Very soon, the ski slopes of Colorado will be flooded, but the Jones family got a head start with what has become our Christmas tradition. Our daughter is still in college, but since she’s done with her finals, we take a week or 10 days to come up before Christmas.
If you wait until after Christmas, it’ll look like everybody in the United States is in Colorado and it’s kind of a madhouse. But by coming early, we’ll just about have the ski areas to ourselves.
We have a big snow storm coming in and that’s something we don’t get to see in Texas. And, of course, with the mule deer and all the wildlife, it’s just a really neat experience.
As far as specific Christmas traditions, one of the things we like to do as a family during our Colorado trip is to have nightly devotionals. We spend about 10 minutes each night discussing the true meaning of the season, which is the birth of Christ.
This reminds us to not lose focus on that during the Christmas season and remember what this celebration is all about. So, it’s nice to get to those deeper levels with family.
Once we return home, I almost always spend some time fishing during the week between Christmas and New Year’s. In fact, this year, it will almost be work for me because I’m close enough to Lake Conroe — the site of the 2017 Bassmaster Classic —that I can fish it and return home the same evening.
At least two or three days between Christmas and New Year’s, I’ll be out there on Lake Conroe. I probably won’t actually fish very much, but I’ll be scouting around and learning as much as I can.
Beyond this important Classic preparation, I’ll spend some time on the water closer to home because I just love to fish in the wintertime. Historically, the Christmas break has been one of the few times I get to fish with little Alton.
For many years, after he stopped traveling with me, I’d be off fishing the Elite Series and he’d be in school, so this break was our chance to spend some time on the water together.
This time also allows me to fish with friends at home — folks with whom I used to fish team tournaments. For example my best friend Robert Mills and I enjoy the Christmas break because it gives us the opportunity to spend some time fishing together.
Like a lot of bass anglers, I love to fish for crappie when I’m home. In fact during the weeks between Elite events, one of the things I do to really relax is crappie fish.
During the holidays, Robert and I will get together and we’ll go “plant the seeds” to produce crappie later on. What I mean by that is we’ll be putting out brush piles and fish attractors in strategic places so we can go back this coming spring, summer and fall and catch all the crappie we want.
Naturally, these structures will also attract bass, so it’s kind of a dual benefit. Crappie are the primary objective, but all bass fishermen know that a good brush pile can help you fill your limit — and possibly reward you with a nice kicker.
Now, if I’m actually going bass fishing during the wintertime, I’m going to keep a Texas-rigged YUM Dinger, a Booyah Jig and a YUM Flash Mob Junior. We’re not allowed to use this on the Elite Series, but it can be highly effective this time of year.
Baits like these make really nice stocking stuffers for your favorite angler, as do items like a TH Marine G-Force Cull System and a nice pair of fishing gloves. I like the SIMMS Exstream Foldover Mitt which allows me to fold back the top of the mitten to expose my fingertips for fine detail work like knot tying and changing hooks.
This time of year, you can find tremendous sales on a lot of fishing tackle items; so, my suggestion is to take advantage of these buying opportunities, not only for gift-giving, but also to upgrade your own tackle selection.
Getting back to my family vacation for a moment, we generally keep the meals fairly standard, but there is one dish that is pretty special to me. It’s a recipe that’s been in my family for several decades and actually dates back to one of my wife’s uncles who fought in WWII.
We just call it eggs and gravy; it’s something they fed the soldiers and it’s really delicious. Basically, you lay slices of hard-boiled egg over toast and then you cover that with sausage gravy.
This makes a great meal to warm your insides on a cold morning — a great start to a winter fishing trip.