1/12/13
I finally made it out on the water in 2013. With the new toys in tow and the itch to fish, I loaded up the boat and head to West Neck Marina with my dad. We got on the water about 9 am. The water level was normal. Conditions were good consider fishing in early January. Water temperature held steady at 52 all day. Sky were overcast, air temperature in the upper 50's and little to no wind.
Due to the above average weather conditions for early January I was anticipating having a pretty good day on the water. I set out with the thought of finding some holes with good sudden depth change in the hope of finding pockets of bass. I started the day rigged up with a Jackal Aska square bill shallow running crank bait, black and blue jig with a Power Bait 3 in chigger craw crazy leg trailer, and a white 1/8 oz beetle spin.
The day started out much slower than expected. There was no real action to speak of for the first 3 plus hours. We tried every technique and lure to think of for winter conditions. About 12:30 after talking to a few passing boats that had landed a couple bass and seeing one guy land a 3.12 oz bass next to the bank, I decided to change my approach. I began throwing a 4 inch Breen Power Bait Chigger crawl crazy legs, Texas rigged with a 1/8 oz bullet weight. Fishing in about 1 ft of water, I began to slow down my retrieve to almost a crawl, dragging the lure across the bottom. This is the only thing that produced results. I landed two small bass the largest just over a pound. My dad landed one small bass and 5.2 lb Bowfin. We were disappointed that it wasn't a bass but they put up one heck of a fight.
All and all it was a great day spent on the water with the man who taught me how to fish. I wish I would have discovered the pattern of the day a little sooner and maybe landed a few more fish. However, you will find no complaints out of me.
Until next time...
