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-FROM
THE EDITOR- 28 February, 2004-
HAPPY NEW YEAR INDEED!! OR "WHEN
GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO BAD PEOPLE" 
I traditionally begin celebrating the New Year once I have caught my first river
fish of the year. It usually happens in February but last year it didn't happen
until the very end of March. Well, February 22nd marked the New Year for me this
season, but another GRFer brought in 2004 with quite a bang, and actually did it
on January 1st, 2004. Jim Nielson of Watkinsville and Troy Winebarger of Byron
decided not to waste a beautiful day watching college bowl games (like I did).
They went fishing, and Jim drifted his Woolly Bugger through a deep pool and
look what ate it! This largemouth bass (which was released unharmed) went well
over 25 inches and probably weighed between 7 and 8 pounds! Here's another
picture:
This is quite simply an amazing accomplishment. For one thing, largemouth bass
rarely grow this large in rivers north of the Fall Line and bass fishing is
normally really tough in the winter. As you can see, Jim is standing in an area
with a pretty good amount of current, which is not where you'd expect to see a
largemouth bass any time of the year, much less in January. And to top it all
off, Jim caught this amazing fish on a flyrod! What a blast! Those of you who
know Jim won't be surprised to find out what he did immediately after releasing
this behemoth: He drank a Budweiser, of course.
Well, I had planned on telling the story of my New Year's bass, but it pretty
much pales in comparison to Jim's story. Mine was a solid 2 pound largemouth
that hit my spinnerbait on the day's final cast. Two pounds is a nice fish for
us regular folks, Jim. Happy New Year everybody!
Sincerely,
Sam
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