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Subject: "My first bass!" Previous topic | Next topic
SJMon Feb-11-02 05:07 AM
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#2874, "My first bass!"


          

It is with great pleausre that I can finally file a fish report on this board. I caught my first bass on Saturday (2/9) at El Dorado park in Long Beach. El Dorado has four small lakes and isn't known for much, but people actually do catch bass in there on a some-what regular basis.

Before I go into any details about my fish - I wanted to thank you all for your contributions to this board. I am a 40 year old fisherman, who has basically fished for trout his whole life. I ventured into this site early last year, looking for information on float tubes. The reports I read about bass fishing really peaked my interest. One thing lead to another and I bought my first bait caster (shimano curado) and away I went. I had some early frustrations on learning how to actually use my curado - but after practice and some friendly advice from this site I began to get the hang of things. I ventured out a couple times to try my luck and wasn't getting anything... but I kept on thinking about all the things I read on this site about persistence, confidence and everything else.

Well it finally paid off. Saturday morning I landed what I believe was about a 4 pound bass. I didn't have a scale, but he was a fat little dude with a very nice belly. I caught him from shore, throwing an old fashioned crank bait - parallel to the shore about 7-8 feet out. After bringing him in, taking a few pictures - I let him go. It all happened too quickly. I wish I had a scale, I wish there was someone there to take my picture with the fish, instead of me taking a picture of the fish in my own hand. I was so anxious to get him back in the water - it all went by in a flash.

What a feeling. I couldn't stop grinning the whole weekend. It was an honor to hook into something that was "home grown," as opposed to a fish that was pumped into a lake a few days earlier. I'm really hooked now.

One of the things I learned on this site is that so many of you go to fishing as often as possible - even if it's for an hour or two. I have adopted that philosophy as well. I used to think of fishing as an all day affair, but now realize an hour or two is better than no time at all. I really appreciate this site and hope I can make some more contributions in the future. In the mean time - keep those posts coming because I have so much to learn, it makes my head spin. You guys are doing a great job at educating new fisherman and teaching conservation and the great things this sport has to offer.

Thanks a million.

  

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Replies to this topic
RE: My first bass!, CJ, Feb 11th 2002, #1
RE: My first bass!, SJ, Feb 12th 2002, #10
RE: My first bass!, Jeff, Feb 11th 2002, #2
RE: My first bass!, swimbait, Feb 11th 2002, #3
RE: My first bass!, blaksun, Feb 11th 2002, #4
RE: My first bass!, Phil, Feb 11th 2002, #5
RE: My first bass!, brian, Feb 11th 2002, #6
RE: My first bass!, AmishEd, Feb 11th 2002, #7
RE: My first bass!, rick, Feb 11th 2002, #8
RE: My first bass!, SJ, Feb 12th 2002, #9
      RE: My first bass!, SJ, Jan 16th 2019, #11

CJMon Feb-11-02 06:51 AM
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#2875, "RE: My first bass!"
In response to Reply # 0


  

          

Congratulations!!! Nothing wrong with starting off with a 4 pounder. That size of fish can be hard to come up with regularly. Anyhow it's nice to see another angler hooked on bass fishing. It truly is an anytime-anywhere kind of sport.

  

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SJTue Feb-12-02 09:00 AM
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#2876, "RE: My first bass!"
In response to Reply # 1


          

CJ,

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I purchased my curado and my shimano rod at Bass World West. I was helped by one of your staff (I think his name was Kevin) and he was great.

I shopped a lot of places and you guys had great prices and tremendous customer service.


  

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JeffMon Feb-11-02 07:06 AM
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#2877, "RE: My first bass!"
In response to Reply # 0


          

Congratulations SJ, sounds like you have bass fever! Your right though most of us do try to get out on the water as much as possible. That is the only way to learn, is by spending the time on the water. I have been bass fishing all my life and I used to think I had to spend the whole day on the water to catch anything, now I usually fish for 5-6 hours and call it quites. But what ever amount of time you do spend, make the most of it and most importantly enjoy it. Keep up the good work and never give up.

  

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swimbaitMon Feb-11-02 07:37 AM
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#2878, "RE: My first bass!"
In response to Reply # 0


  

          

Congratulations! It's posts like this that put a big smile on my face :D

  

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blaksunMon Feb-11-02 08:51 AM
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#2879, "RE: My first bass!"
In response to Reply # 0


          

Two thumbs up SJ!!
Castaic is finally planting trouts this week again. Meaning there's some hungry fat bass and striper ready to munch on those hatchery trouts. You might consider going there sometime this week.
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/fishplant/fishplant_r5.html

I totally agree with your statement regarding this website and the the folks that post these great information. This site rocks!

blaksun

  

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PhilMon Feb-11-02 01:53 PM
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#2880, "RE: My first bass!"
In response to Reply # 4


          

Great post!! Congratulations on your first bass.

  

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brianMon Feb-11-02 02:47 PM
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#2881, "RE: My first bass!"
In response to Reply # 0


  

          

Right on man. Watch out now, you can get pretty deep into bass fishing... haha. You're gonna need about six more rods, 15 boxes of tackle, and 10 trout plugs, then you'll be on the right track ;-) Congratulations though, I'm stoked for you. Reminds me of my buddy Zach. Once you get a little more proficient in bass fishing I'd reccommend looking for a club to join. You'll learn a lot. I remember last year when Zach first started bass fishing me and Brian #2 took him out on Brian's boat and I told him that a year from now he'll look back, and he'll have learned so much about bass fishing that it'll blow his mind. Sure enough, the other day Zach was talking about that and he really was amazed at how much more he learned in that one year. Now he's got a few loomises, a few curados, and he even bought a bass boat a couple weeks ago. Pretty cool. Of course, it might take you a little longer to figure out the whole bass fishing game cause you don't have great guys like us to fish with you, j/k :-), but hang in there and learn as much as you can. Congrats again.
-Brian

  

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AmishEdMon Feb-11-02 08:14 PM
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#2882, "RE: My first bass!"
In response to Reply # 0


          

Congrats, 1rst bass and a nice one at that. The fever has started. I usually only get to fish saturdays now (3-7 days a week for 5 years until last July), but tonight I made I made a quick hour at a local lake. I got skunked for the 4th or 5th time in a row, but I'll be back. Most of the fall I was averaging 3 fish for that same hour + jaunt. Once I catch a fish on swimbait I'll look for some numbers. But, I know I have much more zeros ahead while I learn this new technique.

Last Jan. I caught my first Largemouth. A year later I have a 10+, multiple 8's, and a bunch of 3-5's. Most of these fish came from late night ventures (after the wife and baby were asleep) to a couple ponds that most people thought were dead. The place seems to have slowed again, but I still hit it after work sometimes when I have a few extra minutes. Time on the water is the key. The more time you spend, the more you'll catch. Of course hanging around here helps a lot. In fact, thanks again to all the folks that helped me last year. These boards are the reason I tried freshwater bass fishing.

Amish Ed
You Can't Catch it again if
it's Dead!
Amish Ed
You Can't Catch it again if
it's Dead!

Amish Ed
You can't catch it again if it's dead!

  

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rickMon Feb-11-02 08:35 PM
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#2883, "RE: My first bass!"
In response to Reply # 0


          

YEEEE HAWWWW. :7
That's what it's all about. Congrat's, your first bass and caught at Eldo! I learned how to fish at this lake and although many people put it down, it's great in my book. Keep at it, there are some big mommas in the third lake. One of my favorite lures for these lakes is a Team Daiwa TD Minnow, the suspending one.

Don't get too bummed out because of the scale, it will only motivate you to catch a bigger one. Soon enough you'll get one twice as big!
Get out there as often as you can, time spent on the water will definitely pay off.





  

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SJTue Feb-12-02 05:22 AM
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#2884, "RE: My first bass!"
In response to Reply # 8


          

Thanks for all the responses. I'm still stoked. One funny side note - when I caught the bass, one of the first things I thought of was knowing I could finally post something here! haha.

Once I develop my film, I can hopefully find a way to get it scanned and posted here.

I'm definitely hooked.

  

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SJWed Jan-16-19 12:27 PM
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#18520, "RE: My first bass!"
In response to Reply # 9
Wed Jan-16-19 12:28 PM by SJ

          

It's been 17 years since that post... man, where does the time go? This site isn't active at all any more - but I still hold the lessons I learned here close to my heart.

I'm still fishing for bass (almost exclusively) and I am still learning every time I go out.

Looking back - that first bass I caught was probably closer to 2.5 pounds than 4, even though it was chunky. Being my first bass at the time, I really had no idea...

I now own about 20 rods... and fish out of a kayak. Still don't get out nearly as often as I like to - but I go whenever I can.

My PB is only 6 pounds (which I have done twice). I'm coming up on the 17 year anniversary of that first bass (I'll never forget it) and thought I'd post here once again for the fun of it.

  

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