2011 Hat Trick!

At the start of the last fishing season, I had set some goals for myself. While I am by no means, a professional angler; nor do I compete in any tournaments; I still am the type of person who had wants to improve my skills in doing those things in which I will spend a lot of time. Fishing is one of those things.


When the temperature warms up, the snow melts, and the ice covered lakes begin to thaw, my mind turns to fishing, and stays there until the temperatures drop and the ground is covered in white. What about ice fishing you ask? I did it once.

Eight friends.

One ice fishing trip.

Eight hours.

One hut.

Zero fish!

I know this kind of sounded like a credit card add, but it certainly was not priceless. It was actually about $45 for 8 hours of male bonding. And by male bonding, I mean huddling with 8 dudes for warmth.

Again, I repeat, ZERO fish.

Back to the soft water...

So, with the intention of rounding out my fishing skills, and filling out my arsenal, I set three goals for myself last year:

1. This will be the Year of the Soft Plastic

2. Thou Shalt Keep a Fishing Log

3. Don't Gimme No Lip

This will be The Year of the Soft Plastic

The purpose of this goal was to become more comfortable and confident in using soft plastic baits since my friends and I tended to lean towards moving reaction baits. So, in order to add additional tools to my tacklebox, my approach to fishing was dictated by the following rules:

1. I will use soft plastics for at least 50% of a fishing outing provided that the soft plastics I have are appropriate for the targetted species. By this I mean that if I am fishing for pike before the bass season opens, I may not be able to throw soft plastics because most of my soft plastics are geared towards bass, which may not be in season (i.e. June). However, if I have soft bodied jerkbaits and swimbaits, I can throw those as they can be used for targetting both pike and bass.

2. I will start off each outing using soft plastics of some sort subject to the limitations identified in Rule 1.

3. Bass jigs will fall into the soft plastic category for the purposes of this 2011 goal since I have used bass jigs as much as I have used soft plastics.

4. Where a hard bait is working, I will attempt to find a soft plastic corollary.

This past year, I must say, I stuck to my rules like they were in the Bible. Let's recap.

1. I used soft plastic so much so that nearly all of my memorable catches last year were on soft plastics. I also found that I more consistenly caught fish when compared to my friends who were using hardbaits and reaction baits. I used my finesse rod and reel combo, and found that the finesse approach was really effective at catching fish when other approaches were not working. My bait of preference was a Strike King Caffeine Shad in pearl or baby bass colours. I would cast it out, and let it sink, then give it a few jerks, then let it sink again, repeating until the bait was at the boat. This lure proved to be my go to last year as I caught my PB bass - just shy of 4 lbs (nearly a qualifier) and a musky.

2. I always started out with a soft plastic. Early mornings, when topwater was my first choice, I threw a rage tail shad. While still a reaction bait, it fit the category of soft plastic. Other times, it was my new go to lure.

3. Unfortunately, I did not use bass jigs much at all last year, which will lead into this year's goals.

4. I constantly used soft plastics. When hardbaits were working, I threw and caught with soft plastics. This is how I gained confidence in the techniques I used.

All in all, place a check next to goal number 1.

Thou Shalt Keep a Fishing Log

Last year, I stated that I would use this blog as my fishing log.

I did this as well as I could considering my propensity to go for long stretches without blogging. I tried to maintain details of water depths, temperatures, weather conditions, cover and structure. I should strive to continue this and then to catalogue the catches to hopefully develop some long term patterns.

All in all, let's give this a check only because I actually did keep a log.

Don`t Gimme No Lip

With this goal, my intention was to become adept and confident in using the lipless crankbait. All of my success prior had been on lipped crankbaits, and I only ever half heartedly threw lipless baits. So last year, when I reached for a crankbait, I didn`t get no lip for my first crankbait out of the box.

I do not believe that I caught a single fish on lipped crankbaits last year. Early in the season, i threw lipless crankbaits when not using soft plastics or spinnerbaits. As the season progressed, I began throwing soft plastics perhaps 70% of the time, and a hodgepodge of other lures (spinnerbait mostly) for the rest of the time.

All in all, I would say that I was successful in this goal as well. I have a huge amount of confidence in lipless crankbaits now, and will include them in my regular rotation where appropriate. One thing that we did not do last year was get out during the fall to try and hit schools of bass fattening up before the winter. This time of year is supposed to be great for lipless crankbaits, and I am anxious to try it out.

All that being said, I am happy with my growth as an angler last year; so much so that I want to continue to grow and evolve. This brings us to...

Extended Hiatus

Hey all,

I apologize for my absence since July.  I had been waiting for picture in order to write up my report on our cottage trip to Buckhorn, but could not get the pic I wanted from Kakka.  I think he was jealous that I caught the big bass of the week.  We did not fish much after our August cottage trip as Musky and I had recently moved into our new townhouse in Milton, and were busy settling in. 

Anyhow, in October, I had a bleed in my eyes, rendering my partially blind.  To those who do not know, i am diabetic, and had been suffering from a complication of diabetes called retinal neuropathy.  Essentially, the blood vessels in my were damaged due to the diabetes, causing the eye to generate new weaker blood vessels which are prone to bleeding.  I have had bleeds in my eyes since before I was married, but this was different.  I had bleeds in both eyes, making it difficult to see.  Imagine looking at everything through frosted glass.  That was what it was like for me for a little while.

For obvious reasons, fishing was not high on my priority list.  Anyhow, some surgery (pics to come) and with the warming weather, fishing is again on the mind. 

More to come, including a recap of my goals from last year, as well as the cottage trip to Bockhorn, and a slew of new fish recipes.

Hugs and European Kisses