When i woke up on New Year's day i was debating on continuing my annual tradition of fishing on the first day of each year.  It was about 42 degrees and drizzling out which is hardly ideal conditions.  The other problem was is i usually do a paddle up on a local flow but the rivers are blown out from the recent rains so i knew i would be fishing flatwater.  I was pretty close to bagging ti when i said ahhh what the hell.  I have all the right gear for the cold so i went out side and loaded up the kayak and all my new gear and decided to head out.

 

It continued drizzling all the way to the ramp but miraculously by the time i unloaded the boat the rain had stopped and the wind had also died down.  Things were looking up, except the temperature as it hovered around 45 all day with water temps around 39-40.  the lake i am fishing is one of my go to spots and is around 100 acres or so with good shoreline structure  tons of grass and a creek channel down the middle that bottoms out at about 12 feet tops.

 

I had three new rods to try out so i was psyched and not really expecting to catch anything as i am not a great cold water fisherman as of yet.  I starting throwing a DT10 in bleeding shiner along the creek channel edge and was really liking the Kistler crankbait rod and bam, fish on.  He ended up being about a 14" fish so no skunk and my coldest water largemouth caught to date.

 

I continued working the channel and figured with all everyone talks about with jigs i would give them whirl even though i have never caught a fish on jig in my life.

 

I cast near some old dead lilly pads and i see my line move a little so lay into it, again because i have read on here that you need a good hookset to drive the larger jig hooks home.  Nothing moved so i figure i am in one of the roots of the lilly pads.  Then she started pulling.....I knew it was a decent fish but i couldn't see her yet.  She finally flashed by the side of the boat and i saw she was areal good one.  I was surprised at how hard she was pulling given it was pretty cold water but she was giving it all she could including running under the yak twice.  Luckily my new Rage 6'8" MHF rod was up to the task and i finally got her to hand.

 

She measured 22" which is a citation size here in VA and i am guessing in the 5-6lb range,  So my first jig fish ever on my new rod in the coldest water results in my first citation sized bass of the year.....

Those were the only two fish of the day but all in all it was a good day and i am looking forward to chucking the jig more often this upcoming season.

Cool story!! Nice Fish and to do it in those conditions on a bait you dont use much...awesome! What lake were you fishing,if ya dont mind?

WOW!

 

Great story, great fish!

Congrats on a nice fish.  Hoping to get more into jig fishing myself this year.

Congrats!  Bet you will throw that jig more often now huh?

 

Jeff

Great outing. I especially liked those two water release shots.  

Very Nice ~ !

 

Nothing like starting the new year off by putting a good bend in a new rod, using a new bait / technique and in conditions you've not seen much . . . . . .

 

Hope it's the first of many more successes for you.

 

A-Jay

Congrats on the first fish of the year!

very nice.  congrats

That's awesome, that fish still had some nice color! Congrats on the successful winter outing!

That's awesome, that fish still had some nice color! Congrats on the successful winter outing!

The smaller one I caught earlier in the day was almost completely white. I am thinking the bigger one was one of those 20% of fish they say stay shallow year round.

And yes, I will be throwing the jig way more often this year. I had an online cart full from seibert outdoors but since I just picked up a few new rods I am gonna wait for at least a few weeks

Good thing you kept the tradition going. Great shot of the fish eye balling you. Sort of reminded me of a shark...sorta looking through you with them black eyes.

VERY COOOOOOOL !  Great story and a great reward for being on the water on a cold day. I think you are spot-on with your weight estimate for a 22" fish.

 

Congrats ! 

Great photos! Great to see a fisherman getting into some good ones here in the VA. Great job, gotta love that jig.

FINE story and Fish, WTG!

Congratulations mate! Yet to get a fish myself this year.

Great job Fly.  That thing is a horse!!

 

Way to start the year and keep the tradition goin'.

 

Never stop fishing.

Ike says that when the mouth is red like that the fish have been eating craws. try to get jigs that match the local craws. 

 

great fish and great story. 

I have only seen the fish around with the red lips in the winter and it is on all the lakes. So I am not completely convinced that they are feeding on craws. This lake in particular I have searched for craws and threw out a trap once just to see and not one craw....either way I will throw some more jigs for sure