First trip of the year (February bass in NJ!)

[casts_by_fly]

Hi all,

 

We’ve had a very mild winter and I tried to get out a couple weeks ago but the wind and weather weren’t cooperating with my schedule. The stars aligned finally with the cold front coming through tonight and I was available this afternoon.  The wind was forecast for as much as 18 mph for this afternoon at various points this week. By this morning it was down to 10–12 so I picked a little remote lake that tucks under a mountain. 
 

as with all first trips there is a bit of shake down to remind yourself what you’re doing, lots of testing out any new lures or rods, and a lot of excitement for the first trip of the year. I had all of that for sure. But anything caught today is a bonus. It’s February. In New Jersey. The water is still cold, but at least it’s soft. I was expecting 39-42 degrees but it was 44-46 already.  Two years ago I tried to fish February and it was 34-39 degrees. With 55 degree air and 45 degree water I’ll take that this time of year any day. With the incoming weather (mid 50 degree highs and rain) for the next 10 days, the water isn’t going to get any colder either.

 

My best early season producer has been a chatterbait (a Siebert Tremor) so that was the first off the deck. Picked one small one on that quickly, but then nothing for a bit.  I went through a couple lures, some new, some old, and saw fish on FFS but nothing really doing. I saw what I thought were crappie but couldn’t get them to eat either. I chased the shad balls and the fish under them for a while but they didn’t want to eat what I was tossing at them (sonar minnows, small fluke, jerkbait).  After fighting the moving wind, the moving boat, the moving fish, and the moving lures I turned off the FFS and started casting to the bank with a jerkbait. I ended the day with two small bass and two pickerel.  Not a bad shake down trip. Also saw a bald eagle, two red tail hawks, a pair of beavers, 4 deer, and not another soul.

 

not a bad place to be.

 

P.S.  Thanks @A-Jay for the new pickerel lure…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[A-Jay]

@casts_by_fly Nicely Done !

Congrats.

As always, I am really anticipating my first trip of this 2024 campaign. 

Might still be at least a couple of weeks away.

A-Jay

[casts_by_fly]

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

@casts_by_fly Nicely Done !

Congrats.

As always, I am really anticipating my first trip of this 2024 campaign. 

Might still be at least a couple of weeks away.

A-Jay

Thanks!  I think we’re all looking forward to your first trips this year. Hopefully sooner than later. 

[LootyDjibouti]

Nice I'm in NJ also (south jersey), gonna get out for my first trip of '24 hopefully this weekend. 

I'll test out that Falcon lowrider lizard dragger rod for frogging and report back but I know I'm not gonna catch a lick on it haha. Still fun tho. 

I'm a little worried this mild end to winter is gonna make the weeds horrible down here again this year.

[casts_by_fly]

12 minutes ago, LootyDjibouti said:

Nice I'm in NJ also (south jersey), gonna get out for my first trip of '24 hopefully this weekend. 

I'll test out that Falcon lowrider lizard dragger rod for frogging and report back but I know I'm not gonna catch a lick on it haha. Still fun tho. 

I'm a little worried this mild end to winter is gonna make the weeds horrible down here again this year.

the weeds are going to be bad no matter how mild the winter is.  An early ice out just means they can kick off sooner. At this rate, it will be late April to have heavy grass. 

[TnRiver46]

Nice trip! Don’t be too mad about the weeds, people like us don’t have any and never will 

[casts_by_fly]

8 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Nice trip! Don’t be too mad about the weeds, people like us don’t have any and never will 

 

thanks.  I'm not sure which I'd prefer- no weeds ever or too many weeds to deal with.  That happy medium is the perfect spot- sparse weeds, clumps here or there, but lots of open space between them.  The type where you can run most baits through it, but you're going to bump into a clump or two most casts.  The lake I fished with my dad last year had a lot of that and it was glorious.  Out here, one of my favorites had zero because it was 25' low when the -8 degrees hit last winter and it all died.  The norm for us is mega weeds since its mostly natural lakes.  

 

This picture of curly pondweed was April.Probably 5 acres of it in that particular bay but that wasn't abnormal.  That's 6-8' deep.

 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

They can be frustrating but aquatic veg is good for water quality and fish survival