First Fish

Today marked the first fish of the year for me. It was only a pickerel (not too desirable to a bass fisherman), but the satisfaction after what always seems to be an ever-longer winter was indescribable. So much of what that first fish of the year feels like is something that is both new and familiar. I spend a lot of time in the winter reading about fishing and trying to arm myself with the best information I can to increase my catch when spring arrives. Once the weather warms and the ice melts I've built up enough anticipation and imagination of what it will again feel like to catch a fish that it is, in a sense, a moot point. It WILL happen, and I do my best not to let it worry me. Yet once you do catch one, especially when it is as early in the year as it is this year, not much can do away with the surprise and joy.
At any rate, it was an interesting day, since I drove to a number of local ponds in search of a bite. I ended up at a lake very near my house, with a small area of access just off a fairly busy road. Part of the lake has a diversion under the road and into a "back" pond area, with rip-rap built up along the banks. I've done enough reading to remember that a lot of people say that areas with rip-rap are great early spring spots because the rocks retain heat, which attracts fish. A lure that works well in those conditions is a suspending jerkbait, according to the experts, so that was what I was throwing. It took a good 20 or so casts and a few changes of spots and angles, but finally the fish took it and swam away. Not a hit, so to speak, but once it did hook itself (I did little to make it happen) it put up a good fight. It's pretty satisfying to know that SOMETHING would hit a lure at this time of the year, even if it isn't a bass, especially considering there are NO fish visible from shore (well, except one baby pick I saw at another local pond, just sunning itself near some grass, in a few inches of water). They're probably still deep, and if the water temps of the "big" lake in NH are any indication (about 39 degrees today) they'll be there for a while longer.