First Month of Fishing

Guide Donald Cranor with a pretty cutthroat, which was part of Norfork River
trout slam (brown, rainbow, brook, cutthroat) and species No. 9 for my 2015 tally.

Sometimes the fishing year starts sort of slowly, with limited angling opportunities during January. This was not one of those years. My first fish of year, bluegill and bass from a pond near home, came only a couple of days into the new year, and last week, while trout fishing on the Norfork River with guide Donald Cranor, I tallied species No. 9 (a cutthroat trout) for January. Looking back, it looks like I got to spend at least part of about 10 days fishing during January, and all except for a couple a short pond outings were full days on the water.

Fish listed came from four states: Georgia, South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Arkansas. I also got to spend a couple of days at Lake Taneycomo in Missouri and caught a bunch of rainbows and browns, but those species were already on the list from a fun day on the Chattooga River earlier in the month. Three species (pumpkinseed, yellow perch, black crappie) came to me courtesy of holes in the ice in Pennsylvania while fishing with Dave Lefebre.

From a fish species list standpoint, the cutthroat might be my favorite January fish because that's not a species I get the opportunity to even fish for every year. I do anticipate more opportunities to fish for cutters this summer, when Asher and I head west on the #RebelTroutTrek, but I'm happy to already have one on the list.

I wonder what February will bring!