2013 Opener ... Not Too Shabby!

My friend Jeff and I were able to get away for a 1/2 day on a local flow. Water temps were on a slight warming trend and hovering in the low 50s, very warm water for mid January. Air temps were in the upper 50s by 7 am, so we launched at daybreak and were out by 1 pm.

Jeff likes to joke that I boated 3 or 4 fish before he was able to get his first rod setup. It wasn't quite that lopsided, but I did start strong with two good bass on a spinnerbait and two dinks trolling a rapala x-rap in blue.




We found a pattern fairly quick where bass were hanging shallow near rocks. As we approached a good rocky bank, I told Jeff to throw his spinner in that direction. He quickly hooked up with his best bass of the day.



All but 3 of my bass were quality fish at ~3 lbs or so. I caught ~12 bass in total, most on the spinnerbait. I also drifted some crappie spots with hair jigs and brought home 6 to fillet for the family. No pics of the crappie, but here's one of Jeff's first pickerel caught trolling a rapala J-9 on the way back to the launch.



Just an awesome day on the water and great fishing to open the year.  I hope this is the first of many successful fishing trips to come in 2013.