2024 Fishing Season Summary

[gim]

9 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

I blame that on not being able to fish the over and the abnormally warm fall we had.

 

Fall has become more of an extension of summer here.  September and October have been VERY warm the last few years here.  In fact, the last two falls have been the warmest on record here.  And this one (with about a week left) is on pace to break that, even with a cold front brewing next week.

 

Kind of too bad.  Fall is a very enjoyable season for me.  Or at least it used to be when it existed.

[Lottabass]

[Dwight Hottle]

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

I love Mepps too and catch a few every year on Mepps. My only two 250+ smallmouth days were with a Mepps, the only one I had on that trip. I sure got my money's worth out of it.

 

 

Me too!

 

 

250+ days ? Typo perhaps 

[Swamp Girl]

12 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

250+ days ? Typo perhaps 

 

No typo. The bass were bonkers for two, straight days and we fished from can until can't, i.e. from four in the morning until nearly ten in the evening. I pinched the barbs of my Mepps for quick releases and released most of them in the water to shorten the release time. The Mepps was the key. That's what they wanted. Sadly, we only had one Mepps and I offered it to my partner more than once, but he declined. He said he was afraid he'd lose it to a pike. So, while I caught more than 250 each day, he caught around 50 each day. 

[dytmook]

Pretty good year overall. I wanted to fish more crankbaits and I did. Not as many as I wanted but I did keep them in rotation. Fished a spinnerbait on our rivers more than I had previously. Caught some big ones early in the year on it. Will go back to it for sure. Got heavily back into flukes, they were just working. Got more into jig fishing as well. Might start making some micro jigs for the river this winter. 

 

Fished 2nd in one of my wading derby's, had a better year there overall as well. Lost a lot of time to fish moving in the summer but that's life.  

 

Caught my first Northern Pike too. That was neat. 

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, Dwight Hottle said:

250+ days ? Typo perhaps 

I lose count around 4ish 

[DogBone_384]

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

No typo. The bass were bonkers

 

Looks like I'm adding Maine to my travels next season.

[Swamp Girl]

40 minutes ago, DogBone_384 said:

 

Looks like I'm adding Maine to my travels next season.

 

It was a wilderness lake in northwestern Ontario, but there are days in Maine when, IF I STILL HAD THE STAMINA, I could catch 100+ bass. 

[bp_fowler]

Decent year for me.  Got a new PB but not by much.

Spinnerbait was good to me.  Also started to figure out jig fishing later on.  New (to me) techniques like floating and swimming worms did very well once the weeds started topping out.

 

Had a memorable trip to McGregor Bay Ontario with my dad and son in August.  First time targeting small mouth.  It was an absolute blast there.  Already planning a return trip next year.  Stupid tube was my weapon of choice there with honorable mentions going to the ned and drop shot.

Some firsts this year with other species.  Hybrid striper, Northern Pike, and saugeye.

[Jigfishn10]

2 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

It was a wilderness lake in northwestern Ontario, but there are days in Maine when, IF I STILL HAD THE STAMINA, I could catch 100+ bass. 

Maine is such an underrated bass fishery...I wish I freshwater fished more when I'm up there 

[bowhunter63]

Not even close to what I wanted to do. A lot of 16 hour days at work. When I did go Wacky Worms , T rigged Z craws or Spinnerbaits. On top a Berkley Choppo . Smallie Spots and Largemouth. Hope next year is way better than this one . I’m not getting any younger 

[gim]

4 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

It was a wilderness lake in northwestern Ontario

 

That's probably still doable if you get far enough off the beaten path.  There's a lot of isolated wilderness lakes in Ontario where fish have never seen a lure but it's kind of a pain in the rear to get there.  And then there's the sleeping in a tent thing, no electricity, no showers, a biblical amount of bugs, and no communication for days.  It sounds like a dream but it's just a lot of work that isn't worth it IMO.

 

The boundary waters canoe area in northeast MN probably comes pretty close.  I've been there twice but it wasn't for me.

[DogBone_384]

41 minutes ago, gimruis said:

sleeping in a tent thing, no electricity, no showers, a biblical amount of bugs, and no communication for days.

 

Count my wife out.  She's a city girl from Manila.  Her idea of camping is any of our time-share resorts or the Marriott in Aruba.

 

Me, I'm in.  Opposites really attract.

[TnRiver46]

I ❤️ wilderness camping as well, my wife is even more fond of it than I am. Having bills to pay gets in the way. You can do it in TN with way less bugs, might be more like 75 fish tho and most of them small 

[Spankey]

With total sadness I pulled the plug on my season yesterday. We’ve been dealing with a lot of wind as of lately and now rains and snow show up after months of on not having any and fishing low water levels. End of last week was the last hurrah for me. I sort of wanted to end it on a high note with a few respectable fish but the lone 16”+ Greenie and 10 nice bluegill for the grill over the winter I’m satisfied with that.

My season was not a loss but not what I expected. I caught some respectable Smallies and Greenies 16-17” fish. But I know I was fishing for bigger fish. My biggest let down was that I’m primarily a crankbait guy and the crankbait bite for me was in the toilet.  Fish were not where I expected them to be. I was diagnosed with a severe case of pneumonia and was side lined for a few weeks. I felt like I was behind the 8 ball and lost a big step. Nobody wanted me outside during the extreme heat. This took place during prime time and I think it knock my mental bass game off. We suffered lack of rains, higher temps, lower water levels and bass and baitfish in deeper water. 
But there were positives, fished some Z-Man soft plastics for a first. Everything and every color pattern worked on a handful of styles. Peanut Butter and Jelly is not a first color choice for me but found out how good a color pattern it is. Will continue to use it more. With crankbait bite in the toilet, jig and pig was fished more successfully. Fished for the first time the Flat Worm. Has worked as drop shot, split shot, T-rigged and on a jig head. Overall numbers were highest with this bait. Will continue to use this but gonna go to the bigger length next season. I have a few months now to reflect on the high and low notes. 

[Fried Lemons]

I had an excellent Spring, a mid Summer, and an abysmal fall. Highlight of the season was a new pb at 8lbs 4oz, my first and only fish on an 8” Huddleston deluxe. 

Caught decent numbers of 5-6lb fish with the most memorable being this double up with the bigger one being 6lb 7oz.

Caught numerous fish in the 4lb class that I didn’t really keep track of. From March through May I caught them exclusively on big swimbaits with a Deps 250 accounting for the majority of them. 
 

Once summer rolled around I leaned more on big ribbon tail worms and jigs. Kinda struggled with size, caught more 4s than I cared to count with the only bigger fish coming in at 5lb 10oz on a wobble head jig.

Got two decent ones in September then the fishing fell off a cliff. These last two were notable for coming from a lake I’ve been to in the past and never had success at. These are the only two fish I’ve ever caught at this lake.

 

Overall the best year I’ve had so far. It is really tough to crack 8 where I’m at so honestly the rest of the season was just a victory lap.

[Susky River Rat]

@gimruis yeah it’s a bummer. Honestly water level in the river has a lot to do with it. This fish are so spread out it’s insane. When the bass master kayak tournament was here everyone was complaining how low it was. It’s a foot lower than when they were here. I’ve been going out on it too because I’m so over fishing the one unlimited HP lake around.

[DaubsNU1]

I am still holding out hope for a sunny afternoon in the 50-60's where I can get "Marge" back on the water for one last hurrah. 

 

Need to look back through the fishing logs, count up all the days and fish. 

 

I did boat a personal best for the my time in Nebraska, breaking the 5lb barrier. 

 

 

This was my first full year fishing the new-to-me Lund Adventure. Lots of time figuring things out, honing skills with the TM and fish finders, and trying new techniques. 

 

Good old spinnerbait was my top producing lure. Also had good luck late in the summer running cranks over sunken brush piles off shore. T-rigged power worm was another technique that produced some good fish. 

 

@A-Jay, I tried and tried to boat fish with jerkbaits, and had a little success in the spring. It's a fun way to fish and I need to keep throwing them. 

 

Brother and I made the 19+ hour drive to Canada to chase pike. It was an outstanding trip. We are planning to head back in July of 2026. 

 

[Spankey]

I thought after the rain and snow pushed out that the weekend would have given me a last chance of the season especially with some new water. But 22 mph winds are the spoiler. Like you were are suppose to hit 50 deg. Today. 

[Swamp Girl]

@DaubsNU1: New Lund, new PB, and huge head on that pike! Whadda year! I love Lund boats. 

[scaleface]

Texas rigged worm was by far  the most productive technique this past year. Chatterbaits around scum worked well. Neds and tubes on rip rap were  consistent. The little known "Bomber Prop A" did well in the spring, again. 

[Bankbeater]

This year started off slow and stayed that way. 

 

Once again, my most productive technique was fishing plastic worms in the vegetation. The worms were followed by jigs and small jerkbaits, also fished in, and around the vegetation.  Pitching a Texas rig in the really thick stuff in place of a jig worked too.  This fall about the only moving bait that seems to trigger a consistent bite has been a 1/4 oz. Rooster Tail.

 

There were a lot of baits this year that the bass were very picky about.  The spinnerbait bite died in the middle of April and really never picked back up.  Crankbaits, topwaters, lipless, and regular sized jerkbaits landed me a few, but the bite was way off this year compared to past years.

 

I haven't caught any giant bass yet this year, but I did manage a new PB crappie that was caught out of a 4 to 4-1/2 acre pond.  Probably the best news I've heard this year is that one of my daughters wants to get back into fishing again.

[Junk Fisherman]

On 11/21/2024 at 12:45 PM, DogBone_384 said:

 

• What technique worked best for you?
• What technique didn't work?
• Any big news, PB, new species, great trip?

 

Let's hear it!

 

1)  Dropshots and Neds continue to be my best techniques.  I've started throwing spinnerbaits more often both burning them for smallies and in the wind for largemouth.  Neko rigs especially in deep water are becoming a bigger part of my arsenal and one is always tied on.  

2)  This is the problem with my year- I didn't branch out and try many new techniques.  I definitely need to prepare and have a better gameplan next season.

3)  Overall, my season was average to below average.  I didn't take my spring trip because of poor weather and actually had to replace my trailer in the spring so I was limited to my kayak for most of April and May.  My trips to Michigan in early June and July were disappointing.  However, I did well locally and had some excellent days.      

 

 

 

[softwateronly]

@Junk Fisherman my limited time in basically one spot on lake michigan has opened my eyes to dragging the little 2.5" tube.  You have to add it in or back in, it was just too effective for me this year.  

 

scott

[Dwight Hottle]

2024 has been a pretty good year for me. I got a nice smallie at 6-12 & a largemouth at 9-6 but no PB's. Jerk baits & swim baits worked best for me.