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Author Topic: December.....A Good End to the Year  (Read 1768 times)

Jim C.

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December.....A Good End to the Year
« on: Dec 30, 2022, 12:42 PM »
More than enough rain led to high flows, delayed ice up on the bigger lakes, and some real decent bite windows.





High water had brookies spread far and wide.  Big males were dominant in the overall catch. 











The brookie hens in the mix had good length and colors, but were low in the girth department when compared to the males.





A few landlocks began to show up, but the trend of weaker numbers over the past few years continued at least for now.   







The last salmon was an interesting one.  At just 13", it had great colors, a fair kype, and dropped milt when landed.

The most welcomed surprise of December was the resurgence of browns at least for the month. 









We had a pretty significant cold snap at mid-month that made changes to the playing field.  Back channels froze up and ice showed up at lake shores. 







Getting back to the browns, my most memorable day came when I fished a slick, but not locked in lake shore.  A raw, dark day with a nice chop and quality browns willing to play 8)









I'm thinking these may have been returns on earlier Seeforellen strain stockings and take this as a good sign!  I also think I was a bit late to the party when I hit that stretch of icy shore on December 12.  I'll be prospecting earlier in 2023 ;)

One interesting note is that cold water lure preferences flipped somewhat from norm.  Normally, jigs are the answer, particularly under a bobber.  Many days after starting with spoons or spinners, a jig presentation often ends up tripping the trigger.  This December, slow jig starts were often reversed by a frantic spoon bite.  As always, the mantra is to give them what they want.

Holiday festivities were a ball, but put the angling on hold.  My son-in-law is a big IPA fan.  I spent most of  the time higher than pterodactyl teats.  A throwback to Gaddabout Gaddis, the Flying Fisherman. :laugh: Anybody remember him?

I closed out the month with a trip to coast to see if I could duplicate the non-stop action of November.  Not even close.  In fact, not even a bite.  Maybe the storm of December 23 broke things up.  Anyway, even without fish, there are far worse places to be than on the salt at sunset just short of the New Year.



Happy New Year and good fishing to all!











NBourque

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Re: December.....A Good End to the Year
« Reply #1 on: Dec 30, 2022, 01:14 PM »
Good report Jim. Tough month for both open water and ice fishing. Looks like open water fishing won’t be a problem going into January. Do you still fish a lot of ponds/lakes in January if they’re ice free?

icefisher47

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Re: December.....A Good End to the Year
« Reply #2 on: Dec 30, 2022, 03:56 PM »
Looks like a great ending for the year. Happy New Years to you
Take a kid fishing

Jim C.

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Re: December.....A Good End to the Year
« Reply #3 on: Dec 30, 2022, 04:00 PM »
Thanks, Nick.  I'm betting on there being a fair amount of fishable open lake water for a few weeks.  I will fish it along with flowing water, sometimes in the same day.  Having both options is nice!

Good report Jim. Tough month for both open water and ice fishing. Looks like open water fishing won’t be a problem going into January. Do you still fish a lot of ponds/lakes in January if they’re ice free?

NBourque

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Re: December.....A Good End to the Year
« Reply #4 on: Dec 30, 2022, 04:05 PM »
Thanks, Nick.  I'm betting on there being a fair amount of fishable open lake water for a few weeks.  I will fish it along with flowing water, sometimes in the same day.  Having both options is nice!
Good to know 😬

hunts2long

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Re: December.....A Good End to the Year
« Reply #5 on: Dec 31, 2022, 05:33 AM »
Nice looking fish, thanks for sharing and Happy New Year!....h2l

TightLinesMaine

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Re: December.....A Good End to the Year
« Reply #6 on: Jan 02, 2023, 02:28 PM »
Nice month for you Jim, that last smallish salmon is indeed a beaut, & same with last lake brown, fatty! nice variety for December.  Have you combat fished for lake rainbows yet?  :laugh: ;)

Jim C.

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Re: December.....A Good End to the Year
« Reply #7 on: Jan 02, 2023, 03:08 PM »
Thanks, Randall.

Nope, have not pursued any 'bows yet.  Maybe I'll try on a day when the weather is at the far end of nasty :laugh:

Nice month for you Jim, that last smallish salmon is indeed a beaut, & same with last lake brown, fatty! nice variety for December.  Have you combat fished for lake rainbows yet?  :laugh: ;)

NBourque

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Re: December.....A Good End to the Year
« Reply #8 on: Jan 03, 2023, 09:10 AM »
Nice month for you Jim, that last smallish salmon is indeed a beaut, & same with last lake brown, fatty! nice variety for December.  Have you combat fished for lake rainbows yet?  :laugh: ;)
Lmao. I know of one spot like that for bows.

Jim C.

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Re: December.....A Good End to the Year
« Reply #9 on: Jan 03, 2023, 12:00 PM »
That spot should quiet down now that I've posted it and put in a game cam.

Lmao. I know of one spot like that for bows.

NBourque

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Re: December.....A Good End to the Year
« Reply #10 on: Jan 03, 2023, 02:04 PM »
That spot should quiet down now that I've posted it and put in a game cam.

Lol perfect

fish wayniac

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Re: December.....A Good End to the Year
« Reply #11 on: Jan 03, 2023, 03:37 PM »
Jim, You had a good month of open water fishing . Nice Trout and Salmon . It looks like you will keep the streak going with  this mild weather. Not much good ice yet!
🥶

 



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