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.