2013: A Review

I can not believe that 2013 is nearly over and 2014 is less than a day away.  Where did this year go?  At the beginning of this year, I, like many of us, came up with a list of goals that I wanted to accomplish in regards to fishing.  To refresh my memory, here is the list with my results for that goal:

• Find a better balance between family/work/fishing.  
•  While I do my best to keep personal business off of my blog, I found myself single again toward the end of July so as a silver lining I was able to take more time to fish.  Balance achieved.
• Identify three different bass patterns on the Pokegama chain.
• This past summer I had a seasonal spot on Pokegama near Pine City so I was able to spend a lot of weekends trying to figure the lake out.  I didn't accomplish what I had set out to with the time I had there, having only been able to identify a dock pattern and a wood pattern.  All the milfoil that rimmed all of Pokegama made it very difficult to get around and my inexperience with punching heavy cover, or knowing where to start, kept me from making much progress there.
• Work on getting familiar and comfortable using different presentations.  I relied on the swim jig a little too much the past couple years and I think that hindered my success a bit.  
• I did start working on punching during a trip to Chisago and Bald Eagle in late summer and was pretty happy with the results.  I do plan on picking up a rod that is a little better suited to the style at the upcoming Northwest Sportshow.
• Fish five new lakes during ice season.
• During Icefishapalooza, we hit Bone Lake and Chisago.  Chisago was great, Bone lake not so much.  In prepping for Icefishapalooza my Uncle and Father-in-law scouted out Lake Jane which was disappointing to say the least.  With the early ice that we've had this year, I've been getting out the last couple of weekends and have fished a couple of small lakes with a really nice pannie population.  So this goal is complete.
• Find some more shore fishing opportunities in the north metro that haven't been beaten to death by others (that being said, Centerville and Pelltier are out).
• Oh man.  I dropped the ball on this one, bad.  I tried fishing this small spit of water by my place, Golden Lake..  I'm planning to get a kayak this coming season so I will try this one again next year, but I'm skeptical...
• Get the project boat up and running again.  It may not look pretty to begin with, but for right now it only needs to float and run.
• No progress at all - I do have some pretty drastic plans in store though.  More on that to come in the future.

Hopefully your year treated you well and the new year is even better!