Saturday, May 26, 2007

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.

No comments: