Should I feel lucky or no big deal

[Crankin]

So I live in Northern Illinois, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago. I keep my bass boat in the garage and usually I need to drive about an hour to get to good fishing and pay $10-$20 ramp fee. At the beginning of this summer I happen to stumble on a piece of water that has me not only in the water but actually casting in 25 minutes from when I leave my driveway. This piece of water doesn't have many bass over 3 lbs but I'm catching 20 smallmouth in the 12-17 inch range in a three hour period consistently. I feel really blessed to be able to finish up work, leave the house at 5:30, Run my boat, and two hours later have 15-20 bass of which I usually can get 5 or so keepers. The best part is the boat is back in the garage half hour after dark and I'm watching TV at 9:30. This year I added on average three extra days of fishing a week.

Interested to hear other Like situations

[greg88]

�� Very lucky and blessed.

[RANGER487]

I feel blessed also after reading some of the post on here about how far many have to travel to fish. I live 10 minutes from my home lake and have 5 to 6 lakes including lake Erie less then 50 minutes from my house.

[posmallie]

I feel blessed also after reading some of the post on here about how far many have to travel to fish. I live 10 minutes from my home lake and have 5 to 6 lakes including lake Erie less then 50 minutes from my house.

Agree. I live 15 minutes or less from probably 15 public lakes, and many more within a 45 minute drive, including Lake St. Clair. I also have access to several private lake.

To the OP, you are very lucky. There is nothing wrong with catching 15-20, 12-17 inch smallies. That is way more fun than catching a few 3 pounders in my opinion.

[AirForceAngler]

That sounds awesome to me! Get some light tackle to make catching them smallies even more fun! They taste great, too!

[basscat21]

I feel blessed also after reading some of the post on here about how far many have to travel to fish. I live 10 minutes from my home lake and have 5 to 6 lakes including lake Erie less then 50 minutes from my house.

Same here, I have 2 ponds in 3 miles, and a bunch inside of a half hour. All good Largemouth and smallmouth ponds with good fish. I just need to learn how to keep them pinned..... Friday lost a 5-6 pound largemouth, right at the boat, then Sat I had a 4-5lb smallmouth jump and spit the lure in a huge leap in the air. I wonder if I had to travel an hour if I would be as interested. I have had a boat for 35 years, and normally fish 2-3 times a week, but to travel real far to fish might put a damper on that.

[basscatlildave]

Yes that is a blessing. Like said I would grab some lite tackle and have more fun.

[basscla]

I walk about 75 feet, which takes 30 seconds to my dock and lower the lift. And there are a few smallies around

[rboren]

Blessed I would say. Exact reason I finally moved full time to Pickwick. I never had to drive over an hour to get here or to some other body of water but the fact I can now justify short fishing days allows me to go more often. If I drive an hour or two I want to get my money’s worth and fish a full day. Now there is no hauling expense to speak of.

[BoatBuggy]

I live on the St Lawrence but my shoreline is a pre-Seaway shipping canal so it's very deep and not practical to install any sort of boat lift. So I hook up the trailer and drive 10 minutes to the launch. I could drive 5 minutes and use the free launch but it's a bit of at shitshow during the summer months and it's hard to launch and load in the fall when the water is low. So I spend $125 for an annual pass to one of the marinas where launching and parking is a breeze.

[Ryno 615]

I am at least 45 min to any of the 5 lakes near me. And ~2 hrs from the bigger lakes(chick,guntersville)

[Crabnbass]

1:15 to the nearest lake with bass, and 1:30-2:00 to the nearest decent one.

[pabasshawk]

I live close to the Chesapeake and have several tidal rivers within a 20 minute drive. Feel blessed to have fishing close by.

[BP in ME]

It's not what we think, it's how do you feel about it. Personally, I wouldn't own a bass boat if it took 1.5 hrs to reach the nearest bass fishing. Maine has so many ponds and lakes, you can't hardly spit without hitting one.

[DaveBrabec]

I live 1 mile from Clearlake

[juice780]

There are 4 lakes within 10-30 minutes from my house. I always thought it would suck to have to drive at least an hour to get to the closest body of water.

[LTZ25]

$20.00 ramp fee ?

[DAC244]

When I’m at my place in Florida during the winter I’m one block from are marina. When I’m home in ky I’m 20 miles from a good lake and after being spoiled in Florida I feel like I need to get a hotel for the night if I’m going to have to drive 20 miles to fish. I use to drive a hour and thirty to fish and didn’t think nothing of it. Every thing is relative.

[PJ-Rohlf]

That is lucky, I have a 45 minute drive to about any body of water that I want to fish. I miss the days I was in college and had 3 good lakes within 15 minutes.

[Crankin]

$20.00 ramp fee ?

Yes to fish on Southern Lake Michigan