Attainable goal for 2023

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, osummerer23 said:

My goal started early in February before saltwater stripers started on March 1... Have more fun. 

I was getting to tied up in catching fish a certain way, a certain size/amount/pattern or it wasn't fun. 

 

I have invited more people out to have a good time on the water, I still catch fish, still wont throw a shad for stripers or live bait. Fresh water, I have fished the lakes I hate near by, impromptu trolled for stocked trout, had a fun day with crappie in a kayak with 2 buddies in their kayaks (I dislike kayak fishing very much). Things I would not have done last year. Headed to Champlain in a month, I swore I had a 100 fish day last year, I need to buy a counter, but this year, id like a whole mess of smallies with my dad.  

 

 

I've had 100-fish days and if you can't keep count or don't have a counter, looking at your thumb and thinking, "Dang, I can't fish tomorrow!" is a pretty reliable indicator. 

[the reel ess]

2 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

I've had 100-fish days and if you can't keep count or don't have a counter, looking at your thumb and thinking, "Dang, I can't fish tomorrow!" is a pretty reliable indicator. 

Golf glove. ? I fished two days in FL for largemouth and peacocks and my hands were hamburger meat. The wife suggested Chap Stick. Dang if it didn't work quick, fast & in a hurry.

[Bankc]

19 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

If the stars align, what's your attainable goal(s) for 2023? 

 

By attainable, I mean that there might be a few DD bass in Maine, ancient and wise, but I'm not going to catch them. However, I could, in 2023, have:

 

1. a hundred-bass day

 

2. catch a 25 lb. bag. 

 

I'd be thrilled with either, but I'm hoping for both.

A hundred-bass day isn't even close to realistic for me.  It doesn't even sound setup for a fairy tale where I'm from.  Like if someone at the dock told me they did that, I'd probably flip them the bird.  I'd be that insulted that they thought I was that dumb. 

 

A 25 lb. bag is possible.  Though not very likely in these lakes.  Though, there are lakes I could go to that aren't too far away where that could raise the chances of that happening up to an achievable goal.  

 

The DD bass is what I'm going for.  It probably won't happen as there aren't many in these lakes near me.  But every year, a handful get caught in these lakes, and one year it will be my turn!  

[Captain Phil]

8 minutes ago, Bankc said:

A hundred-bass day isn't even close to realistic for me.  It doesn't even sound setup for a fairy tale where I'm from.  Like if someone at the dock told me they did that, I'd probably flip them the bird. 

 

The only 100 bass days I have seen in 60 years of bass fishing were in the Florida Everglades during low water. 

[Team9nine]

My attainable goal every year is to try and not set goals, and I’ve pretty much been able to not disappoint myself going that route ?

 

…but good luck to all 

 

 

 

 

[Bluebasser86]

Take my kids fishing more. 

[Swamp Girl]

22 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Take my kids fishing more. 

 

Atta, Blue.

6 hours ago, Bankc said:

A hundred-bass day isn't even close to realistic for me.  It doesn't even sound setup for a fairy tale where I'm from.  Like if someone at the dock told me they did that, I'd probably flip them the bird.  I'd be that insulted that they thought I was that dumb. 

 

A 25 lb. bag is possible.  Though not very likely in these lakes.  Though, there are lakes I could go to that aren't too far away where that could raise the chances of that happening up to an achievable goal.  

 

The DD bass is what I'm going for.  It probably won't happen as there aren't many in these lakes near me.  But every year, a handful get caught in these lakes, and one year it will be my turn!  

 

I had a 57-bass evening late last summer. I've had many 33ish-bass mornings in Maine. All I had to do that day was put the two together.

[PaulVE64]

A canoeing 4 day with my old dog and new wife.

Bass fish by day, camp out by night. 

Likely drunk in a full moon. That was always the best.

 

[gim]

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

I had a 57-bass evening late last summer. I've had many 33ish-bass mornings in Maine.

My brother and I caught 65 smallmouth one day together floating a small river about 15 years ago.  We actually kept track, and most of them were on topwater lures.  That was for two people though in about 4 hours.  My friend and I caught 53 largemouth together about 10 years ago once, and just two years ago that same friend and I caught 44 largies together in about 4.5 hours.

 

100 bass doesn't seem very realistic here unless I was on one of those bites I described above with someone else and we fished for an entire day, which I generally do not do.

 

I am generally fine with a solid "numbers" day of fishing as long as some of them are quality fish.  If they are all dinks, that is not really for me even if its constant action.

[papajoe222]

Fish a minimum of 4 new, out of state lakes.  It's actually not that difficult a goal as I am less than an hour from Indiana and Wisconsin is only slightly farther.  I cut back on travel to fishing destinations due to gas prices year, but with the close proximity of those two states and the abundance of lakes within a couple of hours drive, baring medical problems, I should be able to accomplish it.

[wonkyrig]

Fish some new water, put my friends and my Dad on some good fish, and try to share what I can to give back for all the good things fishing has done for me.

[Micaiah Lindquist]

I've had 200+ fish days with a couple people fishing before, but that's been on private ponds or lake that get next to pressure. 100 fish on any "real" body of water is pretty dang good. My goal for this year is to catch one bass over 8lbs or 24". 

[Mbirdsley]

Goal 1. Get to a point where I’m averaging 2.5 lbs a trip. 

goal 2. beat my personal best confirmed on a scale. I believe my current is 4.5ish lbs. by scale.  my biggest by length is 20.5 inches I caught march 2020. I didn’t have a scale to verify but, I’d guess it was around 5lbs . so again PB verified by scale. 

 

Goal 3. Get a  Mi DNR Master angler patch for any species.  But, especially for smallies or large mouth. Which, would be 21 inches for both large and small mouth.  I could kill 2 birds with one stone. 
 

goal 4.  Enter and fish in a local tournament.

 

goal 5.  Fish the upper peninsula again. 

[islandbass]

On 4/27/2023 at 4:00 PM, Way north bass guy said:

I just want to get out more. 
Last year was a busy one, between being super busy at work, and doing a bunch of projects around the house, I didn’t get out near as much as I wanted to. This year, that’s gonna change. Even if it means just a couple hours on the lake across the road from me after dinner, or an hour walking the river bank behind the house with a frog rod and a beer, I’m going to stretch my string mor often this season!

Me too. I also had a busy year last year. I think I went fishing on 4 times for the entire season. That’s nuts!!!!

 

other goals:

Catch my first jig and trailer bass. Downright embarrassing, lol. 

[Fishin Dad]

My goal is to catch a 7 lb. Minnesota or North Iowa bass.    I have been close at 6lb. 10 ounces.  They are hard to come by, but I am hoping.  

[WRB]

18 hours ago, islandbass said:

Me too. I also had a busy year last year. I think I went fishing on 4 times for the entire season. That’s nuts!!!!

 

other goals:

Catch my first jig and trailer bass. Downright embarrassing, lol. 

Yamamoto Hula Grub 4” #221 on 3/8 oz football head jig.

Tom

[Bankbeater]

I'd like to fish a few lakes that are farther out away from home this year.  Last year I stayed pretty close to town because of the gas prices.

[The Baron]

I’m still waiting on my new (to me) bass boat to come out of its tune up - already a month behind the schedule I was hoping for while the marine mechanic finished working on snowmobiles.? Then in for a trolling motor upgrade, so likely lose another week but our regular bass season doesn’t open until late June 17th.

 

But then my achievable goals for 2023 are pretty simple.

- become a competent boat captain (launching/loading and knowing how to operate and maintain our boat)

- fish at least one new lake

- get my daughter her new PB bass (3#+)

- take a friends kids fishing (he’s a farmer who lets me hunt, and his kids love to fish but he rarely has time.  I asked him last year if there’s anything I can do to help around the farm and he said take his 2 oldest boys fishing - they’re about 8 and 10 - because they’d love to go.  Now that I have a boat, they are a top priority after my own kids).

 

That’s all.  I hope it’s going to be a great year.?

[scaleface]

On 4/28/2023 at 8:23 AM, ol'crickety said:

 

I've had 100-fish days and if you can't keep count or don't have a counter, looking at your thumb and thinking, "Dang, I can't fish tomorrow!" is a pretty reliable indicator. 

Bass thumb is a good thing.

[Swamp Girl]

@The Baron, I like your list!

[MassBass]

On 4/28/2023 at 3:59 PM, ol'crickety said:

 

Atta, Blue.

 

I had a 57-bass evening late last summer. I've had many 33ish-bass mornings in Maine. All I had to do that day was put the two together.

I had an evening on the banks of the Androscoggin last year, probably about 30 fish in two hours. A full day of fishing I think it would have been an 100 fish day for sure. All smallmouth, kind of surprised there was nothing else mixed in. 

 

My goals starting the season were to capitalize on the prespawn LM bite, and catch a striper in my local river system. I can only really put in effort once a week, but I have two solid 4lbers, and an almost keeper striper. The striper kind of came as a surprise, as it may have been holding over in this river all winter. Also it didn't hit a 'striper lure', hit a spinnerbait that I made and have been using for bass. That fact may be symptomatic of the fish being a resident holdover, as the longer they are in the river the more they start behaving like largemouth. The conditions and my presentation just lined up perfect for that bite, and now the pressure is off of that goal. 

[Spankey]

On 4/27/2023 at 4:00 PM, T-Billy said:

7# LM, 48" muskie. Both are attainable. Neither is easily attainable. Odds are better for getting the muskie.

This is in line with my goal. A 7# Greenie is doable with some luck. I’ve had her on a couple of time lost her with a head shake. I fish for a new personal best every time out. It will happen. 
 

My PB Smallie and LM are very close in size. 
 

I don’t really fish targeting Muskies. My catches over the years have been freak catches while fishing for river smallies. Majority have been landed. I’d like to hit that 48” mark. But one that  size as an accidental catch is gonna make a 6-8 lb. Smallie Rig a real mess. The chance I’ll have to take. If I purposely fished for them I’d probably never catch one. 

[T-Billy]

6 hours ago, Spankey said:

If I purposely fished for them I’d probably never catch one. 

A-Rig when the water's in the mid 50's on down. 

[Spankey]

Here in PA I believe length possession is 40”. I would never take one any way. I’m 2” short of that with a 38” Tiger Musky caught in ‘21. While river Smallie fishing on a 08 Shad Rap and 8# test. 
 

Shad Raps, DT’s, Bombers and Bandits have gotten them. Lost a couple of lures to them along the way. I been lucky enough to get them in on 6 & 8 lb. test. Never had one die from exhaustion (I don’t think so). I don’t touch their skin. They are a cool fish.  The Spotted Muskies I’ve caught, though smaller 24-26” fish are by far the nicest looking pattern of fish with random size and shapes of spots on them. 
 

I’ll never be a true Musky fisherman. But the accidental unexpected catch of them is cool. 

[Functional]

I keep mine "simple" this year.

 

1) Really dedicate to fishing a jig and becoming successful with it. I literally have 2 plano boxes of Sieberts jigs and I've caught less than 5 fish on a jig in my life.

 

2) Hunt down a DD

 

3) Learn to more consistently predict where fish will be at for the given conditions.