You're off to a solid start @Team9nine. Congrats. Your mention of lake fees, and others mentions of the same + seasons + restricted hours, has me feeling blessed to be fishing in OH. We only have a small number of fairly small, highly pressured lakes, along with a handful of rivers, but we can fish for anything in 'em anytime we want with just the purchase of an annual license. 

Shout out to the ODNR!!! Keep up the good work!!!

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

@Team9nine: One of the reasons I admire you as an angler is your range. You were fishing those apartment ponds in Indiana and consistently catching bass, even in the winter. Now you're fishing in Florida on much bigger water and consistently catching bass. 

 

Two of the reasons I envy you as an angler is that you're fishing now and your boat is sooooo much neater than mine.

Actually in SC, but it’s getting down close to FL, which we decided was too hot when we were looking for a home…and neat is relative. Just don’t look in the storage compartments - lol 

 

13 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

You're off to a solid start @Team9nine. Congrats. Your mention of lake fees, and others mentions of the same + seasons + restricted hours, has me feeling blessed to be fishing in OH. We only have a small number of fairly small, highly pressured lakes, along with a handful of rivers, but we can fish for anything in 'em anytime we want with just the purchase of an annual license. 

Shout out to the ODNR!!! Keep up the good work!!!

I wish…$140 later, I’m all permitted up  

2 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

I wish…$140 later, I’m all permitted up  

If I had to pay that, I'd eat everything I caught, even if it tasted bad!!! 😂

I got out Saturday for my first trip of 2026 to the power plant lake. The stack was pumping this time, and the water was about 10 degrees warmer than my previous trip. Started on my favorite little channel swing point with a rockpile on the end and a few stumps mixed in. Didn't take many cast with a Ned and I was on the board for the new year, with a keeper to boot!

Just a few cast later, I got my first good one of the year.

Unfortunately, they were doing a much better job biting than I was doing of catching them, I'm blaming it on rust from not fishing all year 🤣 I still caught another 12-15 fish, with a couple more over 18", one of them was just a blimp of a fish at barely over 18" and 4.43lbs. I messed up on my big fish of the day though, likely one pushing 7. I got lazy and didn't retie my leader on the rod I was using, no idea how old the leader was, and I broke her off at the kayak. I had a near heart attack moment throwing my new Baby Boss glide when a big gar came up after it on my very first cast with it. Had to take it off after that.

 

I love your blimp power plant bass, Clayton. Of all the bass posted at Bass Resource, your blimps are my favorite. 

Dude that 18” fish is a mini tank!  So healthy!  The genetics in that spot are great - the 25” fish probably teeners.

Wow! @Bluebasser86's bass talking to shad...or anything else that swims near them.

46 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

Dude that 18” fish is a mini tank!  So healthy!  The genetics in that spot are great - the 25” fish probably teeners.

I wish, I've only ever caught one that was 24" and it was so skinny that it only went 7.5. It's rare to catch one over 21" here because our fish just don't get very big. There's never been a bass over 12 caught in Kansas and I've never broke 8 in my home state. 

20 minutes ago, Fishlegs said:

Wow! @Bluebasser86's bass talking to shad...or anything else that swims near them.

I should have taken some graph pictures, the shad are thicc out there right now and these bass pull up to that buffett line and just make fools of themselves. The downside is they can be very difficult to get to bite when there's that much of the real thing around. 

Congrats @Bluebasser86. Awesome way to start the year!!!

Some pics from Sunday. Also caught some spot/meanmouth looking ones I forgot to photograph. Funny thing happened as well, kept missing bites with live shiners and crappie minnows. Finally pulled one into the boat and it barfed up a shiner from the previous cast and the shiner was still alive! 😂 

 

fished with a buddy and his two kids all day Saturday and didn’t catch a darn thing , not even a bite. 

Got a few on a jig. I couldn’t get them to come up for anything despite them only being in 10’.

 

 

4 hours ago, Fried Lemons said:

Got a few on a jig. I couldn’t get them to come up for anything despite them only being in 10’.

 

 

Those are some good looking bass👏🏻

My buddy took me yesterday and together we caught 8 Alabama bass to almost 3 lbs.  Water temp was 51 and the bait was worms.  I was ahead 3 to 1 until the last stop when he put 4 in the boat. We were out from 10 to 5.  The stripers were boiling but he wanted to fish for bass and it was his boat.

 

 

Way to fish, Alex! However, your photo made me laugh. You're wearing more outerwear than I wear!

And way down here in sunny Florida I am still wearing shorts, t-shirt and flip flops all year round.

 

Winter? What's that? Just the time of some good air conditioning we waited for all year long for.

 

Our cold fronts are not much different than what blasts out of the AC in summer. All the same around here.

 

My winter gear is maybe long pants 3 times a year, but still wearing flip flops. And, maybe a long sleeve shirt a couple of times a year.

 

We may wake up to snow and ice on the houses' roofs- er, light frost really, and freezing temps at sunrise, but by noon Florida is back to the 50's. Drink a couple cups of coffee and by time I get out the door Florida has recovered. I would not live anywhere else.

 

True story, but I think I am symbiotically connected to palm trees. When I drive out of Florida and begin to leave palm trees behind, depression starts to set in. Drive back into Florida and get connected to palm trees again, and the skies are bluer, birds chirping happier, and those dark clouds just vanish. Don't know what that is...

You live in Florida????

 

@Alex from GA Excellent. I'd have to go throw a spoon to those Stripers. Don't pay any attention to SwampGirl poking fun at ya. It'll be fishing robe wearing season soon.😁

To all of you living in warm climates…..

First fishing trip of the year!! Two different fish, 3 oz. different.

17 minutes ago, tander said:

First fishing trip of the year!! Two different fish, 3 oz. different.

THAT is how you start a year!  Outstanding.

Katie, I also had a heated vest and hand warmers.  I spent 3 years in Great Falls, MT in the service in the early 60s and got used to the cold, no more.  I grew up in So Calif.

 

Got out M-Tu-W; not much going on, but caught some every day, along with about a dozen crappie to 1.5 lbs. Water 46-51 depending on lake and day, but warming trends, cloud and heavy wind haven’t seemed to make much difference in the bite for me. We need rain and stained water, I think.

 

 

 

 

 

16 hours ago, Alex from GA said:

Katie, I also had a heated vest and hand warmers.  I spent 3 years in Great Falls, MT in the service in the early 60s and got used to the cold, no more.  I grew up in So Calif.

 

Thank you for your service Alex! Thank you and all the other vets for risking, and often times, offering your lives for us! That's a gift we can never repay.

3 hours ago, Team9nine said:

We need rain and stained water, I think.

 

You are so consistent at catching bass that you just need water. I expect you'd catch some beauties at these "lakes":

 

 

 

 

17 hours ago, Alex from GA said:

I spent 3 years in Great Falls, MT in the service in the early 60s and got used to the cold, no more. 

 

Getting used to cold (or heat) is the key. Today is a warmer day in Maine, nearly 40 degrees, and after our cold winter (single digits by night and teens by day), 40 degrees feels balmy, but I'm pretty sure I'd wilt in Florida or Alabama heat. 

 

Where you at an ICBM base in Montana?

Actually yes, the ICBMs were headquarters from Malmstrom AFB but I wasn't involved.  I was with an air refueling squadron.