I love catching big pickerel, they fight as well as any bass of equal weight. Only the small ones are an annoyance. I also love stripers and blues, pike, trout, and even panfish on the fly rod. Last year at Fairhaven Bay I hooked into a catfish using a square lip crankbait that surprised the heck out of me how much fight it put up.
Theres nothing wrong with not liking bass fishing. I've heard of guys who are fishing for other species and when they catch bass they don't give a crap. Almost a nuisance to them
Lol that was me when i would fish lake erie for walleye..... nothing was more annoying then catching bass or sheephead... now i moved here and find myself wanting to catch them and half the time i cant find them lol
I fish the seasons.I used to be mainly a trout fisherman and was disappointed when the season ended.Now I find myself fishing for bass and trout at the same time and hoping for warmer weather when the bass really get active.My new love is smallies only wish there were more places to fish for them close to where I live.Was lucky enough to discover them right in my backyard last yr and now I'm hooked pun intended! 
If you use lure for fresh water fish in MA, smallmouth and largemouth are the primary choose. No other is more fun than bass fishing. If you master bass fishing, you are very like pick up any lures for any other type of fishing. Bass fishing includes all the lure categories, either smaller or bigger for other fish.
