Several years ago, during a much warmer winter, to get ready for the Flint River Bass Club tournament at Jackson the next to last Sunday in January I made a couple of trips to that lake the week before it. It was wonderful to fish this time of year in a short sleeved shirt, and the water temperatures in the low 50s encouraged me to think the bass would bite.

On Wednesday soon after I started fishing I cast a Shadrap up into shallow water on a sandy bank. A fish hit the lure and when I set the hook a boil the size of a #2 wash tub came up. I fought that fish on a light spinning rod and 8 pound test line until my right hand ached, but it would not come to the surface.

When the bass got under the boat I put all the pressure on it I could with the light outfit, trying to turn it before it got into the motor. Suddenly the hook came loose, for no reason that I could tell. I never got to see the big fish so it could have been a carp that I foul hooked, but it surely did fight like a bass.

Not long after losing that fish I hooked and landed a 3 pound largemouth on a Fat Free Shad crankbait. It fought a lot like the bigger fish, making short runs and shaking its head, but it did not fight half as hard.

A little later I cast a Carolina rig across a point probing for some rocks that are on it. I hit the rocks on the first cast and as soon as the lead started coming through them a 2 pound largemouth hit and I landed it. Just before dark I landed two more keeper largemouth on two different crankbaits, for four for the day.

On Friday I went back and fished the spot were I had lost the big one but did not get a bite. In another place there was a log off the bank in about six feet of water and I cast my Fat Free Shad across it, and landed a 4 pound largemouth. Later I had my second and last strike of the day when a 2 pound largemouth hit a Fat Free Fry.

I landed six bass in two days and all were largemouth, very unusual this time of year at Jackson. I expected to catch spotted bass. After the poor catch on Friday I really did not know what to try in the tournament.

As luck would have it, after several weeks of warm weather and a lot of clouds, a cold front came through Saturday night and we launched boats in 34 degree air temperatures. I ran up to a brushpile I like to fish, but nothing hit my crankbait or spinnerbait. Then I dropped a jig and pig into the brush and a fish grabbed it and headed out under the boat. I was able to land a 14 inch spot – the first spot in a week and the first on a jig and pig, but at least I would not zero.

At about 9:00 I threw my Fat Free Fry across a shallow point and it just stopped. When I set the hook my heart almost stopped when a big bass jumped. As it fought I could just feel the hooks pull loose like they did on Wednesday, but I landed this one and guessed it would weigh between 5 and 6 pounds.

After lunch I fished a line of docks and out around a point. As I left Kwong Yu pulled in behind me. I landed my third keeper on a Carolina rig out of some brush just after seeing him, my last fish of the day.

At weigh-in I was happy until someone said Kwong had a big one. He had beaten me for the big fish of the year pot at Jackson in December, and he did it again last Sunday. He had a 6.67 pound bass, beating my 5.68 pounder. To add insult to injury, he caught the big one right behind me after I left the area and he pulled in.

Kwong won the tournament, too, with 11.90 pounds. Tom Tanner placed second with 10.60 pounds, Bobby Ferris was third with 10.15 pounds, Toney Roberts had 8.93 for fourth and I placed fifth with 7.97 pounds.

We had 19 fishermen in the tournament and 13 brought in a total of 32 keeper bass weighing 74.85 pounds. That is pretty good for a January tournament, but what we had until this weekend was not really January weather. I am sure the fishing will be tougher now with the cold nights.