Wife got this one from shore on the 21 November 

I went to the Mississippi River on Monday because it looks like that was the last nice day of 2025.  Sunday would have been better but I work weekend sometimes.  I used a NFC P700 I built earlier this year as a bFS setup.  I ended up catching 10 or 20 smallmouth but all were 12 inches or less.  Still fun. 

@BassinBrett smallmouth from Nov 16 has been marked as the solution to this year's thread as the last legal bass posted before Dec 1 by a member here.

 

I will start a new 2026 thread next year.

OK - MN and Northern anglers - since it is winter I am spending way too much time watching fishing videos, reading forums, looking at sale items.......

I see there is lots of talk about red color lures/orange color lures being used in the spring/spawn period of time.........and since it looks like we (MN) can perhaps get on the water earlier in 2026 I am thinking about purchasing a red/orange lure or two.....yet I wanted to ask what your experience is with red/orange lures ? Just because it might work in other places in the country does not mean it would work here in MN.........You thoughts ? Your experiences ?

We are under a blizzard warning until about 12noon tomorrow........Stay safe, stay warm !

I’ve got a few.  A red bladed jig, an orange jerk bait, and an orange shallow crank.
 

The jerk bait is a limited tiger stripes color by Megabass. I bought it on an impulse years ago and have never caught a fish on it.

 

The other two have fish under their belt. I use red in stained water. The shallow orange crank works well when the fish are eating crayfish.

2 hours ago, WaskaCrank12 said:

OK - MN and Northern anglers - since it is winter I am spending way too much time watching fishing videos, reading forums, looking at sale items.......

I see there is lots of talk about red color lures/orange color lures being used in the spring/spawn period of time.........and since it looks like we (MN) can perhaps get on the water earlier in 2026 I am thinking about purchasing a red/orange lure or two.....yet I wanted to ask what your experience is with red/orange lures ? Just because it might work in other places in the country does not mean it would work here in MN.........You thoughts ? Your experiences ?

We are under a blizzard warning until about 12noon tomorrow........Stay safe, stay warm !

This is my theory: I don't think its just red, and I don't think that its something to do with crawfish being that color or anything like that. I think that bold colors; chartreuse, pink (like from the bassmaster classic last spring) red, orange, etc work well because the fish haven't been pressured very much all winter (basically no pressure for ~6 months up here) and are ready to feed up to spawn. I think loud/flashy lures in bright colors work well because the fish can see them and chase them down easier. Just my $0.02.