Memorable Fishing Trips.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

As excitement is generated with the upcoming Bluegill peak in many areas, I was just wandering if there were any members that would like to share a favorite fishing trip they take every year or used to go as a child that has created a lifetime memory. For many anglers I know, these outings are the cornerstone of their love for fishing....

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

For more than twenty years of Naval service, my family and I would travel to the Pleasure Point section of the Toledo Bend Reservoir on the Louisiana side during the early Spring or Siummer after my child became school age. Prior to me entering the Navy in 1982, we were content fishing the creeks and rivers around St. Tammany in southeast Louisiana......We had only read about this flourishing bass and crappie location in the western part of the state. It was amazing to go to this lake and catch giant Largemouth, slab Crappie, giant Flathead cats and all the big Bluegill you could stand....These were the days filled with great food and good times..... Fire pits and marshmallows by night and countless tubes of crickets by day....These trips still account for my personal best Largemouth, Flathead and Crappie.......and the most bluegill I have ever caught in one day........There are many factors that prevent us from meeting there like we used to but not a day goes by that I don't think of those trips and wish I was heading there tomorrow........Good fishing just has a knack of making everything else better!

[harald kronemeyer]

My best memory as a child is going up to northern Michigan with my family every summer. We went with uncles and aunts and fished for two weeks. Pike and blusgils everyday. Spending time with my dad, uncles and cousins was the best. We started going one week and everyone decided that wasnt enough. So we saterted going 2 weeks. I love thinking back to those days especially now that my dads gone. I am going to Canada this year with my boys and i cant wait to make some more memories.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Good luck to you and your boys in Canada Harald....I bet they'll look back on it like your Northern Michigan trips.....Thanks for sharing! Look forward to some photos of your upcoming trip!

[JBplusThuy]

That sounds like my mom's childhood. Every summer, her dad (who was a great hunter and fisherman) would rent a lake cottage for the whole summer and the family would just like out there. She said it was amazing!

[dick tabbert]

Jeffrey looks like another nice lake but much bigger than your usual lakes. Looks like a lot of water but that's what I like just give me a lake map and let me go. Gives me a chance to learn the lake and I'm sure to locate many fishing spots on the lake like the structure, weed beds, sandy and muddy areas as well rock piles and what ever. Nice Lake

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

By far the biggest body of water that I've ever fished Dick....Toledo Bend is 188,000 acres at pool level and it has miles of five foot deep flats and 100 feet of water in the old Sabine River Channel.........Formed in the 60s.....

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

I used to hike into California's Los Padres National Forest with my dad and fish for trout. The hills above Ventura County were our stomping grounds - we tramped all over them with our packs, .22 pistols and fishing rods. You could still combine shooting and fishing, in those days, as you camped around the wilds. I remember eating my first fire-roasted rattle snake up there, under the glittering stars. I still have the Ruger MkI .22LR pistol I used back then.

At other times we would go down to the beach pier to fish; this was casual weekend stuff. I remember the time I caught a fish through the decking planks of the pier - a big, honkin' surf perch, too. Dad was not happy, since there was nothing we could do but cut the line and let the fish go.

Or, how about the time I dropped one of his rods in the water from atop the breakwater. He was livid, as was his custom. He was a "Dammit!" kind of man, and that's what he said. Next week we were back, and while he ran the crab trap, I RE-CAUGHT the same rod I had lost the week before.

Great memories. Thanks for asking, friend Jeff.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

The memories are what this discussion is really all about David! Thanks for sharing these with the group..........

[Bill Purmort]

One of the best was last May, took a trip with two close friends and my son to the Kingfisher Society in Laurel Hill, NC.  Spent a gob of money to do it, but can honestly say it was worth every penny. My son landed a Bass on his fly rod after making what I thought was the best cast I ever saw...probably 60 feet deep into a cove...it smashed a frog popper and weighed 5.25lb....His top 10 Bluegill went 15.8lb...it's the stuff dreams and lies are made of!

We still talk about it, and can't wait to go back.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

That's awesome Bill......it's a great place and the memories will always bond you guys.....

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

Some of my most trips I think back on would be in the swamps of Louisiana  within 50 miles of the Gulf, where every bluegill caught was well over a pound and I accidently poked about an 8 ft alligator in the ribs while sculing.Another trip was catching lots of big catfish, and I mean LOTS,overnight at a oxbow lake at Hughes ,Ar. Smallmouth fishing  memories take me to the river in the Ozarks by the Crappy Cabin where we have caught  and released 50 smallmouths in one day. Overall though the best memories I have is the times I was in the boat fishing with my DAD , He was my inspiration  and loved to catch bluegill and I have to give him the credit of teaching me ,and giving me the level of successful bluegill fishing that I experience today, Thanks Dad .   LOFR

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Thanks for sharing LOFR, I can definitely relate to the swamp fishing in Louisiana....My favorite memories are definitely the ones my dad and I have made on the water wetting a line.....Whether it be fishing at night in the Alligator Gar rodeos, down in Dulac for big Speckeled trout and Redfish, Toledo Bend on winter nights for Slab Crappies, Salt marshes in Louisiana for giant Gills and Goggle-eye or where ever our fishing desires take us......I'll be heading down there on March 17th and we are already talking stratedgy every night...He needs to do the prefishing becuase I'm doing the 1,150 miles to get there, etc.......Good Stuff!