THE BASS COLLEGE

Cold....BRRRRRRRRRRR, high of 30 degrees, ice, 36 degree water temps, brand new stretch of water, cold front moved through the past two days, lots of rain, high winds, Raystowne Lake opened an additonal 2-3 release gates, high water, muddy water with good friend Jeff Little and Mike McCabe. Both fish caught on 7'  MXF St. Croix legend extreme spinning rods spooled up with 8lb BPS XPS fluro. These are the worst conditions possible for river smallmouth, were going out with expectations of a high chance to get skunked, now its time for crazy smallmouth fisherman to leave. Let the trip begin..

Blastoff! Too bad its not a jet boat, more like float off.

Winter party anyone? George Forman charcoal grill, propane grill, shovels and lawn chairs, time for a snack and to move some blood back into extremities.
Beautiful mountain range view,

About a mile and a half down the river we found a notable winter hole where jeff caught a 16-17'' walleye on a Confidence Baits Little Tube in Dark Chocolate which is dark brown and red flake, this is river bottom, a lighter brown and black flake, my tubes are in my finesse box which is in the car which is currently in getting an oil change. 2'' little tube pictured next to a KVD 1.5

A few more shots of the float

Ice on branches touching the water.

We pulled into a second hole about a mile up from the take out which wasn't even a real winter hole, just an area of slack current, most usual wintering holes were blown up due to increased flow. Skipped a Confidence Baits Blueberry hand-tied finesse jig but instead of the usual battle stance craw trailer I replaced it with a Confidence Baits large blueberry floating bird, creating a larger profile bait then usually used for river smallmouth in sub freezing temperatures, here's a picture of the exact bait.

Skipped the jig under an overhanging low tree in a small pocket of water, let it sit for about 15 seconds, felt it hit a root-ball submerged in about 5 FoW on the extremely sensitive St Croix legend xtreme, pulled it over the obstruction and unlike the usual cold water smallmouth hits, they are usually unfelt, just weight, this was a solid thump of an aggressive smallmouth, thats the reason i love river smallmouth, they never fail to amaze me, it was fish on! 18.5'' 3lb9oz smallie.

That was a great report. Thanks !

wow nice alan thats a sweet smallie i went this morning and got skunked

Nice report, great pic's!! Bet that smally warmed you up!!  lol 

Very nice, well done and professional. Good Smallmouth. 

Nice fish wish I could catch some fish now. lol

Alan, it's so nice to be young and going out in the cold and fishing. I remember those days and it's not going to happen again. lol. It's been about 0-10 here today and I haven't left the house. You'll find out some day !

oooo the big j did you float down to duncanon

alan have you fished the strech down through everit

Lol dont ask me, first time ive ever been on this river besides the confluence, this float was from victory park launch? River access rd- the narrows new boat launch which TOTALLY SUCKS.

if the water is up i like to launch from amity hall i think its calld/speld 

o yea nich smally pic on the bassmasters website

That article on picking the right lure?

No I put yor picture on Bassmaster.

Link please? I cant seem to find it.

nie fish

Alan Rosenberger at January 15, 2012 at 6:59 PM

Link please? I cant seem to find it.

Here it is on the actual Bassmaster site in top 50 Smallmouths. > http://www.bassmaster.com/slideshow/50-cant-miss-bronzeback-photos

Alan Rosenberger at January 15, 2012 at 6:59 PM

Link please? I cant seem to find it.

It's on their facebook page under top 50 pic's of smallmouth! Good job!

Number 24, oooh yeah! Thanks guys, and especially steve, that looks awesome.