Back in the 80's when I lived in Grand Junction, Colorado a group of us made a point of fishing New Year's day, period. Hangovers or bad weather be damn, we went fishing, typically ice fishing on the Grand Mesa. At the time Colorado's fishing license schedule was annual, so the idea was we had to break the license in correctly, as in use it as soon a possible, if we expected to have good fishing the remainder of the year.
After moving to Fort Collins, Colorado, I let this tradition lapse. Numerous reasons, but laziness and my increasingly low tolerance for cold were the primary. It's not that I dislike ice fishing or winter river fishing, which is colder, it was the pain I felt in my extremities while and after fishing. Even today, fishing when temperatures get around and below 40 my hands begin to feel chilled to the point of hurting.
My dislike of cold is one of the reasons, once I retired and took to the road that we now "winter" in warmer climes, currently Bastrop, Texas, southeast of Austin, where it's in the 40's and raining hard. Yesterday, it was warm, hitting 50, but it was windy as all get out. Still, the waters around here are open, and while chilly the bass can be coaxed into occasionally biting.
So yesterday, I donned winter apparel, which was light gear compared to what ice fishing requires, braved the wind and took the first step toward renewing an old tradition, fishing New Year's day. It help that this old man went to bed early and sober the night prior.
I'm pleased that outing was a success in I managed a few bass, one of which was decent by my standards, around 19 inches. I don't know if fishing New Year's day really means fishing 2019 will be great, but it's an auspicious start.
