John G. asked that I provide some details regarding my 2003 Bass Fishing Season, but first I must explain how things came into place.

Let me start out by saying that I had the opportunity to fish far more than I had anticipated at the beginning of the year. Such an "opportunity" came about as the direct result of an unfortunate circumstance. In the middle of February, I was informed by my company that I was being laid off due to a "restructuring". Frankly, I was devastated. Throughout my 13 years in Corporate America, I had never received anything other than exemplary reviews, and I had never received a raise below 5%. I had been a Finance Manager for almost 4 years, and I was looking forward to the work challenges for the year and potential future promotions. Fortunately, I received a fair "severance" that allowed me to be covered for a decent time period, but I still had the same nagging questions! What the heck went wrong here? This is supposed to happen to the other guy, or the "weaker" performer! How is this possible?

Ten months later, I find myself working for a "Contract" firm. I am sent on various assignments to various clients to perform short-term project work or to act as an extra body during crunch times. To date, the work has been less than satisfying, although it serves as a means to a financial end. I received two full-time offers that would not have suited my longer-term objectives. Instead of accepting them and then running out the door, I decided to decline the opportunities.

So as you see, my fishing season has been bittersweet. My outings were squeezed in between outplacement meetings, interviews, caring for my toddler, and not spending enough time with my wife. Probably because fishing has always been something that I could totally immerse myself in, I used it as a cathartic escape from the annoying reality of unemployment and a gnawing sense of sudden career failure. As a self-proclaimed control freak, I felt that an obsessive-compulsive attack on the bass of Southern NY and the Morristown, NJ area was all that I could control for the time being. The ability to fish was the silver lining during my dark career hiatus.

Well, now that I have bared my fishing soul, I can continue with some of my 2003 fishing facts and statistics.

 Before I go into any of the pretty pie charts and technique breakdowns, I thought that I should give some sort of synopsis of the types of lakes I had the opportunity to fish. The bass boat/tournament angler may not find some of the statistics too interesting, as I primarily fish small bodies of water. I also often make less than one hour "shore" trips to local ponds that are less than 10 acres; many of which are less than 5 acres. I will start by giving some rough statistics on the amount of trips I made to the various bodies of water I fished during 2003.

  

*# of Trips differs from # of Day fished. The # of Days fished is currently 165.

 

 

Rockland Lake accounted for the most trips and the most fish during the 2003 season. I was shocked to see that I went there almost 30 times, and it accounted for 191 fish or 19.0% of my total yearly catch. Not only did Rockland provide a large percentage of my overall fish count, but it provided a tremendous 61.3% of my fish over 4.0lbs. 19 of my 31 4.0lb plus fish came out of this monster producing body of water. 1 out of every 10 fish was over 4lbs!! I would honestly have to say that my average fish in Rockland Lake was over 3.0lbs on the season. I managed 2-5.0lb+ fish, and they both were caught in July. One fell victim to a jig n trailer, while the other came on a Poes 300 Series crank-bait.

Congers Lake, located in Congers, NY provided the second most fish on the year. I am fortunate that my parents still live in my hometown, so I have access to this bass haven. Congers is actually downstream from Rockland Lake so it shares some big fish genetics. The lake is only open to Clarkstown residents and their guests. I caught my 3 biggest fish of the year out of Congers Lake. In fact, the largest two I caught on the same day on the same technique. On October 6, 2003 I caught a 6.5lber and a 5.4lber on a Terminator spinner-bait on the outside edges of the thinning cabbage. I also lost a large fish on a jig-n-pig that might have made the day even more memorable. The water temperatures ranged from 58-62 that sunny afternoon. Congers also yielded a 5.3lber on a jig n pig earlier in the season.

Horseshoe Lake, located in Roxbury, NJ provided the third most fish on the season. 125 or 12.5% of my yearly total came out of this 20 acre horseshoe shaped sand pit. Technically, I am not even supposed to fish here, as I am not a Roxbury resident….shhhhhh! For any Roxbury lurkers, I have the utmost respect for the lake and the fish and strictly practice catch and release….don't rat me out! This lake produces mostly keeper size fish. However, my first 4lb fish came out of this body of water on April 23^rd during snow flurries. The fish measured close to 23 inches, but "only" weighed in at 4.5lbs. She was taken on an Aurora Gold Pointer on my first cast that afternoon. A smaller fish caught on spinner bait is pictured below.

Lake Welch, located in the Harriman Park System, provided the fourth most fish on the season. 116 or 11.6% of my yearly total came out of this 182 acre lake. I have fished this lake since I was 6 years old, and I especially enjoy fishing it in the Fall. Smallmouth and Largemouth have equal footing on my favorite Harriman Lake. On many weekday trips, my father and I were the only boat on the lake. The vast majority of my fish came during September-early November time period. I primarily fish crank-baits on this relatively weed-less body of water. Welch recently gave up a 4.7lb largie that was fooled by a Poes 300 Series crank-bait.

Heistein Park Pond, located in Randolph, NJ, provided the fifth most fish on the season. This is actually an old swimming hole and is dotted with circular cement swim platforms throughout the 4 acre puddle. More of a numbers pond than a quality fish haunt, I enjoyed early season success with t-rigged Gitzit tubes. During the spawn, summer, and fall top-water prevailed with fish smashing Spit n Image Jr's and buzz-baits. The biggest fish I caught in Heistein went around 3.0lbs, however I lost an absolute slob that broke me off on one of the cement swim platforms.

So, that summarizes the places where I caught over 65% of my fish this year.

I only fished a lake greater than 500 acres 3 times this year, and that was Lake Hopatcong. A very short shore trip of less than 1/2 hour, a decent June trip with Leigh Price, and a tough outing with Mike Avery in September.

Leigh Price at Hopatcong

I fished Mahopac 4 times, once with John G, once with Mike Avery, and twice with Joe Pido. The most productive outing was the early outing with John, as the Fall bite eluded me on my other jaunts.

I did manage this nice 4.1 lb smallie with Joe P though!

Monksville reservoir provided my first musky of my life and some decent bass to boot.

The Whaley outing and a trip to Oscawana with Leigh and Joe P provided some of my best numbers days with fish seemingly wanting to jump on the hook.

Now, I will breakdown the techniques that I employed during the course of the year in a graphical format.

 

 

 

Buzz-baits accounted for an astounding 29% of my fish over 4.0lbs this year. I would have never thought that the buzz-bait could be such a prolific producer. I found that the best times of the year for this technique are the early spring right through the spawn and the early fall. The Spring bite tended to attract more of the nest guarding males that were annoyed by the bait being reeled in proximity to nesting sites. However, I did manage to catch some decent females during the Spring as well. I caught a nice 4.5lber in early May on the Black River Pond Pit, as well as a 4.0lber on a little 4 acre pond nearby. As the water temperature cools from September through late October is when the buzzbait really shines in my opinion. As long as there is cloud cover, you can throw this puppy all day long. The fish don't crush the bait, but rather aggressively slurp it in. I won back to back small tournaments on Rockland Lake fishing the buzz-bait exclusively.

 

First big fish from the Black River Pond Pit

Not surprisingly, the venerable jig proved to be a top big fish producer. I worked extensively on my pitching technique and this contributed to more big fish in the boat. However, I also caught big fish in open water on Rockland during the early July timeframe on jigs. In fact, they were absolutely all over jigs for several weeks in a row, however, the offshore jig bite at Rockland completely vanished after mid-July.

Crank-baits, much to my surprise, were my third best big fish producer. This is the direct result of the weed die-off on Rockland Lake. The mysterious disappearance of the prolific weed growth enabled the crank to be fished more extensively than ever before. Put a big crank in front of fish in a big fish lake and the results will follow.

Here is another table of my top 5 fish caught this year:

 

 

Some more big fish technique statistics as compared to total fish technique statistics:

 

 

 

The graph below (next page) highlights the percentage breakdown by technique for fish caught during 2003

 

 

 

I hope that some of you found my synopsis and analysis of my 2003 year interesting. I certainly enjoyed much of this fishing and learned a lot this year. Likely, I will only get out a couple of more times this year, so I figured I would compile these statistics, while I had the time. I guess, at the end of the day, I enjoyed the fruits of an unfortunate lay-off. I got to spend a great deal of time with my father out on the water. Of course, I fished with my frequent fishing partner Andrew Bornn on several instances, and we always have a blast. Personal thanks to John Gargani, Leigh Price, Mike Avery,Joe Pido, and Kenny C. for the trips and fun they provided.

Thanks Dad and Andrew for sharing your time with me on the water this year!

Home 2003 Summary & Pics Pic of the Week Heaven on Earth My Bowling

Fish ON! John (aka HugeFish4)

 

 

 

 

Posted by HugeFish4 on 11-19-2003 03:29 PM:

2003 Season Analysis

I deleted my last thread, because I have updated my 2003 Lakes and Techniques analysis with pictures and more information. Although, I plan on fishing more this year, I thought this would suffice. John G requested that I put something together all year...so here it is!

Please follow this link for the report (best viewed on a full screen):

http://home.att.net/~hugefish/2003_Season_Story.htm

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Posted by Mark G on 11-19-2003 04:39 PM:

Huge, this is an awesome report. Thanks so much for sharing it! I have read it over and will read it over a couple more tims, especially the breakdowns and stats to see what I can learn from them.

Interesting to me were the following:

 

• The role the buzzbait played in your success. I know many competent bass anglers who disregard this bait completely. I have always thrown in sporadically, and next season I will give it more of a shot, especially in early to mid fall.
• The role of the jig-n-pig, a bait I gained a lot of confidence in this season. It is known to be a big fish bait, and it was interesting to hear it worked for you as well, although not surprising. Jig-n-pigs rule!

A couple questions...

 

• The Drop shot caught you one fish...a big fish. How often did you drop shot? Are you interested in doing it again next year? Did you just learn about dropshotting this season?
• You list C-bait in your big fish breakdown. Is that Carolina Rigging you're referring to?
• You have walker and stick bait listed separately. Does walker mean dog walker, as in the dog walking style of working topater? What is the difference in your opinion? I always thought stick baits were dog walked, and I know there is a difference between a Zara Spook and a Spittin image, but I never thought much of it. Do you think there is a big difference, or a time to throw one and not the other?
• Did you do any stat computations about numbers of fish verses time fished at specific locations?

I'm sure I'll have other questions as I read this again, and feel free to ignore my questions. I don't expect you to spend inordinate amounts of time answering them. If I really want answers I'll keep detailed stats myself next year. In fact, I ythink that's exactly what I'll do!

Thanks again for the info...

Mark

Posted by HugeFish4 on 11-19-2003 04:55 PM:

Mark, I guess I need to clarify some of my abbreviations.

S-Bait = Spinnerbait
C-Bait = Crankbait.....I have never c-rigged up a fish in my life.
Walkers - Spit n Image, Spooks, etc.

I started tracking the hours initially, but I got too lazy to continue during the course of the year.

Only one fish on a drop-shot and it happened to be 4lbs, that is because I caught it at Rockland Lake. Never tried it before, and I will need to do more drop-shotting in the future.

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Posted by bass 64 on 11-19-2003 04:56 PM:

What a S-bait? Is it the ever dreaded senko?

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Posted by JOHN G on 11-19-2003 04:56 PM:

for anyone who doesn't click on John's link and check out his unbelievable report, you are missing out on a real treat...


there are no words to describe the layout and logic of his summaries.......

it is inspiring......

Please everyone go check it out!!!!!

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Posted by fishinut on 11-19-2003 05:24 PM:

Awesome, awesome report!! That is great! Congratulations on your great season! - Fishinut

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Posted by joe p on 11-19-2003 06:06 PM:

excellent report, John....ever considered applying for a statistician job, say with the Knicks or the Mets?.....very detailed report...

Speaking to Ray Scully, he says record keeping is an important facet of bass fishing, of which Im guilty of not doing. I will certainly try it again this coming season.

Congrats, again, John....what a season!....

Posted by JPBass on 11-19-2003 06:31 PM:

Great season!! And a phenomenal recap of events!!

One thing's for sure. You have WAY, WAY, WAY, too much time on your hands!!! I'm jealous!!

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Posted by HugeFish4 on 11-19-2003 06:37 PM:

JP, the funny thing is I put most of this stuff together at a temp job. They hired me for a couple of weeks, but the last couple of days I was begging for work. My "boss" said don't worry about it, so I compiled my stats and worked on my excel graphing skills! LOL!

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Posted by FrankBee on 11-19-2003 10:18 PM:

Thanks

Amazing recap. Great stats and an engrossing poignant story-- fantastic. Thanks for sharing it.

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Posted by MikeYac on 11-19-2003 10:26 PM:

John,

Unbelievable report!

The Fishing Gods blessed the right man this year. It will be a year that you will never forget and the best part is that you were able to share these times with your dad.

Congrats on a great year.

MikeYac

Posted by Zuke on 11-20-2003 03:36 PM:

Huge:

Thank you so much for your time and effort. Very cool reading, and very informative....Plus, great living vicariously through someone who actually caught fish this year....

You've got me jonesin' for the April/May water already!!


Zuke.

Posted by Sea Jack on 11-20-2003 09:37 PM:

Excellent job putting together that much info.

Great read.

Posted by Lpbassman on 11-20-2003 11:16 PM:

OUTSTANDING report and recap as usual John.

I am also honored that you included me, my stomach and that nice Hopatcong smallie in it. I will certainly look forward to fishing with you again in the spring as you are one of the finest gentlemen and anglers that I have met on the board. We shall certainly hit Hopatcong again when we can go more than 5mph without getting harrased by the lake police. LOL We will also need to get Mr. Pido involved for another trip to that lake that I'm not allowed to talk about for another "massacre" I also have a few new ones to take you too as well.
Have a joyous Thanksgiving holiday my friend.---LP

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Posted by Bass Rat on 11-21-2003 06:56 AM:

OUTSTANDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Huge, You know how much I've enjoyed your reports & photos this season. Thank you for sharing. Un-friggin-beleivable!

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Posted by Bass Rat on 11-21-2003 06:58 AM:

By the way.

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Posted by Lpbassman on 11-21-2003 09:40 AM:

There you go John...the secret is finally out.

Kudos to Nicky!

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Posted by Andrew Bornn on 11-21-2003 01:59 PM:

John,

This is a very impressive and detailed summary. I was fortunate enough to get out and fish with John quite a bit during this year. He is a very talented angler that can utilize many different techniques effectively. The one thing that amazes me is his persistence with throwing topwaters even though he will have long stretches without any hits. More often than not he is usually rewarded with some incredible fish (Musky included). There is no substitute for time on the water, and developing confidence in your abilities.

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Posted by acstech on 11-21-2003 02:19 PM:

One more vote

Excellent presentation and graphics.

Posted by HugeFish4 on 11-26-2003 08:56 PM:

Thanks guys. I gave myself a refresher course in Excel graphing! LOL!

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