The Last Hoorah

[Mainebass1984]

This past Sunday, November 17th, my friend Brandon and I decided to make a day trip back to Maine. Brandon is relatively new to bass fishing and had never caught a 5 lb bass. He also had never fished a jig either. The weather forecast was for light winds overcast with a day time high of 49 degrees. We met at 530 at my place loaded up the boat and we were on or way to Maine. To get to Maine from where I live in Vermont you have to go through 3 mountain passes including on e in the heart of the white mountain national forest. The roads were pretty slick up in the higher elevations. It was time to take it slow and easy. There was over a foot of snow in the mountains, it looked more like winter then late fall.  We were lucky to witness and amazing sunrise.

 

When we arrived at the launch the weather wasn't to bad, chilly but not terrible. We unloaded the boat and headed out onto the lake. It was very foggy. We had to break through over 100 feet of ice to get out to the main lake which luckily was still open water. After we were done breaking through the ice I looked down at the depth finder. The surface temperature was a balmy 36 degrees. By far the coldest water I had ever fished from my boat. The fog was still thick but with the aide of my gps we made it to our first spot. I set my friend Brandon up with a Jig and trailer. I gave him the first few casts on our first spot. NO hits so then I took  few casts as well with my jig. After some time  Brandon got a bite on his jig. The fish came up to the surface and sure enough it was a lunker. Brandon got reel excited and was standing up trying to high five  while he was still trying to fish the fish. I had to tell him lets get it in the boat first. The fish tired and I netted it. It ws the biggest bass Brandon had ever seen or caught, a 6 lb 4 oz largemouth.

 

After fishing that spot for a few more minutes it was on to the next spot. It was nearly identical to the last spot. We fished it for a few minutes throwing jigs, cranks, spinnerbaits and chatterbaits. I was just about to move when I figured I would take one last cast with a weightless worm before moving on. The worm never hit bottom and the fight was on. After a couple tense moments when the fish was stuck on bottom I landed my biggest bass of the day a 5lb 0oz.

 

A few more casts later and we were onto the next spot. The weather conditions worsened. It was still very very chilly out and it had begun to lightly rain and a slight wind had picked up. Our next couple spots produced zero bass. I could tell my friend Brandon was starting to get cold. We were determined to tough it out no matter what. I let Brandon have the next few casts on our next spot. On his third cast he hooked into another good fish. After a lengthy battle he landed the second biggest bass of his life a 5 lb 12 oz largemouth.

 

The bite slowed for while after that. We both started getting even colder. After driving for 3 hours to get to the lake we were fishing there was no way we were leaving early. Brandon didn't have much luck the rest of the day. He did catch a couple pickerel. I landed 4 more bass a 3-12, 3-11, 3-2, 3-0. It was slow fishing numbers wise but we knew it would be like that and the water was 36 degrees... We called it a season at about 3 o'clock.  It had been a successful mid November trip for sure. We landed 7 bass for a total of 30 lbs 9 oz. It was a good day to finish the year on. Once I got back to my place I looked up the weather and the daytime high had been 38 degrees. No wonder we were cold.  I had a very productive fall with some of the biggest bass I have ever caught. When everyone else had called it is deer hunting or called it a season that is when the big bass bite.

 

[A-Jay]

Congrats ~

 

Several very respectable bass right there - especially for that region and the time of year.

 

Nice job.

 

A-Jay

[roadwarrior]

Excellent report on a great day!

[AK-Jax86]

Nice outing as usual Maine glad to see you helped your buddy get into some nice fish

[Shane J]

Yeah, that's a good outing there, pal.

[Siebert Outdoors]

Very nice fish! Congrats.

[Big-O]

Fantastic Cold weather Bassin', Wtg and great photos!!!

[mnbassman23]

Well done and congrats to your buddy on the PB! Gotta love chasing lunkers on those cold fall days. 

[senile1]

That's an excellent day for water that cold.  Very nice work by both of you. Congratulations to your friend, Brandon, on his new personal best!

[Bankbeater]

Sounds like you guys had a real good day! 

[ksboy]

Great trip report. Love the pics. I can't help but think how difficult it must have been, fishing in that weather (and taking great pics, to boot).

[Oregon Native]

Sweet...good job

[Ratherbfishing]

Man, how I *** both of you!  It sounds cold but based on the flat lake surface in the photo's, at least it wasn't too windy.  That would've made for a really brisk day.  And when the big fish are biting, it's a lot easier to forget the cold.  My brother and I had a somewhat comparable day once (though sizes were down some from yours) and I'm still trying to impress upon him how good that day was (He's not a real fisherman so he doesn't have anything to compare it to).  Nice job guys!

[Will Wetline]

Excellent post and pics.

[BennyB]

Man, those fish are gorgeous!  Awesome color and obviously fat and happy

[TrippyJai]

Nice report and fantastic pictures.