Oh my. Bass fishing in December. Yes the weather was supposed to be very nice for 3 days but it was really only for one day, Tuesday. Temperatures in the mid 70's, light winds, plenty of sunshine, and hungry fish made for a great last trip of the year. A cold front came through about 10:30 am but the winds didn't get too nasty til around 2 pm. I fished with Dale until 3 pm and we boated 30 bass up to 5 and a half pounds. My biggest was about 4 pounds. It seemed like almost every place we hit had a few fish and that made for a fun day on the lake. Every fish I caught came on a Carolina rig with a fluke. I even caught a clam shell. Hah! Unfortunately it was a slot clam so I had to throw it back.
After a short stop I went out again with Rhandy and we stayed until dark about 6 pm. We boated another 5 fish before the wind and the dropping temperatures sent us in for beer.
After dinner I found an unwanted shower guest and flushed him out to sea to feed the fishes. That's the first bug I have ever seen at Hook Line and Sinker, but I will sure be keeping my shoes on a chair from now on!
The sign at the Minnow Bucket said 51 degrees when we headed out at 7 am the next morning. That plus a stiff breeze around 10-20 made it downright nippy. The weather forecast had called for 5 mph winds and a high of 67 but I don't think it cracked 60 til well after noon. I do NOT like cold weather but it did not seem to bother the fish too bad. Dale had to hunt a little harder but we found another 17 fish and most were bigger than what we saw Tuesday. They seemed to be hugging the bottom and would hit at the fluke but wouldn't bite it until you reeled up fast. So I did! My biggest was around 5 pounds off a road bed around 20 feet. Fun catching, even if it was cold.
Once again I headed out with Rhandy about 3 pm and we tried chasing some schooling fish. We caught a couple of dinks on rat L Traps but they never stayed up for long. After that we headed over to SRA where we saw several nice bald eagles. I saw a lot of them this trip both flying around and sitting in trees. We caught a couple more nice fish, including one drive by bass that flipped near us and bit my Carolina Rig as I reeled through. Fun stuff. Also a gorgeous sunset that was worth more than a few pictures.
Plans to fish Thursday were derailed by Dale's cows and the cold weather so that will have to conclude my bass fishing for 2012. Of course Dale was nice enough to call me later and tell me someone caught a 11.86 pound bass on Thursday near where we were fishing. To get even I will eat pork for awhile and no beef!
Spring will be here soon and I'll be staying in my nice warm house til then. In the meantime, grow you fishes, grow!
