in a recent post, Katy said she liked reading all the reports, not just the successful ones so...

 

The good: I made it home safely, nothing broke, nothing was lost.

 

The bad:  The rest of it.

 

It's getting cold here but since I'm not hunting I decided I was fishing as many times as I could.  The ponds are all frozen over here from the cold spell last week, but keeping an eye on the USGS gauge on one of the bigger lakes said 42 degrees.  I could live with that, so I packed it up for the big lake across the street.  The forecast was frigid on Thursday and Friday with Sat and Sun looking almost identical so I decided on Sunday to give it an extra day to hopefully not have shore ice when I got there.

 

I even waited to leave the house until 11 and much to my surprise not only was there no shore ice but the lake was 46 degrees!  I thought for sure I was in for a decent one.  5 hours to play with, fish in their winter patterns.  There were a handful of boats on the lake but they weren't bass fishing.  Basically the place all to myself for what I wanted to do.  I just needed to find the baitfish.  Crank up the fish finder and start moving.  At 6 mph and a 150' range either side I can cover a decent amount of territory.  Start with the high probability transition spots (points and ledges).  Put the boat in 40' of water and see almost to shore on one side and out to ~60 FOW on the other.  Anything out of the ordinary, drop FFS into the water and check it out.  NADA.  I rode around for 2 hours and covered over 10 linear miles.  I did a lap of the lake with my 40' methodology and then made a couple crisscrosses over much deeper water looking for anything at all.  I came in closer to standing timber thinking maybe they all holed up there.  I ran along the dam with its big chunk rock areas in case they were looking for warmth from the sun.  I stayed out of the wind, I scanned the windblown side.  I watched the other boats to see what areas and depths they were fishing to see where other life might be.  I found exactly one fish through all of it and that was strictly luck.  I was out in 90 FOW and thought I saw a bait ball way out on the end of the range of my FF so I hung a quick turn and dropped the TM in the water.  There was no bait, but there was a random fish in 25' over 90'.  I grabbed the big jighead minnow and it chased a couple times, but never comitted.  That was also right after the wind picked up (not forecasted) to 7-9 mph and I was a mile down reach of it on the lake taking the worst of it.  I still had 2 hours of daylight left, but after all that I was done.  All I got out of it was a bunch of waypoints for future use (isolate rock piles on an otherwise dirt bottom), some cool pictures of the old house foundations, fences, and road that used to be there, and a crossbow bolt from someone who presumably missed.

 

The Ugly:  It's going down to 8 tonight and not cracking 32 for a couple days.  The water temp is going to start dropping and I'm out of days to get out.  So that December bass is going to have to wait for next year I think.  
 

 

 

 

 

Well that’s a little uglier and badder than I have it.  We’ve been running from low 20s to upper 30s but Wednesday is supposed to be low 40s to upper 40s so I think I will give it a shot.

The ambition to get out has to count for something.

Guns and reels have been serviced, this ole guy is waiting on spring. Lol

@Jig Man - it had been in the teens during the week until Friday afternoon.  It was only 40 or so air temps and light wind, with no sun.  But I had a heated vest under a hoodie under a jacket and over thermals so I was pretty okay.  Sitting behind the wheel it almost felt like a heated seat.

 

@Bird I had that thought about the reels today.  We’ll see how the week plays out and if I can get another day before Christmas, but that’s unlikely.  If that’s the case I’ll probably pull them and get the process started.  There are a lot to go after.  Same with the outboard.  

Well everything here is froze shut but we've only got like 3-4in of ice with a ton of snow, water and slush sitting on top. So your boat ride actually sounds great to me.

Shoulda gone hunting.

New waypoints are a success. 

@gim He was hunting. 😀

Way to get out there and give it your all. Sorry you never found them but it sounds like you did everything you could have.  You had a good methodical approach but some days they just don't want to play. 

4 hours ago, Bird said:

The ambition to get out has to count for something.

 

Heck yeah, it does! 

 

1 hour ago, pdxfisher said:

You had a good methodical approach but some days they just don't want to play. 

 

I agree...and as someone who doesn't use sonar, it was an interesting read. So, thanks, Mr. Fly!

I really hate winter and I'm down south. I think I'd lose what little bit of my mind I have left if I lived up north. 

Thanks team!  You can't win if you don't play.  And being out on the water was better than sitting on the touch drinking a beer (or four) and watching football.  Maybe without the heated vest I may have had a different opinion, but I had it so that's that.  Heated pants next time at this weather.

 

@Gonefishing0410- last winter was tough.  I fished into september and hunted september into December but right around Christmas we had a combo of snow/rain/ice/frigid that put 4" of iced over slush on the ground.  I normally would hunt up to Valentines day and then we get ice out 2-4 weeks later so just enough time to service reels, organize tackle, etc.  Last year it was a solid 10 weeks of nothing and I was getting seriously stir crazy.  I'd never had it before like that and afterwards it showed me just how much I need to get out.  

Can't catch your PB sitting on the couch.

 

Probably gained some memories and maybe learned something.

 

Time well spent. 

W

On 12/8/2025 at 4:35 PM, casts_by_fly said:

There were a handful of boats on the lake but they weren't bass fishing.

What they fishing, or were they not fishing at all?

 

38 minutes ago, GRiver said:

W

What they fishing, or were they not fishing at all?

 

Trout/lake trout.