Your shore/canoe/bass boat rankings

[IcatchDinks]

Shore: 6 or 7. It's all I do. I feel pretty confident. 

 

Kayak or canoe: never fished from one. 

 

Bass boat: never fished from a dedicated bass boat, but I've fished from a rowboat and a John boat on several occasions, but not enough to really rank myself. Neither had electronics. I always feel a little lost from a boat but usually manage to get some fish. Probably rank myself 2 or 3. 

[bp_fowler]

Shore: 6/10. This is my bread and butter.  I like to cover water as a bank angler and I’m pretty good at catching numbers.  I’ve been upgrading my quality a bit but still have a long long way to go.

 

Canoe/Kayak: 0/10.  I tried this for the first time a few weeks ago and it was an unmitigated disaster.  I spent most of my time fighting the kayak and managed to lose the only two I hooked.  Despite this I hope to purchase a kayak soon and the good news is I have nowhere to go but up.

 

Bass Boat: 1/10.  I haven’t done this much.  Mostly fishing out of the back of a buddy’s boat.  I caught my fair share while beating the bank or working shallow cover but the further away from the bank we got the more lost I became to the point where I was just casting aimlessly and randomly.

[DaubsNU1]

Shore: 4 of 10. Did this a lot growing up. Always wanted to be on the water. I was not great, but persistent. 

 

Belly Boat: 5 of 10. Got me on the water...it was great fun...especially the time I caught a 30+ inch Musky...spun me around numerous times : ) 

 

Canoe: 6 of 10. Learned a lot about bass fishing with my good buddy John Forney. And learned a lot about life as well. He taught how to manuvue and paddle that canoe. 

 

Kayak: 0 of 10. Never fished one. They became popular after I already had a boat. 

 

Boat: 7 of 10. Still learning, still growing, still experimenting. Ulterra with auto-pilot, cruise control, & spot lock sure make things easier as a fisherman. 

[Swamp Girl]

10 hours ago, bp_fowler said:

Despite this I hope to purchase a kayak soon and the good news is I have nowhere to go but up.

 

That's the fighting spirit! I look forward to reading about your growth. I'm guessing you'll grow at a weed's rate.

 

@DaubsNU1: You really broke it down. Thanks for playing!

 

9 hours ago, DaubsNU1 said:

He taught how to manuvue and paddle that canoe.

 

That's the ticket to fishing well from a canoe. My boat, at 15' 6", is as long as some Lunds, but at 32 pounds, it might as well be made of goose down. So, it's a long, wind-catching feather. The wind will bully you on open water and you have to stand up to the bully, but in the marshes, I have to bend it like Beckham, i.e. "bend" my long canoe around the tightest corners to reach bass. I'm guessing some of the more observant here have noticed that the background in some of my in-the-marsh photos is more land than water. That's because marshes can be more land than water. 

 

However, nearly all of the above is fun for me. Well, not counting crossing a wide lake with the wind buffeting me from the side. 

[DaubsNU1]

@ol'crickety, your canoe is the absolute PERFECT watercraft for the marsh! I wish we had more places like that to fish here in Nebraska.

 

Please keep posting pictures and fishing reports. Love it!

[Swamp Girl]

20 hours ago, A-Jay said:

How would you rank your fishing ability ?

Isn't this like grading your own 6th grade math exam ? 

 

When you were in the Coast Guard, you were faced with life-saving challenges. In each, you had to assay your ability, your craft's ability, and your crew's ability to determine whether a rescue should/could be attempted or not. Note that I led with "your ability." So, grading your ability is something that you've done countless times. 

 

This thread is an invitation to consider how ranging or limited your abilities are. I'm a paddling, primitive angler. I do that pretty well. I'd utilize the features of a bass boat about as well as a chimpanzee. 

[TnRiver46]

Bass boats aren’t terribly complicated, mine just has forward neutral and reverse. And a trolling motor , few switches that are clearly labeled . 

[Swamp Girl]

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

Bass boats aren’t terribly complicated, mine just has forward neutral and reverse. And a trolling motor , few switches that are clearly labeled . 

 

FFS, SpotLock, and getting a trolling motor to follow the contours of a shoreline are out of my wheelhouse. I could learn, of course, but at this point, this is me:

 

[TnRiver46]

2 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

FFS, SpotLock, and getting a trolling motor to follow the contours of a shoreline are out of my wheelhouse. I could learn, of course, but at this point, this is me:

 

Those are optional, and expensive. You can still just chuck and anchor and paddle them, I used mine for a full year or so without a trolling motor. Seems like I caught more too 

[Swamp Girl]

3 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I used mine for a full year or so without a trolling motor.

 

You were semi-primitive. I'm full-on primitive. The wheels of my car are stone and the engine is is my bare feet. 

 

[Bazoo]

Shore, I'm a 9. I fish primarily from shore.

 

With my bass buster, which I have paddled and with no electronics, I'd say I'm a 3-4. I'm not the most proficient with a small boat, but I am okay. If I spent some more time there, I'd be a solid 7.

 

With a bass boat, 0 currently as I've never owned one. Been on one, but never the lead. That said, I'd use it the same way I use my small boat, except that I'd quickly learn the sonar, spotlock, shallow water anchors, and be on some hawgs.

 

I am the type of person, that reading about something and seeing it done a few times, I pretty much have it. And already having a fairly broad knowledge of bass fishing, it'd just hone my already razor sharp skills.

[GreenPig]

Shore - 9.2 as my 3 largest where caught on the hoof.

 

Canoe/ Kayak - 0 sadly. Used to be pretty good but my spinal fusion ended those trips. Tried a few trips but I could barely walk afterwards. My balance point in a Canoe/Kayak is my lower back which doesn't flex or twist anymore. But if me and ol'crickety ever cross path and she wants to fish, I'll take a pain pill and go.😀

 

My 3 little Jons - 8.7 as it's where I spend 95% of my time fishing and I'm pretty proficient. I can fish in 6 inches of weed filled water in my 14' if I pull the out board up and raised the TM. My 80lb TM only needs a little water to move that boat. My electronics game is pretty strong too.

 

Fished many of tournaments in Glitter Sleds. I'm done with big boats. Too much time zooming with to little fishing.

 

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

11 hours ago, GreenPig said:

But if me and ol'crickety ever cross path and she wants to fish, I'll take a pain pill and go.😀

 

Let's just take your little jons!

 

11 hours ago, GreenPig said:

Glitter Sleds

 

Ha!

[Bluebasser86]

Shore I’m probably a 5, I’ll catch some fish but unless it’s a pond or I’m catfishing, I don’t do it much.

 

Kayak I’m probably an 8. I’m pretty good at getting to them and keeping the kayak near where I need to be, just a matter of me executing.

 

Boat I’d say 7. I use to be. Better with it but lack of use has made it feel weird every time I’m in the boat anymore.

[padlin]

I haven’t freshwater shore fished for bass, streams for trout I’d give myself a 2. Saltwater shore fishing I’d go with a 7.

 

Canoe, somewhere in the top range, no idea what I could improve.

 

Bass boat, for me it’s the Bass Raider pontoon thing I picked up a couple years ago. I’d rate me a 3 as I much prefer the canoe unless one of the grandkids are along. It is more comfortable then the canoe for long term but you can’t sneak up, as far as I’m concerned the trolling motor scares off some of the fish.

[king fisher]

I'm not sure where I rank.  I can snag and loose tackle from all three.

[TnRiver46]

On 7/9/2024 at 11:48 AM, ol'crickety said:

 

You were semi-primitive. I'm full-on primitive. The wheels of my car are stone and the engine is is my bare feet. 

 

Kind of…..

 

I also go fishing often equipped with only one  rod standing on the bank 

 

and some of the guys fishing below the dams off the bank will use an empty Mountain Dew bottle for a fishing rod and catch more than everyone else

[Swamp Girl]

49 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Kind of…..

 

I also go fishing often equipped with only one  rod standing on the bank 

 

and some of the guys fishing below the dams off the bank will use an empty Mountain Dew bottle for a fishing rod and catch more than everyone else

 

Ha!

[JackstrawIII]

Shore: I'd say 6/10. I like bank fishing because it really simplifies your approach. There are really only 3 questions: 1. How far can you walk? 2. How far can you cast? 3. How do I catch the fish that live within in that box? It really helps focus your fishing without trying to figure out an entire lake. 

 

Canoe: I like paddling canoes and am fairly adept with a paddle... but I hate fishing from a canoe. I've caught a lot of fish from a canoe and it's better than nothing, but it's always windy here and fighting wind/current is THE WORST. Hate hate hate. So, 3/10. 

 

Boat: I have a 17' boat with a trolling motor. I love my boat. I catch a lot of fish out of my boat... but I have no advanced electronics of any sort. So, maybe 6/10. 

[Alex from GA]

Bank.  The only bank fishing I do is on my pond in FL.  If I don't stock it with bass from the local rivers and lakes it's a 1.  Kayak about an 8 and boat the same.  I only use the kayak in rivers and the boat everywhere.