OK, So Tell Us About Your ...

"go-bassn" wrote in message
...
...best bass trip of 2004.

Everyone?

Happy & Healthy Holidays to You All!

--
Warren

http://www.warrenwolk.com
Http://www.tri-statebassmasters.com
2004 NJ B.A.S.S. Federation State Champions



Largemouth: I'd have to say an early March trip to Falls of the Neuse Lake
(known locally just as Falls Lake, North of Raleigh NC). Hit the water just
as sun was breaking and by 2 PM had boated 15 fish between me and my partner
for the day (not a tourney situation). Seems like every spot we went that
day we managed to catch at least 1 fish. I got my 04 season record 8.7 lb
fish that day and my partner (good friend and neighbor) caught his first 10+
lb bass that day (10.5). It was a great day to be alive. Most of those fish
were caught on small (1/4 ounce maybe?) chrome Rat-L-Traps, as the water was
still chilly and was stained up pretty good. We measured up and photographed
my buddies' hawg and a nice repro hangs in his den of her today while she is
presumably still "out there somewhere" swimming around..

Striped: A tie. Went to Kerr Lake (Buggs Island, NC/VA line) early in the
season and mopped up, don't even know how many we boated, likely just shy of
25 that day. Largest one tipped the Berkley scale at just over 15 lbs. That
was my first experience catching those fish on "Bucktails" and other jigs
like the Crippl'd Shad. Up to then we had always slow trolled live shad for
them. This was also the first time I can say I caught and landed a fish from
a depth greater than 100' (right in front of the dam, which releases the
Roanoke River to run down to Lake Gaston IIRC).

Also, later in the Spring we went for Stripers out at the coast (where they
are called Rockfish more often than not) and ended up in my neighbor's boat
this time (I have the bass boat, he has the 23' Grady White). Some locals
told us the rockfish were nailing the "Stretches" out in the Oregon Inlet.
So we spent the rest of that day/night looking for the "Stretches" (turned
out to be the deep diving Mann's cranker know as the Magnum Stretch series)
since the wind was coming from the NE and the next day called for a shift to
wind from the West (a must for inlet fishing at the Grave Yard of the
Atlantic). Went out that next morning with a new collection of 25'+ diving
crankbaits, enjoying the nice Westerly that had the ocean and the inlet
laying relatively flat, and again mopped up. This time the fish were
enormous (to us). We each boated fish over 35 lbs that day. We kept a couple
total of the 20#ers for the table, and I took some photos of my largest one
(37#) so one day maybe I can get a repro done. I am relatively sure that is
the largest fish I have ever caught, fought and landed in my life. I have
boated several large king mackeral before, but none of them broached the 30
lb mark if I had to guess. All I can say about that day is thank goodness I
was already a Power Pro convert. The rig ended up being Power Pro line with
mono "shock" leaders at the bait. We tried mono-only rigs that day and lost
every fish we hooked on them, even using 30# Big Game Trilene (our go-to
sal****er line).

(Our "sal****er" striped record here in NC is 60#0oz, fres****er is over
54#, and our largemouth record is 15#14oz, so no records were threatened or
harmed in any of these tales...though we did keep a couple of our big
stripers from the beach...lol)

Next week, Warren, you need to solicit "worst days" stories, so I can share
with y'all about the day I went out in perfect weather, perfect water
temp/clarity, to my local and most favorite lake, Harris Resevoir (where I
caught my personal best 10# bass, and caught nothing but 5 chain pickerals
and a mudfish...). The pro that runs this website fishes there often and has
one of Harris' 10# bass in a photo with him on the front page:

http://www.carolinaoutdoors.net/

He also took his "friend" Ken Cook out there once and had a decent day:

http://www.carolinaoutdoors.net/kencookHarris.html

Not a bad lake to be a cooling lake and only displace 4500 acres. It's about
20 minutes from the house, so needless to say, I'm there more often than
anywhere else. Never freezes and the winter bassin is great there (no
PWCers...). Hang in around the cooling flow/lagoon and one can find all the
fish you want if you can brave the air temps, and entice them into actually
biting once you find them. I caught my lifetime best hawg in a February
there.

"go-bassn" wrote in message
...
...best bass trip of 2004.

Everyone?

Happy & Healthy Holidays to You All!

--
Warren

http://www.warrenwolk.com
Http://www.tri-statebassmasters.com
2004 NJ B.A.S.S. Federation State Champions



Largemouth: I'd have to say an early March trip to Falls of the Neuse Lake
(known locally just as Falls Lake, North of Raleigh NC). Hit the water just
as sun was breaking and by 2 PM had boated 15 fish between me and my partner
for the day (not a tourney situation). Seems like every spot we went that
day we managed to catch at least 1 fish. I got my 04 season record 8.7 lb
fish that day and my partner (good friend and neighbor) caught his first 10+
lb bass that day (10.5). It was a great day to be alive. Most of those fish
were caught on small (1/4 ounce maybe?) chrome Rat-L-Traps, as the water was
still chilly and was stained up pretty good. We measured up and photographed
my buddies' hawg and a nice repro hangs in his den of her today while she is
presumably still "out there somewhere" swimming around..

Striped: A tie. Went to Kerr Lake (Buggs Island, NC/VA line) early in the
season and mopped up, don't even know how many we boated, likely just shy of
25 that day. Largest one tipped the Berkley scale at just over 15 lbs. That
was my first experience catching those fish on "Bucktails" and other jigs
like the Crippl'd Shad. Up to then we had always slow trolled live shad for
them. This was also the first time I can say I caught and landed a fish from
a depth greater than 100' (right in front of the dam, which releases the
Roanoke River to run down to Lake Gaston IIRC).

Also, later in the Spring we went for Stripers out at the coast (where they
are called Rockfish more often than not) and ended up in my neighbor's boat
this time (I have the bass boat, he has the 23' Grady White). Some locals
told us the rockfish were nailing the "Stretches" out in the Oregon Inlet.
So we spent the rest of that day/night looking for the "Stretches" (turned
out to be the deep diving Mann's cranker know as the Magnum Stretch series)
since the wind was coming from the NE and the next day called for a shift to
wind from the West (a must for inlet fishing at the Grave Yard of the
Atlantic). Went out that next morning with a new collection of 25'+ diving
crankbaits, enjoying the nice Westerly that had the ocean and the inlet
laying relatively flat, and again mopped up. This time the fish were
enormous (to us). We each boated fish over 35 lbs that day. We kept a couple
total of the 20#ers for the table, and I took some photos of my largest one
(37#) so one day maybe I can get a repro done. I am relatively sure that is
the largest fish I have ever caught, fought and landed in my life. I have
boated several large king mackeral before, but none of them broached the 30
lb mark if I had to guess. All I can say about that day is thank goodness I
was already a Power Pro convert. The rig ended up being Power Pro line with
mono "shock" leaders at the bait. We tried mono-only rigs that day and lost
every fish we hooked on them, even using 30# Big Game Trilene (our go-to
sal****er line).

(Our "sal****er" striped record here in NC is 60#0oz, fres****er is over
54#, and our largemouth record is 15#14oz, so no records were threatened or
harmed in any of these tales...though we did keep a couple of our big
stripers from the beach...lol)

Next week, Warren, you need to solicit "worst days" stories, so I can share
with y'all about the day I went out in perfect weather, perfect water
temp/clarity, to my local and most favorite lake, Harris Resevoir (where I
caught my personal best 10# bass, and caught nothing but 5 chain pickerals
and a mudfish...). The pro that runs this website fishes there often and has
one of Harris' 10# bass in a photo with him on the front page:

http://www.carolinaoutdoors.net/

He also took his "friend" Ken Cook out there once and had a decent day:

http://www.carolinaoutdoors.net/kencookHarris.html

Not a bad lake to be a cooling lake and only displace 4500 acres. It's about
20 minutes from the house, so needless to say, I'm there more often than
anywhere else. Never freezes and the winter bassin is great there (no
PWCers...). Hang in around the cooling flow/lagoon and one can find all the
fish you want if you can brave the air temps, and entice them into actually
biting once you find them. I caught my lifetime best hawg in a February
there.

"go-bassn" wrote in message
...
...best bass trip of 2004.

Everyone?

Happy & Healthy Holidays to You All!

--
I only got out three times this season because of a torn calf muscle early
in the year but all three of those were my best trips. They made me realize
that fishing is much more than just fishing to me. It is therapy. It is the
best way I know of to just let the weight of everyday responsibilities
disappear. It is an escape from the day to day pressures where all that
matters to me is the stillness of the water and the beauty of the
surroundings. It is a way to get in touch with my inner self and make peace
with whatever is not right in my world at that given time. The most
important thing it taught me was that I will never be without fishing in my
life until the day they pry my cold dead hand from the rod and reel.

Good fishing all,
Phil

"go-bassn" wrote in message
...
...best bass trip of 2004.

Everyone?

Happy & Healthy Holidays to You All!

--
I only got out three times this season because of a torn calf muscle early
in the year but all three of those were my best trips. They made me realize
that fishing is much more than just fishing to me. It is therapy. It is the
best way I know of to just let the weight of everyday responsibilities
disappear. It is an escape from the day to day pressures where all that
matters to me is the stillness of the water and the beauty of the
surroundings. It is a way to get in touch with my inner self and make peace
with whatever is not right in my world at that given time. The most
important thing it taught me was that I will never be without fishing in my
life until the day they pry my cold dead hand from the rod and reel.

Good fishing all,
Phil

Fishing with my 4 year old and getting skunked for the better part of two
hours only to have me land a 5 lber and him a 6 pounder within 10 minutes of
leaving.. That's a tough one to beat for years to come I'm sure
"Philip Goodwin" wrote in message
...

"go-bassn" wrote in message
...
...best bass trip of 2004.

Everyone?

Happy & Healthy Holidays to You All!

--
I only got out three times this season because of a torn calf muscle early
in the year but all three of those were my best trips. They made me
realize
that fishing is much more than just fishing to me. It is therapy. It is
the
best way I know of to just let the weight of everyday responsibilities
disappear. It is an escape from the day to day pressures where all that
matters to me is the stillness of the water and the beauty of the
surroundings. It is a way to get in touch with my inner self and make
peace
with whatever is not right in my world at that given time. The most
important thing it taught me was that I will never be without fishing in
my
life until the day they pry my cold dead hand from the rod and reel.

Good fishing all,
Phil

Fishing with my 4 year old and getting skunked for the better part of two
hours only to have me land a 5 lber and him a 6 pounder within 10 minutes of
leaving.. That's a tough one to beat for years to come I'm sure
"Philip Goodwin" wrote in message
...

"go-bassn" wrote in message
...
...best bass trip of 2004.

Everyone?

Happy & Healthy Holidays to You All!

--
I only got out three times this season because of a torn calf muscle early
in the year but all three of those were my best trips. They made me
realize
that fishing is much more than just fishing to me. It is therapy. It is
the
best way I know of to just let the weight of everyday responsibilities
disappear. It is an escape from the day to day pressures where all that
matters to me is the stillness of the water and the beauty of the
surroundings. It is a way to get in touch with my inner self and make
peace
with whatever is not right in my world at that given time. The most
important thing it taught me was that I will never be without fishing in
my
life until the day they pry my cold dead hand from the rod and reel.

Good fishing all,
Phil

On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 00:29:06 -0500, "go-bassn"
sent into the ether:

...best bass trip of 2004.

Everyone?

Happy & Healthy Holidays to You All!


This summer I took my 4 year old grandson Alex out in the boat fishing
for the first time. He had never been fishing or in a boat in the
water. You have to understand this is the kid that picks up sticks
and when you ask him what he is doing he answers fishing! I have
described it here before so I will spare you all but the answer he had
when, after 2 hours or so, I asked if he wanted to leave. He looked
up at me and said in a dead serious voice, Just one more grandpa, can
I catch just one more?

Needless to say he spent 5 plus hours catching Bluegills, Perch,
Crappies and some nice 1 1/2 to 2 pound Bass.

Second was the Classic here this summer. Great guys, great boats,
great time!!!

Good health, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

BTW, at Thanksgiving dinner I was mistaken by a 2 1/2 year old for
Santa. HO HO HO

Remove the x for e-mail reply
www.outdoorfrontiers.com

On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 00:29:06 -0500, "go-bassn"
sent into the ether:

...best bass trip of 2004.

Everyone?

Happy & Healthy Holidays to You All!


This summer I took my 4 year old grandson Alex out in the boat fishing
for the first time. He had never been fishing or in a boat in the
water. You have to understand this is the kid that picks up sticks
and when you ask him what he is doing he answers fishing! I have
described it here before so I will spare you all but the answer he had
when, after 2 hours or so, I asked if he wanted to leave. He looked
up at me and said in a dead serious voice, Just one more grandpa, can
I catch just one more?

Needless to say he spent 5 plus hours catching Bluegills, Perch,
Crappies and some nice 1 1/2 to 2 pound Bass.

Second was the Classic here this summer. Great guys, great boats,
great time!!!

Good health, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

BTW, at Thanksgiving dinner I was mistaken by a 2 1/2 year old for
Santa. HO HO HO

Remove the x for e-mail reply
www.outdoorfrontiers.com

On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 00:29:06 -0500, "go-bassn"
wrote:

...best bass trip of 2004.

Everyone?

Happy & Healthy Holidays to You All!

Had to be the day I caught a 5.5 lb bass on the outside edge of a
small pad bed on a jig-n-pig. I decided to try another pad bed and on
the way threw the jig next to a little stick-up and caught a 6.5 lb
bass. Big bass for a shallow 57 acre pond.
Richard g
www.bassstalkers.com

On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 00:29:06 -0500, "go-bassn"
wrote:

...best bass trip of 2004.

Everyone?

Happy & Healthy Holidays to You All!

Had to be the day I caught a 5.5 lb bass on the outside edge of a
small pad bed on a jig-n-pig. I decided to try another pad bed and on
the way threw the jig next to a little stick-up and caught a 6.5 lb
bass. Big bass for a shallow 57 acre pond.
Richard g
www.bassstalkers.com