Chris Loveless: The Suburban Angler.

Meet the suburban angler, Chris Loveless.

Chris Loveless, an avid Bass and muskie fisherman from Chicago, IL, joins the FHQ.com Writers Network with his very own blog. Chris tells us a little bit about himself:

My name is Chris Loveless  and I have fished my whole life. I started fishing  20 years ago at the age of 3 or 4 with my little “Teenage Ninja Turle” rod when my dad would take me out before the sun came up a few days each summer. We never really caught much aside from bluegill and the occasional small bass at local forest preserves in Cook County such as Busse. We also made yearly trips to Minnesota to visit other family that has a lake house up there.  Way back then there was no way to tell how big of an obsession fishing would become.

As I grew older I started to convince my dad to go out a few times a month. Together, we grew as anglers as we shared more time on the water. We got away from closed face spinning gear and bobbers and began throwing small jigs and plastics along with the timeless spinnerbaits and buzzbaits that anglers across the country catch millions of fish with each year. We caught more fish than ever  once we started to actually think about how and where we were fishing. Essentially, we began to actually plan our trips and attempt to pattern our target fish. We loved bass and pike and to us they were still hard enough to catch that we had a blast trying to find them even when we came back with a skunk because each trip became a learning experience.

Which brings us to today. . . . . . . The last couple years I have really grown as an angler. I have more tackle than I will ever need or probably use, and travel miles and miles each week to hit new water or chase a bite that I think will be hot for all freshwater species from bass and musky to salmon or catfish. Sometimes these situations result in fish and others just produce a relaxing day on the water. This is a situation common with many anglers who really become passionate about the sport. I have a different rod and reel for each technique and species from bass to musky and salmon. I can’t say that this is really necessary as you can put a $600 combo in anyone’s hand and it does not guarantee fish but with a bigger arsenal confidence can be built, and one thing about fishing I have learned is that confidence means everything.

As anyone from Fishing-Headquarters that has fished with me knows I always have one rod with me to dropshot. It does not matter when, where or what we are fishing for if all else fails I will dropshot for hours and truly believe that it will result in fish. In the end I think that’s what really produces fish; A confidence that you can find them and catch them with. That is what allows for the time to be spent to actally exploring new water and learning as an angler.

So with that confidence in my ability to grow and keep learning more on the water, I don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. My summers will be spent on lake and ponds and my winters will be geared more towards rivers that do not freeze as I am not a big ice fisherman yet, but see it as another opportunity to keep learning and expanding my angling knowledge. Here I will share my experiences and hopefully help others grow as anglers as well. Enjoy my future posts and hopefully you can take something away from them.