I had scouted out a section of the Tidal Potomac River for a New Year's Day fishing trip. There was some ice on the water on the 30th and the 31st of December and the water temperature was down to 36 degrees but it was still accessible by kayak. There are crappie and yellow perch in this tributary so my plan was to catch either of the two species for the first fish of 2018 then grind out the rest of the day with a jig trying for the first largemouth bass of the year.

 

So I get to the launch site bright and early on New Year's Day morning only to find Mom Nature had been misbehaving all night and she froze the place over. 

 

So I headed a couple of hours down south where a lake has a warm water discharge. I found 46 degree water and a few willing bass. First bass of the year on the left and a few others. It's a start! 

 

 

Nice ~ 

I was gonna say 'way to break the ice' - but then  . . .

Congrats

A-Jay

Nice going in that cold!

Nice work!

great way to start the year! 

On 1/3/2018 at 10:06 AM, Turtle135 said:

I had scouted out a section of the Tidal Potomac River for a New Year's Day fishing trip. There was some ice on the water on the 30th and the 31st of December and the water temperature was down to 36 degrees but it was still accessible by kayak. There are crappie and yellow perch in this tributary so my plan was to catch either of the two species for the first fish of 2018 then grind out the rest of the day with a jig trying for the first largemouth bass of the year.

 

So I get to the launch site bright and early on New Year's Day morning only to find Mom Nature had been misbehaving all night and she froze the place over. 

 

So I headed a couple of hours down south where a lake has a warm water discharge. I found 46 degree water and a few willing bass. First bass of the year on the left and a few others. It's a start! 

 

 

 

Have you got a 3-species slam there?

10 hours ago, MIbassyaker said:

 

Have you got a 3-species slam there?

nope, just largemouth and a smallmouth (not sure if there are any spots in that water)

15 hours ago, Turtle135 said:

nope, just largemouth and a smallmouth (not sure if there are any spots in that water)

Ah. I don't know anything much about spots and have zero experience with them, but I thought the top one on the right looked..."spotty".

 

Envious regardless -- probably 3 months yet before I cast anything into liquid water.