2017, A year in review

[Nateraz]

Hi everyone, This is going to be a summary of how my year went (gonna be a long one), from beginning to end. Feel free to post your best moments or a summary of your year below, I'd like to see how everyone else's year went! Lets get started.

 

My bass fishing this year started off quite late, I didn't even catch a fish until march 21st, which is usually right in the middle of spring for me. Well after that i went out on my next available day off and threw the swimbait for the duration of the day and stuck two fish over 5lbs, both were on the 68 special weedless rof 12 in rainbow trout. 

 

 

The next trip I went out after catching those two i got skunked, although it was just the day after. The next weekend after those two fish I got my new boat organized and took it out to the lake for her maiden voyage, it was still decently cold out but the water temps were in the low 50s so my confidence was high. That day i only had about 4 hours of fishing, for the first three hours i fished my usual run without a bite. I was loosing hope but decided to try just off of a large spawning flat and I stuck what would end up being my third biggest of the whole year. The fish ate a weedless rising son in the middle of a cast and inhaled it. 23" long and as fat as can be, that was the only fish i caught that whole day.

 

 

After that trip I was bogged down with school and work so I didn't manage any good fish for a week but was able to get away for a day and return to the lake. The day started off well with a 6lb 11oz pre spawner flipping a monster jig. After that i proceeded to catch two over 5lbs on swimbaits, one was on a weedless rising son and the other on a flash carp 250, me and my friend had almost over 30lbs for our best 5 fish that day, my biggest limit of the year.

 

 

Yet again after that trip i had a heavy load of school work to deal with so i didn't make it out for another couple weeks. The next time i was able to get out wad in mid may, just after a front had rolled through and pushed some spawning fish back off of the flats. That day i was supposed to go on a school trip, but i woke up in the morning and it was pouring rain. I know that at that time of year, a certain lake is hot with a bunch of rain so i pack up my gear and head to the lake. I started the day off by catching a bunch of small fish on conventional tackle. Around mid day i move to one of the only hard bottom spots on the lake off a small point and get a hit on my bait. I cast back to the area and reel slowly and than i get an extremely violent take. I fight the fish in through some lily pads and flip her up on the bank. She went 6lb 8oz and 22.5", the fish completely inhaled the burrito baits taquito.

 

 

After catching that fish i luckily had a 4 day weekend coming up with no plans but to fish my heart out. My friend decided to make a trip over from where he lived and we had an amazing weekend. The first day started out slow due to extremely high air temperatures, and most of the fish were spawning or pre-spawn still. We move lakes and we fished for most of the day without any signs of fish. Me and my friend make a move over to a transitional area with weeds to a line of docks and sandy bottom. First dock on this stretch I hook a large fish and she heads back under the dock, I pull her out and she slips into the net. She went 7lbs 6oz which at time was one of my biggest of the year.

 

 

After that day, we head to sleep and wake up the next day and head to another lake, where i catch two swimbait fish, one on a deps 250 and the other on a weedless rising son. Both went just over 5lbs

 

 

Later the same day, we head to another lake and we put in in the late afternoon. We get a few dinks in the day but decide to night fish. We start fishing docks once the sun goes down with topwater and some medium swimbaits. I get smashed off the end of a log with an underspin swimbait. As ewe move more into the bay I do a long cast up shallow on some rocks and my bait gets drilled, i reel the fish in and it's another 5lber. We unhook that fish and let her go, on the next cast into a similar spot i hook into another fish, but this one ends up being almost 7lbs.

 

 

After that night we end the weekend and my friend departs back home, but we make plans to fish again in two weeks. Two weeks later i'm at his place and we go smallmouth fishing, we end up catching lots of fish but no true big ones, all were on swimbaits. Biggest was just under 5lbs on a drt tiny klash.

 

 

After i get back from this trip, i wrap up school for the year and start working more throughout part of the summer. A friend of a friend asks me if i want to fish one day out of the blue and i decide to go out with him, never fished with him before just talked here and there. We dump into the lake for an evening fish. I miss a couple bites off some docks and such and decide to run over and fish a bluff wall. I put on a large spinnerbait with a 5.8" keitech trailer and first cast with it i run it along a small rock outcrop on the bluff and it gets destroyed. I reel the fish in, but she digs deep, i forgot the net that of course, i get the fish up by the surface and grab her, luckily she was too fat to jump. We measure and weigh her, she goes 4.11KG and at just under 24" my biggest of the year and, in the end, the biggest caught out of my whole province that whole year, which has been a goal of mine for a long time.

 

 

After that fish, I had to go back to work and than i had a Europe trip, to sum that up briefly, i caught some pike and wels catfish, but lost my phone in one of the canals while fishing (not going swimming in a European canal), so sadly i have almost zero pictures of any fish caught while i was there. After i return from Europe, school starts back up. I make plans to go smallmouth fishing with my friend again. Although it was slow i managed to catch a couple smallmouth, most small but one just under 5lbs, all on the 316 freestyle trout in kokanee

 

 

Throughout the rest of the fall, I struggled to catch anymore truly big bass, Me nor my friend couldn't break 6lbs once over the fall. I managed to catch lots of quality fish though from 4lbs to 5lbs on various swimbaits but mainly the deps 175 and the 8" weedless huddleston. All were on small bodies of water, I fished on some big lakes but just couldn't get on them.

 

 

Now as i see snow falling outside my house, i sit and type this up and reflect on what a good year this has been for me with the limited time i have had to fish. I am very thankfull for the year I've had as it has been my best year since 2014, with numbers of big fish. Although I did not accomplish my goal this year of 30 over 5 pounds, I feel very happy with how i did, what i learned and the memories i made this year. Without this community or the knowledge i've gained from being on this forum i feel that I would not have had this good of a year. 

Cheers to a new year

 

[mjw2121]

Big ole swamp monsters

Edited December 30, 2017 by mjw2121

[HelpMePickABobber]

Good job man. Stuff like this makes me laugh when I see those "I'm in XXX state and we don't have bass big enough for big swimbaits" posts.

Edited December 30, 2017 by HelpMePickABobber

[Nateraz]

Good job man. Stuff like this makes me laugh when I see those "I'm in XXX state and we don't have bass big enough for big swimbaits" posts.

Yea, but i do see where they're coming from. The year before this i really struggled and i fished even more than i did this year, it was quite discouraging but it's just a matter of time until things start to click

[bigpoppabass]

Great time management.

[Rogervang]

2017 has been good to you. Let's hope 2018 is better.

[surfk9]

Great Read....nice pics...congrats on great year...

[porkmeatballs]

That's a lot of fish! What a year!

[Brian C]

Awesome year. I think I'm gonna set a goal of 10 fish 5 pounds or more. I think I got 4-5 this year but that was all on conventional. Just getting into the swimbait game.

[HookdUp]

Great post

[waynem]

Some good bass up in Canada, eh?

 

Great post and congrats on a fantastic year.  That 4.11 kg translates to 9.06 pounds of monster largemouth!

[wallyc]

Congrats on the year you had ! Most people think Smallmouth when talking Canada, but, you have certainly opened our eyes and minds.

[bassbass]

Great fish

[drewmoniz]

Good stuff man! Looks like a good year. Which Fury rod you throwing the 68 weedless on? And what line?

[swole_t]

Great year bro. Lots of hawgs.