Yesterday the temp was in the 40's for the second or third day in a row and the ice was off the pond. So, I figured why not and headed out thinking that, if nothing else I could work the Winter kinks out of my casting stroke. I was fishing a #14 olive soft hackle and a #16 copper john as a tandem rig over a shallow dark bottomed bay in the northeast corner of the pond. It was a text book scenario and after a few minutes of experimenting to find the right depth, was into some feisty bluegill. I kept fishing until I felt my fly snag on something. I pulled a little and it moved. I thought, oh, a stick, at least it doesn't seem rooted in. However, as soon as I started to pull it in, it started to move sideways. Sure enough, the first Largemouth of the year. He wasn't a terribly big fellow at about 11", but he was a nice surprise and a surer sign than a groundhog's shadow that Spring isn't that far away after all. He was sluggish and not really in the mood for a tussle, but he was at least active enough to eat that copper john, and that's good enough for me in early February.
Now I can read the posts you southern folk again without getting the twitches