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.
