do you ever loose the passion?

[abelfisher]

I have gone through the same feelings before.  I felt guilty and mad at myself because I know fishing is my passion.  It's like I felt I was cheating someone, ....myself.  I would suggest, trying out some new lakes and some new techniques to just spice it up a llittle bit.

Yesterday I fished a new lake, Lake Oroville, first time wiht my new boat on it.  I had been fishing a locl lake lately but had little success, water is still a little ccol.  So I headed to Oroville.  Caught 8 decent spotted bass, and a 15# carp.  Once I knew I had a carp, I thought, oh $#*^.  But then thought, waht the hell, might  as well enjoy it.  It gave me a good fight and some memoey to enjoy later as well!  

Maybe you want to take up photography so when you go fishing you can take sokme spectacular photso as well.

Trust me, this will pass!!

[Rattlinrogue]

Sometimes I get a little less enthusiastic than usual.I still love it,but if I go   for 3 or 4 days in a row it starts to lose a little of its specialness.My cure is to take a few days,a week,once even 2 weeks off from it.I promise, you'll come back chomping at the bit.

[jbass]

I have a friend I go with when ever possible. I'd call him and find out he didn't want to go and I'd try to go by myself. There were times that I would load the Jeep with gear and just about ready to leave just say, screw it, and not go. Having to unload everything and put it back in the garage, then spend the rest of the weekend wondering what I accomplished. Which was 0, nada. I was down in the dumps. During the week it's impossible to go because I commute an hour and 20 min. one way to work and it's an hour and 40 min. home because of the traffic. I gotta hit the rack around 8:30-9:00 pm. to get up at 4:30 and start the whole process over untill the weekend. I spend one day with my wife and sometimes one day for me. What I did was, I went fishing. When I got on the water it was all worth the effort put out to go. Catching fish was a bonus.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

One way around the pervert thing is to offer to take a kid and parent. Ryans mom came with us fishing when we first met. Now she has no problem with it, she even got me a nice BPS visor to say "thanks" for taking Ryan out a bunch of times onhis vacation.

So aside from Senko77, I won't take a youth, boy or girl, ANYWHERE alone.

If you think about it, you can also teach the guardian how to take the youth fishing. Show him/her the things they will need to know as the person taking the youth (hook removal,knots,etc) so they can also take their son/daughter when you aren't around. You'll probably make some great friends, young and old, just choose your time to approach carefully.

If you are looking for partners where this stuff is not a worry, try a vet's hospital. These guys are sooo appreciative of everything. Many are quite capable of being on the water with you and would mean the world to them to get out of there for 1/2 a day. I PROMISE, you won't regret it. If you are nervous about letting folks use your pricey gear, I will gladly donate a BPS extreme for you to let them use. Not saying you are funny like that but I have the extra gear if you have the desire and I would love to help 2 friends at once.

[Hot n Tot]

Avid, I notice that you are in Florida, where the fishing season is much longer than we get here in Michigan. We get about 4 months of good warm bass fishing weather here so we don't have time to get tired of it. I don't go out for bass when it's cold. But in the spring, before the water warms up for bass, we have Northern Pike in the shallows and also again in the fall the Pike bite picks up again. That keeps thing interesting and challenging.

[russ0101]

used to be that i could go weeks without dippin the worm in the water... then my girlfriend started watching all these reality tv shows and TIVO"D them (deleting my fishing shows)... well now i try to stay out there as long as i can. i get burnt out when im not catching anything, so thats when i start improvising...

i posted a few weeks ago that i caught a bass on a cigarette butt.. they wouldnt bite anything else, but they were tearing that up with my fly rod.

have you thought about fly fishing?? that was what i picked up, and it only cost me $30 becuase i wasnt sure if i was going to like it or not. Now, since it's in pieces, i can put it in the car, stop on the side of the road, and fly into a creek off the bridge - just got to be careful of the rigs, they have some massive wind gusts sometimes and blow the horn right on top of you

[abelfisher]

Avid, obvioulsy, you are too concerned about catching that 8 pounder.  And everytime you go out and don't catch one, you get more frustrated and then start questioning why you are going fishing.  And this snowballs.....  Then you get to the point where you are just fed up with it all.

Well, I would suggest you stop thinking about that 8  pounder.  Everytime you go out think of it as doing  Research on big bass, not that you are trying to catch annything, just doing research.  It's like so many times for me, when I think about something too long it never happens.,  WHen I slip and I am not thinking about it, it happens!!

Make fishing fun again.  Remember you retired to have fun, not fish any tournaments.  Don't make the 8 pounder a tournament unto yourself.

[L.D.]

Nope. Been a fishing guide now for 26 years. From ice out to ice in 7 days a week if I can. Never gets boring, why? Because I get to take out someone new every day. There is always something new in a way of a challenge to get each person to catch fish. I've even taken out combo fishing and bird watchers.

Hook yourself up with an organized youth group, retirement home, veterns group, church group, so you take someone new out on your boat to keep it interesting.

L.D.

[Matt Fly]

Sometimes, its the pressure we put on our selves to do well, whether its tournament pressures or pleasure.      I have had to put the bass on hold once in awhile and decide to fish for supper.     Go white fishing, or striper, or maybe go set under a nice cool bridge all day and crappie fish.  

Just changing routines once in awhile, like taking the day off from run and gun bass fishing and have a relaxing day actually fishing.    Sounds funny, "Actually Fishing".    Those are the days I like to take a cool swim once in awhile and enjoy the water, which I never make time for when bass fishing.

Three or four days straight of being up early and home late, and 100 degrees in the sun can get old.

Avid, the passion has never been lost, the drive to go sometimes fades, but the passion is still there.

Hookem

Matt

[earthworm77]

If I've learned one thing about fishing, it is that each trip, no matter if it is to a place that you've been to a million times....is a learning experience. I've fished tournaments for quantity, I've gone out and fished for quality, now I appreciate each fish I catch no matter how big.

[KYbass1276]

Maybe you can get with some of the florida members here on this board and plan a few trips each year together that would give you something to look foward too and it would be fun for all of you  

[Fish Chris]

Interesting subject. For starters, I have fished between 1200 and 1400 hours a year, for the last 10 years. I don't guide. I don't fish tournies, I just fish because I love / live to fish. Not married, and no kids.

I don't ever get tired of fishing in general, but I have experienced some 'burnout' on occasion, when fishing specifically for trophy bass.... 10 hour days, day after day, throwing nothing but the same exact swimbait all day.... and here's the kicker... getting skunked time and time again !

I remember 1 stretch about 4 years ago, in which I fished 18 trips, for at least 150 hours total, without sticking a single fish !!! Talk about will power to make myself keep going !

Nowadays, I don't beat myself up near so bad. If the bite is not at least decent, I will look for something else to "pull my string" :-) ....in other words, it doesn't have to be a giant bass so much anymore, just as long as I'm on the water, playing with anything that swims, and having fun :-)

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But now, I have the easiest job on the planet.... very low stress.... I only work about 30 hours, and 4 days a week..... Yet I am completely burnt out by my 4th day ! Why does it work like this ? :-)

Peace,

Fish

PS, Oh, but remember that 'fishless' 18 day stretch I mentioned ??? Okay, well here's the fun part :-).....

So, I finally (reluctantly) decided to downshift, and just relax. I went back to the same lake, but in a different spot, dropped an anchor, and flipped out some crawlers on my micro-light, trying for a big ol' catfish......

And what did I stick ??? A 13.0 lb Largemouth !!! Go figure ! :-) You just never know, huh ?