On a cold January Sunday in 2008 15 members and guests of the Flint River Bass Club fished our first tournament of the year at Jackson. There were 28 keeper bass weighed in, 18 spots and 10 largemouth, that weighed 59.16 pounds. Two fishermen had five-fish limits and four did not catch a keeper. Six of the bass weighed three pounds or more.

I made one lucky cast and landed an 8.80 pound bass for big fish and had one other for a total of two bass weighing 12.18 pounds for first. Tommy Reeves has five at 9.07 for second, Bobby Ferris was third with five weighing 6.80 and Rick Webster placed fourth with four weighing 5.90 pounds.

I had a frustrating day up until the big one hit, missing three bites on a slow fishing day. I had one keeper with about 45 minutes left to fish when my partner and I decided to go to one last place. I was throwing a Strike King Series 5 crank bait around a sandy pocket and talking about how we used to catch big bass in the winter but it had not happened in a long time when the big one hit. That is the biggest bass I have caught in a very long time.

Fish hit a variety of crank baits, lizards, and jig and pigs in the stained water that started out at 47 degrees but warmed to 52. My first fish hit a jig and pig under a dock just after noon. Jordan McDonald, my partner, had two on a Texas rigged lizard, one in the morning and one about an hour before quitting time.