Attainable Goal(s) for 2024

[TnRiver46]

12 minutes ago, flyfisher said:

Yeah that wouldn't be a Virginia citation then....luckily it is an either or not both.  I have come close on multiple occasions and gotten fish in the 19" class but haven't broken 20" on my fly rod here in VA.  

A 5 is usually 21.5” or more in east TN unless you luck into a rare rotund version. There are a few highland lakes with trout that might produce some fatties on occasion, they learn the DNR logo and follow the stock truck around haha

[Swamp Girl]

10 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

Got a feeling early bird gets the giant female bass out of the stems long before they're proper lily pads again.

 

Pat, please let me know if your hunch is right and if it is, what catches them. If it is, come April, I'll work the local lily pad stumps too before the grow green again.

 

1 hour ago, Dwight Hottle said:

My time is running out.

 

Is it your age that's ticking the end-of-fishing clock, Dwight? It is for me. Every year, my fingers don't work quite as well and I remember my dad reaching a point where he dropped his glasses into the water and cast a couple rods and reels into the water too. My strength is waning too.

[padlin]

12 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Every year, my fingers don't work quite as well and I remember my dad reaching a point where he dropped his glasses into the water and cast a couple rods and reels into the water too. My strength is waning too.

Ditto, bottles and such slip out of my hands now, and the canoe is getting heavier by the trip. Hope I’ll know to call it a day the first time I launch a rod and reel out into the deep during a cast.

 

My goal for this year is to join the Y, and actually go.

[casts_by_fly]

3 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

@casts_by_fly we can probably get something by arranged! For warning. Just because I have a new boat doesn’t mean I know how to catch fish. It’s also the Dogs boat what he says goes. Lol

 

I'm well aware of the 'dog rules'. Last night I froze my butt of in bed because the 12 year old SRHP didn't want to move from 'my' spot and at 85 lb I couldn't pull blankets out from under her.

 

let's talk in the spring.

 

8 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

Pat, please let me know if your hunch is right and if it is, what catches them. If it is, come April, I'll work the local lily pad stumps too before the grow green again.

 

he's definitely right.  We have tons of pads here and the pad stems are the only aquatic vegetation for a while in the spring so bass congregate there.  Roll a spinnerbait through them or a vibrating jig as soon as the water starts to heat up, like as early in the year as you're willing to be on the water.  

[Swamp Girl]

How old are you, @padlin? I'm 67 and will turn 68 in the summer of 2024. If I can afford it, I'll buy a canoe trailer in 2024. That will help. Lifting the canoe, again and again and again, wore me out in 2023. Ah, to be 57 again!

 

Thanks, @casts_by_fly. I will. 

[Zcoker]

Kinda neat watching how things evolve over a year, whatever it may be, things shape and form and mold just right for the angler. I've seen all my systems evolve, from storage to rods, even watched my  tackle reduced to a bare minimum. All this efficiency means more and better fish for 2024! 

[Bankc]

10 hours ago, Team9nine said:

My attainable goal is the same one I set every year - not to set any goals for the upcoming year 😆

 

I’m on a pretty good winning streak with these 😎

 

I know - bah humbug! Something almost always develops to hold my focus during the year though…sometimes several ‘somethings’, but they’re all part of a larger system that always ends up benefitting me in the long run.

That's me too.  I don't know if it's the smart thing to do, but it's my philosophy on life.  No goals.  Instead, I just follow my fluid curiosity.  I've always found the questions more exciting than the answers anyway.  

 

Next year I hope is better than this year.  But mostly, I'm just interested in building on what I learned and seeing where it takes me.  Maybe get a little lost on the way.  I like getting lost.  Progress doesn't have to be linear.  And you'll never discover something new if you follow the paths.  Besides, life is a journey, right?  The destination is death, and I'm in no hurry to get there.  

[scaleface]

Dig out my plastic boat and fish this isolated little lake I discovered, A local told me there were monster crappies in it. If there are monster crappie , there are monster bass.

[Skunkmaster-k]

I’m going to break the largemouth record at my home lake. I’m a pound closer this year than last. Just 3.25 lbs to go. 

[Jar11591]

Until I achieve it, my number one goal each season will be to pull a 7lb largemouth from the waters of NY. It’s a tall task, but I’ve seen fish in the water that easily eclipse that mark. And my NY PB had enough length to it that it could have gone up to 8lb, instead of the couple ounces over 6lb that it was. A 7lb LM from NY is the fish of a lifetime, so once I achieve that, I will move onto another goal, like possibly a 6lb smallmouth. 
 

Additionally, I set more minor goals each year, such as getting better or mastering a particular bait or presentation, visiting a new body of water, fishing in certain conditions, or a particular numbers goal. 

[Swamp Girl]

9 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

t’s a tall task, but I’ve seen fish in the water that easily eclipse that mark.

 

What were the circumstances where you saw them? I once saw two small bass near a landing, but have never seen a bass nor bait from my canoe. Maybe it's because I'm sitting. 

[Jar11591]

@ol'crickety   Between the super clear water I fish, and the fact that I fish standing up in my boat, seeing bass is pretty common for me. But the giant ones I see are always in early spring. They will be pressed right against downed timber or wooden dock posts, not moving and totally uninterested in anything I throw at them. I saw a bass early April this year that made my heart stop. It was sitting in about 1’ of water on a log during an unseasonably hot day right after ice-out. Tossed jigs and senkos and swimbaits right at its face for 30 minutes until it got annoyed and slowly sauntered back to deep water. That fish would have easily beaten my 6-3 PB. Maybe 2024 is the year I get her. 

[Swamp Girl]

2 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

Between the super clear water I fish, and the fact that I fish standing up in my boat, seeing bass is pretty common for me.

 

Lucky duck! I wish I could see bass too.

 

2 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

That fish would have easily beaten my 6-3 PB. Maybe 2024 is the year I get her. 

 

Fingers crossed for you!

[Texas Flood]

5 hours ago, Jig Man said:

I only have one keep putting 1000 bass in the boat.

How are you able to keep your boat from sinking?

[Susky River Rat]

@casts_by_fly sounds good buddy. My dog is 80lbs and doesn’t look it at all.

[padlin]

4 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

How old are you, @padlin? I'm 67 and will turn 68 in the summer of 2024. If I can afford it, I'll buy a canoe trailer in 2024. That will help. Lifting the canoe, again and again and again, wore me out in 2023. Ah, to be 57 again!

 

Same as you, 67. The Osprey is 55 lbs that I lift up onto my shoulders to get it up on the F150’s roof rack. I’m going to hold off it’s a trailer as long as I can, more likely till I hurt myself lifting the canoe, just being stubborn I suppose.

 

[MassYak85]

My only goal is to break 7lbs in New England. I've caught three 6lbers in the last two years after never having caught one before, so I'm getting the itch to hit that next benchmark. 

[gimruis]

Being that its only December 12, I still have some time here.  I'll revisit this in January when its 2024 and post my attainable goal for next year.

[Swamp Girl]

@padlin: 55 pounds? Respect.

[FishTank]

An 18lb tournament bag.

 

I've come close a few times and have caught over that amount for five fish on several occasions but just not in a tournament. 

[Susky River Rat]

Another goal id like to add is not put a hole in my new boat.

[N Florida Mike]

My goals are:

• To catch a PB this coming year. To do this , I’m probably going to have to fish new or rarely fished waters. My tried and true spots have dried up for fish that would achieve it.

• With the above in mind, there’s a small lake about 5 miles away that I want to fish again. I’m positive a PB lurks in there. The problem is, I don’t have a good way to get my small boats over there at present. No truck, and my trailer needs work before I can use it again.

• I want to fish a few new or rarely fished lakes with my buddy Jeff, down south.

• I want to get more of my friends over to fish in my lake this year.

 I’m easy to please , as y’all can probably tell. The older I get, relationships mean more and more. . If  I can combine that with fishing, I’m good…
 

[gimruis]

I thought about this for a day.

 

My goal for 2024 is to go the entire year without making a single tackle purchase.  No hooks, no lures, no line, no plastics, nothing.  That's right.  You heard it here first.  ZERO purchases for 365 days.  I can get by with what I already have.

[Swamp Girl]

7 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I thought about this for a day.

 

My goal for 2024 is to go the entire year without making a single tackle purchase.  No hooks, no lures, no line, no plastics, nothing.  That's right.  You heard it here first.  ZERO purchases for 365 days.  I can get by with what I already have.

 

Whoa. I could not do this. I have enough hard lures, but bass literally chew through my Keitechs and Senkos. And because I now change my treble hooks two or three times per year, I have to buy those too. 

[MN Fisher]

7 minutes ago, gimruis said:

My goal for 2024 is to go the entire year without making a single tackle purchase.

Now see here, bub...dis is against the rules.

 

Now me - same as last year....get out more and go for a new PB. Simple.