First Trip Of 2011

[Crestliner2008]

A good fishing buddy of mine, Fran, invited me to join him on a venture out on the Oxbow today. We started fishing around 10:30 am and were off the water by 2:30 pm. The weather was cold, with a very stiff breeze out of the west at about 15 - 20 mph. Intermittently decreasing to <5 mph, but not very often! Water temp started out at 38 degrees and when we called it quits, it was about 40 degrees. However, one cove we fished topped at about 43 degrees. Water clarity was about 3' average. The water in the 'bow started out at about 2' below the bottom of the Iron Bridge. When we quit, it was up to the bridge, so it rose quite a bit while we were there.

We tossed jigs, cranks, spinnerbaits and soft swimbaits. The spinnerbaits won the day with one bass for me and two for Fran. The bass were close in to the shoreline, but not bunched up, yet. Sure felt great to be back out on the water! Here's my first largemouth of 2011:

And here's two more largemouths that Fran took:

All in all, a great day to spend out on the water with a fine fisherman. Fran just got a new 24V./65# thrust TM which performed flawlessly today, getting a real workout in the tough breeze. No eagles sighted today, but the fish are starting to turn on!

[MaineBassMan]

Looks fun, great looking bass! Sure is nice to see some New Englanders catching some bass finally. All my lakes still have ice on them. Going to go fish a stream today, haven't pulled the boat out yet though. If I catch anything today I will pull the boat out and get her running. Then I'm taking her fishing on Saturday.

[Jigfishn10]

Nice fish for sure, Crestliner2008, I've been out twice myself since iceout. You're right, spinnerbaits were the lure of choice with them. I caught 3, with the third one possibly my new PB.

Good luck this season.

[Dwight Hottle]

Good report. It can only get better as it sloooooowly warms up.