Fishing has been slow for me this year.  Mainly because I haven't been able to go very often.  Last time I went bass fishing was in May.  I was able to go a few times in May which is the best month at my lake.  I landed 4 bass over 9 pounds, with the biggest 9.9 pounds.  No matter how many times I reset the scale it always read 9.9 pounds.  I don't think I will have another chance to catch a DD this year.  This will be the first year I haven't landed a bass over 10 pounds, since I started fishing for them in Mexico.   I hope to have more time in 2026 and maybe that 9.9 pounder will be over 10 and bite my lure again. 

 

I may not have fished much in 2025 but the Monkey and I have been busy.  Just because I don't have the time to fish, doesn't mean I don't have the time to buy fishing gear. 

I got a new driveway so I’ve got that going for me.

Very rocky start to 2025. Been much better since. Fishing is negligible. I didn’t have much opportunity to fish this year and won’t be fishing for the rest of the year. Started a good gym routine at the start of June. That’s been going pretty good. Pretty much the only things I’m focused on these days is working as hard as possible and lifting as much weight as possible.

We had a really interesting year.

 

June 1st was the single most memorable bass fishing experience because I disassembled a beaver dam to get a 10 lber out and kept it hooked for an hour and had the net out and under it and she thrashed and snapped my line after all that.  I was the old man and she was the sea.  It was poetic.

 

I also caught my second DD and tied my pb exactly at 11 lb 5 oz - now I have one on each of the public lakes I fish the most in the boat.

 

i also caught a 9-14 on a jig, 9-3 on a frog, 9-3 on a jig and a boat load of 7-8 lbers this year.  
 

My family bought a house on a 14 acre pond that has DD bass in it back in July.

 

My son just turned 13 and is doing well in sports and school and has friends and is happy.

 

Wife got a promotion back in June.

 

We have our health.

 

Many many things to be grateful for over here.  Humbled and blessed.

 

 

If I were Pat, I'd be doing this, given the year he's had:

 

New career, new schedule, new truck. There’s been some good and bad. And some neutral. It’s been one hell of an eventful year though. 

Got a lot better on Friday! Typically get bigger better smallies right up until new years, seems like it’s just getting started 
 

Fishing has been good in 2025.  No PB yet, but I haven't been skunked since March, and this summer the catching has been slow but consistent.

In 2025, everyone is healthy with no illness, but work has been extremely stressful, which is never a good thing.

Good in some ways, meh in others. 

 

Two largemouth PBs were good.  The first PB in May earned a 2025 Michigan Master Angler patch...

 

...only to break it again a month later by a couple ounces:

 

2025 also ties 2019 as my year with the highest overall catch rate per hour of fishing effort, at 2.18 bass per hour. So that's good (for me, anyway)

 

I was also able to chase some river browns a few times, and got some respectable specimens:

 

And the only time I have been skunked in 2025 --on any fishing excursion outside the house-- was 1/2 hour on the river bank back in March. 

 

But not so hot is the limited number of times I have been able to fish -- only 23 trips on the year for a total of 77 hours.  Sept 1 was the last time I was out.  To be fair, I don't fish anywhere near as much as many of you, in any year. But I had hoped for more time with my line in the water by now. 

 

I'm probably also going to fall short of catching 200 bass in 2025, which was my goal. I'm at 168 right now -- 200 would be easily doable if I had more free time .....which I don't.  So we will see. If I can get 3 or 4 more trips out of the year, and the bass cooperate,  I could get there, but I'm not confident it will happen.  

To be honest, mine has $^@*!& so far. Between boat problems that didn't get resolved until the end of July and the wife's health problems, I didn't get on the water much.  That's all changing starting this week. The boat's running great, wife is done with her treatments and the fall bite approaching, I'm as excited as I normally get just after ice-out.

I will say that the few times I've been able to wet a line, I've caught some nice fish. Here's hoping that trend continues until the lakes shut down at the end of October.  

I've been recovering from major surgery so taking it easy. Havent fished since May until the last two weeks , I've been three times. Each trip I'm a little stronger and staying a little longer. Catching a few fish with some three lbers. I have two boats to fish out of. A 22 foot Lowe deck boat and a little plastic boat. I've been fishing out of the big boat because its not as strenuous. I think I'm ready to wrestle the little boat, battery, elec motor... into my truck and start hitting smaller lakes where the fishing is usually better.

After the last 4-5 years I had. 2025 Is a  breath of fresh air. I'm catching fish, I'm having fun, nothing expensive broke, I am enjoying tournament fishing again. I even cashed in a few after 5 years off, putting to rest the thought that I'm "old/rusty/irrelevant/out of touch/etc..." I'll be 50 at the start of the 2026 season, let's hope with some luck, better lifestyle choices, better stress management,  that my 50s are better all around than my mid/late 40s.

2025 been fishing twice🫩 good results and looking forward to few more trips.

Lot of travel this year on a 30 day cruise, good trip😀.

The down side my wife’s niece passed away living alone and wasn’t discovered for 3 weeks. We were notified during our cruise and working through forensic cleaning 😱 and getting the condo ready to sell.

Up and down year so far.

Tom

 

For me 2025 has been a weird and different year but, good.  

 

I didn’t do a lot of fishing early due to boat issues. Eventually, I was able to sort the motor out.  I had to rebuild my ignition system, Carbs, and the rest of my fuel delivery system on my 1986 90 hp ( tower of power merc). So i didn’t get on the water until almost may.  Usually, ice is off the lakes/rivers early-mid march.  I’ve been tracking my start since 2017 and i’m usually Bass fishing by March 25ish. Winter of 2024 nothing froze up here and i was walleye fishing all of February and March. 

 

Overall fishing has been good.  it has been either feast or famine.  I’m Averaging 3 lbs a fish which, is good.  However, not all trips have i caught fish.  The lakes and rivers up here haven’t been this low since 2012.  We haven’t had much rain since end of July 

 

August was a total bust.  I took my boat up north to northern michigan 2nd week in August on a family trip and only caught 1 little smallie  for 3 days of fishing.  August traditionally has always been a tough month to catch bass for me. as they tend to go really deep if the have the water available. Fishing was so bad i decided to take a break and rebuild my front fishing deck on the bow of the boat. 

 

It’s Funny because, I loaded up on yum spine craws this spring trying to save some shipping.  Spine craws had been killer for me 2023 and 2024. Ive had one day this year where a Berkeley creature hog and jig worked.  Other than that. Not one fish has been caught on a plastic craw this year.  The ned rig in either zman Gp, and zman Canadian craw have caught the majority and the biggest fish so far.  I did try Berkeley’s max scent gobey on a ned rig and caught some walleye this week. I believe the low clear water is why i’m having to rely on the ned rig this year.

 

I should probably be trying to throw some straight tail and curly tail worms. 2021 was similar on the craw deal and they readily took both types worms instead of craws. 

 

I’ve had zero success fishing the saginaw river this year.  Which, sucks because it’s only 30 minutes from my house.  I believe low water and refilling of the 3 reservoirs further up on the Tittabwasse river from the 2020 floods is part of the issue . i’ve not had good success on some of  the lakes I usually fish.  So I have been Focusing on going to the Saginaw bay.  It’s an hour to “The Bay” or an hour to the nearest lake.  So far The Bay has paid off.  My worst day up there has been catching  *** lbs bass  and losing one a little bit bigger. 

 

It has definitely been a different year.  Sometime adapting is the name of the game. 

My heart goes out to those who have struggles and I congratulate those who have success.

I have fished through fishless days that I remember but not regret.

Been 5 times in the last month. Feeling stronger each trip. Not catching anything to brag about but the numbers are there.  

11 hours ago, scaleface said:

Been 5 times in the last month. Feeling stronger each trip. Not catching anything to brag about but the numbers are there.  

 

Nothing wrong with the college life.

 

Quantity over quality!!   

This has been the least fishing I've done in probably 10 years. I spent a lot more time this year on other hobbies (hiking). It felt good to take a bit of a break. The "chase" is fun but can also be a grind sometimes especially going out trying to break PBs. The times I did go I was just out to have fun and catch fish not caring too much about size. Still had some great days and easing off the gas definitely meant less big fish, but I plan to do more next year. 

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve started a long 16 week chemo treatment plan. So my fishing has been a little taken back because of this. It’s every other week so on my off week of chemo I try to get out for a couple hours because I am still fatigued and can’t stay out very long. So over the last few weeks that I have been able to get out the fishing has been great. No personal best per se but solid 2+ pounders, nothing over 3. 
 

I remember one of the bass master pros mentioning that when he goes fishing if he doesn’t catch something on the first lure within the first 15 minutes, he switches to the next lure. I’ve started to put a timer on my phone and do the same thing and go through 3 to 4 lures and then back again from the start. I definitely love this analogy and I’ve been using it and I believe strongly it works great. I feel I’m not wasting time on one single lure for three or four hours like I used to. Seems like no skunks around then. 😂
 

So the last couple times I went out, I ended my days around 7-730 pm and the bass were hitting like every time I would cast back out after a catch. And I was using 2 poles. 1 with Texas rigged GP senko and the other wacky rigged GP senko. They were hitting so good I just couldn’t leave. My wife was mad because I forgot to leave living room lights on for dog and was late for dinner. I got selfish and couldn’t help myself. I rarely get a chance to get out because of chemo, so it is really enjoyable when I can. 

Also my new favorite lure to use is an under spin minnow jig with a single willow leaf blade with a keitech paddle tail trailer, so exciting and they love it. 
 

I don’t have a ton of cash to blow on multiple rods and reels so I picked a couple all in one rods that can throw multiple lures.

 

7’1. St Croix  Bass Legend Tournament casting rod MH-F (All in one)with Daiwa Tatula CT 7.3:1  

7’1  St Croix  Victory spinning rod MH-F (Max Finesse)  with Pflueger Patriarch 5.2:1

 

also have another backup rod

7’0 St Croix Triumph spinning rod M-F with Pflueger President

 

I really enjoy my main rods exclusively. I am considering upgrading my Tatula CT at bass pro trade in event in spring but not sure what to get. Was thinking maybe a Tatula Elite or a Zillion. Definitely do not want to spend over $400 for that upgrade. 

5 hours ago, FLYING HIGH said:

Also my new favorite lure to use is an under spin minnow jig with a single willow leaf blade with a keitech paddle tail trailer, so exciting and they love it. 

 

That's my go-to lure.

 

5 hours ago, FLYING HIGH said:

I’ve started a long 16 week chemo treatment plan.

 

I'm thinking a good thought for you.

 

5 hours ago, FLYING HIGH said:

So the last couple times I went out, I ended my days around 7-730 pm and the bass were hitting like every time I would cast back out after a catch.

 

So exciting! 

 

7 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

The times I did go I was just out to have fun and catch fish not caring too much about size.

 

Wise to shift gears to keep things fresh and fun.