As it was getting light this morning I could hear the predicted wind gust ripping against the house. As I walked to the back door and took a peek I had perfect timing to watch my dumpster cartwheeling through my yard at twenty miles per hour. As I jumped into my shoes and ran out the door I almost had a heart attack at the sight of somebodies Christmas tree wedged between the house and the top of my wife’s car. I guess they figured I would be the guy to take the tree to the “Pines for Perch” drop location! After finally wrestling down the tree and performing a rescue mission on the dumpster, I retreated back into the warm embraces of my home. Blowing snow out of my mustache and grabbing for my coffee, I decided today is a better day to live in a jigging memory rather than trudge out into this crap!

So time for a New Year’s resolution. CATCH BIG FISH…RIGHT?!?!

First and foremost, and more important than the biggest walleye in the Columbia River, is…YOU! Our New Year’s resolution is to continue to grow Kit’s Tackle and provide YOU with the most innovative jig fishing products and get YOU, “Jiggin’ the Dream.” The support dad and I have received over the last year growing Kit’s Tackle is not only humbling, but a pure truth to keep the jig engine running full bore! We are 100% fully committed to bring you the best products and information we can to help you have a successful 2014 season on the water.

NOW, getting back to big fish…we have had a couple of amazing winter jig fishing adventures on Hauser lake here in Helena. It is always fun to run the big boat in the midst of winter and smile at all the folks dropping strange looks while fueling up the ship. 🙂

This past Thursday (Jan. 2) dad and I met with our friend Jesse LeNeve and headed for the water with warm clothes and jigging arms twitching!! Not even thinking about the fact it was my first casts of 2014…WHAM BAM THANK YOU BROWN TROUT SAM!! I pitched an altered version of our “Pretty Boy Floyd” streamer jig into a big gnarly back eddied bank. Letting it sink for a few seconds, I gave it a couple violent twitches and the next thing I saw was that GLORIOUS banana yellow blast and I was hooked up. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…THIS FEELING NEVER GETS OLD!! I was in that magical moment…my magical moment! The following great word summarizes this magical place quite nicely.

Querencia: a place from which one’s strength is drawn, where one feels at home; the place where you are your most authentic self.

After an awesome battle between fingertip and lip…I was blessed to lift a beautiful fatso pants wintertime brown trout from the cold water. Totally absorbed and devoured by the sheer beauty my dad had to remind me to get the beast back into the water to swim free. After a quick photo and awesome release we shared frozen high fives for an awesome start to the New Year. Taking it all in, we put our game faces back on and headed downriver for more jigging action!

Here is the release video:

We went on the rest of the day casting Glass Minnows and Pro Series Marabou jigs to the shore and we lit it up!! We boated over fifty awesome rainbow trout and a couple bonus browns for the day. We even harvested a couple of the smaller specimens for the smoker and BBQ…and gosh darn they are DELICIOUS!!

So with the New Year upon us we want to wish you our very best and most SINCERE good luck charm while “Jiggin’ the Dream” in 2014.

(Written by Trevor Johnson of Kit’s Tackle)