Memorial Day 5/28/07 Bordon Lake

The fish that made it all worthwhile, 18"+ Smallie!!!

The Story: Once again I was to be fishing with "Shake" Michael "Cyberfish" Thompson and "Bake" Jack Halverson. The plan from the night before was to hit Bay Lake. However, we made a last minute decision at Tutt's Bait to give Bordon Lake a go. So we ended up going to Bordon flying by the seat of our pants/no lake map. As we launched the boat it started to drizzel and by our first stop it was raining with a SE wind. We hit a hump/rock pile somewhere on the western side of the lake. This spot produced a small largemouth for me on a spinnerbait and a pumkinseed for Bake on panfish plastics. After giving this spot a fair amount of effort we headed to the Western Shore line where a steep break abutted some reeds. We tried in shallow and got nothing. Along the break Bake nailed a couple of nice 12" to 14" largemouth. Shake switched to a watermelon tube and started catching 12" to 14" largemouth. We worked our way North along this reed/weed breakline with Mike catching largemouth on a steady basis. Jack struggled for panfish and I cast spinnerbaits, Flukes, Frenzy Poppers, and RattleRaps all to no avail. Finally up by the point that leads into the Western arm of the lake Jack got a single Crappie. We fished the point which had a steep break and Shake nailed several bass on the tube while Bake hit a Jack fish (Pike). We worked our way around the point along the Southern shore of the Western Arm. Mike picked up a rock bass and a couple of more larry's and that was it, I switched to a tube and started catching largemouth too. At this point the sun had come out a little bit and it was starting to warm up. Working that Southern Shore of the Western arm I got a solid tap and the fight was on with the big fish of the day; the smallmouth pictured above.

The South shore started to be more weeds than inside weedline and we weren't getting anything so we switched to the Western arms North Shore. This shore was windblown and had beautiful weeds but we could not get a spinnerbait or rattlerap to go. Jack did catch one 9" crappie, but the sunfish and schools of crappie were nowhere to be found. Eventually Jack gave up and turned over boat control to me. We started hitting points on the North shore of the Western arm. Mike and I caught largemouth on most of the points and Mike even got a 15-16" smallie. The day started to warm up significantly and the wind started to blow. Bake really wasn't into fishing and so we called it a day at about 2:30PM. The size of the Largemouth wasn't big but they provided a fair amount of action and the big smallie once again made my day.

Bass Opener Sun. 5/27/07 Mille Lacs

No skunk for me. My only Larry of the day.

Solid Smallie caught on our first reef. 18"+!!!

2nd and last smallie followed quickly on the heals of the first. (I think this is the same fish as the first pic.)

The Story: I met "Shake" Michael "Cyberfish" Thompson and "Bake" Jack Halverson at the Wahkon Park access just after 10am. It was cool bright and sunny with a brisk wind out of the NW; the wind would diminsh throughout the day, thank goodness. Upon boat launch we headed a short ways West of the launch and anchored due to the wind. Shake had hammered the panfish in this spot the previous weekend. I was fishing the reeds for Largemouth Bass with a white swim jig and Chart/White Spinnerbait. Shake and Bake were fishing panfish plastics under bobbers trying for monster Crappies and Gills. Bake got on the board first with a 10" Crappie. Neither Bake nor Shake could follow that fish up with anything. For the next couple of hours we worked ourself East along the reed bed anchoring up because of the wind; During this time Mike caught a little perch and one small bass and I got the Largemouth pictured above with the swim jig. I did miss two strikes on the swim jig, one probably from a bass and the other from a dogfish right under the boat. The fishing was not happening in the shallows at all, so we tried out a little bit farther; the wind had layed down significantly by now. On the trip farther out we saw a big smallie, but that was about it.

With the wind down we decided to hit some reefs out by Half Moon and the Twin Islands. It didn't take long and I landed a big 18"+ smallie on the Chart/Wht spinnerbait (pic above). Shortly after that fish I landed another smallie that was a little smaller. Shortly after that Bake landed a nice smallie and we thought we were off to the races. We worked the reef for another hour to hour and a half without getting anything. We tried the reef running West from Upper Twin and got nothing there. We headed back in to Wahkon to see if the panfish had moved in shallow with the warm sun and less wind. Mike caught 1 crappie and a couple of perch, but that was it. We decided to pull out and give Isle Bay a try.

Isle Bay showed us some sight fish: a couple of big muskies, 1 crappie, 1 Dogfish. We didn't catch anything. We then tried the Malone Island Reef for some smallies and got nothing. We tried one reef farther out than called it quits around 8:30PM. All in all a very slow day, but I was happy due to the two nice smallies I caught.

Lakeview Eddy's Launch 5/29/07

On 4/29 I went with Dad and the people of Lakeview Community Church on an Eddy's Launch. Dad strikes first again with a nice eater. Pictured with Launch Captain Tom.

One of the guys with a fish that had to go back. All totaled the launch had 6-8 that were to big to keep.

Dad's 2nd fish, this one may have to have gone back, 20+.

Dad with a big smile as he racks up #3

Dad packs in with #4, a good eater.

Dad catches his 4 fish limit with this one.

The Nights haul 7 plus one from 1 from Don Weinmeister.

The Story: The people of Lakeviw decided to take out a launch, this was spearheaded by Dad. It was cloudy with gathering rain showers as we headed South from Eddy's down to Rocky Reef. Our launch parked in 13ft of water and Dad landed the 3rd fish of the trip. I missed my first one of the night in this spot. After about an hour and a half of pretty sporatic action and a rainstorm we headed out by one of the other launches in about 22ft of water. In this spot Dad had the hot hand landing 3 eaters 1 over and a rock bass. On the night I went 3 keepers from 10 hits and got 1 rock bass. Dad and I did the best of anyone on the launch. We fished off the back of the launch this time and I now will seek the back out because it's easier to fish from there. All in all our launch probably landed 20+ fish with 6-8 overs and 6-8 cigars with about a dozen keepers, 7 of which were caught by Dad and I.

And God smiled on the Basspastor...

5-26-2007 Minnesota Bass Opener
The forcast was calling for descent SE winds in the morning, so I set my alarm for 5:15am thinking I might head to Mille Lacs and give Eddy's Jetty a shot for some walleyes. I managed to roll out of bed and prepare myself to go fishing. I packed a swim jig rod and spinnerbait rod thinking I would try for some smallies off the Cemetary Jetty after I got done at Eddy's. The winds didn't seem that strong when I left at 10 till 6 and I made the call on the way to hit the Cemetary Jetty first. From what I can tell Cemetary Jetty is an old boat launch and harbor that has long been forgotten in Vineland bay. I have had some success catching smallies there in the past and thought a smallie or two would be a good way to kick off the Bass Opener.

I arrived at the cemetary and took the swim jig rod and spinnerbait rod with me down to the lake. Standing on the old concrete boat launch I threw the swim jig first and got nothing. I switched to the spinnerbait and actually got a strike from something I figured to be a perch. I moved down the shore line about 30 yards and tried casting again with the spinnerbait. Much to my surprize and delight I hooked into a 12" Largemouth Bass. On the next cast I caught another one. On the next cast I got a 15 incher. A couple of casts later I nailed another 12" Larry. I've never caught a largemouth in this abandoned harbor and here I caught 4 of them. I was quite pleased.

I worked my way out along the harbor to the Jetty tip casting, but not getting anything. The wind and waves were coming in pretty good at the Jetty tip, but with the SE wind I was able to cast OK. I didn't get anything at the tip and so I started working my way down the harbor mouth. About 3/4 of the way down I got a hit from a larry bass that I saw but it missed it. On the next cast I caught a 12inch Larry. After another couple of casts I got a 14" Larry. I moved down a little farther and ended up hooking into a chunky 18.5" Larry Largemouth. I was as amazed as I was pleased. Unfortunatly I didn't bring the camera. I ended up catching two more largemouth (13" and 14"). I also did have a few more bumps from fish I may or may not have caught. I also had 1 pike bump for sure. I didn't get any smallies but the largies were almost as good. I figured I fished out the area and headed to Eddy's.

For some reason the wind and waves were not as strong at Eddy's as they had been at the Cememtary Jetty. I threw a few casts with the Purple Perch than called it quits. I didn't even try leeches because it was obviously just to calm and I didn't want to use up the leeches on perch. So I headed to the GOMH.

Just as I arrived at the GOMH there was a nice Ranger bass boat passing underneath. I didn't get to hear how they were doing. I tried the spinnerbait on the NE side and immediatly hooked into a small jumping pike. After a few more casts with nothing I switched to the swim jig, but didn't get anything on that either. I then headed across the road to the SW Sullivan side and tried a silver husky jerk for a few casts, nothing. I then switched to the same old white/chart dual willow chart 3/16 Strike King Spinnerbait and got a 10" bass. Ha 10 bass on opener from shore, not bad. Without anymore hits I switched to the swim jig which I can cast further. Another bass boat came under the bridge. They hadn't been fishing yet. I got a couple of bites on the grub of the swim jig but nothing hooked up. After a short time I called it quits.

10 Larry's from shore, alright. I'll take it.

5-24-07 Eddy's Jetty

I arrived at Eddy's around 7:30 PM it was overcast with a slight NW wind blowing. I chose to fish the North Jetty harbor mouth. I put on as little a leech as I could find and caught some perch. My bobber went down and I set the hook and felt nothing, but my hook and bead were gone, strange. As it got dark I put the light on my bobber and switched to a bigger leech. At about 9:20 my bobber went under and I landed a 22" eye. About 15 minutes later the bobber went under but I didn't connect. There were a couple of guys at the center jetty and they landed 3 small eye's. Right at 10PM I got a bite and set the hook, much to my surprize it was a giant bluegill. I didn't measure it, but it was easily over 10". With the bluegill, I called it a night and went to watch the launches come in. Eddy's had all 5 launches out on the night. Some of the launches came back with quite a few fish while a couple of them only had a couple of keepers.

Eddy's Jetty 5-19-07

I arrived at Eddy's Jetty around 7PM. When I arrived it was cool and windy from the SE. The wind however was more E than S unlike on opener where it was about even thus allowing me to cast well. With the SE wind I decided to throw the Purple Perch Husky Jerk off the North conrner, but I quickly discoved casting was difficult and it just wasn't working out unfortunatly. I elected to switch to leech and bobber off the center Jetty harbor mouth. The spray from the waves ruled out fishing from the rock outcropping and so I fished off the North Harbor center dock. Casting proved difficult and the bobber got blown about quite a bit. I did not dress warm enough and it was cool. The wind was blowing a steady 20MPH with higher gusts. Sometime around 8:15 I got a bite and missed it. About 15minutes later I nailed a 20"+ eye, so back in the drink it went. I went back to the car and got a glove for my left, rod holding, hand. At about 8:45 I missed a bite right close to where I was standing, lost the leech. About 10 minutes later my bobber went down again and I landed a 23" Walter who bit right at my feet. The wind got worse, I was cold and called it quits about 9:15PM

5-17-07 Eddy's Jetty

I headed out about 7PM and started using the rig I used last night on the launch; slip bobber, white beed and a red hook. No one was at the Jetty when I arrived and so I took the North Jetty harbor mouth. I started with small leeches and caught a couple of perch. I switched to minnows and the perch were hitting them too. Eventually I used up all the 6 or 7 minnows on perch. As it started to get dark I was hoping the eyes would move in. Nothing and then at 9:30 I got a bad tangle with the Vanish line and had to go to the truck to get another reel. As I was getting re-rigged the plastic bag holding my bobber stuff burst as I took it out of my jacket pocket, wonderful. All in all it took me about 15 minutes to re-rig. I cast out on the bobber seemed to be fine and then after a little while it went under. I set the hook and got nothing leech still there. I cast out again and the same thing happened. Apparently I had put to much weight on and I was slowly sinking the bobber. I got the right weight on with about 10 minutes left to fish. I eneded up with 0 walleye. The 3 guys fishing the center Jetty got 1 small eye.

5-16-07 Eddy's Launch Trip

Tonight Dad and I went out on an Eddy's LaunchDad draws first blood but it was only a Cigar.
Dad's first keeper of the night with our Eddy's Launch Captain Tom. Dad's second cigar goes back to the lake.
Our biggest fish. It was slightly to big to keep.
It wasn't shooting fish a barrel good, or maybe it was.
Dad with the nights haul.

The story:
The launch left the dock right around 6PM and it only took about 10minutes to reach our spot in Vineland Bay. We were sitting in about 10feet of water and we never moved from this spot until we left at quarter to 10PM. The night started quickly with a guy on the back of the launch landing a nice eye in the first couple of minutes, but after that it was a long lull. We brought our own rods but the stuff I gave Dad was having all kinds of problems so we switched him to an Eddy's rod with a red hook, no beed. I was set up with a longer rod, lighter bobber, white beed, and red hook. Finally after about an hour Dad's bobber started bobbing but all that happened was a lost leech. A little while later I landed a perch. We only got perch bites catching a couple in the first two hours. Sometime a little before 8 PM Dad reeled in our first Walter, but as the pic shows it was only a cigar. I caught a few more perch then tied into our first keeper eye of the night. Not to long after my catch Dad brought in another keeper (picture). Dad caught the next walleye as well, but it was another Cigar and it went back in the lake. I followed that up with a 14.5" keeper. Dad landed the next eye but it was just a bit over 20" and so it had to go back (picture). Shortly after that, Dad caught our forth keeper. I missed a good fish. Around 9:30PM I landed our 5th and final keeper. The launch as a whole caught a bunch of fish as the barrel of fish picture shows, about 6 fish had to go back for being to big and about 6 that I saw went back for being to small. It turned out to be a really nice night weather wise because the wind died down. Dad and I also missed lots of bites, sure some were probably perch, but some were most definitely eyes as well. I cleaned the fish when we got home.

The score: Dad 5 walleye (2keeps, 2 cigar, 1 over the slot) and a couple of perch
BP 4 walleye (3Keeps 1 cigar) and about 6 perch.

Shore Nuff: In the afternoon I hit Platte at Jenny's, Rock, Bulldog, and the GOMH. I got a small pike at Rock, a small bass at Bulldog, and two small bass on the SW side of the GOMH.

5-15-07

Got to Eddy's around 8PM and the North and Center Harbor mouth's were covered with anglers. After thinking about it a bit, I elected to try the South Jetti corner. When I first arrived there was a pretty stiff wind out of the North and so I brought the jerkbait rod thinking that after dark I may be able to get some action. I made some preliminary casts to check for rock snagging. I was definitely hitting more rock than on the North corner. After a few casts I put on a leech under a bobber. My first several drifts produced nothing. Around 9pm I started to get bite, but it was little perch. I did see a couple of eyes get caught off Center and North Harbor mouths around this time and later. As it got dark the perch bite shut off. Around 9:40PM my bobber went down and I set into a 16" eye which was barely hooked, but I landed it. I got another bite right at 10PM, but it was a cigar and I threw it back.

The launches brought in a few fish, but nothing spectacular.

Opener Report 5-12&13

Different Night Same Story: I hit Eddy's Jetti last night about 10PM armed with my trusty 6'6" Fig Rig rod and Glass Purple Perch Husky Jerk. I landed a 16 incher on my very first cast. The action was quite hot for the next hour with me landing a fish about every 5-10 minutes in between trips back to the car. A couple of guys from St. Cloud moved in on where I was fishing on the N side of the Jetty but it didn't matter as I kept right on catching fish. I ended up giving these guys 3 fish putting them 1 short of their limit.

Around midnight my back started getting sore and I headed to the truck and took about an hours rest. At this point, I had landed 8, missed one, and had a couple of hits that never hooked up. All fish were 15-19+ with a 19 and 3/4 being the biggest. As I sat in the car I watched some bobber fisherman catch 1 small eye and one nice one. I heard somebody say that a guy caught a 28.5" off the Jetty, but I didn't see that fish.

Roundabout 1AM I resumed shore casting and landed my 9th fish. The action stopped after that and my back got sore quick. Eventually, I switched to a lighted bobber and minnow. I whiffed on my first 2 bites and then pulled in a cigar. At 3AM I called it quits.

The winds of change

5-13-07: It was a windy day out of the SE for most of the day, however by the time Dad and I hit the Eddy's Jetty it had calmed significantly. Arriving around 7:30PM I got us rigged up for bobber fishing and we headed to the center Jetty harbor mouth. Dad started with a leech and I tried a minnow. It wasn't long and Dad had something pull down his bobber, but he missed it. The night progressed with Dad missing 2 more bites. Some fisherman on the North Jetty harbor mouth caught a couple and were getting many more bites than we were. The minnow was worthless and I eventually switched to the Jumbo Leech. It was getting dark by now and we had the bobbers lighted up when my float went down and I landed a 16" eye. At 10PM the Eddy's launches came back and we moved to the North Jetty where I had been catching my fish. I threw the Purple Perch while Dad kept the leech. The wind was just to calm and my jerk bait bite died. Dad got a bite and missed it. And I decided to go back to bobber fishing. Dad got a bite and pulled in a 12inch bullhead which swallowed the hook; When I took the hook out the bullhead bled all over me. After a little while I think dad missed another bite and around 11:30 he called it quits. I went to the North harbor mouth cause the guys fishing there said they were biting. After 20minutes with no action I called it a night. 1 fish that's it. We might have done better fishing during the day when the winds were howling.

5-14-07 Another windy hot day where for most of the day the winds were out of the W SW, but a front came through around 5PM switching the wind the NW and cooling things down. Dad and I headed to the Eddy's Jetti at 7PM. After a little rigging at the car, we were all set for more bobber fishing at the North Jetty harbor mouth. It didn't take long and we were getting bites... from perch. The little bait stealers were going through our remaining leeches and minnows fast. Finally, I caught a couple of the little bait stealer's. Dad got a nasty tangle which I had to cut, lots of line go bye bye. Dad went to Eddy's marina to get bobber stops and more leeches. They didn't charge much for the bobber stops and gave around 2-3 dozen leeches of all sizes for $4. I put on a smaller leech and caught a couple more perch. The wind was blowing 10-15 out of the N shortening our casting distance and moving our floats S along the Jetti fairly rapidly. I let my bobber get too far to the S and a guy fishing the center Jetty harbor mouth cast over my line and we got all tangled up with him trying to do the untangle eventually he had to cut his line. His jig head was stuck through my Fireline and I had to crimp down the barb to get it free. Eventually, it started getting dark and I had a good pick up and had what felt like a good fish on for a couple of seconds but it came off. Dad gave up about a quarter to 10 and I stuck it out till the bitter end. The people just to the north of us and the guy on the center Jetty got a small eye a piece. Disappointing trip.

Limit

The plan was Mille Lacs at Midnight from Eddy's Jetty and while the execution was not perfect. Still I had my limit by 1:30AM

The Story: I arrived at Eddy's about 5 minutes to midnight. By the time I was unloaded and ready to cast it was open season. I started off of the South end of the Jetty as that in the past I've done best from there. The wind was NOT out of the NE but the SE with pretty good size rollers coming in. I put on a size 12 Glass Purple Perch Husky Jerk. Casting into the wind proved difficult and I quickly realized this was not happening. The wind was set up perfect for casting from the North end of the Jetty, so I headed there.

Upon arriving on the North corner I started chucking long cast quartering the wind and within 10 minutes I was hooked up and landed a 15-16 incher. I took a walk to the truck to put him in the pail then headed back to the North corner. I had some spectators now and they were kind of in my back cast zone and so I couldn't fling the Husky Jerk as good. Fortunately they moved fairly quickly so I could get a full cast out. Within 5 minutes of getting my casting up to par I had a good fish on but it came off right at shore. I think I lost it due to a treble hook breaking. This was the biggest fish I had on for the night and it very well may have been in the protected slot (20+inches). I then had to chuck and wind for about another 15 minutes and I was rewarded with a 17" eye. I took him to the truck and then headed back to my spot. At this point visions of an Opener eye limit started dancing in my head.

It took another 10 to 15 minutes and I was hooked up again with another eater. As I went to lift him in it became unbuttoned and fell into the area where rock and water meet. I quickly turned on my headlamp and got after him; It was a close call but I got him before he could swim away. Once again I headed to the truck to put him in the pale.

Back to casting. After about 10 minutes I made a particularly good cast and got smacked right away by what felt to be another eater. Unfortunately it got off and my hopes of an Opener limit were back on hold. After another 10 to 15 minutes I got struck again with a 15-16 eater that got hooked along the head with all three trembles. And boom I had my limit within an hour and a half.

After putting the last dude in the bucket I headed to the North side harbor mouth where 4 guys were fishing. They had caught a couple of keepers and a couple of throw backs and 1 bullhead. I think they were all using leeches. After some small talk I headed home.

Opener Eve at the GOMH

I had to head up to Bear Trax to get some Fatheads for Midnight at Mille Lacs, so I decided to make it a twofer and hit the GOMH for some Opener Eve action. The only person there was GOM Willard and he was sitting in his car. Time was about 7:20PM.

I gave a shot at Dogfish first with the white panther. I tried the NE side, nothing. I then headed to the SW side and quickly had my line broken by what had to have been a slime rocket. I was dismayed at first, but then I thought the fish got off right by the weeds and shore, so maybe the white panther might be sitting in reachable range; Sure enough it was. I made several attempts with the short St. Croix Glass rod, but that was getting nowhere fast. I took off my shoes and sox and pulled up my pant legs and waded in. My arm got a bit wet, but that was OK because the white panther was saved. I went back to the truck to retie.

I decided to stay with the White Panther and try from the SE side. After a couple of casts I nailed a hammer handle. I deposited the fish into Platte Lake and resumed casting. After a bit of a lull I started hooking into some little jumpin bullheads. I got 5-7 of those with several missed. After another lull, I decided no doggies were gonna bite and I went to the Cubby Rod.

I cast out the bobber and couldn't get a sniff. Eventually I took the bobber off leaving me with a glow Cubby and split shot, shortly after making the change I nailed a silver bullhead. Willard had a pale and so I put it in it. A couple of casts later another silver inhaled the Cubby and now Willard had two. Willard joined me with wax worms. He got a couple of small orange bullheads. It started to sprinkle and Willard went back to the car. It was a cool and breezy night and Willard was all about staying warm.

Another guy came and started fishing the SE side; He got two silvers and a jumper. After a long Lull I nailed a nice 12" silver bully. I then quickly caught a small one that I released. On to another lull. Finally I got another on the Cubby. It was starting to get dark and very wet so shortly after that 5th fish I called it a night. All in all not bad for a couple of hours.

Fishing Report 5/2/07

Today we got the Trophy (boat) out of storage, which consisted of moving it out from the side of the Pole Barn into a garage door in the Pole Barn. Upon getting it out I noticed that the pin for the transom saver was missing. I was at a loss and nearly went into a panic. Fortunately I found the pin in the rolled up boat cover. Once we got the boat in the garage door Dad set about looking over the transom and I gave the boat a much needed vacuum job. The transom was not in as bad a shape as Dad thought it might be, but still he equated it to "an accident waiting to happen." Dad is going to reinforce the transom and that should make it all better. Hopefully the boat will be ready by Bass Opener.

We headed to the GOMH about 7:20 and it was windy (NE) and cool getting cooler. Lee Ander was there along with two other guys fishing the SW side. Dad and I went down on the SW side. Word was that things were slow. Dad missed the first fish when it bit his jig off. Shortly after that Dad landed a little Nort, which I released on the other side of the bridge. I landed our first silver bullhead and gave it to Lee Ander. The wind was nasty and would move our bobbers off to the west fairly quickly, it was annoying. At one point I gave the SE side a try, but after getting nothing and losing my minnow I headed back. While I was away Dad did catch a silver. Dad and I both caught a silver. When I was reeling mine in, the line got caught with Dad's and made a royal mess. I cut my line and ended up having to cut Dad's too. We called it a day at that point as that fishing was slow and it was getting cold.

Fishing Report 4/30/07 (Dad at GOMH)

Got to the GOMH at about 7:20 and was dropped off by Dad so he could check on the Platte Lake house. When I arrived, two guys were sitting on the SW side with an empty chair; it turns out there were two ladies with the guys taking a potty break. The SE area of the GOMH was well covered by a boat. I elected to go down and take what was left of the SW side by the empty chair. I put on a minnow and got a bite immediately, which I promptly missed. When the hook popped free, I nearly whacked one of the other guys, and my bobber came whizzing in. I lost my split shot in that process, so now my bobber would lay on its side. My tackle box with the split shot was with Dad in the car.

I put on another minnow and quickly caught a silver bullhead, giving it to the two guys. At this point, I elected to stop using minnows and conserve them for Dad because he would be coming down after he checked the house; there weren't many minnows left. While fishing with just the Glo Cubby Mini-Mite, I caught a few oranges and one silver. The guys to my left were bringing in a silver every few minutes, and the SE side boat was catching them too.

Dad arrived, and I got a split shot so my bobber would stand up. We both fished the SW side. He started getting silvers on the crappie minnows, and I got oranges on the un-tipped jig. Shortly after Dad arrived, the two ladies came back, thus crowding the SW side. I decided to go over and fish what was available on the SE side. On the SE side, I caught one orange bullhead, gave up after about 15 minutes, and returned to the SW side. As I was returning, a guy fishing the NE side brought in a 5lb dogfish.

On the SW side with Dad, I started tipping my jig with minnows again and immediately began catching silvers. Dad was mainly missing bites. The guy in the boat on the SE side landed a dogfish. The two guys and two ladies were steadily bringing in fish, and with Dad and my help, they reached their 40-fish limit, so they left. It was getting dark by this point, and I only caught and released a couple more fish. Dad missed a few. When it got sufficiently dark, Dad and I decided to leave. We had two live minnows left.