Do you have a favorite fishing memory or outing??

[The Rooster]

I have a favorite memory, well, one of my favorites. My wife and I were on Yatesville lake here in Kentucky 2 years ago, fishing during a tournament, but I wasn't in it I just happened to be there. We were slowly fishing towards a cove working my way in from the outside edges of the main lake and another boat (in the tournament) was doing the same from the other side of the cove's entrance.

As I got closer to it, I saw them rushing to get in ahead of me, powerfishing as they went, where I was slowly working a Zoom Fluke. They beat me inside the cove and fished for about 5 minutes before I made my way in, but they picked the wrong side. I fished along and found a stump about 3 feet off shore and casted the Fluke to it and a bass just blasted that Fluke. I saw it take it and I set the hook like it was a 10 pounder, fought it in and landed it. I caught a fish before they did (they never did catch one actually).

I'm not a great fisherman (yet) but it was a nice bass. It wasn't a keeper though, here they have to be 15 inches at least and it was only 14. But after that, those guys wanted to talk suddenly whereas before they didn't even speak to say hello. They wanted to know what I caught it on, what color it was, how I worked it, and everything.

I just thought it was funny that they made such a rush to beat me in that cove and I was the only one who caught anything and I wasn't even in the tourney. Yeah I know if they had caught it, it wouldn't have helped them any cause it wasn't a keeper, but I never fish tournaments, I just fish, and it's funny to me that they thought they had to get in ahead of me and I ended up catching a fish anyway while they didn't.  

Shortly thereafter, while still in that cove, the smell of fresh barbecued hamburgers was filling the air as my wife had the propane grill going in the back while I was on deck up front fishing. MMMMMM......I can still taste 'em.

[John J.]

My favorite memory was when I was 7 and I caught my first bass! Me and the family went over to their friend's house who lives in Stafford (Virginia of course!). And they had a pond that we use to go fishing in. I never had caught a bass before, only bluegill, crappie and catfish, so I wanted to try for a bass.

I remember I walked down to the pond with my dad's ugly-stick rod (that he uses for catfishing) and my little two sided tackle-box that had I think only beetle-spins. But anyway, I tied on a beetle spin and threw that bad boy out into the dam of their pond that was only about 5 foot deep lol! And they had the drainage pipe that stuck up out of the water.

Well, when I was reeling it in I didn't notice that there was a big bass right next to the bank (about 6 inches from where I was standing!) and when I reeled the beetle-spin right next to the bank I remember the bass nailing it! I fought that thing with pride! and The entire time it is splashing water on me!

By the time I got it landed I was soaken wet. I grabbed the bass by the lips and started running towards their house (which was on top of a huge hill and was about 100 yards from the pond). The bass was huge for me! I held it up with two hands.

When I got to their house they had a scale and weighed her! I remember the weight like I caught it yesterday!

3 pounds 10 ounces!  

I will never forget the fight and the huge hit that bass delivered. It will be a memory stuck in my mind until my grave. I remember taking it home in a five-gallon bucket (it died of course from being out of the water so long from me running it up to their house). And took pictures of it...I can't remember what I did with that photo....I still got it...I need to find it.

Anyway, since it died we filet it out and had us a bass supper  

Since then I've been hooked!   8-)

[Guest muddy]

A couple of the fellas I hag out with were taking 2 newbees for a weekend fishing trip. A friend of ours,named Coney Island Joe, was at the last stages of an incurable disease , and said "Wish I could go' Thats all we had to hear, we got him some tackle and a Lic. and off he came with us. We all laughed,played cards and fished,for many hours for those 2 days. The look on his face was so joyfull it filled us all with gratitude. That trip was 13 years ago, joe passed less than 6 months after that trip, and everytime we see eachother we all talk about Joe and that trip. Joe got to go fishing; he left us all with a feeling of gratitutde and a love for living in the moment, I was happy to be a part of all that.

[Sam]

Nice story, Muddy.

I have a lot of memories fishing both fresh and salt water.

Now I have nightmares about the ones that got away.

Age will do that to you.

[bugman]

Without getting too mushy, my favorite fishing memories are about the people I've fished with not he fish I caught. But then again I've yet to catch a 10# + Bass! lol

[Catt]

Catt & Pat are sitting on a little ridge just south of Indian Mounds; full moon is barely on the horizon, slight southerly breeze. I make a long cast towards deep water and start the count down to the bottom. The Texas rigged worm settles down when there's that classic "Thump", drops the rod, reel the slack, and set the hook. Nothing gives, then in a microsecond on my knees, rod half under water.

Catt: Yells get the net!

Pat: For what!

Catt: I think he's heading for the Louisiana side

Pat: You gonna land em or what

Catt: Aint you suppose to play em first?

Finally back to my feet, line singing again, drag slipping, rod all bowed up.

Catt: He's headed for Six Mile, if you start the big motor we can head em off.

Pat now standing behind me: Want me to pour some water on your reel?

Catt: No! just get the gun!

Look a swirl just under the surface, a sudden dive for freedom, your mine sucker.

Pat with quick move and it's in the net: Took you long enough.

Catt falls back into the seat drops his rods on the deck: Dude let's see it.

Pat turn on the interior lights: Shoot it's only a stripper!

Catt sits up, lips it and grabs the tail, gotta be at least 36"

Pat digs around in the console for the scales 16 LB 5 OZ.

Catt: Slipping it back in, that's a hawg right there.

Pat: Don't count it's a stripper!

Catt: Still a hawg

Pat: You're still down 7 to 4, shut up & fish.

[The Rooster]

I have another favorite memory. Not the first time I ever went fishing however. I had been before when I was a kid. But for some reason it just never took hold.

Fastforward to May, 1996. I'm 22 years old, been fishing about 5 times in my life to this point. A friend of mine I worked with was always talking about fishing. He was always asking me to go, but I just always found an excuse not to. Seemed boring to me, waiting for a bite, never catching anything.

Well, he finally talked me into it, saying he promised I'd catch fish. So we went, along with his father-in-law, and we took 5 dozen nightcrawlers to a fairly new lake at the time, Yatesville lake in Lawrence Co. Kentucky.

That day, I borrowed one of his rods, an ultralite micro rod about 4 1/2 feet long. I was rigging whole nightcrawlers on 1/0 light wire hooks and casting them out weightless. 12" bass were busting them left and right and on a small rod like that it was a serious fight. We also caught a lot of sunfish and bluegill. I had to go to work that afternoon but they stayed and fished on. I went to work feeling better than I had in a long time though.

From that day to this one I have been SERIOUSLY hooked on bass fishing, and fishing in general. Wasn't even a year until I bought my first boat and refinished it. The rest is history.

[Hawghead]

My entire family, 7 kids with families and my parents take over a small resort at Lake of the Ozarks each summer. Last year one evening my son and I head out with my dad is his boat.

The fishing is OK then I really start to tie into the bass with my crawdad patterned wiggle wart. My son asks "Dad whats the biggest bass you have ever seen anyone catch?"

I tell him about a bass I caught when night fishing the previous summer on a small lake on a farm owned by some friends of ours. I was fishing along in a small paddle boat (the type you peddle with your feet to move) and I was working a crainkbait and I made this looong cast and he smacked it right away and by the time i landed it I was no where near the spot I was when I made the cast. It was a long fight and that sucker pulled me all over the place and he laughed.

A short while later what turned out to be my PB hammered the Wiggle Wart. When he the lured was only about 10 feet off the boat and I saw him hit, it shouted a few 4 letter words and we got it in the boat. After we got settled down a bit I kinda chuckled and looked at my son and said "thats the biggest bass I have ever seen anyone catch".  It weighed out at over 7 lbs on my dads scale which is notorious for weighing heavy.  So we scaled it back to 6.5 lbs.

He just laughed. I caught several more and I could see a bit of jealousy on his face since he was struggling. He struggles at time with his casting, so we came up on a perfect bank just like the ones I had been catching the bass on and I sent a long distance cast parallel to the bank pretty confident it would produce, I handed him my rod and start crankin and hold on.

It wasn't long and he had the but the of the rod buried in his gut and was cranking for his dear life. He was one happy dude when he lipped that bass.

Meantime my dad was just loving it soaking it up from the front. My dad took me on zillions of trips over the years and I knew he liked to see the next two generations having fun in his boat.

[roadwarrior]

;D ;D ;D

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[Rattlinrogue]

My favorite bassin' outing was when I took my wife fishing with me when she was pregnant with our first baby.She was big as a pumpkin,and I drug her out on a lake in a canoe.Ended up catching 33 bass(mostly 12-14 inch range).No lunkers but a lot of fun catching these little,ole bass.Caught them all in an area about 20 yds long.They were stacked up like cordwood!She caught 17,and I caught 16.That girl could fish a Texas rigged plastic worm!

[The Rooster]

That reminds me of another favorite memory.  My wife now, but my girlfriend at the time, back in September 2001, just before 9-11 actually.  

We went camping that weekend, and were at Yatesville Lake (see above stories from me, they all happened there).  Went out to the main boat dock just before sunset to mainly enjoy the scenery and just walk along the shore.  But being who I am, I took a couple of fishing rods too, you know.........just incase she wants to.......let me fish instead of walk.  

Well we did stop and fish.  But it wasn't in the most ideal spot.  It was on a stretch of bank with absolutely no cover or structure, the main swimming area of the beach actually, and it had a muddy bottom with virtually no rock.  I rigged her up a 4" purple twirl tail worm on a light wire 1/0 hook with a small split shot pegged about a foot above the worm.

She made a few casts and so did I, then suddenly I see her cranking away with the rod bent down.  She managed to hook a bass about 12 inches in length.  She was excited by it I could tell, but she wouldn't take it off the hook or even touch it.  So I did it for her.  Funny she was the only one who caught a fish, and that was the only one we caught.  But it was special because first of all, I really thought we had no chance of catching anything where we were at.  And we were just spending one on one time together getting to know each other and that happened and made a memory for us.

[Fish Man]

when i caught my first bass, it was a dink maybe 1 or 1.5 pounds on a 1/32 ounce frog colored roostertail

[ejtaylor822]

Last summer, watching my Dad fish through a tub of worms and slaying the bluegills.  He quit counting after 20.  He was like a little kid having a blast.  It was great.

[clipper]

Watching my young son catch his first bass over 5 lbs.  We were fishing a small private lake and he was using his favorite bait at the time, a spinner bait.  I was across the lake from him and he hollered "Dad, get over here, I got a big 'un"!  When I finally got around the lake he had a 6+ lb bass by the jaw in a death grip.

[clipper]

Memory No. 2, camping out on Rattlesnake Point at lake Seminole with my dad, watching the glowing eyes of the racoons surrounding our campfire at night, and fishing the seepage ponds around Lake Seminole.

Memory No. 3,  watching the fog on the St. Johns River in Florida as I rode to Lake Dexter with my dad.  Catching our limit of shellcracker there.  Watching a water hyacynth float disappear under a bank of hyacynths and setting the hook hard after letting the bass run, stop, and start again.  Landing my first 8+ lb bass with my dad and Buck Dillard as our guide on the St. Johns.  Catching St. Johns schooling bass two at a time on a Dalton Special with a Marm tied behind as a trailer, and throwing back in the school and doing it again with a cast on my broken arm.

I guess I have several favorite memories

[bassbob08]

mine was last year,my son and i went out at about 5am,I caught fish all day and no matter what we put on his line he wasnt able to catch anything,but he kept trying.At about 11:30 we were about to finish the day in the last cove that I started the day in he had on a small storms blue guill when he said dad i got something,the fish was pulling drag and for what seemd forever we finally got the fish in the boat it was a 8lb6oz lmb and we will never forget it.

[Crestliner2008]

July, 1989 - Onota Lake in Pittsfield, MA - Northern Pike, 21 lbs., 4 oz., 20" girth, 43" long. Trolling a Wendel's Musky Harrasser on a light baitcasting rig with 12 lb. test dacron line with steel leader. Not the biggest taken in this lake, but the biggest taken in open water when specifically targetting this species. Had just won $150. on a lottery ticket. The mount cost me almost $400.! Oh well, it was worth it.  

[Olebiker]

About 20 years ago Dad and I were fishing on Taylorsville Lake in Kentucky.  We were in a quiet bay just after daylight and had already caught a few nice bass.  There was a light mist coming off the perfectly flat water and a beagle hound was running a rabbit on the hillside above the lake.  It was just a perfect day.

Dad turned around and grinned at me and said, "I wonder what Jesus is doing with the boys He doesn't love this morning."

The theology might not have been the best, but he certainly made his point.

[Davis]

When I was just a  young kid (maybe 5-8 years old). Fishing down at the creek with my grandpa and grandma. Fishing for whatever with bass sinkers, eagle claw hooks, and nightcrawlers. Anytime spent with them down there was awesome. But one time sticks out to me. My grandma hooked a huge steelhead. Not sure how big it was but to me it was insane and to my grandmother as well. Because she got it right to shore and her line snapped. She threw her pole down and JUMPED on top of it in the water to try and get it. Well the fish got out of the way and swam away. But grandma was soaked after her belly flop. We still laugh to this day about it. Something I'll never forget.

[fishizzle]

Here's a good one

My best day ever ....because I had no idea how much smallmouth liked spring jerkbaits

I thought I'd try a new technique last year.  Jerkbaits--XRap

I was new to smallmouth fishin....that is I never caught one on purpose

So I went to a flat where I caught one before and chucked my bait...

jerk, jerk, pause, SLAM

one after another, then to a point...BANG

4 hours later I had to stop because my hand was broke

50 smallies up to 3.5 lbs  

Needless to say I have a whole box of jerkbaits now :'(

[jwo1124]

I have a couple. One my best friend and I wnet Striper fishing off a local pier a few summers a go on his birthday and each got a barely keeper fish. it is memorable because since High school we have sort of drifted a part. I went the college route, and he started working full time, putting in a lot of hours. So between scheduling conflicts and living our own lives, we don;t see eachother as much as we used to, so it was nice to get out for a day and share something we both enjoy.

Another time was just this past October when me and my brother were fishing at a cemetary pond that his friend had told him about. We were chucking shiners since that's the only way to keep him interested in fishing(god forbid he goes a coupel minutes with out a bite). On the second cast he got the biggest bass we both have ever seen. The scale would turn on, but the thing was easliy pushing 5lbs. So to see him catch his biggest bass ever, and beat my PB, was special because I know how much he enjoys catching fish(not so much the whole fishing part) so just to see him yank a big fish out of that pond was pretty cool.

Final one, was a long time ago, probably around 10 years ago when my father was still alive, and he took my and my brother down to a pond by my great aunt's house. And me and my bro were fishing, and he was just lounging in a folding chair, and every so often he would coem to and start busting our chops like "Wow they're really biting today", or "You guys are regular BassMasters". This was when I was like 11 and my bro was 7 or 8 And I had just gotten into watching the Bass shows on TV and reading the mags. It's really the only time all three of us were out fishing together.

I hope in a couple years I'll be able to post some more special outings.

[HOIST-N-HAWGS]

Just one that really stands out. About 38 years ago my Grandfather took me Saltwater fishing. My Mom was supposed to pack my saltwater rig the night before. We get to the ocean( a place called Colt State Park) low and behold I have a 5' pole and a Zebco. Gramp's decides he's going to modify the set up by putting 25lb test on. We sat there for what seemed to be a liftime w/o a nibble. Now duty calls and gramp's ain't to happy. After performing my "I gotta go" dance for ten minutes more " LET'S GO" he says.! We leave the rod wedged between the boulders along the shoreline and antsy pants it to the john. I do my thing, exit the building and turn the corner. All I can see is my rod bent in half. Gramp's says "go get-em boy"! I learned to get pretty quick in them days (running from Mom and Dad). I get there bend over to pull the rod from the rocks and..........................................

"SNAP"! :'( :'( :'( :'(

All I have left in my hands is a blank a reel and about 2 feet of rod!

Gramp's response was............Next time bring some friggin diapers! > ;D ;D ;D Wasn't that funny then!

[Tokyo Tony]

I have a ton of amazing memories from when I was younger, but most recently, the one that comes to mind...

Late last summer I was spending the weekend in New Hampshire just to hang out and do some float tube smallmouth fishing on my favorite little pond.  This pond has crystal-clear water (20'+ visibility), and you can see way down to the bottom where there are huge car-sized boulders mixed with gravel, grass, and sand, and there are two corners of the pond that are stumpfields with grassy bottoms and really weedy shorelines and laydowns.  Perfect smallmouth habitat  8-)

It was a bluebird sky day, and the fishing was pretty hot all day (40-50 fish, nothing big).  As the day was winding down, I was kicking around in one of the two grassy corners where the LMB like to hang out, just lazily throwing topwaters and plastics when it hit me.  The sun was setting, the leaves were just starting to turn orange and yellow, and the only ripples on the lake were from my float tube.  All I could hear were birds, and there was not another person in site, or on the lake.  Then the beauty of it all hit me - I just stopped fishing, looked around, and just felt so content to be where I was.  It's tough to explain - you just really have to feel it.  Combine with that setting the fact that the pond is loaded with smallies and LMB who are more than willing to attack any offering, and you have heaven on earth.

Anyway, I think back to that day a lot, and others like it, and it's really tough for me to love that setting so much, but be stuck in a frozen tundra for 4 months out of the year.  On the other hand though, it makes it so much sweeter when I'm actually able to be in that setting.  Can't WAIT to get back out there in my float tube ;D

[JCrzy4Bass]

Takin' my dad fishing for the first time.

Last Father's Day I gave him a new Quantum Rod and Reel combo and brought all my tackle to the lake. We headed up to Lake Ridge in Northern Virginia and we rented a jon boat just the two of us.

Right off the bat my dad casted a spinnerbait out (strike king I had gave him in chartreuse and green) from the bank area. Third of fourth cast. Slam, fish on! It was awesome to see him hook up on our first day out. Pic attached.

Headed out further around the first bend and started fishing. Well my dad caught the next fish too. A nice sized crappie over 1 lb (no pic) on a Mepp's Inline Black and Yellow Spinner. I was so excited for him. Still, we were fishing for largemouth so it was time to get serious.

Well about half way through the day we switched to live bait (nightcrawlers) and fished for catfish and bluegill and crappie. My dad caught about two handfuls of bluegill and I remember every time he'd hook em' so deep it would take me 5 minutes to get the hooks out lol. I started nicknaming him the bluegill killer. Anyway, he outfished me like crazy that day. I got one bluegill on live bait and then I lost two bass. One halfway through the day on a spinner, the other when we got back to the dock and bank fished, also on a spinner. Both times they threw the hook as they leaped out of the water. My dad's face just showed pure excitement each fight, even though it was me fighting the fish. That was it for us.

Two months later we had our own Lowe's fishing boat and were on the river every weekend last year. Great memories!

[GatorBK]

When I might have a new favortie today!

The Sonic Boom Gator

I caught a 10 ft gator this norning and was gonna try out 410. slugs in the bangstick and figured he would be a good candidate for them. I blasted him once and he still had some life somehow so I blasted him again.

About 10 seconds later the space shuttle re-entered the atmosphere to land here and there was twin sonic booms It was cool hearing those 2 booms right after I shot kinda made me duck for cover at first . I had forgotten all about the re entry today . I thought it was gunfire right on top of me the way the sound waves hit me.

Here is the gator he had an old gnarly snout on him and a tooth that stuck straight out of his jaw

His old war wounds every dark place on his belly and tail is an old scar . He aint worth a lot but was fun catching