<h1>First Fish of the Year</h1>

Winter in southern Maryland has been very chilly. Actually “chilly” might not be the right word. It’s been down right COLD. 2018 began with temperatures in teens and they didn’t go up very much until the last two days. With multiple days of cold weather the local lakes had a good layer of ice on top of them. Having no equipment, and no confidence in walking on the ice, I have been waiting a thaw.

This morning after taking the trash and recycling to the dump I drove up to a local pond I like to fish. As I walked down to it I saw there was still a skim of ice on parts. But I was very happy to see that the northern end had open water. I brought two rods, one rigged as a dropshot with a small “sexy shad” by Arkie Lures. It was tied about 8 inches above my weight figuring that fish would be near the bottom. It proved fruitless on the 2 dozen casts I tried with it. The second rod had another “sexy shad” on a 1/16 oz jig under a float. I tried a few spots and on one long cast the float went down. A quick yank and I began to reel. I brought in a crappie about 7 inches long. Not huge, but it was nice to get that first fish of the year.

Upon my walk back to the car, I picked up a few bits of trash and decided that I’d try to do just that each time I head out the this year because every piece helps. Until next time...Tight lines!

Second photo via Litterati App.