If you could turn back time.

[Swamp Girl]

If you could turn back time and fish one place for one more day, not as that place might be today, but as it was when you originally fished it, what would that place be?

 

Mine would be Peninsula Point on the north shore of Lake Michigan. There's a rock there about the size of a VW Beetle. The rock is in the middle of a rocky, otherwise featureless flat, so you're really immersed in the tussle. The vodka clear water lets you see every bit of the battle, whether it's over your head when they jump, or round and round your legs. 

 

Is yours a farm pond that you once had access to fish? A lake that used to be wild? A river that was once pretty unknown? Or something else?

[DaubsNU1]

Cannot wait to head back to the Churchill River system in Canada to chase big Pike. 

 

[Pat Brown]

Probably just turn the clock back to a few years before COVID so I could catch all the bass before they learned everything ever.  😉😂👍🏻

[king fisher]

There are many, but I narrowed the choices down to three. The first is my favorite place to fish when I was a kid Rock Lake WA. in 1975.  I would like to go back in time and fish the lake, but if I could go back and fish there with my two best friends, that would be special, a dream come true.

 

  The second is the Togiak River Alaska.  From 1995 to 2018 it was my favorite place to fish.  Best king salmon fishing on the planet for many years.  If I could go back I would want to fish for Kings on July 10 1998.

 

The third is Presa Pocho Nayarite Mexico in June 2020. and I would remember to bring a scale.

 

 

  

[Catt]

Toledo Bend Reservoir during the 70s!

 

Witnessing the Big Pond became arguably the Bass Fishing Capital of the World. 

 

Having the honor to be around & become friends with some absolute legends of the sport. 

[Buzzbaiter]

There was a stream in central Maryland that once held native brook trout. I caught my first brookard in that stream, and it was quite beautiful. However, that stream was on the margins, even at that time. The summers became warmer, and the surrounding land became less forested. In the more recent times I’ve been there, it’s been nothing but creek chubs. I couldn’t even see a single salmonid in there. I haven’t bothered fishing that stream for a while. It’s sad to see a fish that once thrived in that stream for an untold number of years suddenly become extirpated at the hands of human development. 

[Mobasser]

My grandfather's pond, on his farm in Chillicothe Mo, later 1960s. My older brother fished with me there and  taught me the basics of bass fishing there. Many fond memories of that pond.

[rgasr63]

Several small farm ponds come to my memory. And Lake Wateree in the 80's. Times that have changed through the decades.Bill Dance showed new lures and how to fish with them. Time was simple . Today there are at least a hundred different variations of those same baits to choose from and double the choice of colors. The tricks and uses of baits took time to learn on your own. Today there is a video full of tricks that takes 30 minutes and you got what took time to develop. 

[A-Jay]

Lake Baccarac Oct 2018 ~

The big fish God's where good to us. 

The final count for our 6 ½ days (approx. 65 hours) for two guys fishing on Lake Baccarac:

Over 7lbs ~ 20

Over 8lbs ~ 16

Over 9lbs ~ 11

Over 10 lbs ~ 4

Over 11 lbs ~ 1

Over 12 lbs ~ 1

So that’s 53 bass over 7 and of those, when we figured in all the exact pounds & ounces, the average fish was right at 8 ½ pounds. It’s also one score-able bass every 73 and a half minutes.

Big Fish Jeff's biggest 5 of the trip were: 12.23(a PB), 10.58, 10.22, 9.96, 9.61 = 52 lbs 9.6 ounces

My biggest 5 of the trip were: 11.30, 10.22, 10.14, 9.83, 9.28 = 50 lbs 12.3 ounces.

https://youtu.be/UYTzJHDCdMo?feature=shared

A-Jay

Jeff's phone, he kept the daily stats on the water

 

[TnRiver46]

[Swamp Girl]

10 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

 

I watched her video on the battleship as I created this thread. No lie. 

[TnRiver46]

The song instantly got stuck in my head when I read the title, thanks

[Swamp Girl]

@king fisher: I printed the photo of your bass and took it to my pond. I held the photo over the side of my canoe so that the bass could see it. I heard a collective whimper arise out of the water. 

 

@Buzzbaiter: Heartbreak. When I was a kid, there were still country roads at the edge of my suburb that led to streams full of snakes, crawdads, and tiny, fearless fish. I went back 50 years later and tried to find my favorite stream. It was gone. I expect they sacrificied it the god, Development. 

 

@A-Jay: I like Day Three, when you scored a DDD (double double digit)!

 

 

[SC53]

Stick Marsh/Farm 13 back in its heyday.  50-100 fish days were normal with an 8-11# fish usually in the mix. And they would eat just about anything you threw.

 

The other was a small private lake on my buddies property. We had to drag a 12’ Jon boat through about 200’ of thick reeds and bulrushes to get to it. On one trip I caught 12 bass on my first 12 casts. More than a few 100 fish days and a 12.5# fish was the biggest we caught out of there. 

[DaubsNU1]

Good Lord @A-Jay, that is an AMAZING haul!

 

[A-Jay]

3 hours ago, DaubsNU1 said:

Good Lord @A-Jay, that is an AMAZING haul!

No doubt it was not something that I could EVER expect to happen again.

But Man, we are so glad we ran the Go Pro's - 

Because who would believe such insanity ?

We still don't believe it ourselves and we were there !

When you complain about catching 'so many 6lb fish'

and actual move spots to get away from them,

something special is going on.

A-Jay

[12poundbass]

I mentioned one on a previous thread and have thought of another. When I was 4 or 5 I went to my aunt’s private lake with my grandpa. He was a panfish guy so bass was never on the radar. Being so young I probably didn’t appreciate the time I had with him on that lake. I wish older me could go out there with him so I could have an adult talk with him and maybe catch a few fish. 

[Swamp Girl]

3 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

I mentioned one on a previous thread and have thought of another. When I was 4 or 5 I went to my aunt’s private lake with my grandpa. He was a panfish guy so bass was never on the radar. Being so young I probably didn’t appreciate the time I had with him on that lake. I wish older me could go out there with him so I could have an adult talk with him and maybe catch a few fish. 

 

You and several others have pined for farm ponds and although a farm pond wasn't my first pick, they would be my second, third, and fourth picks. I remember I once caught 21 solid bass at a farm pond, which would be a below average outing for me today, but it was the stuff that dreams are made of back then. 

[Junk Fisherman]

Grand Traverse Bay, MI June 2011

[Swamp Girl]

13 minutes ago, Junk Fisherman said:

Grand Traverse Bay, MI June 2011

 

Do tell.

[Susky River Rat]

I pretty must fish all the same areas but, I do love exploring new ones. 
 

I guess I would just like to go back to precovid

[Bankbeater]

Back in the 70's there was a pay lake that my dad and I would fish.  It was open 24 hours a day.  We would head out to it around 5 or 6 in the afternoon, and fish into the night.  Sometimes we got back home at 9:00 p.m., other times we got home at sunrise depending on how the fishing went.

The main property was farmland.  When the owner retired his children didn't want the farm so he sold the property to developers.

[Catt]

@A-Jay

The year 2007

Bass over 5 lbs: 63

Bass over 6 lbs: 51

Bass over 7 lbs: 17

Bass over 8 lbs: 9

Bass over 9 lbs: 6

Bass over 10 lbs: 11

Largest: 12 lbs 8 ozs

 

Took me a year to come close to what y'all did in days!

[A-Jay]

1 minute ago, Catt said:

@A-Jay

The year 2007

Bass over 5 lbs: 63

Bass over 6 lbs: 51

Bass over 7 lbs: 17

Bass over 8 lbs: 9

Bass over 9 lbs: 6

Bass over 10 lbs: 11

Largest: 12 lbs 8 ozs

 

Took me a year to come close to what y'all did in days!

That is A very Impressive list and a dream year for any basshead.

Heck, I would be so happy if that were my LIFETIME stats ! 

But we didn't count 5 and 6 lb fish.

There were just too many.

Finally, I'm thinking you didn’t  have a GUIDE.  

Nicely Done.

A-Jay

 

[Zcoker]

The fish menagerie can be shattered down here in South Florida based off a series of man-made situations, namely nuking. A place can be a bass fishing paradise one day and then the next day become a dead pool. Going back in memory to those good ‘ol days can be  frustrating because it shows just how detrimental spraying is to our fisheries. It’s hard to imagine as good as the fishing is today that it was even better back in the day. But it was! Earth shattering! Fish of a lifetime at every turn, even off the bank. Truly epic. So, yes, if I could go back in time I’d want to be right there living it again!