Favorite Fishing Memory of 2011

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

 What trip or fishing moment stands out from 2011?...For me it was early this past June when my dad and nephew came in for a visit....We had made a few short afternoon trips early in June and my vacation started the afternoon of the ninth...A coworker recommended a location that I hadn't been before and I brought home the idea of trying it out the morning of June 10th.....We went against our best judgement and away from honey holes that have produced for years including this Spring as well...We got down to the river and headed out at first light equipped with instinct and energy. Amazingly enough, the first spot we went produced 90 big Coppernose and Warmouth by 8:00 a.m....We talk about these things all year and discuss struggles and success that we experience....But when you're able to experience this type of fishing with your closest fishing partners it becomes priceless.....June 10th of 2011 is a day I will always remember and talk about......Something about catching bluegill that can bring you together like that....It's not how many or how big, it's about the great experience we all had together.....Too Cool !!!!!!!!!!

[Dwayne Denison]

Good story, Jeff. Seems when I fish some honey hole, someone tells me about. I always get skunked.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Thanks Dwayne, you have to get lucky sometimes and with 7,000 people working where I do, I could have easily missed this guy and started my vacation without talking to him....I have also been skunked behind an "article in the paper" or "tackle shop testimony" but that's part of fishing .......LOL  

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

My favorite memory has to be catching a nice LM bass on the wrong lure - with a broken fishing pole.

I inherited all my dads fishing stuff in the last year and going through it, I found several, small South Bend "Super Duper" lures. You avid trout fishermen may know this little U-shaped trinket as a top producer of fish like trout, salmon and steelhead. But I didn't know that at the time. I just tied it on, and started casting away at any likely spot.

Now comes the bad part. Unfortunately, I had also spooled my light spinning reel with too much 4 lb test. I cast once, twice and the third time - WHAMMO, I rat-nested the spool! The ensuing snarl looked like Dee Snider on a bad hair day!

In my usual fashion, I started cussing like a sailor. Having actually been in the NAVY, I might add that I am pretty good at it. So with a lurid flow of expletives going, I started pulling and stripping that tangle like a dervish. Then something magical happened.

With a lure in the water and a wrestling match on the other end, the commotion must have given that lure just the right action, at just the right time. I was wrangling with my line when I noticed my rod tip acting funny... I figured that on top of the line tangle , I had now snagged on something. Naturally, I increased my verbal vitreol. The more cussing the better, right?.

That's when the rod took on a life of it's own and nearly leaped from my hands. You guessed it... I had a fish on!

Standing on the side of the river, ankle deep in water and muck with a useless fishing rod, I was battling a decent fish of some sort.

After a bit of quick thinking, I did what any savvy angler would do - I tossed my rod into the nearby weeds and started hand lining that sucker! Hand over hand, I could feel the tug and fight of a fish not wanting to be caught. It was a primordial struggle, man against beast, with only a gossamer thread between us.

Alright, it wasn't like that.... Actually, I would just be damn lucky to get the thing close enough to see it without some other disaster befalling me.

As it happened, luck prevailed. With careful effort, I finally landed the fish, a fat little Edisto River bass. I laid it in my hand, it's head at my fingertips... it's tail in the crook of my elbow. In these upper reaches of black water, hardly 20 yards wide, thats a nice enough fish, I assure you.

And wouldn't you know it, I even got my lure back.

So, my most memorable fishing moment for 2011 was catching a nice bass, using a broken rig, with a dinky trout lure.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

I was wandering what all the thunder was that day when the weather man said 0 % chance of rain...LOL  ....I have never got a bird's nest, I promise!!!!!!! I have never got a cut in my hand from hand lining......and I have oceanfront property in Arizona too....Good stuff...

[cal okeefe]

mine would have to be a great day crappie fishing with my father in law.. my father in law fishes but usually a few times a year.. early in october i had went fishing with my son and as he was busy FOOLING around catching bugs and bullfrogs i reeled in 17 real nice crappies.. so the next weekend i took my father in law and man he had a blast.. we caught 29 crappie smallest was around 12 inches.. we also caught a few bluegills and bass.. but it was a great time and he was like the cheshire cat .. grinning from ear to ear... so that made me happy that he had a great time.. and by the way just them small amount of fish we cleaned.. filled up 2 gallon size freezer bags and half of another.. and of course i let him keep them all..lol

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

I fish alone often living away from most of my family but it is fun and rewarding to get friends and family on some fish especially the ones that don't go very often...Crappie and Bluegill can really offer a great time when you find a pattern working like you had going and you shared your catch as well...Good times!

[Mark Stine]

It's all good even the day I got skunked on the Northwest river.  First time in 30 years and thats no BS (for all you exsailors) . 

I don't know what day it was, in early May I think.  My daughter is  still learning to use the fly rod and got a day off work and somehow talked my into going fishing.  We went for bream of course!

The weather looked less than promising with rain and thunder showers forecast.  We questioned our sanity as we got to the landing a little late, like 8:00 am and fished hard for about two hours with only a few fish and no keepers.  About 10:00 I was getting a little desperate so we popped up the trolling motor and motored up to a hotspot near a local park.  We entered a feeder creek to fish.  When the fly line looped out over the stained water of the feeder creek I'm not sure those chernobyl ants even touched the water before two  nine inch bream slammed them!  We recast into the same area and BAM! two more nice ones. After getting 8 or nine keepers we continued up the creek and had repeats in of that action.  It started to drizzle off and on and we periodically were under the umbrella.  I planned on being home for lunch but the action was so hot we lost track of time.  The wake up call came about two pm when a sizzling streak of white made us drop our lightning rods and head for the landing.  A little cold and wet we drove home with a loaded livewell  and some big smiles!

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

That's a cool story from a great river...The common ingredient in all these stories is the companionship with family on the water...That's my favorite part of this discussion so far! Despite the weather not looking great some determined anglers got out there and made some memories....Good Stuff Mark! Already looking forward to the 2012 Spring...LOL

[Tony Livingston]

How about a true story that reads like a fairy tale?

In the early 1970's, my family liked to go camping at a little campground in the county where we lived. It was an awesome place, with 6 ponds/lakes, a playground, concession stand, ballfields, 90 acres of woods with hiking trails, dedicated swimming pond with diving boards and lifeguards, bathhouse with hot showers.... it was a weekend getaway for a lot of the local folks. It was owned by an older, local couple, who had built it all themselves, and took pride in maintaining it.

I remember camping there when I was so little that my mother held my hand when we walked, for fear that I would wander over into one of the ponds. She was then, and still is to this day, a Bluegill angler extraordinaire. In many families, it is the dad who is the outdoorsman, and while my father likes to fish, it is my mother who harbors a true passion for it. She instilled in me her love of this fiesty panfish, and the knowledge needed to pursue it.

The years passed, as they are prone to do, but we still camped there, and the Bluegill fishing was always great. The older couple who had built up the place thought it was becoming too much work, and decided to sell it so that they might enjoy retirement. The new owners made some changes, more bad than good, but still the Bluegill fishing was superb.

By now I was a teenager, and felt I no longer needed, or desired, my mother's tutelage where fishing was concerned. I fished many different waters, and although I caught fish, they never quite measured up to the old campground's Bluegills. The fish caught there were not only bigger, they were consistently bigger.... a rare combination.

More years passed, and the campground was showing it's age. The effort, and expense needed to maintain it proved too much for the owners, and it was sold yet again. This time, the new owners were not locals.. they moved here, a community of less than 2000 people, from Los Angeles, CA. City folks, whose family dream was to own and operate a campground in the country. They were ambitious, they were brave, and more importantly to me and this story, they had a very cute daughter three years younger than myself.

The new owners operated the campground for many years, and still I remained, although now, a passion other than Bluegills accounted for my presence. I proposed to the cute LA girl who lived at that campground, and this past August we celebrated our 22nd year together. We have two boys of our own, ages 8 and 11, and I'm doing my best to pass on to them what I've learned regarding my favorite fish. They are rapidly becoming accomplished anglers in their own right.

The campground? well, it's been closed for years. I still fish it, and spend many an hour cutting brush, mowing, and trying to keep it from growing wild. I am raising Hybrid Bluegills in the former swimming pond, and they are getting some size to them. My wife and I recently signed the paperwork to purchase the campground property from her parents.

Now, if there's anyone still reading this, is where my favorite memory of 2011 comes in. Earlier this Spring, my parents, now long since retired themselves, brought their travel trailer back to that old campground to spend a few days. I cleaned up a campsite for them, turned on the well and the electricity, and they were set. The boys and I went over one evening after work, so they could teach "granny" all about the hybrids that dad was raising. We took our gear, met granny,  and started fishing.

It didn't take me long to see that catching big Bluegills was not going to be the high point of the evening, at least not for me. I put my rod up, sat down and just watched and listened. Granny spent most of her time baiting hooks and removing fish, even though they told her it wasn't necessary. They laughed, shouted excitedly, bragged about who caught the biggest fish, and generally just carried on. As I watched the three of them interact with each other, I almost felt like I had traveled back in time, and was watching a scene from my own childhood.

I was a kid again, thanks to some simple bluegill fishing.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

This is exactly what I had hoped for when I posted this discussion....Great storyTony!

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Not just great, Jeff - Ill vote it the best by far. Send it to Readers Digest, Tony!

Thanks.

[harald kronemeyer]

I think Tony needs to open the camp ground again. :) Great story.