Again: Miss with Pete and Greg.

Thursday July 31st

As discussed we were able to get out on the Mississippi again with Greg Jones of Mid-
West Outdoors TV & Magazine. Originally we were going to meet him at 6PM but that got kicked back to after 7PM. On this night we would launch by Royalton which is a pretty good distance up river from where we launched on Monday. I ended up recognizing this stretch of the river from fishing it last year.

We started out drifting right from the launch on the East side of the river and I was throwing my white/chart Spinnerbait. It didn't take long and Gregg was hooked up on a Smithwick Devils Horse topwater. Greg got another fish and so I switched up to a purple Berkley Frenzy Popper. The popper didn't produce any fish and Greg got another couple on the Devil's Horse, so when we ended our drift and headed up river I asked Greg if he had a Rapala Skitter Prop and he did in kind of a lime green color and he put a feathered Mustad Triple Grip on the back.

We ran up a little ways close to where we started on last year. It was not long into the next drift when I had a good strike on the Skitter Prop. I was hooked up until the fish jumped and sent the lure flying back right at us and into the boat just missing me and Pete. A little farther down river I had a hit and miss, hit and miss, hit and miss, but the 4th time was the charm and I landed this nice smallie.


On one cast the Skitter Prop was just annihilated by this smallmouth, it was awesome:


As we were rolling down river Pete and Greg got into an argument about where Pete should be making his casts. Greg made a suggestion and Pete was having none of it. While they were sniping at one another Pete landed an 18 inch smallie which was the big one of the night. Pete also caught a 22+ inch pike that he insisted go in the livewell over my and Greg's protests.

The fishing wasn't fast but we were getting bit and the average size was a quality fish around 15.5 inches. As it got dark I put on a bullfrog Frenzy Popper and we got in a hot stretch of water and I pulled my last to fish of the night. It was dark enough that I really couldn't see the bite, I would just hear and feel it.

For the night I had 7 to 9 fish caught total which isn't bad for about an hour and a half of fishing.

Mississippi with Pete and Greg Jones of Mid-West Outdoors

Last year, almost a year to the day, I went fishing with Pete and Greg on the Mississippi River. I was lucky enough to get to do this again this year yesterday on July 27th and we might go out again on Thursday. Once again this year Greg is getting ready to fish a tournament and is trying to get a feel for the water. We have been getting a lot of rain recently and just as I expected the river was up and a more murky than last year. We were on the water around 6:45PM and the wind was blowing pretty good. We didn't run nearly as far up river as we did last year most likely due to our limited time before dark. We started fishing the West shore.

Since we were 3 to the boat I only brought 2 rods. I started out trying a clown Spro Bronzeye Frog. I had put a rattle in the bait that weighed a little to much and the frog would sink quickly if I didn't keep it coming in pretty steady. In 15 minutes I had maybe one hit and so I switched up to a 1/4oz Chart/White Strike King Spinnerbait with Chart. blades. Nobody had caught anything when I switched baits but Greg did have a blow up on his buzzbait. I put the first fish in the boat, a 9inch Pike. Greg and I spotted a nice 18+ inch Smallie but we couldn't get it to go. I had a good hit but it didn't hook up and towards the end of our drift I caught the first Smallie which was about a 10 inch fish.

We went back up the river and this time drifted down the East shore. It wasn't long into the drift when I tied into a 16.75" Smallie which was the big fish of the night. I didn't get a picture of this fish because the camera batteries went dead. When I was messing around with the camera Pete lost a big smallmouth on the way in. We caught several fish as we entered a shoot that went by some islands. If the water wasn't up it would have been to shallow to take this route and we did get hung up once as it was. We didn't have any luck in the shoot or behind the Islands.

It was after 8PM and we made a longer run up river to a spot just behind some islands. A huge eagle flew out of a tree almost right above us as we were moving in behind an Island. Greg had a fish miss his buzzbait and I cast around the same area with a bullfrog colored Berkley Frenzy Popper and was rewarded with a high leaping hard fighting 16.5 inch smallie. I didn't get a picture of this fish because it was bleeding pretty good and I wanted to get it back in the water ASAP. I fished the popper the rest of the night and caught several more smallies. The popper was the most productive lure in the boat, although Pete had quite a few missed fish on an in-line spinner. The fish stopped hitting about the time the mosquito's started coming out which was actually later than you would think. I ended up with 8 to 10 smallies total which was best out of the 3 of us.

Bagged Some Today

I had to pick up rods from the boat house at Platte Lake because I will be pre-fishing Lake Ida on Wednesday. I decided since I would be at the lake I would fish. I started at Jenny's right around 8PM with a white Spro Bronzeye Frog. I had a strike that didn't get the frog as I was coming up to a clump of rice. When I got on the other side of the rice a fish whacked it, but I didn't hook up. On to the lake place.

I decided I would start from shore casting along the dock with a parrot Outkast Swim Jig with 4" cool ice Action Plastics grub trailer. I hooked up on about the 2nd cast with this 12 incher.

Once I was done with the swim jig I switched to the Spro Frog. As I was fan casting I had something slap at the frog. I reeled in and cast back to the spot a few times and was eventually rewarded with this fish.
I think it was 14inches. I had another good blow up off the dock but didn't hook up and I couldn't get it to strike again.

Eventually I went over to Jim's dock and caught an 11 incher on the swim jig.

Saved By a Bullhead.

I thought I was going to have a triple Skunk on my hands until this little jumpin bullhead pulled down the Spro Frog right next to shore and came back with the hook set. I caught it on the SE side of the GOMH.

It would have been a triple skunk because of my luck at Eddy's. Last night I left my the little tackle boxes with my hooks and beads on the boat and due to some bad luck they ended up going home with somebody else. So not getting my stuff back was the 1st skunk. The 2nd Skunk was not catching anything when I went fishing off Eddy's Jetty.

Eddy's Launch with Dad

Tonight Dad and I went on our first launch trip of the year out of Eddy's Resort on the West side of Mille Lacs Lake. This time we got to fish out of the Flagship which is Eddy's biggest boat. On the night all 5 launches were in operation.

The day had been hot with thunderstorms that passed to the north cooling things down. By the time we were out at 6PM it was partly cloudy and in the mid 80's with a light South breeze. The Launch headed South of Rocky Reef in about 22 feet of water. A lady in the back of the boat with us caught a little walleye immediately. I was the first between Dad and I to get on the board with a nice jumbo perch that I gave away to a lady who wanted it. This woman's name was Oksana and she is a Russian immigrant who was out fishing with her son. Dad and I talked with her a lot and learned she was a massage therapist which will come into play a little later.

Dad got on the board with a little walleye.
The picture makes the fish look much bigger than it actually was. It was too small to keep dispite Oksana's protests. She was of the opinion that no fish was to small because she is used to catching and keeping little bullheads down in extreme Southern Minnesota where she lives.

The boat was catching lots of little fish at the 1st stop, so we moved around 8PM when a little thunderstorm came up and sprinkled and rumbled a little. The storm wasn't nearly enough to force us off the water. Right away in the new location a guy in the front of the boat caught a 25 inch protected slot fish. Pretty soon a few keepers and more overs were comming aboard. My bobber went down and I hooked into this 17 inch keeper.
I gave the fish to Oksana and she was so grateful she gave me a 20 minute back rub. By the end of the night Dad got a back rub too. Dad caught another small walleye and I caught a small perch. Oksana caught a couple of little walleyes that went back and her son missed several bites. A lot of fish were caught on the launch and I think there were around 9 keeper walleyes and 6 overs and maybe close to 2 dozen cigars and a handful of perch. It was a fun time.

Tonight's Platte Lake Report: Quality and Runts

Originally I wasn't going to fish today, but it was so nice out I decided to hit the lake after it cooled down a little bit. It got to 86 and was partly cloudy, so the sun was out all day and I thought I might get into some good dock fishing. I wanted to hit the lake at 6PM but I was held up re-organizing my tackle from the tournament bag to the boat. While I was doing that the UPS man showed up with my order from Action Plastics. I finally got my gear together around 6:30PM and I headed for the lake place.

I got the gear in the boat and decided to put one of my new Action Plastics on a parrot Outkast Swim Jig and throw a few casts. The grub I put on was a 5" "cool ice" Mag Grub. "Cool Ice" is a clear blueish grub with multi colored tinsel strips embedded in the plastic. On the very first cast this 16 incher blew up on the jig.


I threw a few more casts off the dock, loaded up the rest of my gear and headed across the bay to the docks I fished 8 days ago. I actually started a little farther to the West so I would hit more docks. There was a little bit of wind blowing on this shoreline but I still had reasonable control when skipping a Zoom Super Fluke. On about the 4th dock I pulled 2 bass that went 10.75" on a bubblegum Super Fluke. As I worked my way onto last weeks productive docks, pads, and weeds I noticed a distinct lack of fish activity. 8 days ago I was seeing plenty of sunfish and even a bass or two in addition to catching fish. I didn't get any bites on the pads or weeds. I finally got down to a dock that has been very good to me and I made a good cast and was rewarded with a 16" bass. My bubblegum Fluke disappeared in the fight, so I changed to "electric chicken" which I have mistakenly called "funky chicken." I went back and reworked the previous dock with the Fluke and was rewarded with a 12.75" largie. I then went back and reworked the 16 inchers dock with a black and blue Terminator jig with sapphire Denny Brauer Chunk. I tossed in under the pontoon boat lift and a quality fish picked it up. I was not able to get the fish up and over part of the lift before it got off. This success convinced me to keep hitting docks as I kept going beyond where I stopped 8 days ago. I got 1 more 15.25" bass off a boat lift with the jig.

Around 8PM I was basically out of docks. I threw the Outkast swim jig on the weed flat and caught a little pike. After a few more casts with the jig I tried a Frenzy Popper but couldn't raise anything. Next on my tour was reeds, pads, and rice so I started throwing a Zoom Horny Toad and then a white Spro Bronzeye Frog and not much was happening. I worked my way into the big reed bed in our bay and a fish hit something in the distance so I zeroed in on that spot. Sure enough I was rewarded with a nice bass attacking the frog, but I lost it on the way in. A few casts later I caught a little pike and that was it for the night.

I fished for a little over two and a half hours and caught 6 bass and 2 pike, so it was kind of slow but I am not gonna complain after yesterdays tournament.

Story: Almost forgot. I came across a guy who was fishing off a dock and we started talking. He heard from one of the guys on the Platte Lake Association board that the DNR did some electrofishing this year and the bass numbers were really high. He didn't know anything about size make up, but he goes on to tell me that Platte Lake fish are long and skinny, but I've caught plenty of bass to know the bass are usually either about normal with a few that qualify as super chunks that are heavy for their size.

Tonight's Platte Lake Report: Pretty Dog better Bass

Once again tonight there was the chance of thunderstorms, but tonight they missed me completely. There was a pretty big looking storm quite away to the North. When I started fishing at 5:30PM it was overcast with a 7mph West wind, but it cleared up around 6:30PM and the wind died to around 3mph.

I decided to start at the reed bed at the South end of the big island where I started yesterday. I wanted to see if the area might have gotten better, but it didn't. My first fish was a pike on the watermelon red Zoom Horny Toad. I only got a single 14 inch bass on the stuff I fished yesterday. Instead of pulling out when I was done fishing the point of the reeds I headed West to fish in the very sparse reeds and also along the South Shore of the Island. I came to a few good looking trees in the water but they were not holding fish. I did however pick up an occasional pike or bass on a black/red Monsoor Swim Jig with black/red fleck Zoom Speed Craw among the very space reeds. One little area gave up several fish including this 22" dogfish.

I fished around the Southwest tip of the big island and a little ways up the West shore without success. The sun had come out now and once again I retraced last nights locations and hit the docks and reeds off the tip of the North Point of Channel Inn bay. I didn't get anything off the docks but got two quality bass out of the reeds on the Horny Toad. I took this one's picture because it was as big as anything I caught last night at 15.5".


Next I headed to the NW corner of the lake where once again I fished last night. I pretty much committed to the Zoom Horny Toad for the rest of the night catching some quality fish in the process. I caught a 15.5" and then I got this 16.5"

As I got to the end of the run of the big reed bed I was fishing I nailed this 17.5" which was big fish of the night.

A couple minutes later I got another 16". There was still some light left so I ran to a point on the North end of the lake. This move turned out to be a disappointment because I caught 1 small bass, missed a little pike that I didn't want to catch anyway and I missed either a dogfish or a big bass right by the boat; I am pretty sure it was a dogfish. When it was clear this area would not pan out there was still enough light left to hit the other point and so I did that but all I did was miss 3 or 4 bites which very well all might have been pike. I finished around 9:40.

So in 4 hours fished I caught 16 bass, 8 pike, and 1 dogfish. Last night I fished an hour longer had 1 less bass and the size of my best 6 were quite a bit smaller, so tonight was the better night.