Well, have to say that the 1st fishing trip of 2025 started out slow, but ended with a bang. Got to the lake around 11 am & fished until 5:20. Caught 4 small bass right away & was pretty hopeful...then proceeded to catch "0" for the next 4 hours. Wast thinking about the "Drive of Shame" home when they started biting at 4 pm. Then at 4:33 I got a hit that turned out to be a 5.3 pounder & at 5:04 the massive 5.9 pounder bit. I live for these battles & won both times. Let the "Bigs" count for 2025 begin. The lake was PACKED today...guess everyone wanted to get one last trip in b4 the big cold snap next week. But by around 4 pm it was down to a handful of us...I swear that the bass somehow know when the fishermen thin out.

So I have started to spend more time fishing deeper...like 20-30 feet, but it takes forever for the jig to hit the bottom & the feel is not great. Decided to try a "Swing Jig" because I could not find the ones I normally use in a 1/2 oz size. They worked great last week, but the weight kept falling off...like in the Pic. Contacted the company & they said they had a bad batch of epoxy & sent me free replacements. The customer service at Harmony Fishing was outstanding.

Met a TFF friend at the ramp today...for the most part we have the nicest people on this forum...so a big shout out to Andy (If my memory is working today)

Awesome post and some solid fish. Good job Steve on your set up and method.

Nice start to 2025...

great start to 2025

Awesome photo's!

Thanks Chuck, GT, Leo & F4...We need some super cold weather to keep the fishermen home by the fire.

Awesome fish Vogey

Congratulations. Those fish look very healthy.

THANKS for your Posts...we will see what this cold front does. We just picked monster navel oranges...hopefully we can keep it warm enough to survive.

Thanks Yesenia, Barry & Wug...I just picked some big tomatoes yesterday that are starting to turn red...strange weather.

Great post and fish as always Steve. Good job Sir.