With about 40 minutes until dark, I thought I'd sneak out of the house and make a few casts at a local dock... It seemed too early and too cold for the smallmouth to be within casting range, but I wanted to give it a go. I tied on my favorite spinnerbait and chucked it out..... Let the bait drop a bunch before retrieving it, trying to fish deeper than I would in a couple months. About the 4th cast WHAMMO, couldn't believe it. Nice battle, and in the end he was probably around 3lbs--certainly a good "opening day" fish!

Sorry about the lame quality of the pic, I was by myself and only had my cellphone.

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