I'm getting over the winter hump and starting to prepare for 2009.
So what are everyone's goals for 2009?
Mine are pretty straightforward

1. Not ashamed to say, depite no lack of trying, I have not got a bass over 30lbs yet. So thats on the top of the list.
2. Enjoy bunker fest 2009 - hopefully they'll be back in the bay along with the bass. Most fun I've ever had fishing.
3. Get to know the boat electronics better for summer deep water fishing.
4. Fish the canal. I tried for the first time last year, pouring rain at night. It was pretty surreal. Weird to be fishing under street lights in a big river. Its close to home and a good alternative to heading to RI.
5. Get a tuna.

I'm with you on #1...still nothing over 30 yet.

Want to spend more time on the water as compared to last year...Only got out twice a week last year.

Other than that I just want to work on finding fish.....spend to much time on the how to catch and not enough time on, what should be the most important thing, finding them.

Gonna try and do a Fish a month for the whole year....not a striper, but any fish. just as a goof

1. set up a bait container for eel fishing in the basement of my cape house
2. fish darters more effectively... just have never really put time into it
3. try rigged eel fishing
4. fish tins... thats the number one thing i totally have underrated in the past
5. have more confidence and patience when i am bait fishing from the shore... would love to go out with someone to learn
6. fish with at least five new members from S-B

Use more plugs , 45+lb for me and a 25lb+ for the wife

same as every year, have fun and enjoy myself. pretty simple

I WILL BREAK FIFTY NEXT YEAR.:jump:

Great post Paul. I think I'll enter some tournaments this year but I will try not to do so with tunnel vision. I saw a side of fishing last year I was slightly embarrassed to be a part of.

Also, I would love to fish more with my oldest son.

same as every year, have fun and enjoy myself. pretty simple

And take me night fishing along the islands

SAME AS P/M

KEEP IT SIMPLE & FUN ><>< :smokin:

Take my 5 year old daughter to the beach this spring and see if I can get her hooked up with her first striper.

Last summer she patiently and calmly told me that she understood my telling her that learning to cast a spinning rod (I do NOT like spincast rigs) may take a lot of time and patience, so I started her on my 5 ft trout rig with a plastic practice slug.......
.......and she then proceeded to send the slug 40 ft on the second cast. After that she showed that it was not a co-incidence, and increased the distance on the following casts. I was well chuffed.

Ten minutes later she was doing the same with my 7ft schoolie rod.:cool:

Slow Eddie - I think that I might start her off at your stomping grounds this spring.

Both her and her younger sister have already been asking for their own rods..........:eek5:


Some of the most enjoyable times I have had fishing these last few seasons have been when I helped friends and family catch their first stripers, and also when I have had the pleasure of fishing alongside (and learning from!) some of the real gentlemen that we have on our coast. I hope to be able to do more of both this season.

cheers all.

get my shoulder fixed and learn to fish rigged sluggos, and perhaps wetsuit a little

Get offshore more.
Even if it means less summer time in the surf.
Let's just hope the price of fuel stays low.

35+# on a fly.

..fish more with metal swimmers.
..learn to fish with darters.
..Put into action all the good things I'm learning from reading Z books.
..Get a better sleeping pad, for sleeping in the extra cab of my truck.
..Fish at night.( This is the one for this coming season.)
..Don't over fill my plug bag.
..

same as every year, have fun and enjoy myself. pretty simple


Ditto to that.

I'm also planning on getting my 4 y.o. son out on the boat with me and gramps this year. I'm looking forward to passing the obsession on to the next generation.:btu:

Taking the kids fishing every chance I get. I'm going back to the basics, fluke, scup, seabass, striper, cod etc... I spent a lot of time last year fishing for tuna and was rewarded for the time but missed out on many of the simpler things that life has to offer.

Great post Paul. I think I'll enter some tournaments this year but I will try not to do so with tunnel vision. I saw a side of fishing last year I was slightly embarrassed to be a part of.

Also, I would love to fish more with my oldest son.

Great post here too.:kewl:

I got 50 fish tags and a membership to the American Littoral Society for Christmas. My goal is to use every tag this season. I did 25 last year, so this would double my effort.

Also, get my 5 and 7 year old kids to each catch a keeper sized bass from the boat.

Dave

number one would have too be to absorb more.
I learn more by trial/error and thinking back.

not as important as my #1 but...

try fishing eel skin plugs. (I've never tried)
find/fish some new spots. (parking stinks)
make slow sinking needles.
also, boat fish a little more, I like being on the water whenever/however.

One of this years goals,

Get out there and hit the suds with some knowlegable guys. Really soak up some info and do some brain picking.

just love that we are already talking about '09 season...

my goal will now be to fish before work every day...which for most of the summer will be first light...

I will not work during a new moon week from May-Sept.

My only goal is to try to lose fewer than 2 dozen jigs on all the ghost gear off the Race. :)

Definately what a lot of you guys mentioned...expendanding my knowledge and getting out of my comfort zone with what I use. That and meet some s-b'ers. It all adds up to enjoying my time out there.

-mike

to do what i've been doing the last 8 yrs. or so. learn, really learn to use a lure that i have not been using much.
most importantly, keep on enjoying the surf. choggie or bluefish. i don't care. bring it on.

just have a solid season all around. take my son on his first fishing trip. fish w/ some new faces and some old ones. maybe a canyon trip if life permits

fish less hours & catch bigger fish....

1. Catch less small fish and more big ones.
2. Fish more at night.
3. Use eels more.
4. Enjoy being out with my friends

1. Catch a 40+ from boat or shore
2. Help my lady friend catch a keeper
3. Become a better jigger in the ditch
4. Use the fly rod some more
5. Don't get hurt

learn to fish tins with confidence
fish with more people from this site
fish eels more at a certain spot
try wetsuiting
get over to the vineyard a few times
learn to cast conventional
fish every day on our honeymoon and get away with it.....yeah right

1. Fish block more and more effectively.
2. Get out to Cutty, even if its just for a day or 2.
3. Get my cousin his first shore caught keeper.
4. Break 50", i never weigh em.
5. Get my loving girlfriend back into fishing. That means fishing beaches more effectively.
6. Make it thru a season on a budget. Last couple years things have gotten outta control. Packing meals, no more McD's at the sagamore rotary/flyover thingy. Even though the dude that works there is really cool, he should know my name.

Got a good feeling about this season! I think this will be the year I go "40"!

1. Fish plugs more and learn the tricks to them.
2. Meet guys from the site.
3. Fish some new spots.
4. Have fun.
5. Go over the 40# mark.

Find a couple of new fishing partners, getting tired of fishing alone so much. Not that I don't like the old ones anymore just that they either moved away or passed away.

Wanted: fishing partners, must:

not be afraid of the dark or live eels
not think chunking is a sin and own two quality sand spikes
know you don't throw away dead eels, you rig them
Know that "fishing is bad during the full moon" is crap
own korkers and 200 replacement studs (other brands OK)
look at mung as a challenging opportunity
love crawling around on slippery rock at the most ungodly hours
know that if you pay more then 20 for a plug I will make fun of you

Got a good feeling about this season! I think this will be the year I go "40"!

Come fish with me some time i will bring the luck you bring the skills.:wavey:

Fish rigged eels more.

Use more variety of needles in other locales.

fish Block more and maybe catch a fish!!

Throw some of my own big jointed metal lips.

If all the above peeters out, fish the eels again!

Continue to have fun and relax as always in the dark of night.

Fish Rigged eels & skin plugs.

Learn a few spots better, that I fished last year with success.

Hopfully land one OVER 30lbs. Got a 30lber last year, time to reset the benchmark!

Learn to Jig the canal better and more often
Break 30# (Best is 29)

repeat 2008.
"Summer of the Supa Cows: part Deux"
I think the neighbors just restocked their live stock.....let the sacrificing begin. The countdown is on.

break 30#
hit up cutty and the vineyard maybe block island
fish with my friends more...

1. Learn to fish braid on my Abu conventional (e.g. Diawa surf braid)
2. Fish fish finders more
3. Fish Danny's and Rapala swimers
4. Try kayakfishing
5. Fish Cuttyhunk

Come fish with me some time i will bring the luck you bring the skills.:wavey:

Lou I sure would like to make that happen! Be a good time for sure!:uhuh:

repeat 2008.
"Summer of the Supa Cows: part Deux"
I think the neighbors just restocked their live stock.....let the sacrificing begin. The countdown is on.

Be standing next to this guy on the stage
get the wife to share in the addiction
go and work a few almost forgotten spots.
find a comfortable wetsuit that make me look 25 and in shape (may take some work on this one)

I'd like to catch a bass every month of the year, but I'm sick right now so January will be tough.

make more friends
get to some site events
get to cuttyhunk
derby repeat

Gonna give fishing conventional a shot this season - I wanna see if you can really teach an old dog anything at all...

I tried casting conventional again for a bit at the end of last season - my thumb was a lot less educated than I thought, 3rd grade drop-out I think...:doh:

Hey, my first 10 casts were awesome...it's always the last one that gets ya, I guess - still haven't got that birdsnest out - that's another winter project...:hihi:

Hey, my first 10 casts were awesome...it's always the last one that gets ya, I guess - still haven't got that birdsnest out - that's another winter project...:hihi:

Get a Newell, load it with mono and start practicing.. they are graphite squidders, so they are easy to use, fix, care for!

Get a Newell, load it with mono and start practicing.. they are graphite squidders, so they are easy to use, fix, care for!

Thanks, Bry - I've been trying to figure out what I should be looking at for a reel - Newell's come up a few times -

I was using my 500 Jigmaster w/30 mono on it when I got a little...uh... overconfidant...:tooth:

I was talking to Alberto at the EBA show about his Saltiga Surf - which was damned nice - but I think I oughta look for something else before putting $400+ into a convench -

If you're at the meeting tonite I'll talk to ya about it -

I won't be.
Next month I hope.

Break 49.9lbs:kewl:

Learn not to laugh or snicker while watching Numbskull try to cast to breaking fish in the canal.:rotflmao:

Carry more wetnaps for stifftip when he has the effects of Montezuma's revenge in my boat (I can't bear to hear him screaming in pain as he walks into the dunes and all I have to offer him are alcohol wipes):crying:

Kill Mikey, with ninja sword.
Dad starts wearing pants.
No more working on my 3 day weekends.
See Mom get a keeper.
Fish after work (so close, I can't believe I didn't go last year...Winthrop is 3 minutes away).

just to get out and use my new 1201M. i'll be attempting to raise twins this year come april. i'll be tired. :sleeps:

All of the above!!!

1) really get to know my Northstar better.
2) get away from the over crowded mouth more.
3) try the fly fishing gig.
4) catch a Tuna for the first time.

just to get out and use my new 1201M. i'll be attempting to raise twins this year come april. i'll be tired. :sleeps:

Don't worry. I'll rub it in when you're not there.

I'm just looking to have fun this year but a 50 would be nice.

,,,,,,,,,land at least one of the two monstahs that got away in '08
,,,,,,,,,break 40, then break 50; or vice versa ~beat my pb~ 38#
,,,,,,,,,fish w/ the Sly One on the Gansay, and BigLarr at the Ditch
,,,,,,,,,land sumthin, anythin~~~~~~at the MS Surfclub Challenge
,,,,,,,,,:uhuh: :uhuh: :uhuh:

,,,,,,,,,put both nephews on keepahs, put my 5yo daughter on a schoolie or better
,,,,,,,,,c&r a keeper on a jig and a pig and on a needle
,,,,,,,,,finish my winter reading list or narrow it
,,,,,,,,,win at least one month during The Striper Cup
,,,,,,,,,meet more s-b'ers and tong some stripers with them
,,,,,,,,,:kewl: :kewl: :kewl:

EXCELLENT Thread,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,RIJimmy!!!

I plan to simplify !

1. Get my daughter her first keeper bass.
2. Get the wife to go offshore once this year.
3. Continue to learn the canal.
4. Fish Nantucket and its surrounding waters more.
5. Make it to the canyons more this year.

Remember where my car keys are.

Fish more, have fun. Oh yeah, shore caught fly rod Bonita, and beat down the Italian! (right BP)

catch a 40lber. beat my personal best of 38 and change.
watch my son and wife catch their first keepers this year
try rigged eels
fish with my cousin more:uhuh:
fish with everyone on my friend list:jump:
learn something new everytime i'm out..
catch and release 90% of my fish.
fish the spring more
catch other species of fish when the striper fishing is slow.
learn the canal
fish rhode island
catch a keeper on my kayak.( bought one last november)

1. Learn some new spots, and fish the canal
2. Finaly get my wife or sister out fishing with me
3. Fish live eels more often
4. Beat 15lbs on one of my plugs(my personal best on wood last year)
5. To have a safe enjoyable fishing season

Hope all of you have a safe productive 09 season!!!!

beating my wife for biggest fish this season, because i didnt last season.

Same as last year. Break 40# on a top water plug.

just to get out and use my new 1201M. i'll be attempting to raise twins this year come april. i'll be tired. :sleeps:


Pffft...you're dead. As the father of twins (16 yo in February) I can tell you with absolute confidence that you are done for the year, maybe three depending on the wife........

As for my goals;
More tunas, and be back at the dock by 10AM
More night fishing on the boat
A productive trip to Cuttyhunk with the Crew this time around
Block Island with some guys in the fall
See as many sunrises as possible on the boat livelining bunker

1. give eels a break...them things get expensive after a while!
2. find new holes closer to home.
3. give togging a go.
4. beat the 30# mark from the kayak.
5. and as always, more time out on the water/shore.

6. oh yeah... and find a couple new fishing buddies. The ones now are moving :( :(