Tonight's Platte Lake Report: Big Dog & More

It was cloudy all day with rain in the morning and winds out of the South Southeast 5-10mph. The forecast for the evenings fishing was more of the same with possible showers. I started fishing around 5:30PM. My first stop was at what is probably the largest reed bed still remaining on Platte Lake, it is on the NE side of the big center bay on Platte. I have fished here on parts or all of it a few times this year with marginal success. The Plan was to start on the South end and let the wind blow me to the North End using the trolling motor to get to spots as needed.

The first fish of the night was a pike that fell for a black/red Monsoor Swim Jig with black red fleck Zoom Speed Craw trailer. My first bass was this 12 incher that took a Bully Wa frog.

Other than this fish, the surface bite was a non-factor tonight. I worked the reed bed for a good hour and a half and only had 5 small bass and 4 small pike to show for it. I did also miss my best bites when fish buried me in the reeds. I didn't figure out how to fight fish in the reeds until later on in the evening.

Around 7:15 it was decision time. I weighed some of my options and decided on trying the NW corner of the lake in spite of the problems the wind might cause me if it started blowing any harder. As I started getting close to where I wanted to start much to my dismay there was a boat there fishing already. I punted and headed to the North central part of the lake where I had some success the one time I tried it this year. The area has a maidencane bed and reeds off the side of a point and if you go to the farthest point North on the lake you run into rice and some pads. I was working my way through the maidencane casting and pitching the black/red Monsoor Swim Jig when I had a hit and it was a big ole dogfish.

She measured 28.5 inches. The gold thing in the picture is the handle for my net. Unfortunately for me the Annual Minnesota Bowfin Club Tournament ended yesterday.

I started getting bit in the reeds on the back side of the maidencane but I kept losing fish when they would bury me in the reeds. My big problem was that I was trying to power the fish with a rod that just isn't quite heavy enough to do that. Eventually I figured out that if I finessed the fish a little bit using a little give and take I could usually keep them hooked and get them to the boat. I also started catching bigger fish.

The picture of this 15.75" gives a good feel for the look of the area I was fishing. I believe this fish fell for the black/red Monsoor Jig, but what I really started having success on was a parrot Outkast Swim Jig teamed with an Action Plastics electric blue 5" Super Mag Grub. I am really impressed with the Action Plastics grub as a swim jig trailer and the great thing about them is you can buy them in bulk for a decent price. I discovered the grubs pretty much by accident when I stopped in to the Thorne Brothers Outpost and the grubs were the only thing in the store that interested me.

Here is the parrot Outkast Swim Jig:


I believe I caught this next 16.5" bass on a white and silver tinsel Brovarney Swim Jig with a black and white Action 5" Super Mag grub.


It was getting dark and I had a hit right next to the boat and it turned out to be the biggest bass I have caught out of Platte/Sullivan this year. She was only 18.25 but weighed out at 4.10lbs, so she was a gorilla. I used to catch bass like this on Platte/Sullivan on a regular basis, but it seems like they have become a scarce commodity in the last couple of years. Here she is:

I caught one more good fish then called it a night around 9:30.

I caught at least 15 bass (7 of which were over 15") and 6 or 7 small pike.