First Bass Outing of 2009 - New PB!

[WatterBoy]

Well, bass season here in MN still isn't open until next Saturday, but I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to IA and fish with my dad and uncle this past weekend. We went to a small 60-acre lake and I got my 2009 bass count off of zero almost right away.

Friday afternoon was overcast and cool by the time I got down there after work, so we headed to the lake right away at 3:00. It was cool enough that my dad (73) and uncle (65 and with health problems) didn't want to take the boat out, so I fished from various shoreline spots while they fished from the public docks. I started with by throwing a spinnerbait and a Yamasenko, but they kept coming back covered in green slime almost every time and that took longer to clean off than it was worth. So I switched to a gold-bladed buzzbait with a black/gold skirt. It wasn't long after that when I nailed a 17", 2lb 14oz largemouth to get my bass count started for the year. On the very next cast, I landed a 15.5", 2lb 8oz LM and my count was up to 2. Within the next half hour, I landed two more (both dinks) and the year was off to a very promising start. It had been drizzling lightly when I caught the two small ones and then started raining more steadily. I had my rain gear, but my dad and uncle didn't, so they were getting ready to head home. Just as they were leaving, I hooked into another one -- 18.5" and 3lb 4oz this time. I flagged them down in time to get a picture of it before they left. I stayed for another hour and had one more nice one hooked up before it jumped and spit the hook. Five for the night -- an excellent way to start the year.

Saturday afternoon was crazy-windy so I tried a different side of the lake for shore-fishing and found less of the green, slimy stuff there. Using a 7" Yamasenko (watermelon), I landed a 17", 2lb 12oz largemouth in the 90 minutes I was there (also had one miss on my buzzbait). After going home to grab a bite to eat, I headed back for a couple hours of evening fishing. It was cold and windy, so I was the only one who headed out to fish. Not long after I got there, my black/gold buzzer came through again, this time with a 17.5", 3lb 4oz toad -- much fatter than all of the previous ones. I tried a couple other spots that had yielded success the night before, but with no luck this time. I decided to head back to my "honey hole" where I had already caught 4 fish for the weekend and spend my last hour trying various things there. After no luck with a topwater frog, I noticed was switching to a black clacker buzzbait when I noticed a car drive up. It was my parents and my uncle coming to see how I was doing. I told them I had one so far and they decided to watch from the nearby foot bridge for a few minutes. While they were standing there, and after about 15 casts to various spots, I set the hook on what was soon to become my PB largemouth! Right away when I started fighting her, I knew it was a good one! When it got close to shore, I was pretty sure it was heavier than anything I had ever landed before (current PB was 4lb 2oz last fall). I was a little concerned about having no net and hoping my 12-lb test line wouldn't break as I had to hoist it about two feet to get it out of the water. Luckily for me, everything worked out and I landed her -- 19" and 4lb 12oz, a full 10oz over my previous best! And the bonus was that someone was there to take my picture with it before I released her back to the water. I fished for another half hour with no more luck, but I was giddy to have established a new PB and now have my yearly count up to 8.

All fish were released. Here are the photos. (You maybe know this already, but if you right click on any of them and then select "Open link in new window," you can see a bigger version of the pic.)

2lb 14oz


2lb 8oz


3lb 4oz


2lb 12oz


3lb 4oz


Both of these are the 4lb 12oz hawg: