First fish of the Year

Man it's been a long time (four months to be exact) but I finally was able to find some open water and set the hook on my first bass of the season. After losing a few on a spinnerbait I was able to connect with a small crankbait and it felt awesome. My partner and I ended up catching roughly 30 fish and most were keeper size. We were on a river near Monroe that feeds into Lake Erie but were "technically" targeting walleye.

All of my fish were caught on a 3/8 oz white and chartreuse spinnerbait and a shallow diving strike king series 3 crankbait that was also chartreuse with a blue back. My biggest fish was just over three pounds but the highlight of my day was catching two 3 pounders on back to back casts. My partner Nick Neves was medallist with a fish that was pushing four pounds. All fish were largemouth with a few gar pike mixed in for good measure.

I'm not sure if I'll get out any time soon with colder weather moving in but hopefully by next weekend. Just about all of the ice is gone as of Friday morning on most Jackson lakes and a warming trend is in the forecast for later next week. Fishing season has arrived.