The lake this fish came from was frozen-over 2 days ago. Yesterday (New Years eve), with some ice floes still on the lake I got a little 13" bass in 40deg water on a Zoom Ultravibe Speed Craw. Today (New Years day) I got this 20" 3.76 pound bass in 45 degree water on the same bait.

For me, a GREAT start to 2011! HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

gotta love that. now only 1999 bass to go to beat last years record! ;D

Naw - I only ended up with 1054 bass last year...so, I ONLY need 1053 more this year to tie last year... :D

Great start for the new year.

Thanks Dwight. Right off he bat, I have a pretty good weight target to try to beat as the season spools back up!

Great fish!! hope my year starts that good..

Great fish!! hope my year starts that good..

Thanks! It was a good start for me...but I think I used up all my fishing luck for a while as I fished for 3 hours today and was skunked... :-?

Have you had any ice on your water down there?

nice work!!! way to start the year!

Nice fish man!

Thanks!

One thing for sure - I need to get a better camera to record my catch ! ;D ;D

Real nice fish Goose,keep up the good work.

Thanks! 

At the beginning of last season, I caught my first fish of the year on March 8th so it looks like I have a good head-start on the 2011 season...

nice looking fish. Wish I can go out soon, but lakes are all iced up here.

Great start to the New Year!

nice looking fish. Wish I can go out soon, but lakes are all iced up here.

Thanks! 9 of the 11 lakes that I fish have iced over twice so far this winter - then melted and opened back up. I expect that they will ice-over again at least once more, perhaps twice, before the winter is over. So, I do get some "windows-of-opportunity" in-between the ice-overs.

Great start to the New Year!

Thanks RW! I know folks are catching bigger fish this time of year, but a 20" fish is a NICE fish in my lakes any time of year and it was especially satisfying to get this fish on New Years day, and fishing from the bank at that.

Oh - and that's the MBR842C in the photo - earning it's keep right off the bat ... ;D

Nice Fish, Goose.  If you're finding 40 - 45 degree surface water you'll be catching some fish now and then.  The report on my main fishing lake yesterday showed a surface temperature of 33 degrees right now and it is iced over in the coves.   

Yep - in-between ice-overs, and with some sunny days, the water gets back into the 40s for a while. Then it goes back down in the 30s (and I haven't yet managed to catch a fish in water below 39deg.) I fished yesterday - the water was 39 when I started, 40 a few hours later. However, we have some more cold weather coming through and water temps will probably be back in the 30s for the next week or more... :-?

Very nice, Goose! We still have 6 weeks before we can start getting excited by the thoughts of open lake waters.

Very nice, Goose! We still have 6 weeks before we can start getting excited by the thoughts of open lake waters.

Thanks! Yep, I have intermittent soft water but I haven't been able to take advantage of it since I got this fish. I've been out a total of about 8-10 hours since New Years day and have only got one tap and no fish. :-?

Water temps have been 40deg or colder for the past week and fishing is tough. It's 18 degrees outside right now and falling - I expect the lakes will start icing over again tonight............ :-/

now that's a good solid chunk right there.  way to kick things off.  hope there's plenty more.

Thanks Paul. It's not a big honkin' striper like you've been catching in the "big water"...but it's a nice fish for my "small water"!