What did you accomplish?

[Susky River Rat]

@ol'crickety thank you for the kind words. I am actually a grumpy guy who hasn’t fished in awhile trying to live through others accomplishments lol

[gim]

Just like @LrgmouthShad, I had to look back at the thread "Attainable goals for 2023" to make a truthful response here.

 

My goal back then was to win a work contest that I came in 2nd place last year.  This contest is still currently going, so my attainable goal for 2023 is TBD.  I will have an answer come early December.  I've entered 3 fish, and I feel good about my chances with 2 of them.

 

As for what else I accomplished otherwise, it was a fantastic season.  I had my best smallmouth fishing in 3 years and other than a period from mid July to mid August when it was ungodly hot, the fishing was never that poor.  2020 was my best season on record, this one is probably second.  I plan to fish at least 2 or 3 more times and then hang it up.

[Bird]

Having the desire and health to do what I enjoy is an accomplishment.

Put 5732 miles on the truck while dragging the boat so far in 2023 and still have a few more trips planned.

[you]

Learned to fish a new lake that I had neglected for years. Now, it's one of my favorite spots for pickerel (not bad for bass either).

 

A recent goal of mine is to build confidence with larger plastics (e.g. lizards, 10-12" worms, 5-6" swimbaits) and learn when to use them effectively. I have not accomplished this yet, but I plan to focus on this in late winter and spring.

[Friggs]

I had some goals for this year. And accomplished some things I did not set as goals. 

 

There were 2 lures I wanted to catch my first LMB on. And I did. One was a spinnerbait. Yes. I had never caught a bass on a spinnerbait. The second was a jig. I was thinking of a football or arkie-style jig. And I did. But I also caught my first LMB on a swim jig. And it was my largest bass so far this year.

 

I also wanted to fish more plastic lures. I guess technically less of one plastic lure and more of others. I wanted to try large worms. And I caught a good number of them on some. The most on the Ol' Monster. But also on a 7-inch Stick-O and Magnum Trick worms. Fished a lot of finesse and trick worms. I normally fished the finesse worm instead of the lure I hardly fished at all this year—the Ned Rig. Have not caught any on the 12-inch Jelly worm yet. And probably won't this year as it is quickly changing into the season I hate. Stinking, freezing horrible winter. And the worst part of it is it keeps me from fishing. Now that it proves it is an evil, nasty season. 

 

I also wanted to catch a bass on my Savage Gear 3D Rat and Snake. I was half successful. I caught one on the rat. The funny thing is the rat was bigger than the bass. So much for catching bigger bass on bigger lures. 

 

And finally, I wanted to catch more fish than I did the previous year. I have been back to fishing after an 18-year pause due to health and becoming disabled. I can't walk too far or stand too long so I use a power chair. Saying this to explain my fish count. Some catch more in a day than I do in a year.  But I do what I can. 2 years ago I caught a whopping 28 fish. That includes sunfish and all. Last year I caught 58. This year I am at 85 so far. So I accomplished that. Last year I caught my PB LMB at 4lbs 4oz. I was hoping to break it this year, but I knew it was unlikely. But I did catch a fair amount of 3+ pounders. The biggest so far this year was 3lbs 8oz. Not bad for a northern old disabled guy who mostly fishes small ponds. This post has been way too long. If you are reading this still you deserve a medal.

 

God bless and tight lines,

 

Bill

[Swamp Girl]

@Friggs: You're doing great, Bill.