On 1/11/2021 at 8:59 AM, PotatoLake said:

Please don't take this as woe as me, as this is just the truth for me. I have a progressive disease that's kicking my tail. My goal is to finish 2021 upright and able fish. Fishing is one of the few elements of life that truly brings me joy besides my family. My PB is 4 oz. shy of 6lbs. If I get a 6 plus, that would be icing on the cake.

Fish gods smiled on me today. Was able to pull a 6lb. 1 oz. piggie out a laydown with a jig. So there’s my icing.

i sunk the last of the trees today, 12 in all, in small groups, at various locations. i could only fit one at a time on the little johnny but it was fun. i made every effort to place them at the thermocline sweet spot so they would still hold fish in the heat of summer. took some reference pics with the iphone too. that small orange thing is my marker buoy. i can’t wait.

 

7 minutes ago, lo n slo said:

i sunk the last of the trees today, 12 in all, in small groups, at various locations. i could only fit one at a time on the little johnny but it was fun. i made every effort to place them at the thermocline sweet spot so they would still hold fish in the heat of summer. took some reference pics with the iphone too. that small orange thing is my marker buoy. i can’t wait.

 

Looks like a prime spot.good job Marine

14 minutes ago, flatcreek said:

Looks like a prime spot.good job Marine

Semper Fi brother ?

30 minutes ago, lo n slo said:

i sunk the last of the trees today, 12 in all, in small groups, at various locations. i could only fit one at a time on the little johnny but it was fun. i made every effort to place them at the thermocline sweet spot so they would still hold fish in the heat of summer. took some reference pics with the iphone too. that small orange thing is my marker buoy. i can’t wait.

I wish I could do that - but it's illegal here.

17 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

I wish I could do that - but it's illegal here.

Yeah same here

^Plus I’m lazy as heck!

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

I wish I could do that - but it's illegal here.

i hate that brother. i guess i kinda take it for granted.

13 hours ago, lo n slo said:

i sunk the last of the trees today, 12 in all, in small groups, at various locations. i could only fit one at a time on the little johnny but it was fun. i made every effort to place them at the thermocline sweet spot so they would still hold fish in the heat of summer. took some reference pics with the iphone too. that small orange thing is my marker buoy. i can’t wait.

 

What species ya got there, privet?? Holly?

4 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

What species ya got there, privet?? Holly?

i have no idea brother. i went down along the barbed wire fence with my chain saw and picked out the ones that i thought would work. i sunk a little Holly tree about ten years ago and part of it is still there. 

Thanks to the inspiration in this thread about fishing a jig more, I added it to my list. And today it caught half the fish, and big fish of the year so far. 

 

My 2021 goals are as follows.

 

Get my jon boat all done and on the water.

Get better with the jig.

Get better with the A Rig.

Catch a 5lber. Would be a new PB. 

Use the lures I have and quit buying so many that don't get used because I dont fish enough to go through every color and type.

FISH MORE!!!

On 1/23/2021 at 10:51 PM, txchaser said:

Thanks to the inspiration in this thread about fishing a jig more, I added it to my list. And today it caught half the fish, and big fish of the year so far. 

 

 

I'm such a topwater & plastics nut that I neglected jigs most of the year... but had a couple  outings at the end of 2020 where almost every fish was caught on either a pitching jig or a swimjig. Couple months later, I've still got jigs on the brain; probably going to be the first thing I throw this year.

- Catch a 10+ LM on a Rat

- Figure out exactly where the big Spots are on my primary lake and beat my Spotted Bass PB

- Improve on my skipping abilities with BC

 

On 1/1/2021 at 11:39 AM, throttleplate said:

i will put a minnesota skeeter against your sc skeeter and see who loses.?

Isn't the Skeeter the Minnesota State Bird?

I have several goals for 2021:

 

-catch an 8+ pounder on public water

-break my PB (10.75)

-fish 2 or more freshwater trolling only tournaments

-place in the top 5 of a tournament

I've also been contemplating narrowing down my species search to bass and Panfish. 2020 I fished for everything that swam. LM,SM, cats, carp, crappie, Panfish, striper, walleye. I'm thinking about focusing on largemouth this year. It's what I have the most gear for and i want to get bigger bites this year. I don't know yet though, because I really do like to catch everything, but 95% of my tackle is geared towards bass and the bait monkey is a bass head!!

the days i dont drive to my favorite lake which is 50 minutes away i plan on putting some effort to fish my towns Red River as its only 8 minute city drive away.

 

There are unlimited spots i can bank fish from through out town as i just have to park my car on a street and walk down or fish from a park it runs through.

 

But again it will really be determined on how many lures i lose in the mighty red compared to the amount of fish i catch and the fun factor.

As always, catch a bass over 8lbs in my home state.

Compete in kayak tournaments.

Get my family out fishing as much as possible.

 

I want to be a more versatile angler this year. I fished for almost nothing but bass last year. I want to do better targeting more species of fish in '21.

In earlier post my main objective is to go home to the river and figure out what’s up with it and see if it has the potential to come around some. I miss the Smallies, but anyway. 
 

Re arranging my Strike King boxes the other night I found that Last season I bought DB Craw in a couple of version and I don’t think I took the time to fish them. I was hot on that pattern and after seeing it again that was a mistake on my part because I think I can certainly do something with it. Slightly lighter color craw. Have to make something happen this season with it. “DB” have no idea what that means, don’t believe it means what the first thing that pops in my head. The white with the orange caught my eye. 

Just found out there is a story behind it. Denny Brauer bait. I’ll watch the video. 

The DB has less action than the standard Rage Craw.

Just get back to being on the water more.

We bought a house 2 years ago, moved out of the condo, and my fishing went from everyday every weekend to 4-6 times a year. Now that all the big projects are mostly done. I just want to get back to being on the water more. May have to plan more one day all day outings. But it’s still more.

I recently posted on another thread that in 2021 I wanted to get to learn other lures more, namely the fluke. I've decided that instead for 2021, I'm going to focus on a couple of lures. I do not have many confidence baits, and I think this is a result of me in the past thinking that there is a lure for every situation. I now think that there is a presentation for every situation. I'm going to focus on the spinnerbait and the lipless crank for 2021. I like big fish, so the styles of spinnerbaits and lipless cranks will be geared towards this. The bait monkey shall not best me.

27 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

The bait monkey shall not best me.

Oh good luck on that one.

 

Three years ago I thought to myself, 'three rigs and a single 3600-size tackle bag with seven boxes is more than enough'.

 

Now I have 13 rigs (3 dedicated shore, the rest for the canoe), two 3700-size bags (11 boxes) and two 3600-size bags (14 more boxes).

Light tackle purchases this winter for me. Few new baits coming. Wanted a few spares of a couple harder used crankbaits. They are trickling in now. Scored on a couple of decent gift cards for TW and BPS but in no rush. 
 

Been obsessing all winter about going home to the river and see if the Smallie fishing is starting to turn around some. The lake has been my new home for a few years, been doing pretty well there. Just preparing mentally to do what I have to do. I’ll get on the river as early as I can.