hands.

 

Next weekend will be a high around 40, so I'm going to clean up all my fishing and camping gear for the season.