How did you do this year?

[brgbassmaster]

My. year was awesome! Been extremely blessed to be honest. I fished more this year than I have in the last 15. Only because for the last 15 I've been stationed out west or overseas. When I was out west there were hardly any lakes within 2-3 hrs. So I would fish the same lake every weekend basically. Not that that was a bad thing I LOVED fishing lake Havasu and the Yuma backwaters. But I like variety and normal weather as well haha. New Mexico fishing was horrible lol. Now that I'm stationed up north I've been able to fish every weekend and fish 4-6 lakes per weekend and throw a river in there as well. One county has 1400 lakes, another has 500+ and a 3rd has 600+all within 2 hrs of me.  Plus I live right next to the Red River of the North one of the best channel cat fisheries in the country. I caught many bass over 5lbs and countless 18-24lb bags. Lots of numbers as well. Biggest smallmouth this season was 5.78. Biggest largemouth was 5.5lbs. Miss the 6-8lbrs out west but you cant beat the avg size up north. So many 3s and 4s its stupid lol. 

[Alex from GA]

In the early part of the year I was in central FL where I usually fished small rivers and did really well.  6-30 bass/day.  Largest was 6-11 on a buzzbait.  April and May I fished Lake Lanier in N GA where I never was skunked but didn't catch nearly as many as I did in FL.  June through September I didn't fish, shoulder surgery.  October til now I did fairly well in Lanier with many over 3 lb Alabama bass.  Going to FL again soon.

[MacJig]

It was a very good year numbers wise. I am a shore angler, from western NY so my 2021 fishing year is pretty much over. I do journal my catches and as of today's date my tally is 209 with over 90% of those being bass. One at 4lb (3.9 to be exact) and a few over 3. My buddy caught a 6lb+ from shore. Quantity wise I give myself an "A". Quality wise around a "B". If any one has some December bass fishing tips from shore in the NE, I would appreciate it. 

On 12/6/2021 at 1:10 PM, Alex from GA said:

In the early part of the year I was in central FL where I usually fished small rivers and did really well.  6-30 bass/day.  Largest was 6-11 on a buzzbait.  April and May I fished Lake Lanier in N GA where I never was skunked but didn't catch nearly as many as I did in FL.  June through September I didn't fish, shoulder surgery.  October til now I did fairly well in Lanier with many over 3 lb Alabama bass.  Going to FL again soon.

I had shoulder surgery a couple years back. Not easy. My knee replacement was easier than the shoulder surgery! 

[BBuck]

On 9/28/2021 at 3:29 PM, ElijahH said:

Last year was a great fishing year for me. Got several 5lb+ fish and got on the water a lot. 

This year though. I haven't been out nearly as much as I've wanted to and have pretty much been skunked. I did however make a serious boat upgrade and also upgraded some other gear. 

How has your year been?

Anyone else looking to make a rebound, start early in the spring and fish hard next year? 

I fish all year long anyway. I moved from FL to CA so I've been adjusting to the differences, which really aren't that much. Other than that, I got serious and upgraded my kayak and bought my first fishfinder to learn on. I'm at the stage now that I don't worry about getting skunked, but if it happens, I just consider it practice...

[N Florida Mike]

On 11/22/2021 at 9:40 PM, A-Jay said:

My 2021 fishing season started off very early, relatively speaking.

Open water came in late March which is a little unheard of.

Either way I got on the water when I could.

The early season brown bass fishing was very decent.

Managed a 28 lb bag during cold conditions in early April

which turn out to be my best this time around. 

https://youtu.be/zIqCmH_52IQ

As summer came & went and even straight through the fall,

my trips out onto Lake Menderchuck were sporadic at best.

Got a few respectable bass here and there but that came with a good amount of struggle.

With this last season already in the rear view mirror,

I'm staying positive and certainly looking forward to ramping it all up again in the spring.

But, that's still a ways off. 

Stay Safe

A-Jay

 

 

Very nice , A.J !

[Smoot307]

2021 has been my best year ever. I beat my PB 5 different times for trout and Smallmouth. I live out west so I’m normally fishing rivers, but I do fish a couple lakes. 
 

for a 4.5 pound smallie, and a 5lb smallie. Also got a 5.5lb brown trout and a 6lb brown trout. 
 

[Dwight Hottle]

Overall 2021 was a good year and I'm thankful. Managed to stay healthy, traveled a little & caught some good fish. My best five bass for the year went 43-12 anchored by a DD.

 

 

[schplurg]

My season was pretty bad as my main local fishing areas completely dried up (creeks and ponds). I caught okay until then. Caught a few fat 4 and 5 pounders at Lake Tulloch 2 hours away.

 

Next year will be totally different as I have a new yak, Sportsman 106 and my primary focus will be on the Delta and who knows where else. Not the San Jose area that's for sure. Time to get real!

 

[txchaser]

Started fishing deeper this year, mostly 10'-20' instead of 1'-8', but not video-gaming fish as I don't have spotlock. More structure fishing that cover fishing I suppose. Wow! it's really different for sure, and got me into some great fish that were otherwise largely unmolested. 

 

Thanks to a comment from @WRB I usually start out just looking around trying to find the life zone, which seems like a pretty consistent 5' range. Well, that and getting right down to the thermocline, where there is one. 

 

My first fish on Saturday was in 17' of water on a crankbait...in late fall in texas... but I trusted what I was seeing on the electronics, and the weather has been really weird.

 

Definitely caught fewer fish this year, lots of learning... but definitely caught much bigger average fish this year too, and broke my PB twice.

 

Still occassionally spinning out on the beginnings of a bad pattern, catch two or three fish doing something specific, and mis-translate it for a while.

[Holetail]

On 10/14/2021 at 4:27 PM, Holetail said:

Passed 250 bass for the year last week. I’m pretty happy about it but I set a goal of 300 so I have some work to do! Mostly only get out for an hour or two at a time, sometimes only 30 mins on my way home from work. Taking the kayak out this weekend and hoping the water has cooled off some and I can get off the dink train I’ve been on lately. Fishing some new waters now that I have the kayak so I am putting in the time learning them so next Spring will be productive. Didn’t really fish the Fall last year so I’m not sure what to expect, but planning on getting out as much as possible. 

Caught 5 today in 15 mph N winds on the yak to make it to my goal of 300 bass for the year. Had to work for them and biggest was around 1.5 but rewarding to make my goal for the year. Going for 400 in 2022 which is attainable with the kayak. I felt I had a bad day today despite the tough conditions when 5 fish from the bank would have had me elated. Cannot wait until March and warming temps and pre-spawn now that I have a new lake graphed. Swimjig and chatter will be getting a workout! Don’t mind finesse fishing, but love some power fishing. 

[Blue Raider Bob]

Terrific year! Still haven't joined the four pound club for Smallies but I got a 3 lb 9 oz yesterday. Caught lots of small bass but got to go alot and that's what's important!

[Basser2021]

I have done great this year I caught a 6lber and 71/2 pounder today in a pond that isn't even a quarter of an acre.

[Nitro 882]

I hate to admit that I'm not fishing as well as I have in the past. I say it that way because I believe the fish are there, I'm just not keying in on them for some reason. 

I just turned 75 and I'm starting to think that that has something to do with it. I've become happy with "fishing" as opposed to "catching". There is no urgency. I fish too slow and too long in one place. I don't get to the lake until mid morning instead of just ahead of sunrise as I used to and I head home mid afternoon instead of fishing til dark as I used to.

I take a picture of every good size bass I catch (usually 4# and up) and I've got more pics than you could carry (if they weren't digital, lol.)

I keep repeating the old saying "most people fish their whole lives and never realize it wasn't the fish they were after." As if that will make me feel better.

Here's a recent example. I'm fortunate to be able to spend 3 months every year in Central Florida fishing, primarily, the Kissimmee Chain. I just got here last Monday and fished Lake Toho yesterday. I started punching heavy hydrilla mats-nothing. Moved in and fished the Kissimmee grass swimming a speed worm and a Big E Z across the surface- nothing. Fished a weighted Texas rigged senko deeper through the grass- nothing. Moved further inside to the pads and swam the speed worm over the top dropping into holes as I went-nothing. As the sun got higher I punched some cane mats, hyacinth and more hydrilla-nothing. Nights have been cold but the water temps ran between 61* and warmed to 68* later in the day with clear skies, 76* and light winds. These methods have all proven successful at various times during past years. Actually, I had been bragging about the fact that last year was, numbers wise, my best Florida trip to date. My downhill trend started when I returned home and began Spring fishing in New England again. Adding insult to injury, I returned to the ramp just as a tournament weigh in was wrapping up. I could hear the top-ten results announced and the weights ranged from 13#'s with 3rd being 18#'s, 2nd 19 #'s and 1st place 21#'s. Big fish was 8.53#'s

When I was younger and got skunked I would simply say that "the fish weren't biting today" or , the bigger lie, "there are no fish in this lake."

After joining a club and fishing regular tournaments it became clear that someone always "figures them out."

Thanks for letting me blow off some steam. Old age doesn't seem to make anything better and I'm starting to blame my poor fishing success on aging as well.

 

 

[Aaron_H]

I'm happy enough with my 2021 results. I ended up with 620 bass for the year, which is less than 2020, but I did a bit better in quality. Biggest five went 34lb 9oz, and caught my personal best finally breaking that 9lb mark (double digit club, I've got my sights on you). I spent the year really trying to fine tune a couple of techniques and I think the quality of my bass improved as a result. This year I will be doing the same thing with a couple of other techniques (already mentioned 2022 as Year of the Jerkbait for me) and see if I can't grab a few biggies along the way. I also learned a lot more on targeting blue tilapia with artificials, which hopefully will lead to me inching closer to that IGFA world record. I've caught multiple over 7lb and one 8lb 10oz, and I've seen bigger in these spots so I think it's doable.

 

I've managed to break my personal best LMB three years in a row, which is exciting for me. And it's a trend I hope to continue this year.

[Dwight Hottle]

2 hours ago, Aaron_H said:

I'm happy enough with my 2021 results. I ended up with 620 bass for the year, which is less than 2020, but I did a bit better in quality. Biggest five went 34lb 9oz, and caught my personal best finally breaking that 9lb mark (double digit club, I've got my sights on you). I spent the year really trying to fine tune a couple of techniques and I think the quality of my bass improved as a result. This year I will be doing the same thing with a couple of other techniques (already mentioned 2022 as Year of the Jerkbait for me) and see if I can't grab a few biggies along the way. I also learned a lot more on targeting blue tilapia with artificials, which hopefully will lead to me inching closer to that IGFA world record. I've caught multiple over 7lb and one 8lb 10oz, and I've seen bigger in these spots so I think it's doable.

 

I've managed to break my personal best LMB three years in a row, which is exciting for me. And it's a trend I hope to continue this year.

 

Keep it up Aaron. It does get a little tougher the higher you go with that new PB especially over the DD mark. 

[DitchPanda]

2 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

 

Keep it up Aaron. It does get a little tougher the higher you go with that new PB especially over the DD mark. 

Ain't that the truth. I caught my Pb when I was 20...8lbs 12oz...that's a beast up here in Iowa where our record is 10lb 14oz. 18 years later I'm still trying to best it.

[Aaron_H]

4 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

 

Keep it up Aaron. It does get a little tougher the higher you go with that new PB especially over the DD mark. 

 

Yeah I set a "good" PB of 7lb 5oz just a few months after I got heavy into bass fishing (grew up only fishing salt), that one took me over two years to break. Then hit a 7lb 15oz and an 8lb 7oz within one quarter in 2019, then an 8lb 9oz in June 2020 (25" long and a huuuge head, I think she would've gone over 10 if I got her prespawn, she had that summer belly sadly), then the 9lb 1oz this past November. Definitely tougher as you get higher, even just beating by a couple of ounces at this point feels amazing.

 

Thanks for the encouragement, Dwight, fingers crossed I can join the DD club sooner rather than later.

[ElijahH]

5 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

 

It does get a little tougher the higher you go with that new PB especially over the DD mark. 

I'm not quite to the level of worrying my PB is too high to break ? Good problems to have. 

[cyclops2]

Terrible compared to earlier years.

 

Mr. Doom & Gloom.

[padlin]

I'm impressed that some can quote how many fish they caught for the year, I can't even keep track of how many I catch in a day, and I've tried.

[Brownbasser]

Not great in the way of largemouth or small. Really well with sand bass. Didn't get out on the water as much as I woulda liked, but I'll take what I can get.

[Sphynx]

Being realistic in my assessment I feel pretty good about 2021 from an angling perspective, I haven't really got a ton of access to water, mostly just a handful of spots and I'm bank bound to top it all off, I feel like I got great numbers, several days of 30+ fish and I caught a fair amount of 3-4lb smallmouth, which is fantastic for this area in my experience. I am willing to bet that if I had a boat/kayak and I could be more mobile and cover more water I'd probably start getting into some bigger fish and probably more fish, but that wasn't in the cards last year, maybe next year though.

[ElijahH]

1 hour ago, padlin said:

I'm impressed that some can quote how many fish they caught for the year, I can't even keep track of how many I catch in a day, and I've tried.

Same here. No way I could track that.

[Aaron_H]

13 hours ago, padlin said:

I'm impressed that some can quote how many fish they caught for the year, I can't even keep track of how many I catch in a day, and I've tried.

 

12 hours ago, ElijahH said:

Same here. No way I could track that.

 

I don't get fancy with it; I just use a simple Word document where I have a template of info I copy/paste to fill out after each trip. Date, time, location, weather, moon phase, fish caught, techniques used, anything notable, etc. Then a year-to-date total count and a month-by-month breakdown to see my more productive months. I like this method because it is easily searchable for key terms and easy to look back on prior yearly logs to identify patterns.

[ElijahH]

2 minutes ago, Aaron_H said:

 

 

I don't get fancy with it; I just use a simple Word document where I have a template of info I copy/paste to fill out after each trip. Date, time, location, weather, moon phase, fish caught, techniques used, anything notable, etc. Then a year-to-date total count and a month-by-month breakdown to see my more productive months. I like this method because it is easily searchable for key terms and easy to look back on prior yearly logs to identify patterns.

I may have to try that. It would offer good info on trying to find any patterns, especially if you fish the same body of water.