Personal Fishing Goals For 2013
 

Thought I drop them here so I can go back and see how good....bad I am doing to accomplish them. Accountability... :D

Last year, I was 2/3 complete. Funds got in the way of the last.

Here are this years:

1. Striped Bass 20lb or greater on a fly rod or conventional gear.

2. Brown Trout 25" or greater on a fly rod or conventional gear.

3. Either Brown Trout or Rainbow on a fly rod from Dale Hollow Lake.


The top may be the easiest... LOL.

Any of you all have some for this coming fishing season.

Believe it or not #3 is real easy. I used to catch them all the time. Plan on going in April. I will give you further info when we hook up.

1. Work on some new fishing techniques that I am trying to learn.
2. Brown trout that is at least in the teens.
3. Spend more time chasing brown trout. ( thus see 1 and 2).

Roy

I'm gonna try to have fewer Mondays wishing I had gone fishing Saturday or Sunday.

Interesting, I figured that to really be my hardest. They stay so deep most of the time in the lake and it leaves just certain months where they can be reached by a fly. Hopefully, I can scratch that one off before it warms back up though.

You could also go in the back of Horse Creek this time of year. Fish Finder General could give you info on that as it is his home dock.

Roy

1. Land a >20" trout
2. >4' Gar on a fly rod
3. Generally go fishing more

Sent from my Droid Bionic complete with typos and sarcasm.

1] Learn walleye/sauger fishing (it's a work in progress)
2] A Striped bass other than that whimpy 2 pounder I caught below OHD
3] Caney Slam (almost everytime I go I catch 2 of the 3 species, never all 3)
4] Keeper size brown trout in the Caney
5] Learn how to flyfish for trout with midges and other flies that match the current hatch. That's a science that I never got into. Sure I've caught trout with my flyrod but I just fish with wooly buggers for them and catch a few here and there.

1: actually go fishing for largemouth.

2: catch a largemouth 8 lbs or better

3: put a striper over 40 lbs in the 'yak

4: catch a double digit brown trout

5: land a cat over 40 lbs.

I did good with last year's goals, hopefully this year will be the same or better.


Chris

1. Catch my first blue cat
2. Catch a blue over 50 pounds
3. Catch a brown over 30"
4. Catch a striper over 40 pounds.
5. Catch an Old Hickory Tilapia :D
6. Buy a boat
7. Catch a rainbow over 23"
8. Catch my first TN musky
9. Catch a crappie over 3 lbs


Probably many more!!

I have been in touch some with fishfinder and Andrew (Small Jaw guide). Horse Creek is where I will start my search and probably finish it.

Put at least 5 people on their first fish from a kayak.
Put at least 3 people on their personal best ever and it be from a kayak.
Catch 15 species for Kayak Wars
Score a minimum of 800 points in Kayak Wars
HAVE FUN

1. Continue to learn and understand the Cumberland River.

2. Catch a striper, any size will do LOL.

3. Figure out the crappie so I can catch them on a semi-regular basis, regardless of the time of year.

4. Become more confident with other lures vs. sticking to my tried and true.

5. Catch LM and SM bass out of the river itself, not just the back bays.

6. Learn to use my electronics for more than water depth and temperature :D

The last 5 all relate directly to #1

I have seen some real god ones caught right off of their dock.

Roy

1 & 2 we can do at the steam plant, lol. We should try to get a "yes, we are nuts" kayaking get together and use our spare kayaks for anyone interested. It would be good to actually meet more people from this forum since I was working during the first get-together. I'll call you later about it.


Chris

I'm highly interested in a spare kayak but not until it warms up. Given that I'll probably flip it since I've never kayaked before, I don't want to do that in the winter.

It's actually pretty tough to flip a kayak. I throw a cast net out of mine with no worries. The trick is to relax and let the kayaks stability do its' job. Trying to correct or "balance" will cause you to dump. I take mine thru the boils at the GSP easily, and I've never fallen out...ever. I will jump out to cool off, and getting back in is no trouble.


Chris

A fishing kayak is going to be my graduation present.. to myself haha.. in May so we'll have to get together and do some kayak fishing. I'm really excited to buy one, it seems like such a thrill to land fish out of a kayak.

Speaking of kayaks…my goal is to compete in at lease two Kayak Bass Fishing Challenges and place in the top 20.

Also, I would like to get at least two TARP certificates from my kayak.

Jad2t,

Below old hickory dam is fun in a kayak. You can catch a lot of stripers when...oh, wait, the corps says no.

Seriously, we can hook up before may so you can get a feel for kayak fishing. Old hick, priest, caney, etc will be good by may. If you want to tangle with a beast striper, let me know and we can plan further.


Chris

1) catch a 23" smallmouth on the Buffalo River
2) catch a 6 pound smallmouth on Dale Hollow
3) catch a 40 pound striper on a stick bait
4) fish the headwaters of Center Hill in late winter for walleye at least once
5) finally land not just one but two smallmouth over 18" on the Cumberland in the same outing
6) finally catch a few sauger in GSP that are keeper size not 14.11"!

I just want to fish everyday that I can this year.Hope to get back to either NY or Ohio for some steelhead fishing again.I want ot see if I can catch them like I did last year on TM's and 2lb test line.

Want to use my new Kayak this year for fishing as well as fun.

I would like to teach as many as I can on how to use our TM lures. Especially young folks.

Hope to take another trout fishing trip out West with my bride using our camper so we can camp beside the rivers.

Just to catch as many trout as I can,rainbows,browns,cutthroats,brooks.
And to stay safe and have a great time with friends and my bride.

A lot of my goals for this year are the same as last year. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to achieve most of my 2012 goals.

1. Improve my off shore fishing skills. This past summer/fall, I probably spend more time trolling around, watching my fish finder, learning the lay of the lake than I did fishing. Hopefully this will translate into better fishing success this year! Wouldn't mind tagging along with someone for a day and have them show me how to find structure such as points, ledges, etc. I think it would be a big help with my learning curve to SEE someone knowledgable find them instead of reading about it.

2. Learn seasonal bass habits and how weather affects them as well.

3. Catch my first 5lb+ LM and SM bass. I've caught a few 4 lbers. I lost one last summer that probably was larger than 5 lbs. While I was talking to my wife in the boat, I half hearted casted a large spinnerbait just past a old tree trunk standing in 1 foot of water. Before I even started to reel in the lure, the line was moving to the side. I set the hook and the fish charged towards the boat. Reeled in the line as fast as I could, I caught a glimps of it as it swam past the boat. When I finally reeled in the slack, the hook popped out.

4. Focus on improving skills with a few set types of lures that cover the entire water column. Would probably save me alot of money in the long run! Half of the lures I have, I don't even use. So far my confidence baits are football jigs/trailer, shaky worms, lipless cranks, flukes, and zara spooks. I haven't really be successful with crankbaits and spinnerbaits.

5. Last, but not least, take my wife out on the boat more! She doesn't like to fish, but always tells me she wouldn't mind tagging along, soaking up the sun, reading a book or viewing the wildlife. Last year, we usually got swamped with other things on the weekends, so the only time I got to fish was on fridays when she is at work.

Catch that big brown that has broken my line as well as my heart three times in last three years in the same spot on the caney. This is the year!!!!!

One other goal that I have is to install a GPS tracker on Old Sailors boat when he isnt looking. :)

You rascal you! http://fishingtn.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

I am moving to Nashville tomorrow, and have never fished in the area.

For me, figuring out some rivers and creeks and ponds for bass fishing is going to be one of my goals. Also, catching my first ever smallmouth bass is top on the list. I hope they can replace my beloved shoal bass!

I also want to try and fish out of my canoe more.

Mine's pretty simple:

To tell my wife I'm going "Catching" instead of "fishing"!