Dec. 14th 2004

I don't know if it was the creaking and cracking of the lake building ice or just today's high pressure front, but the fish I encountered tonight were negative as can be. They would come in on occasion usually just underneath the bait, look at it for 2to10 seconds and then swim off. Last year these basin fish tended to the agressive side, usually if you saw it you caught it. Not tonight.

Oh, the pick of the lake was Platte. We got back around 2:30 from Mom's birthday lunch and I either could have gone straight to Mille Lacs or out to check "the hole" to see if the ice was safe. I decided to take Pattie for a walk out to the hole. No problems Mate! 5" to 6" on the last part of Platte lake to freeze. I then went back and rounded up my stuff. Marked perch right away but didn't even fish them. I was trying for Pike at first. Then after the sun went down most of the way I switched to Crappies. I only got one about 6" but probably had more than half a dozen to a dozen take a look. Sorry No pics, I did almost take the camera out to show a fish that lingered on the Vex before it left, however, I really thought I was gonna get that one to go. I think there was an eye messing with a big minnow just after dark but it just nipped and never commited. The bite was just off tonight. I will probably hit Mille Laction tomorrow.

Also, it seems everything locked up last night as predicted and it's cold out tonight as well.

Dec. 10 2004

That is the story for this week. I have been getting out at dusk and I get one quality bite a night. Tonight it was that little Pike on the left and last night it was the nice eye on the right. BP followers have seen pics of the other nights I was out (scroll down if you haven't).


Tonight there was a slight change in the routine, however, as I did bring up a half way decent sunfish. Last night I caught a small sunny and small crappie besides this 20.5" Eye.

Patti's First Ice Fishing Trip

Well I decided to let the pup come out with me and ice fish today. I was quite worried she would be more of a nuisance than she was. Other than not sitting for the pic I wanted to take, she was pretty good. She quite enjoyed playing with the perch before finally eating it. Patti Lou does love sushi.

As far as the fishing, I got out even later than yesterday so I fished the same general area. Picked up more perch right away but that stopped after a couple of fish. I decided to try and find the hump that is out from the point I had been fishing. Amazingly enough I found it rather quickly and started getting perch right away. As it got darker I figured an eye or crappies might be inclined to position on this spot, just like I always think they will, but I've never got one yet. I hole hopped for a while and got nothing on the hump.

I then went back to last night's holes as my final stop. Once again I started doing some Trap keeping and I saw something on the Vex and grabbed the rod right away. It looked like a couple of fish had come in and then I got a bite. I got tangled in the transducer which stunk cause it was a good fish. I managed to get it entangled and fought the fish for a good 3 minutes. At first I thought I had another nice crappie, then I thought it might be an eye, I got it up by the whole twice and then it ripped off runs. Unfortunately I didn't get a good enough look to see what it was and it broke me off. I suspect it was a pike because of the way it ran but yah never know. It was well after dark, not normal pike time and if 2lb test gets nicked it's gonna break. Looks like that spot is good for one hit a night. Hopefully I will be able to get out to the deep whole soon.

Surprise Crappie

Well I didn't exactly get out first thing, but that is OK. It was warm today and as you can see the whole of Platte is ice covered with a slight snow covering. The ice seemed to be about 4-5" where I was. The date on the pick is a day early. This was taken about 4PM just after I started fishing and is the view NW from our bay.


The Blue in the Grey

Unfortunatly due to the snow cover I was unable to find the holes I wanted from last time out. It took me a while to find fish. I took this pic of the first fish to prove I didn't get skunked just in case I didn't catch anything else. I got several small perch, but once again was shut out on pike, amazing.

At least... (Click on pic to enlarge, it will make all fish pics look better)


After it got dark, I thought I would stick around in case another eye or more likely a bullhead would come by; I even chummed the hole with minnow cuts. I hadn't gotten anything for 1/2 an hour and started doing some housekeeping things in the trap. While I was doing that I noticed that red line on the Vex that was my bait seemed to be big maybe with some strange separation (people who know flashers will get it, the rest of you will have to come out ice fishin with the BP sometime.) I immediately grabbed the rod and slowly lifted and sure enough the electronics started separating my lure from something else. I stopped lifting and immediately the bigger red line moved on top of my lures red line. I didn't feel anything, but figured whatever it was bit. Sure enough I set the hook into something bigger than a perch. I figured it would be a wooly bully or maybe a smaller eye than I caught last week; I was presently surprized when I saw a silver mug in the hole. I've never caught a crappie off of this spot summer or winter.

Fresh Crip on Ice

This one must have been a loner as that I didn't have another fish come in again. I was in about 10feet right on the break on a point.

The fish was a perfect eater size at 11.5 inches. Those who know there ice jigs know that is a Glow Demon which is indeed a fish catching demon once the Sun goes down.

1st Fish on the Ice 2004

I got out to the little point in our bay and put a minnow down. Nothing, but I was messin around in the Trap getting things in order. I had only drilled one hole and the depth was right at 9.5 feet for me to be right on the break. After I got done getting things in order I put a Cubby Mini-Mite down the hole. Much to my surprize a fish showed on the Vex which had not happened yet and the fish immediately hit. First thought was that it had to be a pike, and it was a half way decent fish. As I fought it, it didn't run like a Pike and so I figured I had a bass, eye, good sunny or crappie on. As I got it about 1/2 way up it came unbuttoned. AGGGGH!

A short time later a school of little perch moved in and I iced my first fish of the year this ice season. Here it is:

He's inside of the Ice scooper. I actually lost several bigger perch before I got this little dude through the hole. All I was getting were small perch and so I moved around a bit but couldn't find anything in the other holes. As it started getting dark I went back to pull some more perch. I lit up the lantern for the 1st time only to find out it had about 5 minutes worth of propane left. I switched to Glow Demons as the light faded. Right after I got the Demon on my jigging rod with maggies glowed up and down the hole, bam. I had a good fish on and it wasn't fighting like a pike. It got caught up on the Vex transducer so I though I would lose it but it stayed hooked. When I finialy did get the 2lb test unwrapped I kind of figured it was a bullhead, but much to my pleasure a golden fish appeared in the hole. Ahhh success.

Well here she is

15" of Perfect Platte Eater Eye

Skunked on My 1st Ice Trip

That's right, my first ice outing was a skunking. I did get out to the little break, in 8-9ft of water, where I thought I might find a few fish but nothing was there. No Pike, No Perch, No Sunnies. The wind was blowing pretty good or I would have moved around a bit more. On thin ice you don't wanna take the chance of the fish house blowing down the lake. It was also pretty cold out in that wind. The upside is that I discovered my propane heater is out of gas and that I rediscovered the need for remodeling the Trap to get it the way I want it. I did take a couple of other pics but I left the cover on the lens for those, Dough!

The view from the inside.
(When it appears, this pic didn't format right and only comes on when I go back in and re-edit it)
(Isn't it remarkable how precise my "writing" of the days date came out.)

Election Night All Nighter At Mille Lacs

My recollections of this night, blogged 25 years later on 11/23/2025 

I don't remember what boat I was fishing out of. It was probably Cyberfish's old tin can with the homemade casting decks. But it could have been the Trophy. I can't remember if I caught any walleyes that night; I think I did. It was cold, but I believe above freezing. I do not think this was my last trip in a boat for the year. I'm somewhat sure I did a lot of night trolling that fall. I'm not sure if this was the year MT got that sumo walleye that had been gorging on. What I do know is that W was declared the winner while I was listening to the radio at the Casino Access. I think I was taking a break from fishing,  stretching my legs, and getting warmed up when they called it. I'm pretty sure I went back out fishing and pulled an all-nighter at the lake.