15 Top Fishing Memories of 2021

 

1. Winning my first Baxter Bass Snatcher Tournament Ever. 

2. Belle getting her first ever fish on a frog.

3. Frog Fishing With Mal for the first time. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to land a fish. She had plenty of opportunities.

Sullivan Lake 4lber

Platte Lake 4lber

Sullivan Lake 4lber

Platte Lake 4.16lb

Sullivan Lake 3.88lbs 

4. Getting Steve on multiple pigs this year.

5. Fishing with Kane and getting him on some frog fish.

6. Sumo the Stowaway gets me a sumo bass.

7. Three trips with Lois and Chuck.

8. Getting skunked at Leech Lake, listening to Kid Rock Cowboy as we headed back West riding out the rollers, and the drive home with Darrien commiserating about the lousy conditions. 

9. Catching that sumo gill on Sullivan

10. Pete's 21-inch jumpin' bullhead at the Grumpy Old Man Hole and me laying the hammer down on three golden bullheads that night.

11. Some big pike this Fall and losing a big one that jumped out of the net twice on Opener morning.

12. That short, but hot Fall bite on the LiveTarget Wake Gill

13. Ice Fishing in the New Trap and laying the smackdown on the panfish on Rock Lake

14. Spending a morning in the boat with Lowell Borgan on Whitefish Lake

(5.46lbs)

15. Big Momma of the year at the Cookie Jar on June 7th, on Mad Maxx (Bluegrass)

Bonus Memory:

16. Big Doggo on the same night Steve dropped something huge in the rice. This was my 2nd bowin of the day. I caught one in the morning in a boat lane at the SPRO.

Frog Fishing With Mallory and Todd

 It was a warm July night and the fish were snapping in Inlet Bay. The goal was to get Mallory her first-ever topwater frog caught bass. She got quite a few opportunities and even had a fish hooked, but it hung her up in the reeds and pads. Todd got big fish of the night with the 3.46lber.

Fishing With The Nieces And Sophia

The girls were able to bring in a few sunnies and perch throughout the day.  The made a livewell out of little float tube.  They had it full of fish when Todd and I got back from our evening trip.  This was all on Sunday Memorial Day Weekend.

4th of July With Todd, The Girls, and Flash

What Was Your Best Fishing Moment of 2017?

Thanks to Facebook's "On This Day" feature I was reminded of a blog I did answering this same question posed by Wired2Fish back in 2010. So I thought I'd do it again for this year.  There were a lot of great moments for me to choose from in 2017.  In 2010 I gave 3 moments in answer to the question.  I've got so many standout memories from 2017 that I'm going to break it down into these categories:

Best Family Fishing Moment
Best Bass Snatcher Moment
Best Moment Fishing By Myself
Best Ice Fishing Moment

Best Family Fishing Moment:

4.05lb July 27

July 31st

 This one is a tie for me between Todd catching that toad on a frog and the morning trip we took with Mallory a few days later.

Best Bass Snatcher Moment:
It would have to be on Platte/Sullivan when this happened:

I hadn't caught anything, but pike and we were at least an hour and a half if not longer into the day at that point.  Getting that 3lber in the boat was yuge for me and my confidence.  Really got my tournament season off to a good start with that fish and my finish on Platte/Sullivan.

Best Moment Fishing By Myself:
There is a three-way tie for this one with two honorable mentions. First, is my biggest bass of the year.

5.09lbs June 29th Platte Lake SBKO (Black/White)

Second, was my second biggest 6 fish bag of the year with bonus dogfish, Avid X rod fell out of the boat, and screw falling out of my Zillion Reel.

August 30th

Third, the night the fish went nuts for the Jackel Pompadour.

June 27th

Honorable mentions go to the double on a Jerk Shad at the GOMH on the morning of The Opener and the sunrise that I witnessed that morning (click this link to see that).

17" & 15"

And also to the big one on the Shower Blows Knock Off off of the wave runner floats.

19.33" May 18th

Best Ice Fishing Moment:

17.5" Jan 22nd Rock Lake

Getting a nice bass on my first trip of the year after not having caught a bass the previous winter on Rock Lake.