I know that is an oxy moron so let me explain. I love fishing. I want to be out doing it.  I have decent equipment. A decent boat. Nothing crazy. I do not keep up with the latest fads and trends. I do not go out with the intent of breaking my PB. I never keep track of how many I’ve caught. I do not really measure anything. I just enjoy going out. I want to catch some fish, have a good time and come home safe. 
 

Can anyone else relate to this?

I'm 2.4 times more serious than your description. 

@GreenPig people get really confused. I would say I’m rather atypical. 

I don’t think you are atypical.  I believe there are many who share your sentiment…many, many more than this forum would lead you to believe.

@Susky River Rat

I can relate to your post here.

Mine would be similar,

I just needed to remove the words 'not' and 'never'.

 

I love fishing.

I want to be out doing it.  

I have decent equipment.

A decent boat.

Nothing crazy.

I do keep up with the latest fads and trends.

I do go out with the intent of breaking my PB.

I keep track of how many I’ve caught.

I do measure bigger bass.

I want to catch some fish,

have a good time and come home safe. 

A-Jay

 

I’m absolutely that way. I just want to fish and get bit. And enjoy. 
 

I have decent equipment. Not alot of it. But I have decent stuff. 
I measure bigger fish. But other than that I’m there to fish. I love catching big fish but I’m not gonna turn my nose to a day of catching 10-20 fish that are 1-1.5 pounds. 
 

There’s no Cadillac or even money to win for me at the end of the day. Just enjoyment. 

@A-Jay you my friend are a big brown bass  chaser. I do not have the time to dedicate to what you accomplish. It doesn’t happen by accident what you do.

 

@Joedodge I am happy having a day full of dinks. A mixed bag. Or a slower day but all bigger.

@Susky River Rat  let me know when youre ready to step up to the big leagues of serious-non-serious.

 

  (at least you have a boat.. must be nice)

 

(for the record, my wife told me to go find a bass boat..I said "No - maybe I'll just get a kayak). <--that is blackbelt level serious-non-serious.  she has since changed her stance on the boat.  "why, you have a kayak already!!"

Some days I'm happy to paddle and catch whatever. Other days I'm hunting a big northern lmb.

I take those slow days and play with lures I normally wouldn’t. Or practice casting. I live super close to the chain of 4 ponds I fish some small some large. So sometimes I just plain go home lol

I’m with you on this one. At this point in life my time is limited. Up until a couple years ago my job required me to work a ton. After a job change I’m not working as many hours but between a teenage son that can’t drive yet, honeydo lists, and family things I haven’t gained much time on the water. I still get out frequently but time on the water isn’t as long as I’d like it.

So, at this stage of life I like to look at it as I’m honing my skills in preparation for the next phase where I can spend a half or full day on the water.

@Susky River Rat You just described me perfectly. I am team Susky all the way. I am sure there must be more like us. Lets here it Bass Resource, chime in.

Team @Susky River Rat here.
I skunk more days than not, but I don’t care.

I like the experience, the trappings and the do-dads!

@Darth-Baiter I have seen kayak dudes way more serious than me lol. 
 

@Swamp Girl I get that. If I ever want to beat my head over a log on a day of fishing illl go musky fishing 😂

 

@Joedodge slower days sometimes I will use it was exploring time. I do throughly enjoy finding an area I’ve overlooked for years.

 

@12poundbassI was working a ton up until recently. I used to take fishing way to serious and I think that was some of my issue. 
 

@rboatyeah buddy!

 

@MotobossI have been very lucky this year to not skunk much. I have had some really rough days though. 
 

 

I'm all in on the Susky team.

Strictly a paddle kayak fisherman, 2d sonar with gps.

I look forward to every trip, sure I'd rather catch then not, but blessed just to be able to still do this.

I don't weigh and hardly ever measure fish, unless I'm fluke fishing then measure for keepers and this is the only time I bring a net.

I do keep count of what I catch.

Enjoy the wild life all around while on the water.

I especially like the last part of Susky's original post. "Coming home safe". With the crazy distracted drivers on land and water, the over crowded boat ramps, crazy people who think they own the lake, I sometimes become nervous or over cautious to even get out there.

@rboat you aren’t kidding! 

I am serious... but I still have fun. I'm serious about all of my hobbies. I usually only fish a couple hours per trip. Sometimes it's with my family at a park. My wife is willing to wait about 2 hours, so with that I try to be efficient with my time.

 

I do get skunked, but if you only have 2 hours, do you really get skunked? No doubt I'd catch something if I had more time.

 

To me, it's fun to have success. Success is, being able to cast without getting into the trees, presenting a lure reasonably well, reading the water and conditions to choose a lure and technique, and catching a fish or two. I don't always catch one, but I am normally successful in the others.

 

I don't stress about it though, I do have fun, but it's serious fun.

 

11 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

for the record, my wife told me to go find a bass boat..I said "No - maybe I'll just get a kayak). <--that is blackbelt level serious-non-serious.

I admire your serious-non-seriousness. Truly impressive! 

 

OP, I can relate to you. I go out trying to catch a decent number of decent sized fish. My dream is to fish every day... and I get to make my dream come true at least once or twice per week, which isn't half bad. 

I like to fish. I measure and track my catch most every trip. Even log barometric pressure, water and ambient temp, moon-phase, etc., etc. It's all in a effort to crack the code. 

 

I've never even come close to cracking the code(!)

 

I don't fish tournaments.

 

I have a good boat and good equipment. Most of my fishing rods are 20+ years old...all of my casting reels are that old, or older. I do have some newer spinning reels and rods. 

 

I am around people a lot during my day-job...supervise a team of eleven, three of them are remote employees living out-of-state. On weekends I get in my boat, no radio, no one else...just me and nature. The wife does join me some days. I kind of like her : ) 

@DaubsNU1when I was into musky fishing I used to keep a log. 
 Body of water, Lure, lure depth, retrieve speed, water temp, water clarity, water depth, structure/cover, wind, weather, moon phase, major/minor, time, date, picture

 

You know much all that helped me? None lol 

@Susky River Rat  It seems that you’ve made the decision to return to your fishing roots and simply enjoy the fun of fishing…getting on the water, throwing some baits, catching a few, calling it a day and going home to other things.  
If this take is unfairly presumptuous, I apologize; if not, I tip my hat to you.

I live on a lake, have a good boat, and enough tackle to become a Jr. Tackle Warehouse.  Retired and unmarried, I have all the time to fish that I want.  I enjoy experimenting with different lures and techniques even when people I know are catching lots of fish on something else.  When I go home I update a very detailed logbook, plan, and re-rig for the next day;  that is a good part of the enjoyment.

im pretty much the same. im pretty serious about my fishing as far as i want to be educated on fishing and put myself in the best  position to catch fish . i have a rough idea of how many i catch each trip but dont usually know the exact number. Idont fish tournaments . to me the fun is seeing if you can figure out the puzzle for that day. some days you do and it feels great other days you dont and thats ok. The fish win sometimes too. im glad to be out there and just doing what i enjoy and the peace and quiet.

3 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

@DaubsNU1when I was into musky fishing I used to keep a log. 
 Body of water, Lure, lure depth, retrieve speed, water temp, water clarity, water depth, structure/cover, wind, weather, moon phase, major/minor, time, date, picture

 

You know much all that helped me? None lol 

 

HA! Agreed!

 

About the only thing my fishing log helps with is remembering the stories, and the fish details.