Bass Burnout

When you do something long enough, you’ll get burnt out by it eventually. It happens in daily life, and it can also happen in fishing. The more repetitive each activity gets, the more bored you become. This is what bass fishing sometimes does to me.

Hopefully, you have not become a casualty of burn out.

In my previous fishing life, everything I did was for self-learning and for leisure. I fished for nobody else but myself, and was very obsessed with it. At one point, I also played on team sports (basketball) more than I went fishing, which is hard to believe. By the time I turned 18, I had quit playing sports almost entirely and fishing became my primary focus, taking up all of my time. After college, most friends went off to graduate school to get their Masters Degrees. Jokingly, but mostly seriously, fishing was my graduate study.

My goal was for it to turn into a career. While this has led to a secondary career and a lot of opportunities and avenues, I don’t feel like this massive time investment has amounted to anything much now that I am a few years shy of age-40. It pays the bills, but not in the lucrative ways it could for a guy with my off-the-water skills. I know this industry can provide me with so much more.

Maybe I should go elsewhere, and try new things?

The most unqualified fishing people out there are getting rewarded and propped up by others, so why haven’t I? I am doing shit unlike them, in comparison.  

It Isn’t All Sunshine

I fish because I love it so much, once I finally make it onto the water. But I am guilty of pushing it too far. My motor is passionate, and can be tireless, able to go several hours if it needed to without stoppage. While these are great attributes if you wanted to guide, tournament fish, or go on trips, I have missed out on several family gatherings, events, and social functions as a result of this carelessness.

I wish I could take back a few previous Mother’s Day gatherings with grandma Ragas I skipped in order to go guide others instead. She passed away last year. Those people I had to guide for Mother’s Day smallmouths were not worth it to me like grandma was. Now you know how I feel about this, and why I refuse to fish on Mother’s Day Weekend. A paycheck is never worth missing a family gathering for. Instead, I go hang out with my wife, mom, and mother-in-law now.

Nowadays, I won’t miss birthdays (except my own), family events, or other important holidays, in favor of fishing. If my wife and I ever have children, this chapter in life will mostly be done. All the fishing I do will be for them, and for us, and nobody else.

In recent years, guiding has also prevented me from skipping town in order to be able to visit and adventure to other destination fisheries. I have not been to Northwest Ontario or anywhere outside of Wisconsin now in over 7 years. You have no idea how I long returning to Rainy Lake, Lake of the Woods, and other destination fisheries in that region.

While it is fun and enjoyable when the fish are cooperating, guiding other people as a job can suck more than you realize. It comes with a lot of responsibilities, pressures, and requirements to perform. Guiding is a results-driven occupation where catching fish is the daily objective, but that’s not what guiding is about or should be. I’ve been quick to learn that this occupation is never about the guide and upholding a public image either. It’s teaching others about the waters, the strategies, fish behaviors, and how best to catch them. I am an educator for you!

Burnout from fishing has resulted in several guides leaving the occupation, entirely, over the years. We all experience bad trips, and my worst ever ones reached their low levels as a result of the few people whom I had to host – making it a horrible experience for themselves and me. This has led to burnout.

I’ll spare you all the details.

High operating expenses and boat damage leads to burnout as well. People rely on your gear, equipment, and vehicles. We’ve had breakdowns to the boat, tow vehicle, and we’ve even had to rescue strangers from their own breakdowns on the water. I’ve had seats, nets, the boat’s flooring, and other equipment break as a result of guest’s actions. Just because I am commercially insured, paying high premiums, or have sponsors doesn’t give anyone the right to destroy my office thinking I will get these things replaced at zero cost.

This is far from a glamorous job. I only want to be surrounded by positive, respectful, caring and careful customers from this day forward. These are the folks that make this job fun in the first place.

Reality Check

When I was that ambitious 18-year-old, I had always wondered if we could pull off those same 14-16-18-hour days on the water once we’ve aged, and do it daily. 20 years later, I no longer have the ambition and stamina to do it. Unless I’m destination fishing, I absolutely hate fishing for longer than 10 hours. I also don’t need to punish myself on a daily basis in order to repeat the same past accomplishments, because I’ve already been there and done it.

Today, I’ve learned to fish much smarter than go harder. Don’t fish certain hours of the day, and certain times of the year unless you absolutely feel like you have to.

Sun-up to sun-down fishing is the angling mentality of many. However, it should not be the end-all, be-all. It is no longer mine.

The typical trip day in summer starts for me at 4:30 am in order to be out on the water by 6. We’ll then fish until 3 or 4 pm, and repeat the same process again the next day. I then return home, feeling done and fried from our day’s activity, not wanting to do anything that evening. Most evenings, I have to rig up the rods and tidy the boat for the next day. I get zero time for anything else.

Mentally and physically tiring out sucks.

Due to the repetition, I am unable to find any me-time unless I purposefully don’t schedule anglers in order to give myself leisure days. I did a lot of this in 2023, along with pursuing more multi-species, and it greatly reinvigorated me and my interest in fishing. On days I didn’t have to exclusively bass fish, we spent more time than ever before pursuing walleyes and panfish throughout the year.

If the bass suck at biting for you this 2024, never forget most Wisconsin inland lakes play host to a dozen or more other species which could be more catchable than bass. On our most recent vacation week, I had my wife Amanda choose all the waters for us to fish, assuming the time of year and conditions made them a good candidate, and the species to target. Other than two picture-perfect days we used for smashing smallmouths and catching her new personal bests, our entire week was spent for all the other species. Delegating to her, and watching her succeed at an elite level, brought me the fun in fishing again.

Another lesson is that fishing for other species often cures. This is why I find musky fishing to be so calming and stress-free, and why I think I do it on most days off. Muskies are the perfect challenge, as I personally don’t need to catch fish daily.

The rationale is that smart, selective fishing is better than hard fishing. The fish will always be there. When running solo, or on buddy trips, weather and time of year will dictate most of my fishing times. Often, I don’t bother launching the boat somewhere until after 10 am. When you think about daylight hours in spring and summer, I’ll still be putting in a full day assuming we go till dark. Spring, no need to fish until midday through late afternoon. Summer, go early and late. Fall, be on the water all day.  

Nowadays, this perspective keeps me fresher and more excited for the peak seasons throughout the year. You should not want to schedule any trips that don’t fall in-line with peak seasons, strong moon phases, fish vulnerabilities, or consistent weather patterns.

Bass Burnout

The step to curing burnout is to recognize the symptoms and issues that could be making life less interesting and predictable. I’m no doctor or motivational speaker, but if each single year becomes repetitive and you’re going through the motions again and again without much differences, like fishing the same places every day and each week as I do, then it’s time to do something about it.

What I’ve been attempting to do differently with my fishing time has been to schedule fishing weeks during the time-frames and periods that I used to push aside.

The last two years, I’ve fished during the middle of the bass spawn. I hate the bass spawn and seeing how other anglers go about it, but fishing during it has taught me a lot of new things that I never knew existed during the nesting and reproductive period. This is also a very good period for targeting alternative species that are also populated throughout the shallows. I still mostly dislike fishing during the July and August months, but what I do more of now is fishing on weekdays only, and going nocturnal too, in order to evade traffic. Fall has been tougher these last few years, likely due to bi-polar weather, so what I’ve done more of are several back-and-forth trips and frequent 4 to 5 day shortened weeks centered around coldfronts and moon phases. These adjustments to my fishing schedule have made my guide life much more interesting. And my wife is happier too.

November through April is a fantastic time of year to shut down, log-off, and not think about fishing for a while. This is the half a year I can finally do other things, not care about bass, address my other hobbies, and focus on family and my actual full-time job of being website designer.

Most people would tidy up their tackle.

I do nothing. And doing nothing is doing something.

Unless I have to do some planning for future trips, give a seminar, show up to an event, or write these articles for web content, I am absolutely disengaged from fishing until April.

As it grew and evolved, I used to prioritize and take social media seriously for fishing sponsor obligations and requirements. But that got me absolutely nowhere in life, considering the content and information I put out there. And I say to hell with it all now.

Social media is trash (Instagram), with much of its content painting a false picture, and exploiting and demising several fisheries in the process. YouTube is awful in this same regard too. The vast majority of its intentions is all for likes and follows, and not stewarding for the resources. Majority of the user-base consists of spot hawks and leeches too, and pre-adult influencers still living in their parent’s basements. As much of its user-base does not care to learn anything from me or book trips in the process, I have not posted pictures on Instagram in over a year. I have a website found by anyone in the world, visited and read by thousands, while the social media users rely on a network on followers and the platform’s algorithms in order to receive their daily traffic and a thumb-up. There is so much nonsense, slime, and drama on social media these days that I only maintain my accounts for self-entertainment purposes – like getting a good laugh from a reel.

It’s so sad that many businesses and potential business partners look at one’s social media engagements over  body of work, real life skills, and what one could bring to the table. As a result, social media followers are outweighing website visitor traffic. This pisses me off.

My winter disengagement is so healthy. And speaking of which, this is why I am so in-tune and passionate with my winter hobby and super fandom for college basketball, and being a season ticket holder and supporter of my favorite team (Loyola Chicago) since this chapter began for me in winter 2018. March Madness is epic when your team gets in and wins. My engagement in supporting an alma mater program not only is a social life game-changer, but helps make winter fly by so much quicker. I encourage you to identify winter hobbies, as you will no longer be waiting for the new fishing season to come. 

Breaks like these are healthy and reinvigorating. My 6-month disengagement from fishing attributes to why I fish with such excitement at ice-out in late April and early May. This is the greatest time of year, fishing wise, no question about it!

If I could pull it off, I’d take a break from the Northwoods an entire year in order to travel throughout the U.P. or fish the Great Lakes. Life and other more important responsibilities right now wouldn’t allow it, though. These destinations and their fisheries would be the perfect substitute for me. I’d also be willing to give up bass fishing for an entire year to pursue each of the other species. If this serves any example, quit vacationing and wanting to fish the same places each year. Go exploring, make things interesting, be adventurous, and find outside hobbies and interests to focus on.

Don’t Become a Casualty

If you’re not happy from fishing, you’re doing it wrong.

I know a lot of people who’ve been burned out by fishing. Their situations were so severe that they completely left the sport entirely, dropping off the face of this earth. My acquaintances include guides, TV show and media personalities, tournament anglers, writers, personal friends, and even some former guide customers. I never got the scoop from some of them, and whether other factors contributed to their burnout and leaving the sport altogether. I can imagine it was from a combination of stressors and pressures that were too much, their involvement in the sport took mental and financial tolls on them, their family situations changed, they stopped getting enjoyment out of it, or they simply didn’t have the passion anymore in them.

If you’re passionate about fishing and you want it to be a lifelong activity, you must stop partaking in it throughout the year in order to take advantage of life’s many other blessings. If you expect any personal growth, fishing 24/7, 365 is just not realistic towards accomplishing any off-the-water achievements. If you have burnout issues of your own, find your ways and unique methodologies to bring the fun back into fishing.

The reason I keep fishing is because the tug on the line is the exact, same joyous feeling that I had as a toddler. What an amazing feeling.

Andrew Ragas splits time between the Chicago area and Wisconsin’s Northwoods. Based in Minocqua, WI, he specializes in trophy bass fishing and offers guided trips from May thru October. While big bass is the passion, he dabbles in multi-species as well. He may be visited online at www.northwoodsbass.com