Weekly Recap; 12/1/25-12/7/25

Jordan DiVirgilio
12 minutes ago
4 min read

With the weather we’ve been having, not much fishing to be had. However, this past Tuesday, Ryan and I got out to Lake Erie to target smallmouth bass!!!

There is a video I made going over the clothing I wear for Winter fishing. The second half takes us on the water.

Here is the link—> https://youtu.be/MhTSbhYdK9c?si=kQSAcsxq4uE2P-0V

Here is the recap report;

12/2/25 December

Lake Erie

Fun Fishing w/ Ryan

Air temp: 27°-31°

Water temp: 47°

Wind: NE 4MPH-> N 5MPH

Conditions: Cloudy

Depth fished: 33’-40’

Time fished: 11am-2pm

Water clarity: 1’

Pattern: Late Fall/Early Winter

Best Zone: ???

Total caught: 2 Smallmouth Bass

Ryan caught both on a 3/4oz fire Tiger swimbait head with a 3” Tennessee shad swimbait on.

The first was maybe 2lbs

The second was like 5lbs

I got one solid thump and a scale. The 5/8oz bucktail just wasn’t heavy enough.

It was still a day on the water and out of the house. Much needed boost in morale.

Worked on some art this week at Miller’s Thumb Bakery and Cafe! The best of the best! Amazing coffees and pastries, as well as an amazing crew!

This series I’m working on has all been based on my own photos. Done with pencil, pen and Prismacolor colored pencils.

As I continue, it will consist of subjects from the water, land and sky. This mushroom and maple leaf are a study of the land. Last week you saw the study of feathers. This upcoming week seems like a good week to study fish.

Various ideas are building from these. Stay tuned because if you like any of these, they will become available for purchase in a variety of formats.

A note on Natural phenomenon; this past Thursday was the Cold Full Moon.

To be transparent, I am not all too sure what this means, but as did our ancestors, I like to track the moon phases. To me, it seems like Nature giving events to look forward too.

That night and the next, I actually slept next to the wood stove out in the garage while at my Moms. Let me back up though…

On the drive down to Pennsylvania, I stopped at the halfway point to fish this stretch of the Genessee River. The weapon of choice was a copper streamer on a 6wt rod with sinking line.

The goal was to be tactical and move through some water and bounce out of there. That is exactly what happened, no fish, got some good practice casting in winds and frigid conditions.

As I was wrapping up to leave, this beautiful Barred Owl descended from a tree across the river and flew over my head. What a send off!!!

Later that evening while by the fire, my brother and I heard what sounded like a baby crying. We walked outside and I recorded the noise. I was pretty certain it was an owl. Upon more research, my sister said, “Could it be a bobcat?” and that was a good guess and got us closer.

Once Ryan and I got together and reviewed the sound, did some searching, we boiled it down to being a Fox cub. The sound was identical. Pretty darn cool! That cry was a little before midnight on the full moon too. Just saying, pretty sweet stuff.

Earlier that evening Ryan and I were texting about the weather. He said, “It’s 18 degrees here - gonna drop to the single digits - things are gonna die tonight - I can’t imagine dealing with that kind of drop living outside - it’s like the environment is trying to kill you all of a sudden - kind of like the Hunger Games.”

This made me laugh and then stop and appreciate the “weird” way I live. Basically everyone was saying “Why would you stay outside? That’s nuts!”

As I was falling asleep beside the fire, with the single digit temperatures outside, I realized something.

There are things I do, that feel so natural to me, as if it is something I need to do. Many of those things, to outsiders, are far from anything they would be willing to do. Why stay outside when I can stay inside with regulated temperatures?

Why? Because our ancestors have done it for centuries before us. Because I refuse to loose the roots of who I am as a human. Because it is in fact the harder things to do. Not saying that as a badge of honor, but just stating the truth. It is the more difficult path to sleep outside in freezing temps, even with a fire, than it is to stay inside like we do every night of our lives.

That first night was not as frigid as I thought it would be. Still, had to stoke the fire two or three times that night. The second night, which only got into the twenties, was pretty similar, had to stoke the fire twice, it was a bit chilly because the fire got all the way down to embers

The full moon was bright and beautiful, I got some decent pictures of it early Friday morning. Choosing the harder path, often leads to more reward than the easy path. Trust me, the first night back in my own bed felt like heaven. That alone is reason enough to do it. Prove you can live and operate on less sleep now and again, having gone through less than optimal conditions and realize you are stronger for it.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Song of the week;

Let The Great World Spin by The Trews

A new episode of the Two Angles on Angling podcast is available on YouTube.

Don’t forget to check out the JD Outdoors YouTube channel for the video of my winter clothing and cold weather smallmouth fishing.

Tight lines and we’ll catch ya on the water!

Jordan H. DiVirgilio