Now I know that I need to be careful in what I say here, but winter is moving along towards spring at a pretty favorable pace. Overall, not too ugly cold this time around and beyond a few icy days, the precipitation hasn’t been real bad either. Enough to get the shovel and the sleds going several times but can’t really complain.
As such, it is time for the overdue annual recap of my fishing stats, pics and videos from last year. Leading it off today is a look at the overall numbers. More specific breakdowns are headed your way delving into locations, lures, partners and some video highlights.
And away we go…
1/5/19 Early start to the year, crazy temps, half frozen lake and zero bites
Grand Totals (bass fishing only)
25 outings (19 outings in 2018)
93.00 hours fishing (78.00 in 2018)
262 bass (216 bass in 2018)
2.82 bass/hour (2.77 bass/hour in 2018)
Comments: Fishing comes in a ways down the priority list for a husband, father and co-breadwinner. So any year that I can land over 200 bass and approach 100 hours on the water is a real winner. Quality bass for 2019 were elusive, however. More on that in a bit.
3/23/19 First bass (details below)
First Bass/Last Bass
March 23 – Private strip mine 3:18pm 12” 0-13 Booyah Spinnerbait
November 19 – Sedgwick County, KS 5:37pm 15” 1-9 Booyah Spinnerbait
Comments: It was entertaining to get out on a balmy January day to kick off 2019 although I could not entice a bite. I also got a bonus extension on the season with a November work trip to Wichita, Kansas where I was able to get away for a couple hours and fool a pair of bass. Pretty cool to have a span of 322 days between my first and last casts of 2019 although a February freeze up did not allow for time on the water. Certainly an uptick from 270 days between first and last casts in 2018.
11/19/19 Last bass – drove all the way to Kansas to get it (as noted above)
Monthly Breakdown
March – 1 trip, 1 bass, Top Weight (3/23 1 bass) = 0-13
April – 3 trips, 37 bass, Top Day Weight (4/1) = 9-9
May – 1 trip, 9 bass, Top Day Weight (5/27 – 2 bass) = 3-5
June – 4 trips, 53 bass, Top Day Weight (6/21) = 6-3
July – 3 trips, 25 bass, Top Day Weight (7/27) = 8-12
August – 3 trips, 31 bass, Top Day Weight (8/31) = 10-1
September – 4 trips, 75 bass, Top Day Weight (9/22) = 7-12
October – 2 trips, 29 bass, Top Day Weight (10/14) = 8-8
November – 2 trips, 2 bass, Top Day Weight (11/19 – 2 bass) = 2-11
Comments: Despite getting in some January casts, it took me until April Fools Day to fill my initial Top 5 limit. June through September proved to be the most opportune time to get on the water and I took advantage. Doing the math, the period between June 2 and September 22 accounted for 70% of my catches (184 of 262 bass).
7/27/19 Top Bass at 3-14 from private strip mine on a Senko wacky rig
Top 5 Weight
14-4 (3-14,2-11,2-10,2-9,2-8)
Comments: The downward trend in weight continues from 15-9 in 2018 to an even slimmer batch of “big” bass in 2019. The inability to fool many quality bass would be the one downside of my 2019 results. Just one of those things that wasn’t meant to be as I fished hard, chased ‘em where some quality fish swim and fished clean in not losing any good fish that I had on the line. Wait ‘til this year though…
Folks, we’ve only scratched the surface as I dig indulging in my penchant for stats. Coming your way next is a look at location. Talk to you later. Troy