The Last Hurrah

[Mainebass1984]

 Two weeks ago I though I had my last day on the water. Luckily this past Friday the weather forecast was decent enough to dig the boat out for one last hurrah. Usually this time of year in Maine and New Hampshire the ice has begun and shorelines are all iced in. The forecast the day was 45 degrees, partly cloudy with a 5 mph west wind. I arrived at the boat launch at 9 am with a game pan to fish 3 distinct spots on an offshore hump which has been producing for me consistently since October fishing a silver buddy almost exclusive.. It was a short 5 minute ride to the first spot on the hump that I like to target. Its an area of ledge that drops from 10 ft straight down to 21 feet with boulders at the base of the drop. With a water temperature of 41 degrees I was a bit skeptical about how many bites I would get. The first bite resulted in a nice smallie weighing in at 4 lbs 1 oz. I set up my camera, set the timer and then the camera dies mid timer. That was disappointing. I wanted to document the days adventure to prove to some friends that you can catch nice fish in December. Before moving to my next spot on a spot on the offshore hump I caught a 2-12 and 3-3 smallie. Once I had determined the spot had been fished thoroughly enough I slowly motored over to the next spot on a spot. The wind kicked up from 5 mph out of the west to 10 mph or so out of the southwest. It didn't exactly feel warm. The next spot on a spot I targeted was a point on the hump that dropped from 5 ft and boulders to 40 ft deep. I was fishing the side of the point on the hump which has the steepest drop. I quickly caught a 3-14 largemouth. I spent nearly an hour here and caught a 3-6 largemouth and a 3-7 smallie before moving on. The next spot is one particular boulder on another point on the hump. It is very rocky around this point. First cast I caught a 3-2 smallmouth. No action for awhile at that spot, I was committed to fishing it for awhile. My phone rang and it was a friend I hadn't heard from in awhile. I put him on speaker. While I speaker I noticed a nice arch underneath the boat in 25 ft. I dropped the silver buddy right down to the fish and it quickly picked it up. It was a 3-10 largemouth. After trying to locate more fish to drop my silver buddy on I decided to move back to the second spot of the day. The wind sucked blowing at 10-15 mph now and it had begun to snow, sleet and rain. I was comfortable but would have been much more comfortable if it was dead calm and sunny. Once I had properly positioned my boat the first cast resulted in a 5 lb 5 oz largemouth. I do not catch many largemouth over 5 lbs in this lake. It was the largest largemouth I had ever caught at this lake. The next 2 casts to the exact same spot , a 3-6 and a 3-7 came to the net. At this point the snow/sleet/rain had moved on and there was a double rainbow that began and ended on the lake, not to far from where I was fishing. My next cast was a 3-4 smallie. After repeating that same cast numerous times and soaking the area I moved back to first spot of the day. It took several casts but I did get another decent smallie there weighing 3 lbs 2 oz. After no more hits I decided to hit all three spots on the hump again. No luck this time after spending 20 minutes on each spot. It was getting near dark and I decided it was time to call it a day and a season. I motored back towards the launch. On the way back I saw an arch on bottom in 25 ft. I HAD to drop my silver buddy down to see if I could get that fish to bite. It took me lift and dropping the buddy a couple times before it hit. It was a 2-8 largemouth. Now it was time to call it a day for real. The lake was dead calm as I was unloading my boat.  Reflecting back on the day I couldn't have asked for a better last day on the lake, especially on Dec. 2nd, 7 largemouth including 5 3s and a 5-5 lunker to go along with 6 smallies including 4 3s and a 4-1 lunker combining for a 5 fish limit of 20 lbs 5 oz.  Even if the wind was much stronger then predicted and the weather wasn't nice out at times, it was a memorable last day on the boat until spring complete with good fishing and double rainbows.

[Will Wetline]

You do know your water and presentations! I congratulate you, Mainebassmaster.

[Smokinal]

Sweet report Maine!

[Dwight Hottle]

Great end to the season. 

[TnRiver46]

Awesome day, I have been fishing for 30 yrs and have never put together a limit over 12-13 or so lbs. much less have any others to cull. And I live where bass get a lot bigger!!! After joining this website I've learned that all the good fishing is apparently way up north!!

[jbw252]

Great outing for the last of the year.  Congrats.