Mille Lacs Shore Skunk

The weather looked threatening but I decided to head out anyway to give the Cemetary Jetty another try. The weather never got out of hand and the wind barely blew at all. The sun even made an appearance so I could see my lures a long ways away. I tried Frenzy Poppers, swim jigs, Subwalks, and X-Raps and I could not even get a sniff. I thought more fish would move in but apparently not. I saw another rainbow over Mille Lacs and enjoyed watching the birds.

As it got dark I made a last second stab at some action off the Eddy's Jetty, but two guys were fishing the center Jetty. I worked the corners and once again didn't even have a sniff.

Mille Lacs Shore Smallmouth

Before getting to the lake I hit up Reeds for some 14lb Fireline for the Fig Rig and ended up getting that plus 3 Strike King spinnerbaits 1/2oz 2x all white, 1x all Chart., some beads for walleye fishing, and a map of Farm Island Lake. From there I was off to Eddy's Jetty.

I worked my way around the South Jetty without any action until I was casting just off the rocks at the center Jetty. I had something come up at the shore minnow Frenzy Popper. I cast back and ended up tying into a 13." I made a few more casts off the rocks on the center Jetty and another fish showed itself but didn't hit the popper. I threw back in there with a 3/16oz Wht/Chart Strike King spinnerbait and on about the 4th cast I tied into a 16.5" smallie. I then headed to the middle Jetty where I caught a 16" smallie on the Frenzy Pop fished very close in to the Jetty rocks. I am amazed this fish struck where it did. I heard somebody on a launch say "look at that rock bass he just caught." I got a chuckle out of that. I then headed to the North Jetty where I have never caught a smallmouth from. I was working the Frenzy Pop out into the lake just beyond the corner when I had another 16.5" smallmouth attack. I was quite pleased to get 4 smallouth off the Eddy's Jetty in one day. This is the best I've ever done numbers wise for smallies off the Eddy's Jetty. I think I fished from about 4:30 to 6:30pm.

I then headed over to "Cemetary Jetty" and started throwing a wht/chart Outcast Swim Jig with wht/chart grub in the cove. Last year on Opener there were a bunch of largemouth in the cove, but no such luck this year. I didn't get a bite in the cove. I headed out to the tip of the point and on my first or second cast I had my grub tail bitten in half. A few casts later straight off the point with the swim jig and I tied into yet another 16.5" smallie. I worked the point over with the swim jig and didn't get any more takers. I then worked the point over with the Frenzy Pop and didn't get so much as a sniff. I put on the wht/chart nosed Rapala Subwalk and got a 16" or so smallie up to shore where it got off. I kept working the Subwalk for a while but could not get anything more to go. I then put on a white X-Rap and I think I missed a hit. A front moved through and kicked up the wind and it sprinkled a little. When the wind was going I switched to the swim jig and had a grub stolen straight off the point. I was hoping I could get this fish to go on topwater or a spinnerbait or on the swim jig again, but it didn't cooperate. Once the front blew past there was an awesome rainbow over the lake. As the sun set it calmed down again and I got my last 17.5 smallie on the wht/chart nosed Subwalk. I headed out after sunset but before it got very dark because I worked the area hard and was just not getting any fish to go.

I was quite pleased to get a total of 7 smallies from shore. 3 Frenzy Pop, 2 Subwalk, 1 swim jig, 1 spinnerbait.

Report 5-29-08

Today was cloudy for most of the day and it started to sprinkle in the afternoon into when I went out fishing at 6PM. I first hit the access at Bulldog, the brisk SE wind was pretty much blowing right in on it. I managed to get 1 pike on a wht/chart Subwalk. Next I headed to the Rock public access but there were people there fishing off the dock so next I headed for Jenny Olson's ramp. I caught a pike and 2 bass at Jenny's then I headed just down the road to our property on Platte Lake. We don't have the dock out yet and the wind was blowing in pretty good, but I did manage to land one small pike. From there I headed to the GOMH. The only fish I got there was a 12" Larry on a swim jig off the pallets on the SW side. I couldn't get a thing to go on the NE side and it started thundering and raining, so I took off around 8:30pm.

It would have been a good day/night for me to head to the Eddy's Jetti because of that SE wind and overcast. I thought about it, but I took the Crystal Fireline off the Fig Rig and my heart was not in it, so I didn't go.

Easy Come, Easy Go!!!

Tonight the white Rapala Subwalk that I caught the two bass on one cast with was bit off by a Pike at the GOMH. I suppose there is a shot it is laying on the bottom where the fish hit. I will not have the chance to get the boat out to look for it for several more days which means more weed growth and less chance I will be able to spot it.

The night could have been worse as I had a shore minnow color Frenzy Popper cut at the spool on a backlash. Fortunatly the cast was at a 30degree angle from shore and there was a lot of Crystal Fireline out for me to catch. I moved down the shore towards where the lure was and cast another Frenzy Popper out and reeled it in. It took a few try's but I did eventually catch the Fireline and was able to bring the lure in.

Fishing was less than spectacular. On the South side I caught one small slime rocket on a white OutKast Swim Jig and missed a pike on the "lost jig". On the North side I got 1 Pike on the "lost jig," 1 small bass on the white swim jig, 1 small bass on the "lost jig," 2 bass on a bullfrog Frenzy Popper, and 1 small bass on a clown colored Subwalk (very first cast). I missed 2-3 hits on the popper and had a grub tail bit off on the "lost jig". I fished just short of 2 hours for those 5 bass and 2 pike.

Mosquito's are starting to come out and there were a lot of gnats too. Quite a bit of panfish movement on the waters surface. GOM Lee Ander got 5 bass on the South side on worms, other than that the bass seem to have vacated the south side.

Platte/Sullivan Tues 5-27-08 Continued...

I am not going to have the tow vehicle available for the next several days so I figured I better get out while I can. I headed to Platte/Sullivan around 5pm and was on the water by 5:30pm. I started at the GOMH on the N/Platte side (Platte Platte River Outlet). Not long in and I nailed a fat 16.5" on a blue Monsoor Swim Jig with 3" purple Kalin Grub tail but that was all the GOMH PPRO held even though it looked awesome. Those Kalin grubs have great action but they are not durable at all. I elected not to run the flat heading East but to turn up around the bend into Channel Inn Bay. Once again this water looked marvelous with weeds just starting to emerge from the bottom and a light amount of "hay" from last years weeds. I worked my way all the way through the Channel in Bay from South to North, hitting the bank as well as trying 250yards from the bank in the middle. At first I was throwing a blue Monsoor Jig and I caught a few fish scattered about including a chunky 16.90," but the reel started to squeel on the cast so I put it down not wanting to wreck the bearings. I then started throwing the "lost jig" and got a pike and a bass. Conditions were calm to a very slight breeze so I decided to go with the purple Frenzy Popper. I caught mostly scattered smaller fish (12" to 14") out towards the middle. I had the Frenzy get bit off by a slime rocket, but I was able to get the bait back because it didn't hook up. In the Northern 1/3 of the bay I worked my way towards shore and had a follow from what I am pretty sure was a dogfish. It waked behind the popper but wouldn't take it. As I worked my way a little farther North, I found myself in a pod of bass and pike. I caught several of each on the Frenzy Popper with biggest being a thin 18.75". The action ended when I got to the NW cut but I did get 2 nice one's and jumped a fish off at the cut. I did work the North shore of the Channel in bay to the Point. I got a pike in the middle and a bass off of the point a little way out.

It was about 8:10pm and I decided to make a quick run to see if Loon Sex Bay was on fire. Conditions were perfect to smash them in LSB if the fish were in there and active. Unfortunatly nothing was going on in LSB except a few little northerns. I might have had a bass hit on a Horny Toad by the NE cut, but that fish got off. I fished to the cut then headed to the PRO which I have already reported on.

For the Night I think I caught 22-24 bass and 6-8 pike which is a little disappointing because the water looked so good and the water temps (60degrees) seemed right.

Platte/Sullivan Tues 5-27-08

I got a new baitcasting rod today from Reeds; Shimano Crucial 6'10" Med Hvy X-Fast. I want to use it primarily for swim jigs, but it will probably also serve duty as a pitchen and texas rig worm rod. I might even try working Flukes on it.

Also the X-Rap Subwalks I won on Ebay came in the mail today. I have them in four different colors: Clown, 37, 53, and 55. I gave the white one a few quick casts at the landing to see how it ran. I think learning to walk the dog with it is going to take practice as it seemed to get out of rhythm quite easily. I tried it for a short time out on a weed flat, but had no confidence in the bait or the area so I quickly put it down.

At about 8:45pm I headed to the PRO to give the river mouth a shot. As I approached I didn't get a hit on the "lost jig" or Berkley Frenzy Popper. I decided what the heck and put on the white Subwalk. I started banging fish immediately. The first fish was a small pike. A couple of casts later I was into a small school of bass, I think I caught 4 and lost 2. They were all 14" to 15.5" bass. After that bite subsided I headed into the river a little ways and missed a bite. On the next cast I hooked into a bass and as I was reeling it in it looked like a pike must of taken a shot at the bass and was holding on. What I was actually witnessing was a second bass hitting the Subwalk and getting hooked. I landed them both. This is the first time I have ever caught two fish on the same lure on one cast Here is a pic of the two bass. They were the last one's I caught.

Rest of report to come later...

Pike Night at Rock

I should of got up early and headed out before the cold front blew threw. I almost did get up, but I hit snooze a few to many times.

I think I headed out to Rock around 3PM and temps had dropped into the low 60's and were heading down with a 15mph North wind. The plan was to hit the RPRO with some Zoom Horny Toads. The day started out with both legs getting bit off a Toad and no hook up. Probably a pike. About 5 minutes later I landed this 24" Pike.

While I was fooling around trying to get the camera, the pike somehow spit my black Toad body into the lake. I worked my way East to West along the South windblown shore losing 1 Toad leg in the process. I got my first bass, 16.5", at the end of the pass by the beaver dam at the river mouth. That was a long stretch of fishless water, not a good sign. I started working my way back East along the North Shore and the next bass I scored, 16.25", came on the "lost jig." I then caught a couple of more bass on a bullfrog colored Berkley Frenzy Popper. When I got to the Eastern edge of the pass I caught a small pike. I decided to make a pass back to the West along the North shore again. On this pass I caught a few bass and pike on the popper and "lost jig". I would anchor when I would get a bass, but I don't think I ever got two fish from the same area. I also missed several hits on this pass. I did one last half past from the middle South shore West. I caught a 16.25" which I think was the same fish I caught on the "lost jig" earlier. I also caught a Pike on this pass. I left the RPRO with 10 Larry's to my credit and 5 Pike.

I then headed to the far north end of Rock where a little river runs into the lake. It would be an awesome spot except for the fact that it is a bit on the shallow side. I made a cast up to the left of where the water runs in with the popper and a bass just annihilated it. I thought I had a true pig, but it was only a fat 17.25." I continued to fish the flat in this little North bay and I caught 3 pike. One was 24" and one was 26."

From there I went to a windblown flat were pads are emerging but I didn't get a hit. With that it was about 8:15 and I called it quits. 11 bass and 8 pike.

I did hit the GOMH on the way home but didn't land a single bass.

Morning and Night at the GOMH

The plan was to get up at Sunrise (about 5:30am) and head to the GOMH for a little jumpin bullhead action. My get up time was more like 6:30am. After getting dressed and downing a Coke and a Suzy Q, I was off. I was off unprepared. I didn't bring a pliers, measuring board, or extra twister tails for the "lost jig." No pliers was a pain because I was throwing treble hooked topwater. I was fortunate that none of the fish I caught needed pliers to get the hook out.

I started fishing on the NE side with the wind at my back throwing a shore minnow color Berkley Frenzy Popper. I quickly put 4 jumpin bullheads and a toothy bullhead on the bank. After that the action died on the NE side so I switched to the SW side. The wind was now blowing in my face but not to bad. I managed to pick up a few right off the bat on the popper but I also missed a couple of hits. I then switched to the "lost jig" and got a couple on that, but then my tail got bit off and that was the end of that. I then switched to a white spook and caught one on that. Next I tried a couple of different X-raps but didn't get so much as a tap. I finished off fishing the SW side with the popper and got a couple of more to go. Before I left I got 1 more jumper on the NE side with the popper and had a toothy bullhead take a shot at the Spook.

For about an hours fishing I got 13 jumpin bullheads and 1 toothy.

Also the two guys in Kayaks were fishing the greater GOMH area and getting action on bass and pike. Since they were not shore fishing they weren't in bullhead territory.

Night: The rain that was West and North of here didn't materialize and I headed out the door at around 7:30pm. My first stop was going to be at the Bulldog Public Access but there was a car there with two people fishing. I didn't stop and went straight to the GOMH. When I arrived at the GOMH people were fishing the SE, SW, and NE sides. The guy on the SE side had just caught a walter on a leech fished on the bottom. The group on the SW side had a couple of orange bullheads and they said they also caught some jumpin bullheads. The guy on the NE side was fishing for orange bullheads and getting an occasional jumper as it got dark he started catching whiskered bullheads.

I was all set to take the NW side when two girls who were hanging out at the bridge went down there. It looked like there was a spot to fish 15 feet E of the SE side, so I headed down there and I'm glad I did. In the next hour and a half I landed 15 jumpin bullheads. 13 on a shore minnow colored Berkley Frenzy Popper and 2 on the "lost jig." All that topwater was a blast even though I always had to pick a bunch of weeds off the hook with every fish landed. The biggest I got was 16" with most being 12" or less.

I think I was standing almost right on top of a dogfish bed because there was a small dogfish giving me the eye and swimming around. I was going to try and catch it but a kid came down to talk and scared it off. After that I kind of decided it was to small to bother with. I don't know if it was even 20 inches.

As it got dark the topwater bite seemed to shut down and it was getting hard to see to work the lure. I took the "lost jig" and fished the SE side and managed to scrape up 1 more jumpin bullhead. So in a hour and a half I managed to outfish what I did on Rock yesterday in 3 hours, but the average size was quite a bit smaller, but the big fish were comparable.

MN Bass Opener 2008

This is my first bass of the 2008 season. It hit on a white Zoom Horny Toad and went about 15.5inches.

So I get up at 4:20am with the idea of being the first one on the lake. I got burned a couple of years ago when I didn't hit it at the crack of dawn on bass opener and several boats were ahead of me into the Platte River Outlet (PRO) river mouth. Not any surprize I was first one at the launch. Got the boat in the water, motor started and I was on my way. In the distance on the west side of the lake another boat was under way and heading north. When the boat reached the "intersection" it headed west and I was out of luck. This boat was heading right for the PRO river mouth. The PRO river mouth always seems to hold aggresive bass and some of them can be very nice sized. Get first crack at it and your sure to be in business, get there 2nd and it's scraps from the table.

I ended up setting down about 150 yards South of the other boat. I changed my change of plan back to the original plan. The water was reading 57degrees and the wind was minimal so I figured topwater might be the ticket. My first cast was indeed with the purple Berkley Frenzy Popper. A couple of casts with that and I was fouling in the "hay" (stubble left over from last years wild rice). I decided the Zoom Horny Toad would be the better option as I made my way North. A little more past half way to the river mouth I had a strike on the Toad. I was not exactly fishing on point and gave a poor hookset. I thought the fish got off, but all of a sudden there was tugging on the line and I landed #1 for the year. On my way North to the river mouth I had two more good strikes on the Horny Toad but once again was not fishing on point and I missed both. The other boat had made it's way into the Platte River and so I approached the mouth. I immediately caught a bass on a white spook. Then I caught another one and I anchored. On one of the next casts I had an awesome blow up on the spook by a bass, but it didn't hook up; It was a nice fish. I worked the river mouth with the Spook, Horny Toad, 3/16oz spinnerbait, and an X-rap catching fish on all of them, but the average size was around 14 inches.

I was anchored trying to milk the river mouth when two Kayak Fisherman approached and went right by me into the river. They did not have the decency to stop fishing until they were out of casting range. I had no problem with the Kayaks going past as that they are quiet and unlikely to spook the fish, but to fish through my anchored area was bush league. I think one of the guys caught a small bass while still in my cast zone.

About 5 minutes later another fishing boat with three people approached and fished right past me also. These people knew the guys in the boat that beat me to the PRO and the word from the people that beat me was that they caught quite a few fish. After milking the river mouth for all I thought it was worth I elected not to fish behind those 4 boats in the river. I headed out to take a look at the GOMH but there were two trucks parked and guys covering the South shore. I then decided to work the flat that makes up the North side of the PRO. Conditions were still right for topwater and so I was chucking a watermelon Zoom Horny Toad. While working my way West I had the legs bit of my Toad a couple of times. I got good action on the buzzing legless Toad and so I kept fishing it. There was a boil, but I missed the fish. I quickly cast back to the spot and this time the fish was on. A 16.5" and my best of the morning. As I worked west the wind started to increase and I started working in the Spook, a spinnerbait, and the "lost jig." With the wind blowing in the remnants of last years wild rice and this years pads coming up, the water looked great but was just not holding fish. By the time I got to the river mouth the wind was really picking up. I got one small one at the river mouth.

I then made a run down the middle of the PRO with the intention of drifting in the wind and throwing a rattlebait over water that was a little deeper. Tried that and didn't get a thing. As I was getting blown along the South shore it became shallower with "hay" and emerging pads. I went to the Strike King 3/16oz spinnerbait and started catching fish. I made it to the river mouth and then headed up for another drift pass. The wind was really howling by now and I was moving quite a bit faster than I wanted to because when I got a fish, I was immediately blown right past the area it was caught from. I made several drift passes and usually caught 1 or 2 fish per pass but nothing big. I tried the "lost jig" and a white swim jig, but the spinnerbait seemed to produce best.

At about 11:10 I elected to call it quits with 24 bass landed. It was starting to cloud up and I didn't remember the rain gear, so I was going to need to hit home before venturing to Rock. At the access I was checked by CO Kuske who had been out in a boat, but pulled out just after I did. A guy with a Stratos trailored up while I was getting myself organized. He said he got a couple of really nice fish including a 19.5" but he and his buddy had under 10 total. It looked like he spent part of his time in the general vicinity of the GOMH.

I plan to rest and then hit Rock lake a little later on. Hopefully that SE wind will simmer down some.

Rock Off: I headed off to Rock a little after 4:45pm and was surprized that there was only one rig in the lot. CO Kuske was there with his boat on the trailer and he was giving out two separate citations to people with ATV's. I took my sweet time getting ready and was on the water and fishing by 5:30pm. The wind was blowing strong from the SE but the Rock Platte River Outlet (RPRO) where I planned to fish is protected enough that you don't have heavy wave action. The RPRO is a fair sized shallow bay that fills up with pads and other weeds in the summer. In the Spring the bay can fill up with bass and that was what I was hoping for. Because of the heavy breeze I elected to drift with the wind from East to West. The RPRO runs more East/West than North/South. My first pass was made on the more protected South shore. One thing I noticed was that the water was very clear so expected the action to be on long casts and where the wind put some ripple on the water. I started off throwing a Zoom Horny Toad and I started things off with just an explosion for a hit by a big bass, but I did not hook up. What a pain! For me Horny Toads are high maintance baits. Most of the time I have to Super Glue the Toad to the bait keeper and Toad legs have a way of getting bitten off. I had two rods rigged to Toad. On the first pass I caught two 15+ inch bass and missed 4 stikes losing two Toad bodies. I did some fishing on the West end and along the North side going into the wind with little to show for it. I then went on a bunch of different drifts catching 1 to 2 fish a drift. Towards dark the wind was really shooting straight down the pipe and I quit using Horny Toad and switched to the "lost jig" which got me a few more fish. On average the fish were bigger than this morning but I didn't get anything bigger than 16.5". I also caught I scrawny pike. I think several pike had a hand in wrecking a few Horny Toads. I quit at about 8:45pm with a total of 13 bass landed which is a bit of a disappointment because I was hoping the RPRO would be packed with bass.

On the West end of the RPRO there is a beaver dam and I had a shot at a big fish there 3 separate times. Twice it didn't hook up and the third time it was on and felt like the best fish of the night, but it got off. Maybe it was a dogfish.

There was still a little light left when I was all done loading up the boat so I headed to the GOMH and caught 4 solid bass on the "lost jig." I tried a little topwater with a Spook but there weren't any takers.

So for the day I caught 41 bass with the biggest being 16.5" .

Tommorrow I am gonna get up early and hit the GOMH from shore to see if I can outfish what I did on Sullivan today.

Last Night at the GOMH???

Fishing Report Fri. 5-23-08: I arrived at the GOMH around 7PM and both of the South Ends were taken. About the time I arrived a car with three young guys got out and added to the S. side fishing brigade. Not long after I arrived the family with the two kids from last night showed up and they started fishing the SW side. I set up on the NE side and a brisk wind was blowing straight in from the NW. I caught a small jumpin bullhead on my very first cast with the "lost jig." After catching a couple of more jumpin bullheads I had a nice toothy bullhead follow the "lost jig" right to shore but it didn't strike and bolted when it saw me. I kept casting and caught a couple of more jumpin bullheads, one of which almost wrapped me on one of the markers they have in the water for the bridge work that is going to be done. Eventually, what am sure is that same toothy bullhead struck and fought me up to shore but it got off before I could land it. I threw many more casts on the NE shore and eventually some of the people on the South side started leaving. I got a total of 6 jumpin bullheads and that one toothy bullhead miss on the NE side. On the SE side I got several jumpin bullheads and a small toothy bullhead on the "lost jig." At about 8PM the family left opening up the SW side. A couple of boats had moved in and so long casting from either of the South sides was out the window. I switched to silver bullhead fishing. My first fish was a chunky orange bullhead that Willard wanted put in a bucket. On the glow Cubby and minnow I got 2 orange bullheads, 3 jumpin bullheads, and 4 silver bullheads. Willard took home the 6 bullheads. I quit fishing a little after 9:30pm so I could get home and get the boat set up to leave in the morning.

I think I caught a total of 14 jumpin bullheads.

Tommorrow: Minnesocold Bass Opener!!!

Kids Night at the GOMH Thur5-22-08

One of several silver bullheads caught by this boy and his dad on the SE side of the GOMH. They also caught 1 good orange and a few jumpin bullheads. The boy was quite excited for Saturday to get here, so he could keep himself some J. bullhead.
This family of four (Mom not in pic) fished the SW side and they managed to get one nice silver, a few oranges, and even a couple of jumpin bullheads. On the left is Willard on the pallets.
This jumper was a solid 19.25". Willard took the picture which uncropped was a great shot of the GOMH bridge. Willard said he was no photographer and I am inclined to agree.

Fishing Report: The day was warmer with a little bit of a NE breeze. I arrived at the GOMH sometime before 6:30pm and got right to trying to catch a few toothy bullheads on the "lost jig." All that I could get to bite were a bunch of pesky little jumpin bullheads, with the exception of the bullhead in the picture. I had 30 jumpin bullheads by the time the two family's with kids arrived around 7:15pm with probably 25 of the bullheads being smaller than 12 inches. Since the toothy bullheads were just not going, I gave my spot on the SE side to the red head kid and his Dad. What they caught is underneath the picture.

I stood over on the SW side of the bridge and watched the family with the two little boys do there fishing. It was semi-organized chaos. It is a miracle that they didn't end up with some day ending tangles. What they caught is underneath the picture. At about 8:15pm they packed up and left which I kind of figured would happen.

I took up position on the SW side to try for some silver bullheads on the glow Cubby and a minnow. The fish did not disappoint and I landed several silvers quickly and missed a few. I gave the fish to Willard who actually was fishing tonight. By this point Willard had a small collection of orange bullheads and one silver. It turned out to be a very nice evening as the wind died down and there was lots of fish activity on the water. Willard was his effusive self commenting on what a nice night to fish it was and on how good the fishing was. Willard went home with a limit of 10 silver bullheads and 9 or 10 fair sized orange bullheads. I donated 6 silvers to that cause. I ended the night ar 9:35pm with a total of 6 silver bullheads, 33 jumpin bullheads, 0 toothy bullheads, and 0 dogfish.

GOMH WED 5-21-08

Once again part of the afternoon was spent on various tackle chores. I put the sweet Lew's reel handle on a Team Daiwa X-100 which I hope works out, I changed blades on those Strike King Spinnerbaits I won on Ebay, and I did the last of my plastics in need of Mend-It.

I did not hit the GOMH till about 7PM. Today was sunny and almost warm so Lee Ander was there fishing the SW side. He got a couple of jumpin bullheads, but no oranges or silvers. There was a father and son fishing the SE side, getting jumpers on some kind of live bait. I started on the NE side and quickly landed 3 small jumping bullheads. About the time I caught the third a young guy and his girlfriend started fishing the NW side. They were nice people and they ended up catching at least as many fish as I did on the night. I switched to the SW side pallets and caught 6 small jumpin bullheads and I think I missed at least one toothy bullhead. Lee Ander left before 8pm per usual and Willard stayed till the bitter end of coarse. At 8:15pm I switched to the glow Cubby and minnow for silver bullheads and I ended up getting 4 of those which I gave to Willard. I missed one very nice silver bullhead. The father and son caught jumpers, oranges, and a couple of honest to goodness whiskered bullheads. The silver bullhead bite died as it got darker so I called it a night at around 9:35pm.

Cool Nights at the GOMH

Fishing Report Tues. 5-20-08 This morning I went to Reeds and ordered what will be my best swim jig rod. It is a Shimano Crucial CRC-X610MH which means it is 6'10" Medium Heavy with a extra fast taper at the tip. It is rated for lures 3/8-1/2oz, but my hope is that the extra fast taper will throw 1/4oz swim jigs without a problem. I do not know how much weight a 3",4", or 5" grub tail adds but I would imagine 4" and 5" grubs put the combo close to 3/8oz. I also bought some 30lb Power Pro, 8lb Trilene Florocarbon, Fishing Glue, watermelon jig skirt, and a #12 Purple Perch Husky Jerk. I spent part of the afternoon spooling line, switching reels onto rods, and putting Mend-It to Zoom Horny Toads most of which do not have 2 functional kicking legs.

I headed to the GOMH at about 6:15 and stopped at Bear Trax to get my last scoop of crappie minnows for the year. My "bait card" was full so the minnows were free. Now I am entered into a drawing to win free stuff. When I got to the GOMH around 6:35pm no one was there but Willard. I was kind of surprised because it was sunny and half way decent out at this point; It did get quite cool as the sun went down. I started on the NE side and immediately noticed pink stakes that were driven into the lake. Maybe the Platte/Sullivan channel bridge replacement is going to happen this year. I didn't catch anything on the NE side. I switched to the SE side and caught a few small jumpin bullheads. It was slow so I switched over to the SW side to the pallets and stayed over there the rest of the night. Action was slower than it's been and I did not catch a single toothy bullhead. The "foul mouthed dad" did almost catch one on a minnow. I ended up with 15 jumpin bullheads before I put the "lost jig" down. Most of the jumpers were small with the exception of a chunky 19.25". At 8:15 I switched to a glow Cubby and a minnow, but all I caught on that was two small orange bullheads. I don't think I even had a hit from a silver bullhead. The "foul mouthed dad" managed one nice silver. By 9:10 the current had stopped flowing into Sullivan and by 9:20 it was slowly moving into Platte. I called it a night around 9:35pm.

It's supposed to be quite a bit warmer tomorrow so hopefully that will bring the silvers in for one more go round.

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Fishing Report Mon. 5-19-08: I arrived at the GOMH at about a quarter to 7pm and it was cloudy cool/cold and windy out of the NE. I started fishing into the wind on the NE side and right away I got a nice toothy bullhead on the "lost jig." The fish bit on pretty much the exact place where I caught my first Pike yesterday and it was about the same size, so it could have been the same fish. Willard was more than willing to take it and so the days of that Pike attempting to steal lures is over. That was all the action I got on the NE side so I switched to the SE and SW shores where it was more wind protected. The wind really died down about 8pm and it even seemed to get a little warmer. On the south side I went through 33 jumpin bullheads before I landed another nice 23" toothy bullhead which Willard was glad to have. I caught 9 more jumpin bullheads before I tried for silver bullheads for about 10 minutes than called it a night around 9:30pm.

I caught most of the fish on the "lost jig", with about 10 jumpers coming on a white Booyah Spinnerbait, and maybe 2 jumpers coming on the white OutKast swim jig.

Cyberfish shows at the GOMH

Before I get into the report I had a surprise visit at the GOMH tonight when Mike "Cyberfish" "Shake" "MT Bucket" Thompson showed up in his little red car. Man was I surprised to see him. He was on his way back from his annual family outing at Woman Lake and decided to drop on by the "Grumpy Old Man Hole" to see what all the fuss is about.

Cyb arrived a little after 8:30 and decided to join me for a little bullhead or dogfish action on the pallets (SW side). He met GOM Willard and was talking smack about "sewer trout" and how great dogfish are because they are so much harder to catch than a bass. Cyb put on a Cabela's AquaGlow™ Hoochie Koochie Swim™ Shad on a plain jig head and was trying for toothy bullheads, doggies, and walters. He ended up catching quite a few of the famous GOMH jumpin bullheads and he missed quite a few strikes.
While we were fishing together I nailed the Toad in the pictures. Obviously a very ripe 19.5" jumpin bullhead. While we were fishing together I also missed either a nice toothy bullhead or a dogfish (I think it was a toothy) and also caught a few small jumpers. It got dark and Cyb and I called it quits. One downer was that Cyb and I had to listen to this foul mouthed and bigoted dad who was fishing with his son, that baitcaster kid, and making an ass of himself while catching some nice silver bullheads.

As for how the night progressed, I decided I liked fishing the GOMH in my waders and decided to give that another go. When I put the waders on I noticed that the feet were wet from before and there were a couple of obvious cracks in both of the boots. Before heading out I put a new skirt on the "lost jig". I left around 6:40 and when I arrived there was a group of young adults fishing the SE, SW, and NE sides, but by the time I got geared up the NE side was open so I headed down there with a white Booyah Spinnerbait. I had zero luck on the spinnerbait and went up and switched to the "lost jig." I missed a couple of bites, then I tied into a solid 23" toothy bullhead. Willard was no where to be found and another guy there fishing didn't want it, so back it went. I think I might have then caught a couple of small jumpers than I switched to the SE side. While fishing the SE side I got hung up on a limb of the Beaver Dam and things were not looking good for the "lost jig". GOM Bud suggested I walk up on the road and try and get it from the other side. That did not work but I could see the jig was on a single branch up off the water. I played around with it and by some stroke of luck, the jig popped loose and the "lost jig" was not lost again. I got some jumpers on the SE side. Bud commented that I better not have the lost jig on if CO Kuske shows up, but Willard set him straight that the "lost jig" is an effective pike lure. Things slowed down so I went back to the truck and got out a white Outkast swim jig with white grub. I started out on the NE side, and missed a couple of hits than nothing. I went to the SE side and got one jumper. I moved to the SW side and started getting jumpers with a slower retrieve and I was also missing quite a few hits. I had the grub tail completely stolen once. While I was fishing the white jig, the foul mouthed dad and his son "the baitcaster kid" showed up. The Dad started fishing behind me in the bullhead sweet spot and he started getting into the silver and jumpin bullheads right away. The white jig dropped off and so I went to get the "lost jig" again. I hit the NE then the SW side on the pallets getting a few jumpers. I missed a toothy that struck right up close and shortly after that is when Cyberfish showed up.

So on the day 1 Toothy (a couple of missed toothy's) and 19 jumpin bullheads. The foul mouthed dad had 10 nice silver bullheads when we left. Lantern Man was just getting there as me and Cyb left.

Good Times at the GOMH

I did not get out tonight until about 7PM. The day was very windy and there were showers on and off. When I got to the Grumpy Old Man Hole it was threatening rain and nobody else was fishing, Willard was there sitting in his car. I got my silver bullhead stuff set up on the SW side and went to casting with the "lost" Monsoor Swim Jig. For the next hour and 15 minutes I switched off between the SW, SE, and NE sides. It seemed like I would get 2 or 3 then I would have to switch spots. I ended up with 16 jumpin bullheads, mostly small, and 1 toothy bullhead which I gave to a old guy who was visiting with Willard. I went through about 4 grubs and I think there are 3 strands left on the swim jig skirt. I almost lost the "lost" jig again when it got hung up in the cattails. Fortunatly, there were knee high rubber boots in the truck and the jig was stuck close enough that the boots were all I needed.

At about 8:20PM, I switched to silver bullhead fishing with the glow cubby and a minnow. I was down to my last 7 minnows. Some of the Johnsons showed up at this point, Lantern Man came a bit later. No sooner had my bobber hit the water and it went down. It ended up being a small toothy bullhead which I also gave to the friend of Willard. That guy ended up with a limit of Pike when one of the Johnson's caught a nice toother on a spinnerbait. I ended up getting 1 small silver, 1 small orange and missing two silvers and a couple of other bites. I went through all my minnows. It was getting cold in that wind and so I gave up about 9:30pm.

GOMH Fri 5-16-08

I got my lost swim jig back!!! I wore my chest waders to the GOMH and waded a little ways into the cattails and there it was, so I grabbed it. I was one happy camper in the smoke from the burning cattails from the NW side of the GOMH. I have no clue what the point of them burning that stuff out is; They burned it last year too. Lantern Man and his girl were fishing the SW side, they offered for me to join them there but I wanted to fish the swim jig on the SE and NE sides. It was maybe a little after 7pm at this point.

I got the swim jig tied on and went about casting on the NE side but didn't have a luck. It turned out a teenager was fishing one of his departed grandfathers lures and got it stuck in the Cattails. I didn't think I would be able to get it because it was out at the edge, but it turned out to be a hard bottom and I was able to retrieve it. It was some type of jointed lure with a propeller in the middle. The kid was quite greatful. At that point I started fishing the SW side and I got a solid jumpin bullhead right away. I then pulled a 19+" jumpin bullhead and thanks to having my waders on was easy to land. Soon after that I hooked up on what I thought was another toad, but it turned out to only be 17.5".

The rest of the night I switched off between the SE and NE side catching 11 jumpin bullheads and 5 toothy bullheads on the "lost" grn/brn/chart Tom Monsoor swim jig. I got GOM Willard his limit of pike and he was happy about that. One of the teenagers fishing there tonight was the same noisy kid from a couple of days ago. He was using a Daiwa Procaster baitcast reel that he had bought and was quite proud about it. Just like the other day he complemented me on my Team Daiwa reel. He was fishing a white single colorado spinnerbait and I think he caught 4 pike and 12 or 13 bass.

At one point I helped LM by wading out to get a small toothy bullhead that had swam into the Cattails. The waders definitely came in handy. LM and his girl caught a few silver bullheads but they were mostly to small to keep.

GOMH Thurs 5-15-08

You've got mail. Today I got a Team Daiwa X-100HVA, Shimano Symetre 2500, and 6 Strike King Spinnerbaits that I won on Ebay. I spent part of the afternoon putting line on reels and matching reels to rods. It sprinkled a little while I was messin with the reels, but the sky's looked much worse than the precipitation we actually got. At about 6:30pm I headed to the GOMH. It was mostly cloudy but clearing to the west, but it also looked to be threating to rain. Nobody was at the GOMH but two boats were on the Sullivan Side.

I started out by testing the Team Daiwa X-100 with an all white Booyah spinnerbait. It did not take long and I hooked up with a nice jumpin bullhead. After about another 10 minutes I hooked up with a fiesty 24" toothy bullhead. I think I caught 1 more nice jumper on the spinnerbait. I tried the spinnerbait on the NE side but didn't have any luck. I switched to the green/brown/Chart Swim Jig with green grub and I started catching little jumpers. After the action slowed, I went to the NE side and caught some jumpin bullheads and missed a few strikes. Willard showed up as I was switching to the NE side. He said he tried for toothy bullheads earlier in the day but didn't catch a thing.

Around 8PM I switched back to the SW side and got a jumper on the swim jig, then I switched up to the glow Cubby and a minnow. I quickly had a toother bite me off and I switched to an orange Flu Flu. After about 5 minutes I got a bite from that lure stealing toothy bullhead. I got my Cubby back and gave the fish to Willard. I then proceeded to catch jumpin bullheads numbers 14 and 15 on the Cubby and a minnow. I switched to the swim jig and caught two more jumpers and then I ended up breaking off the jig in the Cattails. I went back to the glow Cubby and a minnow and caught two silvers for Willard. He joined me for a while fishing with waxies, but he didn't get anything and I missed a good bite. Eventually Willard went back to the car and it got dark and I didn't catch any more fish, no bites even. At about 9:35 I packed up and left.

GOMH with Dad Wed 5-14-08

Today was mild and sunny and Dad decided that he wanted to come along fishing at the GOMH due to my success last night. We didn't get out tell about 6:30 and when we arrived there were quite a few people fishing. Lee Ander was there with his brother Harvey, along with Willard who wasn't fishing. An older couple took up the SE side and a family had the NW and NE side covered. Dad and I started out by kibbitzing and waiting to see who was going to leave. The family on the N side moved down the shoreline to the East openning up the whole N side. I ended up fishing the N side twice with different color swim jigs and didn't get a hit. The family down the shoreline did get a few small orange bullheads in the weeds.

Lee Ander had one orange bullhead and his brother hadn't gotten anything. The old couple on the SE side caught one silver bullhead. Apparently the jumpin bullheads had vacated the current because I could not get any either. I got into some jumpin bullheads when I casted West into the weeds from down on the shore on the SW side with the brown/chart/white spinnerbait. I backlashed and sent the spinnerbait to the depths when my line broke again at the knot. That is it for the line on that reel. I thought it was 30lb Power Pro but whatever it is it needs replaced. I caught a few more small jumpin bullheads on a all white swim jig. Once again no pike or dogfish.

At about 8pm I got out the Cubby rod and moved in right below Lee Ander. My first two fish were jumpin bullheads. At about 8:50 Lee Ander and his brother packed up and left and I waved for Dad to come and join me from the car. We fished until it was fairly dark. Dad caught a small silver bullhead, and I caught 4 silver bullheads (3 small 1 keeper) and right at the end I nailed a big orange bullhead that I kept for the widow Jenny Olson. It turned out Lantern Man's, from last night, dad was fishing the SE side and he caught three decent silvers which he gave to me. Making my take home tally at 4 silvers and 1 orange bullhead. I caught 9 incidental jumpin bullheads.

I wonder if Bassfishingdem is jealous of the shore fishing that I have a the GOMH?

After I got done cleaning the fish tonight, I fryed some up.

YUM YUM!!!

GOMH again. Tuesday 5-13-07

Today was cool (mid to low 50's) and cloudy with a bit of wind out of the West. I hit the GOMH today about 4:30 PM and things proved to be much slower than yesterday. I lost a white Booyah Spinerbait when I backlashed and the line broke at the knot; Man did that lure sail. Today I got out my rattlebait box but did not have a whole lot of success with them. Jumpin bullheads took the rattlebaits on a straight retrieve rather than a ripping retieve. Lures I used today that were productive were rattlebaits, white spinnerbait, brown/char/white spinnerbait, green/brown/chart swim jig with green grub, #8 White X-Rap, #10 Orange/Chart X-Rap. I caught 27 or so jumpin bullheads but not a single pike or dogfish. I fished on both the SW and NE sides. I did get a 19.25 jumpin bullhead on the b/c/w spinnerbait.

At about 8pm I switched up to a glow Cubby and minnow in the bullhead sweet spot and caught a jumpin bullhead right away. It was then a half an hour before I landed my first silver. The silver bite was slow but steady. Lantern Man was fishing on the pallets and it seemed like we would get bit almost simaltaneously and then there would be 10 minutes of nothing before we would both get bit again. I ended up taking home 7 silver bullheads to clean and I think I threw 1 small one back and LM had pretty much the same when I left.

I got two Ebay reels in the mail today (Shimano Symetre & Team Daiwa X-103HVA) which was nice. I did some work puting line on the TD X-103PI and put it on the 5'8" St. Croix Pro Glass and I put the TD X-103 on a BPS Crankin Stick with a white Booyah Spinnerbait. I also elected to put a scruffy looking Ebay won TD-S-103HVA on my -7' BPS Extreme rod to see if this might make a good swim jig set up. I headed to the GOMH at 6:30 to put the new gear through it's paces. The jumpers and toothy bullheads were more than willing to test my new equipment. I fished both the SW side and the NE side. I caught the pike in the picture, close to 30 inches and thick, on a green/brown/Chart Monsoor Swim Jig with green grub on the NE (Platte) side. I got another 21" Pike on the NE side on the very next cast, unfortunately this pike ripped up that grub, which was the only one with me and so my hot pike bait went belly up. I had missed a pike on the SW side earlier on the swim jig. The Booyah spinnerbait produced jumping bullheads on the NE and SW sides. I also caught quite a few jumpers on a #8 white X-Rap and #10 Orange/Chart X-Rap.

After 8pm I tried for some silver bullheads. I had a couple of bites on the SE side but didn't connect except with Pike #3 about 20". I went back to the SW side as it was getting dark but there was a guy taking up the bullhead sweet spot. The wind was blowing really bad making it so you could only bobber fish in a small area. The wind was cold and the action was slow so I gave up before it got to dark.

I ended up with 34jumpers, 3 Toothy, 0 silvers and 0 dogfish.

GOMH for 2.5 Hours

Dad and I headed to the GOMH at about 6:30pm and since it was such a nice night, sunny 55 degrees, I was not surprised to see all four corner of the GOMH covered up. Dad and I got out of the car and hung out for a bit. Willard was there of course along with a family with 2 or 3 kids and a group of 3 guys and 2 girls, but only 1 person in this group was fishing when we got there. After a short time the SE side opened up and I went to casting a spinnerbait. I didn't get anything on about a dozen casts, so back to the truck, I went to get the X-Raps. I put on the #8 White X-Rap and quickly caught a 14inch jumpin bullhead, but that was all I got on the various X-Raps I tried. I then went and got the Cubby Rod and minnows. My first fish was a solid silver bullhead. I then caught another nice Silver and it was shaping up to be a good night. Pallet Man showed up and started fishing from the pallets along with Waterboy. The people on the SW side were starting to catch silvers but many of them were small. Dad was content to stay on the bridge and watch.

My bobber went down and I missed a small toothy bullhead. Then I hooked into a jumper who swam straight for the weeds. Willard suggested I move to the SW side of the bridge because that would give me a better angle for pulling the fish free of or through the weeds. That worked and I didn't have to break my line, but the hook broke when I took it out of the bullheads mouth. I am now down to my last glow Cubby Jig; I think I had seven, to begin with. I then caught a 19" toother and then a couple of small silvers. I got one more Silver than missed 3-4 fish. It was getting to the point where I needed to light the bobber up or go home. I chose to go home. The people on the SW side did have a fair amount of action but lots of small ones. I gave my 3 silvers away.

Dad had a good time jawing with people including GOM Bud and Willard.

The CO Kuske also came by for a bit. He looked into pails and chatted. He didn't check for licenses this time either.

Minnesocold Fishing Opener 2008

No wind No Good

I arrived at the Eddy's Jetty at 5 to midnight and much to my dismay I found a flat lake. There were quite a few people fishing off the Jetty. I got my stuff together and headed to the South Jetty which was open. At midnight I threw my first cast and promptly donated the Rapala Husky Jerk Purple Perch that I had so much success on last year to Mille Lacs Lake. I did not have the reel adjusted properly and when it backlashed the line cut at the spool and sent the Husky Jerk hurling into the darkness. I don't care much for the precedent this set with that Crystal Fireline I put on last fall. At about 2 minutes after midnight while I was trying to pick out the backlash someone sent up two volley's of fireworks that ended with loud booms. My guess is that in the calm conditions it probably could be heard over the whole southern end of the lake.

I got the backlash picked out tied on a Glass Perch Husky Jerk 12 adjusted the reel and threw out my 2nd cast, no lost lure this time. After several casts I got a feel for the area and I was hitting rocks almost right away. That is not a good sign if you want to keep your Rapala's. I probably would have headed to the North Jetty but a couple of guys were fishing that corner, so I elected to go to plan B.

I went back to the truck and retieved my bobber set up and minnows. I got the first cast out just fine but on the next 3 or 4 casts I ripped the minnow off the hook. I did finally get my casting down. Even though there was no wind to speak of and the lake was glass, the bobber always slowly made it's way toward the Jetty. I really didn't need to have my bobber lighted as the light from Eddy's Marina was plenty good to illuminate my big bobber. At one point a guy fishing the Center Jetty saw 3 walleyes swimming along. More excitement was a 3.5 foot muskie cruising along in the shallows next to the Jetty. I did not catch a fish, nor did I see a single fish caught. No wind No Good. I quit around 2AM.

Maybe the daylight will bring better fortunes.

After Skunk: After dealing with the Patti meets skunk fiasco at 3AM, I was still up at 6am, so I decided to hit the GOMH. The intended target was toothy bullheads and Dogfish on a double colorado chart/white/brown spinnerbait. From shore you take what the lake will give you and all I could catch was jumpin bullheads, practically one on every cast. The biggest was 18.75" followed by a 18.5" with numerous 14"-16" and a couple of 17"'s. All told I landed 33 in the two hours I fished on the spinnerbait, a glow Cubby and minnow, and a #8 White X-Rap. There were two other guys fishing and they probably landed a dozen jumpers in the time I was there. I can only hope bass opener is so kind. I also caught 3 silver bullheads on the glow Cubby.

Night Shift: The rain moved in during the day and it wasn't much warmer than 50 but I decided to head out about quarter to 7pm. I started with the spinnerbait and caught a few jumpin bullheads, I switched up to a #10 Chart/Orange X-Rap and promptly caught my first toothy bullhead of the open season. I threw this 22inch hammer handle back. Eventually I tried a glow Cubby and minnow and caught a couple of jumpers along with 2 silvers. All told I got 8jumpers, 1 Toothy, and 2 silver bullheads. Willard was spectating from the warmth of his car. As it got dark the silvers just were not happening so I made the decision to try Mille Lacs.

Eddy's Shift 2: It was cold wet and windy when I arrived at about 9:30PM. One of the Launches had just come in, no fish that I saw. I headed to the South Jetty because I thought the wind was out of the NE and that makes the South Jetti the best place to cast from. I wasn't able to angle into the lake like I wanted but I could throw a good cast angled towards shore. I gave a Firetiger Husky Jerk about a dozen casts then decided my luck might be better off the North Jetty corner because the wind seemed like I might be able to cast. When I got to the North Jetty I found out I was wrong. If I didn't backlash, the wind blew my Husky Jerk back without any kind of distance on the cast. After a few attempts I had seen enough and called it a night. 3 more launches came in and I saw a grand total of 1 fish and I also talked to a couple of guys who came in on a boat and they didn't get anything.

So I didn't catch any walleyes this opener, but at least I had some action.

Opener Eve at the GOMH

Fishing Report: Before heading to the GOMH I went to Rock Lake to make sure my Husky Jerks were tuned in and didn't sink. There were less sinkers then I thought but at least half the lures needed to be tuned. No wonder I caught nothing on most of them last fall. At about 5:30PM I was done and headed to Bear Trax for some minnows. The lady who did the minnows took my minnow scooper out and forgot to put it back, agggggh. I then headed to the GOMH.

When I arrived there were 3 guys fishing the SE side and 3 guys fishing the SW side, but no one was standing in the upper area of the SW side so I set up camp. Almost right away I hooked into a nice silver but lost it as I tried to pull it up to me. That set the tone for the way things went. I missed a bunch of bites, had fish come off, and lots of times the bobber would go under for a second but would come right back up. There were a number of boats fishing the Sullivan side GOMH bay. I could see them catching bass, crappies, and sunfish. Fishing on shore at the GOMH was mostly slow with a flew flurries of jumpin bullheads.

As it was a ways into primetime and I wasn't getting hit Willard suggested that I switch up my jig. I did that and caught a keeper silver and two little bullheads then a jumper, but then the action died. I found out that Grumpy Old Man #4's name is Bud. At some point Jenny Olson's niece Pam showed up and she and this guy started fishing from the bridge. The guy got a silver, then Pam had a nice one on that she lost when she tried to pull it up and then she had a jumper get her caught in the weeds on the SE side and it ended up with a broken line.

The fish just never went for me. A guy and his son were fishing off the pallets and they ended up with about a dozen or more silvers and one orange. The Dad also caught 2 Dogfish or maybe the same Dogfish twice. As it started getting pretty dark I got fed up and left. I got 5-8 jumpin bullheads and 4 small silver bullheads. My next cast will be at midnight with a purple perch Husky Jerk 12

GOMH 5-8-2008

Due to a couple of Ebay auctions which I won (2 more reels:Team Daiwa X-103 and Shimano Symetre) I did not get out to the GOMH until about 7:30. Willard was there when I got there along with a guy, a lady, and two kids (a girl about 6 and a boy about 13). They were fishing the SW side but the upper area was clear so I headed there. I got silver bullheads on my first 4 casts with a orange jig and glow twister tail. I gave all the fish to the family. The little girl was so cute about wondering why I didn't want to keep the fish and so thankful that she was going to get to eat them. The little girl was catching an occasional silver and more than the rest of the family. With the action starting out so hot Willard was mad that he didn't bring a bucket so he could get some too. After catching about 8 crappies the jig hook broke when I tied into a jumpin bullhead (it was nice but not that big a fish). I could not duplicate the jig because of the twister tails and stopped catching silvers.

I switched up to the glow Cubby under a bobber and started getting more silvers and jumpers. The family left a little after 8PM and I had given them about 10 fish. As it started to get dark the action was consistant but I was catching quite a few small fish and I missed quite a few. I caught my first orange bullhead of the season and it was a keeper. I half wonder if some of those misses weren't orange bullheads messin with me. I fished to about 10PM with 6 silvers and 1 orange kept. All told I caught at least 18 silvers on the night and 8 jumpers, so it was a productive 2.5 hours.

GOMH 5-7-2008

Although you really can't see him, behind Lee Ander is Lewis aka Grumpy Old Man #3.


The day started out with a trip into Onamia to check out the new Reeds Sporting Goods store. They did not have the Shimano Crucial rod I wanted, but I did pick up a Pokegama map, X-Rap, and sinkers.

I headed to the GOMH about 5PM and when I got there both Willard and Lewis were in their trucks watching the day go by. I started out by putting a couple of reels I won on Ebay through some paces (Team Daiwa X-103HVA & Team Daiwa S-103HVA). I was satisfied they worked as advertised after getting a few bullheads on each. I then started fishing with a small jig and glow twister tail and caught a couple of more bullheads. I had something stike and and peel some drag then get into the weeds and get off. Could have been a dogfish, jumpin bullhead, toothy bullhead, or even a carp, I didn't get to see it. After a while I switched to the glow Cubby under a bobber with a minnow and things got slow. I did catch the occasional bullhead including one TOAD. I got the TOAD up to shore but still in the water and started fiddling with the camera because I wanted a pic. The Toad eventually started flopping and went right into a clump of weeds and got hung up. As I tried to free him my line broke and the fish ended up swimming away with my glow Cubby in full view. I was not happy.

Action was slow but steady on jumpers until a little after 8PM when "Pallet Man" scored the first silver. It took quite a while before I scored my first. I ended up catching 10 silver bullheads but 5 of them were not all that big. I kept 7. Pallet Man and Waterboy caught just short of two limits before we all left just short of 10PM. In total I got 10 silvers, 13 jumpers, and 1 toothy bullhead.

Also a rare appearance was made by Mr. Foulmouth Grumpy Old Man #4. He and Willard shot the breeze for a little while. The GOM were high entertainment as usual.

Grumpy Old Men

Lee Ander takes some casts...

Willard does not want to be photographed...

5-6-2008- I headed to the GOMH around 5PM and when I arrived there was a truck with a guy in it sitting on the SW side shoulder. I parked on the NE side and got my gear together and headed over to the SW side. Lo and Behold the guy in the truck was Lee Ander aka Grumpy Old Man #2. Before I started fishing I filled him in on the details of how the fishing has been. He told me that he just had eye surgery and how he had flu and pneumonia earlier this Spring and was in the hospital for a few days. After catching up I started to fish while Lee Ander stayed in the truck. I was throwing a small jig and twister tail and eventually hooked into a small jumpin bullhead. With that Lee Ander got out of the truck and came out to fish. He didn't have minnows and didn't try any when I offered him mine.
I started fishing with a glow Cubby and a Minnow and started catching a few jumpin bullheads including a 19.75". The action was slow but steady. A number of vehicles stopped and left and then it happened; Willard, aka Grumpy Old Man #1, made his first appearance of the year. Willard didn't come to fish but to fling the BS. Willard was his usual comical self and he actually bore some good info regarding the planned rebuilding of the GOMH bridge. At one point a Conservation Officer Kuske stopped by and chatted with Willard and he had info about the planned rebuilding as well.

One of the guys who fished last night showed up with a teenager and started fishing. I caught a few small jumpers and he wasn't getting anything. Sometime after 8PM I got my first silver bullhead of the night and it was a keeper. I put it in the bucket and it proceeded to bleed out for some reason. I caught 2 more silvers before the other guy caught his first. We then had slow but steady action until I left around 9:45PM. I ended up with 6 keepers and no dinks. The other guy and the teen had 5 keepers and 3 lost fish when I left. I didn't get any fish when I went to the lighted bobber.

GOMH 5-4&5-08

5/4:After winning a Team Daiwa S-103HVA on Ebay for a very good price. I headed out to fish a little after 7PM. While putting on the black fleese pull over I set my maggies on the hood of the car and forgot that I did it. Bye Bye maggies, hope the Gulp maggies work as well.

When I arrived at the GOMH there was a truck, but it wasn't a Grumpy Old Man truck. There was 1 guy fishing the NW side and one guy fishing the SW side. I took up the SE side. Current was moving into Sullivan at a pretty good clip with a fairly strong South wind blowing in. The guy on the SW side said he had caught some "bass". He was a jig and a minnow. I tried a jig and a minnow for a while then went to a twister tail jig fished without a bobber. I got 2 jumpin bullheads on the twister tail. After the guy at the SW side caught a nice bullhead, I switched back to the jig and a minnow and caught a jumpin bullhead. At some point the guy from the NW side joined his buddy on the SW side. He had not caught a thing fishing the NW side. The wind started to die down and one guy than the other gave up around 8:30. I headed over to the SW side but did not get any action until well after dark when I caught 1 little silver bullhead. Eventually I had enough and pulled out around 9:40PM.

I am quite concerned that there were no Grumpy Old Men around on such a nice night.

5/5: Got out around a quarter to 6PM. There were some teens fishing off the North side of the bridge. I started off on the SE side then moved to the SW side. For the night I caught 15 jumpin bullheads and 8 silver bullheads 4 of which were small 8 inchers. The first silver was about 11" and it just inhaled the Cubby and minnow. I was visited by a guy who caught around 4 bass on a jig and minnow and also by a lady and a guy; the lady ended up casting over the powerlines and then the guy brought out a baitcaster with a spinnerbait and proceeded to nail about 6 jumpers. The silver bullheads bit from about 7:20 till after dark. I threw all the bullheads back. It is supposed to be quite warm again tomorrow so maybe things will break wide open tommorrow night.

Rush Lake Fransen Park 5-4-08 & ML

After the Spring Outing GEM Director Dave Lindmark, Cyberfish, and I headed down to Fransen Park at West Rush Lake to do a little shore fishing. We arrived about 10:30 and by then the place was hopping. We elected to fish the little cut that opens into the main lake. Dave started out catching little crappies right away and once Mike got his gear together he did too. I was getting bites on a white Cubby but was having a hard time hooking anything. I finally got on the board with a half way descent sunfish. I did start catching fish but Mike and Dave schooled me. Eventually this kid started fishing in between me and Mike and I decided I would try the main North Bay. I almost took Lindmark's jacket and keys with me. Mike and Dave left shortly after I went exploring. On the main bay I got 1 good bite from what felt like a very solid fish, but it came off half way in. I did not get another bite. I fished the main bay about 45 minutes and decided to call it a day. Fransen Park was a zoo by now on such a nice Sunday.

On my way back home I did some exploring on Mille Lacs. No one was fishing at McQuoids or the "Dogfish Nirvana" State Park fishing Pier. Some people were shore fishing in the RV parks channels, but I did not stay long enough to watch. I then headed to Izaty's channel. There were several people fishing off the docks and 1 boat out. I think I saw two little fish get caught for about 1/2hour of watching. I headed up the West side and the lake appeared to be mostly open with a few small areas where there was some sheet ice. There were a few significant sized ice piles including one super tall one about 300yards south of Eddy's. Much to my relief the Eddy's Jetty did not have a pile up of ice. It appeared that the North side of the Jetti had been worked on this winter. It looked like some of the larger boulders had been removed from the lake face and that the whole thing had added mid-sized rocks put in. Apparentlty the water level is up about 8 inches from last Spring and a foot or more from it's low point last fall.

Fishers of Men Spring Outing-Big Sandy

Things went about as expected. On Friday it was cold and it rained so water temps could not go up. On Saturday it was windy, but sunny. I fished with John Cummins and Gordy. We braved the waves and headed to the Islands in the middle of the lake. We found a great looking protected bay, but there were not any fish in it yet. The warmest water we found was 42 degrees, the main lake was 38. We headed back for lunch and I got drenched. I wore my rain bib but did not have my rain jacket with. When we got back to camp, the dock had been pulled half way up on shore and so John had to beach the boat. The wind was blowing in at this shoreline so waves were coming over the back of the boat. John has a bilge, but still it made a royal mess.

At lunch we learned from Marshall and Jeff Dad that there was a lagoon on the camp property. We elected not to go back out and try the lagoon. I ended up losing a glow Cubby in a tree on my first cast. After a little shore fishing, John Cummins was able to get a plank so we could get onto the two long floating docks. Several of us fished off these docks but caught nothing. As the afternoon wore on, Gary Ellis and Bobber showed up fishless, and Lindmark and Cyberfish had caught 1 perch and missed a small pike; these were the only one's with any fish. Later on Lowell and Art showed up and that was the last of the fishing. No one fished Big Sandy on Sunday even though it was a nice day.

The GOMH 4-30-08

Can you tell what kind of fish this is?

It was this jumpin bullhead.

A hard fought hammer handle bullhead

Got a little bullhead.

I doubled my best silver bullhead haul of the year


Got to the GOMH about a quarter after 7PM. No Grumpy Old Men, I am starting to be concerned. The wind was whipping out of the NE and water was flowing into Platte at a slow but steady rate. The wind really blew my bobber around, so I could only keep it in a limited amount of the bullhead sweet spot. It did not take long and I had my first taker, a jumpin bullhead (pictures 1&2).

After a while of getting my bobber blown around I decided to try the SE side. After a little bit of effort my bobber went under and the fight was on. A small toothy bullhead ran himself straight into the shoreline bullrushes. I got him up but he was really hauling the weeds and I was not sure if I would be able to pull it out with the 8lb Fireline or not. While I was slowly trying to pull him in, the fish started squirming around and a good chunk of the weeds that were holding him back fell off. I was then able to pull him in, Cubby saved!!!

I tried the SE side for about 15minutes then went back to the SW side. As it was starting to get dark the bobber went under and I fought a 15.5" jumpin bullhead. Then I caught a 13" jumpin bullhead. And a little while later I had another decent but not huge jumpin bullhead pulling on my line. I fought him for a little bit and then my hook came out when he was at the surface. Little Bass Lake Rules, it counted as a catch.

It was getting so dark I could hardly see my bobber when the first silver bullhead struck. It was a small one about 8inches. About 10 minutes later I nabbed another bullhead, this one was about 9.75inches. I didn't fish to much longer as that it had gotten quite dark.