Spanked them up nice

[CTom]

I went out to a local water yesterday after buying my new license. I wanted to check on what the ice was doing and if there was any open water to drop a line in. Well, surprises of surprises, the water was mostly ice free where I can get down on a shore with permission so I decided this morning to be the official opener for this old boy.

As per usual here in Minnesota, what we had for weather yesterday took a leave of absence and this morning the temperature had dropped 30+ degrees from yesterday, the wind had changed to a NW howler and the barometer was going skyward like a rocket. Not the best case scenario for cold water, but I went anyway. The first thing I did when I got to the water was to drop my thermometer in the drink down to 8 feet. After getting all my junk readied I read the temp and almost fell over. 45 degrees. I check journals after returning home and never in the 30+ years of journaling that particular water have I seen 45 degrees on or before March 9th and only once before have I recorded a temp that warm even in the month of March. El Nino you are welcome here every winter!

I took a rod from the closet that sill had a 1.5" Thump-It paddletail on it from last fall. The first cast put a fat 12" black crappie on the ice in the bucket. For 40 minutes it was pretty much a fish every cast. I caught 33 very nice fish, all of which would be considered to be table sized fish. I kept 6 up to 13 1/3" for our dinner tonight. I never had to change a bait or jig so I could have traveled much lighter. Purple/chartreuse tail....my faithful old standby color. The fish hammered the jig on the hit.

Given the weather change I almost stayed home. Condition changes like that in a cold water situation up in these parts can stall a bite about as fast as water in your cars gas tank, but today I think I slipped into a bite before the real changes hit home.

[lowe175]

Nice work Tom. Caught a few on the thump grub myself today.

[CTom]

Sorry for no pics, but we just got home from a Vegas/Laughlin/Havasu vacation and the camera has a ton of pics on it to off-load. Ma's guarding that gizmo with her life.

[lowe175]

Tom I don't mind the fish pictures. But I would like to see you're purp

[lowe175]

Purple thump grub. Lol wrong button.

[Fatman]

Very Nice

[CTom]

Tom I don't mind the fish pictures. But I would like to see you're purp

Here ya go bud.....

[lowe175]

Nice, I was just wondering how close it was to my purple thump grub. My version is a lighter purple. I will have to try this one also. Thanks and great looking bait.

[shipahoy41]

[QUOTE=CTom;3166705
The first cast put a fat 12" black crappie on the ice in the bucket. For 40 minutes it was pretty much a fish every cast. I caught 33 very nice fish, all of which would be considered to be table sized fish. I kept 6 up to 13 1/3" for our dinner tonight. I never had to change a bait or jig so I could have traveled much lighter. Purple/chartreuse tail....my faithful old standby color. The fish hammered the jig on the hit.

.[/QUOTE]


Sounds like you made a great decision and had a ton of fun.

Mike

[CTom]

That doesn't happen often at this time of year up here, Skip, but I'll take it. This portion of the lake cleared the ice in a day due to heavy winds and 60 degree temps. The sun has plenty of energy now too to get the heat in the water. Normally at this time I'd still be waiting for a finger of water to open up leaving two shelves of ice, one on each side, to fish between from this dock. I'm liking the situation this spring.