Lanier Report - First Week of January

All I can say is Brrrrrr……..I got to fish New Years Day with a buddy and it was chilly and WINDY. Managed to get a couple of stripers in the 10-11 lb range on small Clousers. Fish are moving really fast and never saw a fish on top or in the back of a cove. Sinking lines are still the ticket and I would advise a 15 lb test tippet as the water chills and cools down. These fish get sluggish and going a bit lighter in tippet can make a difference. Since that day it has been impossible to fish. It is just too cold! I cancelled 4 trips since Jan 1st. Today was one of those RARE pre-frontal snowy thingamajigger days. Jim Harvey and Dennis Desmond called to see if I would take them out to play with our finned friends. Well they hit it right. At 2 pm the skies got dark, the winds increased, the temp felt like it dropped some, the birds started flying and the fish came alive. We had 8 or 9 eats today. We landed 3 spotted bass and 4 stripers. The smallest fish was probably 10-11 lbs. The largest was 15 lbs. Fish ate both Clousers and the somethin’ else…….Starting to find BIG schools of fish on the electronics. Man I love this time of year! See you on the pond! HC