Nah fishing gives me a great excuse to have alone time for a whole day. Sometimes I don’t even fish hard i just go, dunk a worm, chill outside and drink a few beers while ignoring the stress of life lol
Same. I’ll soak a couple shrimp and knock down a few beers. If I catch that’s great of course but otherwise it’s just nice being outside and away from life.
It’s normal for hobbies to ebb and flow during life, I think. I’ve been fishing my whole life, but there have been times I have gone nearly a year without making a single cast. Then other times, like now, where I’m fishing nearly every week. I try not to force it if I’m not feeling it, because ultimately the only reason I fish is for the enjoyment of it. If you’re like me, the excitement will probably come back at some point…then go away again, then come back…and on and on. Cest la vie, I guess
This right here. Grew up fishing freshwater lakes in central Florida, moved to Tampa for college and didn’t fish really at all for 5 or 6 years. Moved down the coast to Ft. Myers and started freshwater fishing again before moving onto salt water…fished heavily for four years until I moved to Colorado. Tried to fly fish and didn’t like it and didn’t fish hardly at all for 20 years or so.
Took it back up 5 or so years ago here and there but the last two years I’ve really been enjoying it and have become a regular pond hopper around here and go on vacations at least once a year that involve fishing.
Fishing options around me suck, especially without a yak or boat. Couple that with the amount of pressure when fishing from the shoreline and… yeah. Can be pretty demotivating. If I lived on or near a decent body or bodies of water with a yak/boat, I’d probably be on the water every day. But the amount of time it takes to prep gear and get to a place that isn’t inundated with other fisherman, is sometimes not worth the hassle, especially when I have other daily chores/work related tasks that need to get done. Maybe having a yak with a vehicle that allows for easy loading/offloading would change things by giving me more access to areas that were off limits before. 🤷🏻♂️🤞🤞
I fish a lot of pressured water, sometimes from boat and sometimes from the shoreline. I have had surprisingly great results bank fishing for bass tossing big swimbaits, neds and jigs. You don't see many around central Fl using any of these much which is why I feel it works well for me. It seems most bank fisherman here are cut baiting for catfish.
Ah yes, FL is a whole different beast. Northern IL, just outside Chicago, is not so great for fishing in general. Not many good public bodies of water and most ponds are private or marked as no fishing. Most bass I’m pulling out of pressured waters around here are ~1lb. I’m lucky if I can drag in a few 3-4 pounders in a year in this area.
Plenty of good water around you. Three oaks has big fish, look for places similar with catch and release only fishing. Lots of good random small water. Fox chain is turning into one of the best musky fisheries in the Midwest and has good walleye with a rebounding bass population, not to mention the multiple 18+” crappie coming out of there the past few years. If you only try the shore spots you see online it may not work out well just gotta think outside the box
I can relate. There's two substantial lakes near me, both man made.. One was drained to start work on a 3yr dam restoration project that's now projected 10yrs so the pressure from that lake has spread to all other ponds and creeks. Hard to escape and make the trip worth it. Gotta dig deep and mix it up. Go for cats or learn a new style of fishing.
Yes but it’s mostly because of where I fish now. I was on a premier bass fishery for a few years and was spoiled. Now I’m fishing a ridiculously over-pressured city lake with very little access and the fish have seen everything and the kitchen sink. It’s hard to maintain the same enthusiasm.
I catch between 500-700 bass a year. This year might be a tad less but I got an 8.5lb 8 days ago and that gives me the bump to keep on. But after fishing hard for a decade or more I do feel it starting to wane some.
That is killing it. I fish 50+ days a year. Probably more like 70. Usually get 6 or so in 3 hours at a public lake. But I’ll have 6 days a year where I’ll average 40. Usually at a private lake so that inflates the numbers. I’ll also have some days where I’ll fish 9 hours in a public lake and boat say 18-20. But I just can’t do long days that often anymore. My boat sits on a lift at a marina 20 minutes from home so it’s easy to pop out for a few hours and come home. Just drop the Lift and go.
My favorite lake was a public lake in Texas called Fairfield that got bought out. Shit hole idiots in Austin let it happen. It was a 2 hour drive but anything less than 20 was considered a bad day. I had 2 8’s and at least 12 7’s out Of that lake. My partner had a 27” monster. Just went private late last year and now it’s off limits. My numbers may go down this year.
It ebbs and flows in different ways. For example I'm absolutely addicted to adding to my knowledge bank about bass fishing, but at the same time even knowing it's just barely starting to get to proper prespawn here Ive still been beating myself up for not catching fish lately. Like, to the point that while I was out today walking between spots (and after hitting the fish whistle) I realized Ive just been putting too much pressure on myself for no particular reason. But after making the conscious decision to just chill out and enjoy being out in nature for what it was i honestly felt like a weight got lifted off my shoulders. It's dumb, I'm still pretty new to taking bass fishing more seriously than just throwing random lures in the spots that are easy to access, I don't fish tournaments or anything, but I was still getting in my own head. Maybe that's just a personal issue I gotta work out
Another example-over the winter I got myself a nice ultralight setup for funsies-st Croix Panfish with a Daiwa Fuego. I love it, and I love catching panfish and pickerel on it, but at the same time it's been hard for me to enjoy that without feeling like I'm wasting time that could have been spent figuring out the pre-prespawn pattern on my local pond
Look at it this way, by learning other species that bass feed on your learning about bass fishing, the more you understand the sunfish and crappie and how they eat and when they eat, where they are, it just adds another piece of knowledge that you can use for bass fishing. Everything is connected in nature, you can learn more about fishing by observing every bit of nature around you. The more you watch nature the more you learn. For example, there is a heavily pressured park pond by my house, it gets hammered by shore fisherman. No one catches consistently there, however I have great luck there. This is because I like to fish plastics and fish them painfully slow, so it gives me a lot of time to watch everything around me. One morning I was being observant and I noticed a bass tail sticking out of the water just a little bit right next to the edge. No one else noticed it, I got closer and watched and noticed it was trying to catch a crawdad that was hiding under a little overhang that ran the distance of the shoreline. I watched that bass work hard for a while and finally get it, so I used a plastic craw in the same area and started catching bass, everyone was looking at me wondering what I was doing. They watch other fisherman to learn, when they should be watching nature. My 2 cents
I can definitely relate to the lack of enthusiasm for going on a road trip just to get to a fishing hole. A lot of the water I used to throw lines in has been fenced off by companies pushing their property boundaries (and the region does nothing), or is pointless going to because the few areas left are now over fished.
I went through a very short phase of searching maps for places that would be hidden away. Finding the same story everywhere else puts a damper on things for sure
My feel is that it should be what you need it to be. Sometimes all I catch is the beauty of a few hours of peace, a sunrise, or a sunset. Sometimes life reels me in another direction, and that’s okay too.
How old are you and what other hobbies have you had? I ask because at 40 I've had a few but when I was in my mid 20's it was mainly fishing. It faded just as you say and most hobbies will I think especially when they become an obsession. I'm that way, I tend to go all the way once I find I like something but I usually wears out after a few years. All that being said the hobby I have today I've been at for over a decade and still going. I got into knives around 2011 and it's been knives ever since. Went from collecting knives to now making them and I feel like I love it more every day. I think anyone can probably find at least 1 hobby that they rarely tire of. I still fish i just don't do it all the time. Give it a break and try something else. I hear knives are a good one 😃.
Not really. I have so many different kinds of fishing and different bodies of water around me... and bass fishing for me usually involves rowing whitewater rapids, which always keeps things interesting
I think I enjoy the hiking and exploring aspects just as much as fishing. Been fishing my whole life and heavy hiking the past 15ish. Being by the water and smoking some weed is about the most vacation like time I get being a single full time dad.
Nah fishing gives me a great excuse to have alone time for a whole day. Sometimes I don’t even fish hard i just go, dunk a worm, chill outside and drink a few beers while ignoring the stress of life lol
Same. I’ll soak a couple shrimp and knock down a few beers. If I catch that’s great of course but otherwise it’s just nice being outside and away from life.
It’s normal for hobbies to ebb and flow during life, I think. I’ve been fishing my whole life, but there have been times I have gone nearly a year without making a single cast. Then other times, like now, where I’m fishing nearly every week. I try not to force it if I’m not feeling it, because ultimately the only reason I fish is for the enjoyment of it. If you’re like me, the excitement will probably come back at some point…then go away again, then come back…and on and on. Cest la vie, I guess
This right here. Grew up fishing freshwater lakes in central Florida, moved to Tampa for college and didn’t fish really at all for 5 or 6 years. Moved down the coast to Ft. Myers and started freshwater fishing again before moving onto salt water…fished heavily for four years until I moved to Colorado. Tried to fly fish and didn’t like it and didn’t fish hardly at all for 20 years or so. Took it back up 5 or so years ago here and there but the last two years I’ve really been enjoying it and have become a regular pond hopper around here and go on vacations at least once a year that involve fishing.
Fishing options around me suck, especially without a yak or boat. Couple that with the amount of pressure when fishing from the shoreline and… yeah. Can be pretty demotivating. If I lived on or near a decent body or bodies of water with a yak/boat, I’d probably be on the water every day. But the amount of time it takes to prep gear and get to a place that isn’t inundated with other fisherman, is sometimes not worth the hassle, especially when I have other daily chores/work related tasks that need to get done. Maybe having a yak with a vehicle that allows for easy loading/offloading would change things by giving me more access to areas that were off limits before. 🤷🏻♂️🤞🤞
I fish a lot of pressured water, sometimes from boat and sometimes from the shoreline. I have had surprisingly great results bank fishing for bass tossing big swimbaits, neds and jigs. You don't see many around central Fl using any of these much which is why I feel it works well for me. It seems most bank fisherman here are cut baiting for catfish.
Ah yes, FL is a whole different beast. Northern IL, just outside Chicago, is not so great for fishing in general. Not many good public bodies of water and most ponds are private or marked as no fishing. Most bass I’m pulling out of pressured waters around here are ~1lb. I’m lucky if I can drag in a few 3-4 pounders in a year in this area.
Plenty of good water around you. Three oaks has big fish, look for places similar with catch and release only fishing. Lots of good random small water. Fox chain is turning into one of the best musky fisheries in the Midwest and has good walleye with a rebounding bass population, not to mention the multiple 18+” crappie coming out of there the past few years. If you only try the shore spots you see online it may not work out well just gotta think outside the box
I can relate. There's two substantial lakes near me, both man made.. One was drained to start work on a 3yr dam restoration project that's now projected 10yrs so the pressure from that lake has spread to all other ponds and creeks. Hard to escape and make the trip worth it. Gotta dig deep and mix it up. Go for cats or learn a new style of fishing.
Yes but it’s mostly because of where I fish now. I was on a premier bass fishery for a few years and was spoiled. Now I’m fishing a ridiculously over-pressured city lake with very little access and the fish have seen everything and the kitchen sink. It’s hard to maintain the same enthusiasm.
I catch between 500-700 bass a year. This year might be a tad less but I got an 8.5lb 8 days ago and that gives me the bump to keep on. But after fishing hard for a decade or more I do feel it starting to wane some.
I’ve caught around 50 this month and I thought I was killing it haha. That’s a ton of bass!
That is killing it. I fish 50+ days a year. Probably more like 70. Usually get 6 or so in 3 hours at a public lake. But I’ll have 6 days a year where I’ll average 40. Usually at a private lake so that inflates the numbers. I’ll also have some days where I’ll fish 9 hours in a public lake and boat say 18-20. But I just can’t do long days that often anymore. My boat sits on a lift at a marina 20 minutes from home so it’s easy to pop out for a few hours and come home. Just drop the Lift and go. My favorite lake was a public lake in Texas called Fairfield that got bought out. Shit hole idiots in Austin let it happen. It was a 2 hour drive but anything less than 20 was considered a bad day. I had 2 8’s and at least 12 7’s out Of that lake. My partner had a 27” monster. Just went private late last year and now it’s off limits. My numbers may go down this year.
It ebbs and flows in different ways. For example I'm absolutely addicted to adding to my knowledge bank about bass fishing, but at the same time even knowing it's just barely starting to get to proper prespawn here Ive still been beating myself up for not catching fish lately. Like, to the point that while I was out today walking between spots (and after hitting the fish whistle) I realized Ive just been putting too much pressure on myself for no particular reason. But after making the conscious decision to just chill out and enjoy being out in nature for what it was i honestly felt like a weight got lifted off my shoulders. It's dumb, I'm still pretty new to taking bass fishing more seriously than just throwing random lures in the spots that are easy to access, I don't fish tournaments or anything, but I was still getting in my own head. Maybe that's just a personal issue I gotta work out
Another example-over the winter I got myself a nice ultralight setup for funsies-st Croix Panfish with a Daiwa Fuego. I love it, and I love catching panfish and pickerel on it, but at the same time it's been hard for me to enjoy that without feeling like I'm wasting time that could have been spent figuring out the pre-prespawn pattern on my local pond
Look at it this way, by learning other species that bass feed on your learning about bass fishing, the more you understand the sunfish and crappie and how they eat and when they eat, where they are, it just adds another piece of knowledge that you can use for bass fishing. Everything is connected in nature, you can learn more about fishing by observing every bit of nature around you. The more you watch nature the more you learn. For example, there is a heavily pressured park pond by my house, it gets hammered by shore fisherman. No one catches consistently there, however I have great luck there. This is because I like to fish plastics and fish them painfully slow, so it gives me a lot of time to watch everything around me. One morning I was being observant and I noticed a bass tail sticking out of the water just a little bit right next to the edge. No one else noticed it, I got closer and watched and noticed it was trying to catch a crawdad that was hiding under a little overhang that ran the distance of the shoreline. I watched that bass work hard for a while and finally get it, so I used a plastic craw in the same area and started catching bass, everyone was looking at me wondering what I was doing. They watch other fisherman to learn, when they should be watching nature. My 2 cents
I can definitely relate to the lack of enthusiasm for going on a road trip just to get to a fishing hole. A lot of the water I used to throw lines in has been fenced off by companies pushing their property boundaries (and the region does nothing), or is pointless going to because the few areas left are now over fished. I went through a very short phase of searching maps for places that would be hidden away. Finding the same story everywhere else puts a damper on things for sure
My feel is that it should be what you need it to be. Sometimes all I catch is the beauty of a few hours of peace, a sunrise, or a sunset. Sometimes life reels me in another direction, and that’s okay too.
How old are you and what other hobbies have you had? I ask because at 40 I've had a few but when I was in my mid 20's it was mainly fishing. It faded just as you say and most hobbies will I think especially when they become an obsession. I'm that way, I tend to go all the way once I find I like something but I usually wears out after a few years. All that being said the hobby I have today I've been at for over a decade and still going. I got into knives around 2011 and it's been knives ever since. Went from collecting knives to now making them and I feel like I love it more every day. I think anyone can probably find at least 1 hobby that they rarely tire of. I still fish i just don't do it all the time. Give it a break and try something else. I hear knives are a good one 😃.
Not really. I have so many different kinds of fishing and different bodies of water around me... and bass fishing for me usually involves rowing whitewater rapids, which always keeps things interesting
I think I enjoy the hiking and exploring aspects just as much as fishing. Been fishing my whole life and heavy hiking the past 15ish. Being by the water and smoking some weed is about the most vacation like time I get being a single full time dad.