Fave memory of 2011?

[Deitz Dittrich]

Ok, were getting to the end of the year.. What was your fave bass memory of 2011?

I'll start.. . ..

And this is painful for me..

Fishing a denny super 30 on Whitefish with Cecil.. I had the same weight head, the same somewhat color plastic... but could not BUY a bite for the life of me.. I have always been the guy who says.. Throw it in the right place, wiggle it right, set the hook, kind of guy.. But this day.. was different..still to this very moment, I have no clue what I did wrong.. maybe my fruit of the looms were too tight.. but Cecil put a dozen fish in the boat before I had time to even wonder what hit me. While this seems as though a HORRIBLE best moment. I strive to get better at catching these silly little green things, and at that moment everything I had thought or learned went out the door.. I'm still perplexed at what happened. But can live with it..

Ok, I lied.. the 109 bass caught in one spot, without moving the boat was KING.. I could do no wrong.. arms hurt, fingers hurt, thumbs bled.. That was my high point.. What was yours?

[delmuts]

Mine would have to be from three different times, but! I managed to catch three smallies on the cedar that were OVER 20 inches. Two were kind of a disappointment as they barely put up a fight. The third had me all over the place for a few minutes! My large mouth fishing was almost non exsistent, as they closed the two main places i fish for most of the summer.

[Superduty]

I was barely able to fish in 2011 becuase of my injuries so I don't have much to draw from. I "guided" my son and his cousin on a smallmouth trip and they both were able to catch smallies over 20". My son fishes a lot and has caught quite a few that size but his cousin doesn't get to fish at all and has some disabilities that make it tough. The "guide" got the boat too close to the fish and I swear up and down that a 20" smallie swam up off it's bed in 5 feet of water and ate his grub with it dangling over the side of the boat just inches under the surface!

[Hester]

Mine would have to be joining a league for the first time this year and coming up just ounces short of winning the first event we fished in.

[RumRiverRat]

Finding a lake that you can catch a bass almost every cast using a Yum Money Frog or other soft plastic top water frog from about 2 hours before sunrise until about 45 minutes after sunrise.

The real frenzy is just before sunrise.

On this same lake you can pitch a Soft Plastic Stick Bait to the edge of a weed mat and catch a fish almost every pitch.

The average fish is 15" to 16" but the occasional 18" to 20" keeps it interesting.

[Juan Grande]

...and we haven't even fished it in the spring yet Rum.

[RK]

Hiya -

Easy ones for me - I have 2. And bookends to the summer kind of...

First was opening day of bass season. Fishing with my son, who's a 1st grader and a fishing nut. Were on our favorite smallmouth lake, catching a few on grubs, and he pulled a little paddle tail swimbait out of his tackle box and asked if he could try it. Great guide and knowledgeable angler that I am, I tried to talk him out of it. He insisted so I tied it on. Of course you know what happened next... First cast, two cranks, and 20" of smallmouth comes flying out of the water. As he's reeling it in he said "I knew it would work, Dad..."

Fast forward to late September and Ethan and I are on another lake one evening, fishing a shallow flat that had been holding some smallies. We're catching quite a few, and I was looking for a topwater to give Ethan to try. I was thinking a popper or tiny torpedo, but E pulled out a little Bomber wakebait, and said "I want to try this." Tied it on...total mayhem. He caught half a dozen in about 15 casts, and the peanut of the bunch was a 17 incher. Biggest was 20.5. I was so busy helping him land fish I never picked up a rod.

Couple great memories to get me through the winter for sure...

Cheers,

RK

[RumRiverRat]

...and we haven't even fished it in the spring yet Rum.

It might be Bass Opener 2012 destination.

We know where the rock pile is now.

I have had dreams about the Fish staging on that rock pile, moving up the point into that shallow bay and sitting on beds.

I am hoping for a warm spring and good early weed growth!

Although I do think thinner weeds early would open up a bunch of other techniques. Shallow Cranks and Lipless Cranks and twitching Flukes come to mind!

[BTL]

Heading up to MN on opening weekend for 2 weeks of non-stop fishing on a bunch of different lakes.

That trip is my favorite memory of the year, every year.

Is it Spring yet?

[smalliehunter]

as hester stated we joined a league and did very well in it, which is awesome. but then again how can i forget about my first bass over 6 pounds. that was also very exciting. looking to break 7 pounds this year.

[fishuhalik]

hard to narrow it down to 1 so i'll share my top 2.

my 4yr old son got his first bass all by himself, wasn't much but a 2lb bass is like a whale when you're only 3' tall and used to catching 5" sunnies! he caught it off my folks dock and i'm pretty sure the neighbors on the other side of the lake heard him squeeling!

also, with the late year we had i was able to get into spawning bass up north on my favorite lake. not much better than sight fishing big bass on beds with lizards on a 70 degree sunny day, secluded lake, flat calm, in a canoe, with not a person or house in sight.

[Cecil]

Funny, I think mine is the same as Deitz's first memory..

[Doufish2]

I have 2 and both on the same lake. Mid June, loading the boat after a good morning, jumping from my boat to the tailgate of my truck, slipping, falling backwards and breaking my leg and tearing up my knee. 2nd was in September, finally able to fish again, watching the most beautiful sunrise, hitting the throttle and taking out the lower unit on a rock pile that I did not know was there!!!! 2012 will be a better year!!!

[Juan Grande]

Ouch, tough season Doufish. Things will be better this year.

[Superduty]

I don't post many pics. Hope this works!

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[Ray Esboldt]

Late October this year, I towed my boat up to my parents for storage. It was nice, and I needed to perform some trailer maintenance, so I dumped the boat and tied off to the dock. I had 90 minutes to spare after I was done with the trailer, so I fished it out. Ended up with two over 5lbs. Not a bad way to end the season.

I should probably fish more in the fall.

[SledNeck]

favorite memory?

pulling about 30# of bass off one log one after the other

[Larson15]

Had a few good memories for this past year but I think my favorite was catching a 6.2, 4, and a 3 from under the same dock in 3 consecutive casts right in front of a pontoon with 7-8 people on it. My other good memory was catching two 3lbrs on a DT-20.

[bassfshin24]

My favorite memory of 2011 was taking the wife out on the Croix and finding a school of feeding smallies. It was game on with topwater for about an hour straight. It was great seeing her reel them in one after another.

[Basschaser]

Favorite moment was watching my 4 year old kid catch a 23 incher on a jigworm (unfortunately it was a walleye and NOT a bass)!

[fishn]

It happened on one of the hottest days of the summer in July. The fish werent cooperating for us. We fished weedlines, points, humps and docks with an occasional twelve incher. At about 1pm we decided that nothing was working so might as well try and fish something we've never fished before. Searched the rod locker and took out a telescopic 7'6 extra heavy gloomis rod equipped with a revo with 50lb braid with a 1 ounce jig. This rod has been out of use due to its size and weight but today I decided to use it and punch milfoil in 3-5ft of water. Fished for an hour with nothing then all of a sudden 10-15 fish 2.5lbs-4.5lbs in a 25 yard stretch. Fished areas similar to this stretch with the same quantity and quality fish. Funny thing was we didn't see a 12 incher the rest of the day and my arm just about fell off by the time we got off the lake.

[mww24]

larson. You sure your favorite moment isn't the new cat in the driveway? that rig sure is purrrttyy. My favorite moment actually had to be bringing a 5 bass limit up through the ice on the panfish gear. it was extremely fun watching the couple 3 and 4 pounders swim to the bottom of the ice. Summer wasn't very exciting due to being busy at work.

[bemidjibasser]

My favorite 2011 memory came when I joined the Ranger boat family. Right close to that was a 48.25" musky the second week of rifle season...which made 25 muskies for the year.

[Larson15]

larson. You sure your favorite moment isn't the new cat in the driveway? that rig sure is purrrttyy. My favorite moment actually had to be bringing a 5 bass limit up through the ice on the panfish gear. it was extremely fun watching the couple 3 and 4 pounders swim to the bottom of the ice. Summer wasn't very exciting due to being busy at work.

Mww, that was definitely the highlight of my summer.

[CASTnBLAST]

Mine actually started the previous season but really took hold as my youngest boy (16) became severely hooked on bass fishing this year. Now he DVRs' all the fishing shows he can and spends what money he has on tackle...good stuff too! Lil bugger has some nicer equip than me! LOL! Now his goal is to buy a Tracker type boat so he can fish when I am busy with work. I can honestly say I've already learned a few things from him as he keeps up on all the cutting edge new technology! Just wish he would quit buggin me about installing side imaging HD and Hydrowave on my Skeeter