Looking back at the 2022 season, what is one thing you want to brag about?

[WIGuide]

On 1/1/2023 at 8:29 AM, Bigassbass said:

I went fishing on the hottest days of July and caught 3 bass over 5lb in the same day. Next week I caught a 6lb-7lb I could hardly hold up to take a photo, gotta work on a system to take those pics or buy a go-pro. 

 

On 1/1/2023 at 2:40 PM, Aaron_H said:

Great fish! The selfies can be tough once they get big like that. I find it easiest to hold the fish as close to me as I can, and hold my phone as far to my side as possible instead of straight out in front, gives you as much distance as possible to get the fish in frame.

 

Example:

Like @T-Billy said, tripod is another great option, @A-Jay has suggested it to me as well but I haven't got around to it yet, one more thing to lug around the bank.

If you don't want to get a tripod you can still accomplish nearly the same thing by just leaning your phone up against something like your tackle box, tree, or boat seat and using the self timer. Most have the selfie lens on the front that allows you to see what it looks like before you even take the picture. A lot of phones have actions that can trigger the auto timer like saying cheese, smiling, or shape recognition for instance starting the timer when it recognize a hand open towards the camera. 

 

 

2022 was a good year for me both fishing and otherwise. I bought a house, bought a new to me boat, and my GF moved in with me.

On the fishing side, with the exception of 1 tournament my dad and I had our best season yet. I feel like a lot of this was due to a lot of mental focus and making good decisions even when things were tough. Not that we ever checked out in the past, but there have been times late in the day and things aren't going your way and you're just not as mentally sharp as you need to be. You can guarantee that's when you'll wiff on a hookset or have something else stupid happen. We stayed mentally tougher this year and multiple times had key fish catches in the later part of the day that sent us up the leaderboard. A few key moments jump into my mind, like our first tournament of the year where we didn't catch our first keeper until almost 1 o'clock and then put a solid limit into the boat and culled a few times in the last hour and a half of fishing which put us in 4th place. 

 

Another was a key cull that came in the last 8 minutes of the tournament where we ditched a line burner for the fish on the left again propelling us up the leaderboard.

 

Another thing I'm pretty proud of is how consistent I stayed throughout the fall. I didn't catch anything massive, but I stayed on some good quality fish all fall long and managed to avoid a lot of the feast or famine days that go on up here. Not that my success didn't fluctuate some, but there were a few days some pretty decent sticks I know struggled really bad, and I still managed to catch a decent amount of fish. 

Like I said, overall 2022 was a pretty dang good year and I hope to keep my foot on the accelerator in 2023!

[Logan S]

Was kind of a weird season for me, I didn't catching any giants and I didn't win any tournaments...But I did accomplish something I never have before.  I fished 10 tournaments this year (that part is normal), a couple were 2-days, so total of 13 tournament days and I weighed in a 5-bass limit on all 13 days.  Might not seem like much, but its a lot harder than it seems with the variety of waters I end up fishing.  8 different bodies of water - Tidal rivers, non-tidal rivers, large reservoirs, small lakes, shallow, deep, clear water, dirty water, largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass all played a factor.  Been chasing it for a while, missed it by 1 fish one year so was pretty happy when that 5th fish came in the boat on the last tournament day.  The consistency paid off and I ended up winning AOY of the trail .  

 

Just a few places I pointed the boat this season...

[N Florida Mike]

I did catch some fish on a chatterbait this year,  ( thanks @Aaron_H ),

So thats a step in the right direction!

[Aaron_H]

4 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

I did catch some fish on a chatterbait this year,  ( thanks @Aaron_H ),

So thats a step in the right direction!

 

 

Still puts a smile on my face, Mike. Chatterbait is a favorite presentation for me. Fingers crossed you get a giant on it this year!

[Will Ketchum]

I didn't fall in the water in 2022.

[N Florida Mike]

15 hours ago, Logan S said:

Was kind of a weird season for me, I didn't catching any giants and I didn't win any tournaments...But I did accomplish something I never have before.  I fished 10 tournaments this year (that part is normal), a couple were 2-days, so total of 13 tournament days and I weighed in a 5-bass limit on all 13 days.  Might not seem like much, but its a lot harder than it seems with the variety of waters I end up fishing.  8 different bodies of water - Tidal rivers, non-tidal rivers, large reservoirs, small lakes, shallow, deep, clear water, dirty water, largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass all played a factor.  Been chasing it for a while, missed it by 1 fish one year so was pretty happy when that 5th fish came in the boat on the last tournament day.  The consistency paid off and I ended up winning AOY of the trail .  

 

Just a few places I pointed the boat this season...

That is impressive and certainly something to be proud of. When I fished tournaments I got skunked once, and didn’t weigh 5 fish several times.  And that was here in Florida!

[the reel ess]

Aside from being a good husband and father yet again this last year I caught an 8 lb. even bass pitching a junebug Ocho stick worm.

[GreenPig]

9 minutes ago, the reel ess said:

Aside from being a good husband and father yet again this last year I caught an 8 lb. even bass pitching a junebug Ocho stick worm.

Keep catching those 8 lbers and that hand will callous over and you won't bleed.

[the reel ess]

16 minutes ago, GreenPig said:

Keep catching those 8 lbers and that hand will callous over and you won't bleed.

If only I could catch them often enough to callous. I fished 6 hours, two days in So FL with a guide for bass and peacocks. They turned my hands to hamburger. I told the guide he needed to keep some golf gloves in the boat. I discovered a good remedy: Chap Stick. But yeah, I love coming home with an excruciating case of bass thumb.

[KSanford33]

This was my first full year back fishing since about 1991. So here's the things I'll brag about:

 

1. I learned a LOT! You can't imagine the innovations that fishing has gone through in the past ~30 years. 

2. I steepened the learning curve. With anything, it takes a degree of discipline to stick with something when you're not any good at it, because it simply isn't very fun. I fished in 3 in-person tournaments and caught one bass combined. But I've learned what works and what doesn't work, and I'm sure I'll continue to learn those same things every time I'm on the water.

3. I learned what I like and what I don't like. Fishing the nastiest cover I can find? Yessir! Throwing a spinnerbait? Not so much.

4. I found this forum! It's difficult when you're first starting out in anything, but having a wealth of knowledge to draw from on this site has truly been invaluable. I surely can't list everyone, but I often wonder if some of you guys realize how much the rest of us appreciate you.

 

 

All in all, I'm absolutely thrilled with last year, as I feel it gave me a solid foundation to build off of.

 

edit: I suck at math. 1991 was 30 years ago. 

Edited January 4, 2023 by KSanford33

[Gera]

That I caught a bunch of fish and didn't have to wake up before 8:00am a single day... 

 

Best season ever... 

[Aaron_H]

4 hours ago, Will Ketchum said:

I didn't fall in the water in 2022.

 

A worthy brag. I didn't fall in, but I definitely got wet wading in after some hung up lures. Last time I fell in was Nov 2021, fighting a bass, stepped into the water to land the fish better and slipped on the silty clay bottom. Fell on my butt in the water and the rod completely unloaded, thought she came off but still got her. Was worth the embarrassment for my first 9lber, though.

 

 

1 hour ago, the reel ess said:

Aside from being a good husband and father yet again this last year I caught an 8 lb. even bass pitching a junebug Ocho stick worm.

 

That mouth! You know they're big when you get "bass thumb" all the way down to your palm.

 

20 minutes ago, KSanford33 said:

4. I found this forum! It's difficult when you're first starting out in anything, but having a wealth of knowledge to draw from on this site has truly been invaluable. I surely can't list everyone, but I often wonder if some of you guys realize how much the rest of us appreciate you.

 

I can't say it enough, myself. I joined a couple of years before I started contributing, but just being able to search through and read all the past threads on the questions I had was a huge, huge help in getting me in a position to improve as an angler. Such an incredible wealth of knowledge here!

[TnRiver46]

On 1/3/2023 at 9:21 PM, Logan S said:

Was kind of a weird season for me, I didn't catching any giants and I didn't win any tournaments...But I did accomplish something I never have before.  I fished 10 tournaments this year (that part is normal), a couple were 2-days, so total of 13 tournament days and I weighed in a 5-bass limit on all 13 days.  Might not seem like much, but its a lot harder than it seems with the variety of waters I end up fishing.  8 different bodies of water - Tidal rivers, non-tidal rivers, large reservoirs, small lakes, shallow, deep, clear water, dirty water, largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass all played a factor.  Been chasing it for a while, missed it by 1 fish one year so was pretty happy when that 5th fish came in the boat on the last tournament day.  The consistency paid off and I ended up winning AOY of the trail .  

 

Just a few places I pointed the boat this season...

That’s a heck of an accomplishment, everyone can catch a limit until the tournament starts 

[Chris Catignani]

On 1/3/2023 at 8:21 PM, Logan S said:

... and I ended up winning AOY of the trail .  

I call that something to brag about!

[Mike L]

Earlier I posted about what I brag about the most to anyone who would listen! ?

(My first Great Grandchild being born) 

 

But after reading everyone’s posts I realized that it was more personal and not specifically related to the spirit of the thread

Fishing related..what I’m most proud of in 2022 was qualifying for my 11th consecutive B.A.S.S Nations Florida State Championship. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

[Zcoker]

2022 was a pretty good year down here in the south Florida Everglades. One of my most memorable outings was catching a bunch of trophy bass, all back-to-back, 8-9 pounders. They just kept coming lol. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Average size, 24-25 inches

 

 

 

[Mike L]

31 minutes ago, Zcoker said:

2022 was a pretty good year down here in the south Florida Everglades. One of my most memorable outings was catching a bunch of trophy bass, all back-to-back, 8-9 pounders. They just kept coming lol. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Average size, 24-25 inches

 

 

 

Looks like between you and @geo g you guys got that place wired!

 

Good Job

 

 

 

Mike

[Zcoker]

11 minutes ago, Mike L said:

Looks like between you and @geo g you guys got that place wired!

 

Good Job

 

 

 

Mike

 

Yeah, man, took a lot to get things dialed in. I mainly fish the glades at night, so it was more a sensory learning curve, meaning I had to learn to rely more on my sense of feel, sound, and shadow, not to mention that good 'ol sixth sense! lol.  

[geo g]

Great job Zcoker!  Haven’t night fished out there in 20 years.  That was quite a night for you.  congrats!

[herder]

Turned 70 this year and still able to fish and camp, actually more this past year since I also retired this year.

Wife and girlfriend not too happy bout me camping by myself ?

I'm fishing freshwater more the last couple years after mostly fishing the salt up here.

All fishing done from my kayak, this year from Cape May NJ to Salem MA.

I work out 6 days a week, watch what I eat, though I do enjoy some beer on the weekend.

 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1 minute ago, herder said:

Turned 70 this year and still able to fish and camp, actually more this past year since I also retired this year.

Wife and girlfriend not too happy bout me camping by myself ?

I'm fishing freshwater more the last couple years after mostly fishing the salt up here.

All fishing done from my kayak, this year from Cape May NJ to Salem MA.

I work out 6 days a week, watch what I eat, though I do enjoy some beer on the weekend.

 

 

??

[herder]

Ha!!! Believe me I'm no Dirk Diggler.

It's an inside joke with my wife, she's a great friend of ours and I always joke it's like having 2 wives

[throttleplate]

 

 

[scaleface]

Caught my largest Spook bass ever at just over 6 . Made some productive  spinnerbaits for muddy water and caught several 5lbers with them when there was almost zero visibility . . 

[Derek1]

Not much to brag about here. Fishing was terrible almost all season. No rain, hot and really low water. Made fishing from the bank pretty tough. About the only thing I feel like bragging  about is. The week before Christmas I was able to score a 7’2” mh expride from TW on sale no less. This rod has eluded me every time I was looking for a rod the last two years. I’ll be more then happy to not catch anything on it. If next season is the same.