Fishing Bucket List

I've caught a lot of fish in my days and a lot of species too. I've caught large and small mouth bass, rock bass, trout (rainbow, brook and brown), pickerel, sunfish, bluegill, crappie, catfish, fluke (summer flounder) and striped bass. I even caught skates and dogfish. But there are a few species that have eluded me over the years for one reason or another. So I've put together a 'fishing bucket list'; a list of fish I want to catch before I 'kick the bucket'. Here they are in no particular order....

1. Northern Pike- I've tried to catch Northern Pike a few times to no avail. I've tried in lakes and rivers. Even some 'hot spots' but nothing. My last attempt was the Pompton River in Lincoln Park, NJ. The latest hot spot I've heard about. I hope to get on soon.

2. Muskellunge- Ahhh, the 'Fish Of 1,000 Casts'. Or as I refer to them, the fish of unlimited casts. I've tried time and time again to catch a musky. There are few places in New Jersey to fish for them and I've only tried a couple. My last attempt was rained out. Me and my buddy were going to try Lake Hopatcong in north Jersey but the weatherman was calling for some bad weather...which never happened!!.

3. Walleye- I've never really tried to fish for walleye although I fish in some waters known for them. One of the places is Monksville Reservoir in Ringwood, NJ. Monksville is also known for muskies. The only time I really concentrated on them was a few weeks ago fishing the Delaware River.

4. Tarpon- If I had to pick a #1 bucket list fish, the tarpon would be at or near the top. Especially with a fly rod. Since I live in New Jersey, I won't get the chance to fish for them any time soon. But I would love to see a giant tarpon jump with my fly in his mouth.

There are some more species I'd like to catch but not as much as these. Some include, halibut, salmon, gar, and sturgeon. Although I have been fishing for over 20 years, I have been taking it very seriously the last year so I hope to be taking some of these off my list.

Till next time, tight lines.

Customer Service Alive And Well At BASS

Back on September 12th I joined BASS ( Bass Anglers Sportsman Society ) for 1 year which includes a subscription to their magazine, BASSMASTERS. I got my BASS packet, which included an ID card, a BASS window decal, BASS patch and a free tackle bag (given away with every new membership). I was looking at my ID card when I noticed it had an expiration date of July 2012. I e-mailed their customer service to let them know about the wrong date and that I didn't want it to affect my year subscription to the magazine. I got a response back stating that they will adjusts their records to reflect the error and send a new member kit out to me.

I get home today and find the member kit in my mailbox. In it I find an updated ID card with the correct expiration date, another BASS window decal, BASS patch and a free sample pack of Berkley PowerBait 7" worm. They could have just sent out the corrected card and nothing else. But they went the extra step to satisfy me and I really appreciated that. I guess good customer services is still alive and well.

Thank you BASS!!!