I'M FRICKEN DONE

[Pond Hopper]

What kind and how big of a trolling motor would fit your boat?  Shoot me a PM if you want.  

Otherwise I hope you can get back on the water soon with your daughter, I know fishing kept me out of a lot of trouble when I was growing up.

[BassChump]

I just gotta say what a great forum this is and what a fantastic bunch of people on this site.

Obviously I was having a bad day when I wrote the original post here. Perhaps this wasn't the place to vent but everyone here has been exceptional with all their help, support and positive attitude.

I live pretty far out in the sticks and for reasons I won't get into here, I don't have many people I can talk to so sometimes I vent my frustrations in places that perhaps I shouldn't. Whether it was right or not, I'm glad I did as I feel I've met some pretty special people here.

The responses I received were unbelievable. Everyone has been more than kind, simpathetic, graceous and generous. I can't thank you folks enough.

I will continue fishing with my daughter, we will be back on the water very soon I'm guessing.

I hope I haven't insulted anyone by turning down their generous offers but while I could use a little help, I certainly don't want to take advantage of anything or anyone. Everyone has their problems and I'm no different. I know there are people out there that have it far worse than I do. We have a roof over our heads, food on the table, a job and a decent boat. What else could a guy want????

I was having a bad day and feeling sorry for myself. We all have days like that I suppose so I just wanted to say that life is good and my daughter and I are fine and looking forward to the day when we catch a few fish and have some father/daughter time on the lake.

I really don't know how to put into words how much all your help means to my daughter and I. BTW, her name is Shayna and she is a great kid. 4.0 GPA, perfect attendance, respectful of others and she is simply a good person. I just wish I was as good a father as she is a daughter but it's all good.

Anyway, I'm just blown away by all this. I wasn't expecting this at all and I thank everyone for their offers of help.

We haven't been fortunate enough to catch any bass yet but about a month ago, my daughter and I did have a good day fishing for trout so I'm posting a pic of her with her "monster trout". It was a good day. We are looking forward to more and with all the kindness generosity we've been shown, that will be a reality very soon.

From the heart, we thank all of you. Someday, I hope I can somehow repay all the kindness I've been shown by all of you.

[JShrock07]

Bass chump... Look at her face!!!! She looks sooo happy with that fish!!! You don't always have to go out and catch the huge ones!!! Take her out to a local farm pond if you have any close by and let her fish with real worms, live minnows. I'm sure she will catch a nice bass, crappie anything!!! I hope your trolling motor and you transducer problems have been fixed for you but if they havn't I would love to do ANYTHING to help you out!!! I am not a Father yet.... But I know one day I will and taking your daughter fishing and spending time with her really makes her realize what a great person you really are. The reason I know all this is because my father took me and my sister out fishing alot. Yea we are in the same "boat" you are in. We hardly ever caught anything. But it wasn't about the catching it was more about the quality time my sister and I spent with  my dad. You sound like a terrific dad and beating yourself up because of your bad luck is just gonna make things worse. I hope everything works out for you!!! Don't be worried to ask for anything I see I'm not the only one who wouldn't mind helping you out at all!!! If you need anything and I mean anything just pm me and I will be more then happy to do what I can to help you!!!!

[rondef]

BassChump, great picture and I am glad to hear how well your daughter is doing.  You should be extremely proud of her accomplishments, she sounds like a great kid.

[BassChump]

Yeah, that was a good day. We had so much fun. We went out on a local lake and there were probably 5 boats on the lake and 5 or 6 guys fishing the bank near the boat ramp. The lake is probably about around 500 acres with almost no access to most of the shoreline so a boat is the way to go.

Most of the other boats were trolling and I went to one spot on the lake that I like and we started throwing some small trout lures. About an hour of tossing an Aglia and a small Blue Fox, suddenly the trout just started jumping all around the boat. The other boats are on the far side of the lake so we were by ourselves. We were catching trout on every other cast. Pretty good size ones too. We had a great time.

She was fishing the back of the boat, I'm on the front. We were laughing, casting, talking. Remembering fishing with mom and all the fishing trips we used to take to the high Cascades. It was truly a day to remember and it was at a lake right up the road. Even the weather cooperated. The Oregon coast isn't exactly the warmest place on earth. It's usually very "cool", windy, cloudy and wet, even during the summer but this day, the clouds cleared, the wind died down, the sun came out and it was T-shirt weather for the few hours we were on the water. It was almost a perfect day.

We went out to a nice dinner and went to the ice cream store that night before coming home.

Yes, that was definately a good day.

You are right, it wasn't the good fishing that made the day, it was the quality time spent together. The good fishing just made it all the better and I'll remember that day to my dying day.

I'm looking forward to more days like that this summer. I do have a new transducer coming from BPS but I haven't been able to get the trolling motor just yet. Very soon though I'm sure. It's been cold and pouring rain here for the last week anyway so I haven't missed much but hopefully we will be back on the water shortly.

When we get back on the lake, I'm sure we will catch a few and I'll post a pic or two of her latest catch.

I hope I'm not boring all of you. Just a proud papa for sure.

[BirdNestBen]

Well I see you've had some great support here.... I hope you get a trolling motor and get back started soon..... it looks as if your well on your way......  

I live down in Texas and you might look into this..... every year around March is the annual Sand bass run...... they are easy to catch!!!!!!!  you might look into some local areas where you might fish for them!!!!!!! they are a blast to catch!!!!!!

Private waters/tanks/ponds- great places to fish and it seems the fishes IQ lowers a lot in these areas!!!!!  

Inshore saltwater fishing- all you need is some live shrimp and a popping cork and the fight is on!!!!!!!  might check into this for a summer trip.........  South Carolina/Florida/Louisiana/Virginia.......

Don't know if you have the funds to take a trip like this, but I thought I would throw it out there........

I read your story and it hurt to read the pain you went through..... I am sure the other members can agree with this......

Your perserverance is unbelievable..... gotta keep on keeping on...

I, to have had my share of problems over the last few years, but after reading this they seem do-able..... It's sad when bad things happen to good people- I hope now you have turned the corner and are in store for many bright and sunny days on the water and in life.......

God bless.......

[fishfordollars]

PM me and let me know what you need.

[weknowhowtolive]

Hey man, I dont know where you are in Oregon. I used to live in Ashland and I used to take trips to a place called Lake of the Woods. It had great trout fishing and tons of water to cover with good camp sites. Also, the Klamath river is great even if you dont catch a thing.

You dont gotta catch bass to have a good time, and Id say 75% of the times i've gotten to go bass fishing, I almost always fish for something else at some point.

Hope everything works out for you and keep asking for tips!

[hjerk24]

Money-

"Earn all you can, Save all you can, and GIVE all you can".

Follow what your heart is saying...a small blessing can go a long way.

[little_stephen]

so i know this is a pointless comment, but I feel its something i want to say.    I understand your frustration, while i cant realate to exactly your situation, I know how it feels to have the world turning against you. bass fishing brought me back from the edge where the razor on the bathroom counter looks like a way out. depression ahd me and it was pulling in faster and faster. one day i decided to go outside and go fishing, which i hadnt done in forever........

Ive been getting better ever since......

heres where I want to give you a dose of tough love........ you should really save a little bit of money, and chip EVERYTHING of value to you......    I grew up with a thief as a best friend.... hes doing time because he stole a highend stero out of a parked bmw.     the guy had basically chipped the unit with a kind of lowjack......     they had my buddy locked up in a matter of hours.  

it sucks that people would do that to you.... and I would give you anything i have to help you out because on the water, everyones family, everyones friends....... and I wish i could help..... but to semi quote a good movie,    "I have no bird, I have no bush, God has taken my bird and my bush"     well i have no boat, no motor, nothing. So, All I can say is this, life pays back those who put others before themselves..... You put the happiness of your daughter first, that makes you the best dad anyone could ever have. my respect to you there.

So if you ever want a pack of black horny toads.... ;D I have a box of 50 packs i "legally" bought at a flea market for 25bucks......   so let me know!

best wishes........ let me know how things work out for you. ;D

[guitarkid]

Just think about it, when you are at rock bottom the only plase to go is up. I will keep you and your family in my prayers man.

                             -searoach

[islandbass]

BassChump,

I am very sorry to have heard all of this. I myself am going through a pretty tough time too, but yours really takes the cake.

I am not too far away from you as I live in the Seattle area and I go to Portland every once in a while to visit my brothers that live there.

One of my brothers who I got hooked into fishing has not caught his first fish yet and it has been over a year!!!

The best at this time I can offer are words of encouragement to hang in there and my prayers to you and your family.

Maybe the next time I head down we can go fishing or if you ever come up to the Seattle area, let me know! I know a few places we can hit smallies from the shore.

I would have responded sooner had I known, but I usually forget to check the Everything Else forum.

It is great to see other Pacific Northwesterners here. Peace and God bless!

-ib

[jeepcrazy]

I have a Humminbird transducer from my install of my Matrix series.  I'm not certain if it'll work with the 565 but if it will I'd be happy to send it to you.

Good luck sir!

-JC

[BassChump]

Hey guys. I'm the the guy that started this thread 10 years ago. I haven't been on this site for quite a few years but this thread was always in the back of my mind and I thought it would be nice to finish this story. It's a good ending to a very bad situation.

 I still feel badly that I even posted this at all. Dumping my problems on others is not typically my M.O. but without the help and generosity of the guys on this thread, I honestly don't know if I would even be here today. With that said, there is a happy ending.

 I stuck it out in Oregon until 2011. I stayed until my daughter graduated high school. I raised her as best I could and she turned out to be an awesome daughter and an incredible person. There were many, MANY times that i didnt know how i was going to keep the lights on.

 She is in college and will get her degree in business administration this year. She also attended a bible college in California and they liked her so well that they gave her a job and is now an employee at the retreat at Murietta Hot Springs for the Calvary Chapel. She met a great guy there and just got married there on December 10th. What a fantastic person she turned out to be and I couldn't be more proud although it saddens me just a little bit that there is now a man in her life that is more important than old dad but it's all good. I'm so proud of her.
 Anyway, I kept that old Bayliner bass boat until 3 years ago and it served me well. I had to get out of Oregon or I would have just sucked on an exhaust pipe and got it over with. I moved to Arizona in 2011 and that old Bayliner came with me. I needed some warm weather and sunny skies or I would have gone crazy so I am now in east Mesa (about 30 minutes east of Pheonix) and things have gone extremely well for me. I live near two incredible lakes. I'm less than 20 minutes from some great fishing. Saguaro Lake is 18 minutes from my driveway and Canyon Lake is less than 30. I'm working again. At least they can no longer keep me from working any longer. I've worked hard and payed off all my debt and now I was even able to upgrade to little bit nicer boat. I sold the old Bayliner for more than I had into it and I ended up getting a 1995 Spectrum 17 foot aluminum walleye boat that I love. It suits me well. It's not a Ranger but it was affordable and it does the job I need it to do.

  Mom is still around. She just turned 90 in November. She ended up moving to Arizona as well and had her own place in a 55+ retirement community until 2 years ago when I finally moved her in with me. She is still in good shape and can almost take care of herself with just a little help from me now and then.

 Anyway, I suppose I've said too much already but I did want to say thanks to all those that participated in this thread. You guys played a big role in keeping me sane in a horrible situation.

 There are a few guys that went above and beyond with their support and generosity. I don't know how they did it but they sent stuff directly to me to get me back on the water. 

 A big shout out to Fishsticks. He sent a trolling motor that he was using as a back up. That was a great trolly. That is still on the Bayliner and I never had an issue with it. I talked to him quite a lot and he was a great guy. He just had a baby daughter. She should be about 11 years old now. I hope he is doing well.

 Also, I received a bag with all kinds of lures, a REALLY nice bait caster and whoever sent that even threw in a 100 dollar bill for my daughter. I still have and use that stuff. I'm guessing a guy named fishfordollars sent that stuff but being the great guy he is, he would never confirm that although he didn't deny it either. I see that he hasn't posted anything since 2011. Does anyone know what happened to him?

  I was blown away by the generosity of the folks on here and I'll never forget it and that's why I'm posting this now.

 If it wasn't for the people on this site, I don't know where I'd be in life at this point and can't say thank you enough for the help and kindness that both my daughter and I were shown by total strangers right here on bassresource.

 I did finally start catching some bass and my daughter and I have many fond memories on the old Bayliner and now on the Spectrum.

 I love my life now and I have you guys to thank for that. Getting through those few years in Oregon, I don't think was possible for me without your help and support. You guys can never know how important your support was to this guy and my daughter and I'll always be forever grateful.

[Chowderhead]

On a day that I really needed to hear a positive message, I found your post.  Thank you for sharing!

[DINK WHISPERER]

Great story and I'm glad you made it through boss! I know it can get down right impossible sometimes but there's always a light at the end. 

[senile1]

Nice ending to your story!  I am glad everything worked out. 

 

Unfortunately, FishForDollars (Jack?) passed away a few years back.  I only knew him through the forums but some of the members knew him personally and they will vouch for what a good man he was.  I think @Catt and Jack did some fishing together if I am not mistaken.  

[N Florida Mike]

What an encouragement.

This is what it's all about y'all. 

 Look for someone to show kindness to this year !!☺

[lo n slo]

glad to meet you

[Glenn]

What an amazing post. The members here are so giving and put out so much awesomeness, it stops me in my tracks.  There are no words for it… beyond, just, ‘wow’.

[Catt]

@BassChump that's answers to many prayers!

 

Y'all have no idea how many examples of giving take place on this site!

 

Jack was another one ?

 

Jack (fishfordollars) Yates passed away suddenly on January 18, 2011.

 

I found out later from his wife that when Jack had joined this site he was in a difficult place in his life, his physical ailments had taken a toll on his mental outlook on life. The friendships he made here both in person and online help him change his entire outlook on life.

 

We will from time to time step on each others toes, bump each others elbows, & bruise each others egos. I thank Glenn, all the moderators, and sponsors who keep Bassresource not only about sharing information but about friendships, and helping each other by paying it forward.

 

Thank You & May God Bless!

Tommy (Catt) Thibodeaux

[TnRiver46]

What an awesome ending to the story! Way to stick it out basschump! Kudos to everyone who helped and of course thanks and praise be to the Man upstairs who taught us all kindness

[Dwight Hottle]

I joined Bass Resource in Feb 2008 but never read your thread until just now. Thanks for sharing your inspiring story.  

[J Francho]

Amazing.  Happy New Year!