January recruiting? Boutiques?

I am looking to break into Investment banking (M&A). I realize its January and an awkward time for this but any advice is much appreciated.

I graduated from a semi-target school with a good GPA (>3.5) and was an athlete. I dedicated all my time to athletics throughout my 4 years (30+ hours/ week with 2 weeks off during the year TOTAL) so even in the summer I was training. I wasn't able to go pro so for my last semester (I graduated in 4.5 years) I got a decent finance internship. During that time a buddy encouraged me to do PWM at a firm he was at... so I started beginning of last year. A few months in I knew that wasn't what I wanted long term so I started applying to different finance jobs and had some interviews but it was late in the year and they ended not picking up anyone at all. A few of my friends in different cities do IB so I talked with a few of them to ask about it and then I started taking IB courses online to brush up on my accounting and modeling, I loved it and knew that is what I want to do. I quit my job (can only have so many "doctor appointments" and sick days) to apply full time and learn more about the industry.

Every day I look forward to learning more about the work and different deals going on but one thing... January is a terrible time to be looking into jobs. I figure I need an internship but all the banks are way past hiring for their SA's, I've had a few interviews with some regional boutiques for spring internships but there aren't many of those at all. Even if I got one it would be temporary then I'd need to search again (which I'm fine with doing but it's not the most ideal). I've been networking as hard as I can but my school's alumni are much more prevalent in other big cities.

Does anyone have any ideas how to apply/where to apply? I'm incredibly open-minded to ideas! Thank you all.