First off, I am having so much fun bass fishing, I can not believe i quit for 19yrs to focus on speckled trout. In retrospect, i wish i had focused on big bass and fun fished for trout.
after a year BACK into bass fishing, I'd like to share a few ideas, pros/cons, etc.
PROS- my life spirit has been rejuvenated, simply through tackle prepping. I didn't even realize I was in a little rut. I feel as if I can catch any big trout that swims in tx waters with one rod and a small wade box of lures, day or night. That being so, very little rigging/prep work is needed to be ready for any wade, anytime of the year, day or night. Definitely not the case with bass fishing. Many days I can't wait to get home, grab a beer(s), and head to the shop to rig/re-rig, etc. Every trip spurs a new idea, a tweak, etc. My wife has told me several times to just live in the shop!!!
Going back to bass fishing, I thought surely the lakes can't be nearly as crowded as the coast.. Ha! Was I ever wrong. Where are all these people coming from?? Anyway, unlike coastal anglers, who somehow need to fillet every single legal fish, I notice most bass anglers do a good job of releasing fish for another day. Bass fishing, overall, has been pretty good for me in the last 13 months back. I still don't understand those that jeopardize bass just to have a 5 fish pic w/out even being in a trmnt???????? Irressponsible at best.
A couple of weeks ago I went to a lake I had never seen before, poked around for two days by myself, and landed 11 bass over 5lbs, with the largest being 9.1lbs. The next day in the tournament, at a great little place from the day before, I landed a 9.47lb right off the bat!! I think my partner, who is a fairly serious bass fisherman, was as proud of me as I was!! I have landed many giant speckled trout in the xtreme's, poc freezeouts, pluggers, specktaculars, tx trt series, Bash's, etc, but I'm as proud of that bass as any of them, at it was only 9lbs.
When you get home from bass fishing, just back into the shop, plug in, and you are done!!! No trailer/boat washing, no motor flushing, no rod rinsing, no lure box rinsing etc.
Just like the salt crowd, I have met a few really good people, and feel lucky to now be friends with.
My back has yet to get sore from bass fishing, even dark to dark outings. Wading through the mud is a booger.
CONS- My wife and daughter don't really care for bass fishing. They like to drift around for trt/reds, and even wade with me from time to time. They love to get out on spoil banks/islands etc. and treasure hunt.
Standing on the deck of a bass boat is HOT compared to wading!
Bass fisherman are me most rude, lack of class, selfish group of outdoorsmen that I've come across! Shameful bunch. I DO NOT remember it so when i fished all across TX in the 80's-2001 when I sold my bass boat. I have never hired a guide(fresh or salt, discounting the Fl. key guides on vacations), groveled of solicited for fishing info. etc. I love finding fish my way, away from anyone else. I know where fish are, most of the time, but rarely go there to fish for them, as I am more interested in finding new stuff, exploring. I can't count how many times in the last year that someone idled a 50yd diam. circle around me as I was out in the middle of nowhere.. That's 25 yds from me, 360 degrees. No shame, whatsoever. Don't get me wrong, I've had many a tower boat do a 25 yd drive by to see if I had a fish on my stringer, but no where as frequently.
The 19 yr hiatus from bass fishing pretty much destroyed my chances of ever being a GREAT bass angler. (this really hits home, and hurts to think upon)
Casting a plug for trout often yields a drag ripping redfish, a sky bound snook, a lonesome flounder, among a few. It really keeps the day interesting. Flipping a jig/creature bait to rocks/trees all day is great when your are really catching them, or a big one here/there. If not, it's a grind. The guy i'm fishing with in a few trmnts. says God invented saltwater fishing so everyone can catch a fish, and bass fishing to separate the men from the boys!
my most memorable day this year, I landed 66 bass, although the heaviest was only 4.5lbs while spotlocked. Never touched the trolling motor! here is a screenshot!
I enjoy many of you fella's posts, and wish you all a safe/fun 2022 on the water.
Moritz Chevrolet - 9101 Camp Bowie W Blvd, Fort Worth, TX - Monte Coon (817) 696-2003
Bass fisherman are me most rude, lack of class, selfish group of outdoorsmen that I've come across! Shameful bunch. I DO NOT remember it so when i fished all across TX in the 80's-2001 when I sold my bass boat. I have never hired a guide(fresh or salt, discounting the Fl. key guides on vacations), groveled of solicited for fishing info. etc. I love finding fish my way, away from anyone else. I know where fish are, most of the time, but rarely go there to fish for them, as I am more interested in finding new stuff, exploring. I can't count how many times in the last year that someone idled a 50yd diam. circle around me as I was out in the middle of nowhere.. That's 25 yds from me, 360 degrees. No shame, whatsoever. Don't get me wrong, I've had many a tower boat do a 25 yd drive by to see if I had a fish on my stringer, but no where as frequently.
Between the first extracted quote and this one, it's certainly sounding a might judgemental in here. I am certain they were circling you, because they just knew you were on the juice... SMH. I doubt there is any other plausible explanation, and I am sure you're right that it happens all the time...
Welcome back, none-the-less!
Don't mind me, I just relish...
Last edited by David Burton; 05/30/2205:56 PM.
David Burton 2015 Skeeter FX 21 +Ultrex +Helix 12 (x3) +Mega360 +MegaLive
Having owned a beach front house on one of the best fishing stretches of Galveston Island there is for the last 11 years (SanLuis Pass), I can tell ya that wade fisherman are the REAL trash of the water. I hate watching them in front of my house and I hate seeing the piles of trash and drink cans/bottles all over the beach. I bought the place for my wife and kids…they love the beach. Me? I’m a bass fisherman that will fish every and any tournament I can get to. I have yet to see a bass angler throw trash everywhere, tear up the banks with their girly looking jeeps, and basically be a nuisance. Does it get crowded sometimes on a lake? Yep. Does it piss me off? Not usually. I have never had a boat circle me to see what I’m fishing. I have had them come in on me, then realize I wasn’t who they thought I was and apologized and left.
The world is getting more and more crowded every day. The number of people buying boats is crazy. It ain’t gonna get better. My suggestion to you is to get used to fishing around people. It ain’t like you got 1000’s miles of coastline to wander in. It’s a lake It has finite numbers of good fishing structure and cover. You ain’t the first to find ANYTHING. Someone beat you to it, that’s a fact. You might have been fishing a brush pile that they made. Or they may have just been bent pole pattern fishing. Either way, you won. Haha
Don’t let the little stuff get to you. Enjoy your time on the water…before it gets even worse.
you are absolutely right about the trash chunkers. i can honestly say that me/we(if not a trmnt day/prefishing) just about always fill a corn bag or two up with trash after a long shoreline wade. i met a fella on a deer lease about 15 yrs ago, and we hunted together 13 yrs. i finally wound up taking him fishing last yr for the 1st time. i put us up for two nights at the bluff, my truck,dsl, boat, rods/reels, etc. it did not concern me one iota. but the 1st am out i notice him throw a coke can and wrapper(of course it was a honey bun) overboard. i circle back over to get it, and it was an awkward, quit run to the next wade. well, he does that over and over for the remainder of the trip. i hadn't answered my phone a single time since we got back to the ramp. my wife never cared for him, but i wasn't looking for an excuse. i take pride in picking up what little trash i find on the 8/9 lakes i've been fishing. dang sure don't need a corn bag, sometimes just a zip lock
After years of reading forums, any time I’m cruising along changing screens or looking at my map, and I come across another bass fisherman, I purposely stop messing with my graph so I don’t end up the subject of hate on a forum. Pretty sad really but I just know that’s what people think you’re doing even if it’s something I would never do.
I dont even start fishing until I have noticed a boat sitting for a little while and then I like to graph around them at least 6-7 times in a circle to see what they are on. The whole time I am circling, I like to keep dropping waypoints with the tone turned all the way up on the lowrance. Then I throw my sneaky sauced up little bait right in the same cast zone and scream at them "this is a community hole" and create the fight all over with KVD and Iconelli. To this day, not a single boat has recreated the moment and I just find this unfortunate since it was such a great seen in the bass fishing world. I thought this is what bass fishing was all about. My favorite trick though, going and talking to them for awhile, idling around so my motor is pointed right in there cast zone and taking off hot foot pegged. I just dirty up the water and bait fish a smidge. I have heard boat traffic can create a big bite, just helping out those fellow anglers on the water. I am shocked no one else does this. Thought this was all just common courtesy? No? Man sounds like I have been doing it all wrong. Oh well, I have fun with it, I have caught a few in my life time and I make sure and livewell all 20-40 I catch in a single day, put em on a stringer and take a pile pic for the gram, fb, tweeters, and snappedchats for all my friends to see how good I am. Then I let them all go in my favorite holes on the lake. Only lost 2-3 doing this and it really makes me practice how to keep them alive in the livewell for those big tournament days. Never really understood anyone who tried to keep a bass to eat, I would think they are like eating coyotes in the hunting world, but some people in the world eat dogs... so taste buds are very different among many souls. I guess I could of probably swallowed a bass down when I had covid but god hasn't blessed me with another chance to catch the bat virus, so taste buds are back intact.
Just kidding, glad you are back on the water and catching big bass. Welcome back to the community after a 19 year break and as far as people circling, never has it happened to me. I have seen guys purposely dirty up water when a big fish is on the bed so they aren't seen or found by other anglers during the spawn. Otherwise, I have always been treated with respect from fellow bass anglers and I try my best to do the same. Only one time have I ever competed for water in an area and it was the juice, I took second and the other guy took first in the tournament. Despite us being literally on the same hole, we managed to get through it together in a friendly way. I shook his hand at the end of the day, patted him on the shoulder and congratulated him. I am not making a living at this sport and each and every weekend I am on the water, I am just happy to be there and not in front of a computer for work.
I still don't understand those that jeopardize bass just to have a 5 fish pic w/out even being in a trmnt???????? Irressponsible at best.
Thats the elitist attitude that so many people despise about tournament fishermen. Its some how irressponsible to put fish in the live well for pictures but its OK to do it for money. Give me a break!
I am also a tackle junky. If I can't go fihsing many times I will just go to a tackle shop so I can peruse the aisles in search of the next secret weapon.
If I can be of any help to you let me know. I love to talk bass fishing with folks that love it.
