Gomh and Jenny Sept 28th

I don't remember this trip very well because I am blogging it a week later than I went. It was a good trip. I started at the Grumpy Old Man Hole around 6PM and there was no current and there was algae scum on the waters surface on both sides of the bridge but not everywhere. It had been a warm day and was calm by the time I fished. I think there were light winds that day. It was basically a trip to get my mind off Dad's by-pass surgery which would be the next day.

I started on the NE side per usual and I got this 14" jumpin bullhead on a watermelon/red flake Big Bite Baits Bio Bait Crawtube.
I think it was 14"
I think I might have gotten one more fish on the NE side and missed a couple of hits.

I then went to the SW side and pounded out 5 jumpin bullheads Crawtube from 12" to 14.75". I missed a few bites too.

The action died and I still had sunlight so I headed off to Jenny's. On my very first cast I had a hit on an orange and brown Zoom Horny Toad, but I missed it. I cast right back and it smoked it again. It was this fish:
I think it went 15". The toad came off, so instead of digging out a new bait I switched rods to a Mad Maxx "Big Sexy". I proceeded to pull a 14"+ from the same general area. I went over to Jenny's neighbors and popped a 16"+ that was in kind of close to shore. I think I missed one hit and also a pike try.

GOMH & Jenny's

I headed out fishing around 4:30pm today. My first stop was the GOMH it was cloudy and windy out of the S SW. Around 5:30pm it started to sprinkle then light rain and the wind really came up for about 10 minutes. It then sprinkled off and on for the rest of the night with a pretty good wind.

I started on the NE side and the first lure I tossed was the bubblegum Ebay Chatterjig and I got a 12" jumpin bullhead on that.

I fished on the SW side and broke off a toothy bullhead that hit a grass craw Tonka Tackle Halo Craw Tube. I went back to the NE side and rigged up another grass craw Crawtube and got a 11.5" jumpin bullhead on that.

I casted around with a "big sexy" Mad Maxx Frog but didn't get any hits on that. I then switched up to a yellow nose/black River2Sea Bully Wa frog and got this 15.25" jumpin bullhead on that out of the pads.
I did have another hit in the same area but it didn't hook up. I started working East casting from the road and that is when it got rainy and windy. I traveled down the road quite a ways fishing in the various openings and it all looked good because there is no rice there this year. It's just sporadic pads turning into a big field of pads at the last and biggest opening to the East. I had one slap at it and missed one good hit at the end of a long cast. I don't know why I haven't fished this stuff earlier as it looks good.

I got to Jenny's about a quarter to 7PM. Over at her neighbors I had a pike go loco over a Zoom Horny Toad but it didn't get it. The pike jumped out of the water at it 3 times. I then went to the Bully Wa and got 2 nice bass on that out of the rice on long casts. I left around a quarter after 7PM.

Erskine, Bulldog, Jenny's Not Much

After getting skunked at the Grumpy Old Man Hole last night I figured I would change it up for this evenings shore fishing excursion, so I headed to Erskine. I arrived at about a quarter to 7PM and started out throwing a brown/orange Zoom Horny Toad. On about my third cast the Pike in the picture hit it. Well I wasn't going to be skunked two nights in a row. A few casts later I had a very small pike or bass hit the toad. When I set the hook the fish went skipping along the lilly pads and came off. That was it for Erskine.

I tried Bulldog, nothing.

Last stop was Jenny's. First I tried the Horny Toad, nothing. Next I threw a white Berkley Havoc Lane's Grass Pig. I did get a hit on that but when I set the hook it came up empty. As it was starting to get dark I went with the Mad Maxx Frog. I made a cast over by where I got the hit and sure enough a pike went airborne while missing the frog. That was the extent of the action.

The Kathio State Park Dam

There is a dam on the Rum River on the South end of Ogechie Lake in Kathio State Park. I've known this dam exists, but have never tried to fish it because I didn't feel like paying the fee to get into the park. However this year with the success I have had at the Shakopee Lake bridge over the Rum I figured I better check out what I have been missing. It's $5 for a day pass and $25 for a 1 year pass; Your first $5 day pass can be applied to a year pass.

Today was cold and windy, so I wasn't going to take the boat out to Platte/Sullivan, so I figured today would be as good a day as any to check out the dam. I arrived at Kathio around 1:30PM and after paying my dues and one wrong turn I made it to the proper parking lot. It's about an 1/10th of a mile hike from the parking lot to the dam. Thanks to looking at Google Earth I was aware of this and had packed my tackle into my small bag. I brought 6 rods with me.

The wind was out of the NW which meant the dam was sort of protected a bit. The water is on the high side and flowing fast. I started out throwing topwaters but didn't get any hits. Next I put on a Strike King Pure Poison with a Berkley Havoc Craw Fatty trailer. On my very first cast I had a good fish on. What would it be? Smallie? Largie? Pike? Muskie? Walleye? Carp? Dogfish? It kind of got caught up in some grass by shore, but I was able to pull it through and it was a nice largie.

It was a hefty 18.25" and with that being the 1st cast I thought I might be in for a whackfest. However I soon discovered there were not a bunch of fish stacked up and waiting to bite. Eventually I lost the Pure Poison to a snag. I cycled through a bunch of lures over the next couple of hours without a hit. Eventually I put on a pink chatterbait knock off that I bought on Ebay a couple of years ago. I made a long cast across the river and got hit by this little pike.
A little while later it started to sprinkle and then rain, so I went and stood under a tree as I didn't have raingear with me. After about 15 minutes the rain stopped and I went back to fishing. After about 10 minutes a guy showed up to fish. Unfortunately this was his first time fishing there, so he couldn't give me any information about how the spot fishes throughout the season. After about 10 minutes it started raining bb to pea sized hail. That lasted about 5 minutes then it rained for a couple of minutes and quit. At that point I had enough as I was wet and getting cold. I left around 5PM.

On the way in and out I hit the Shakopee bridge, but it was dead except for a hit from a very small pike.

Good Night At the GOMH

I headed out of the house a little before 7PM and my first stop was the Grumpy Old Man Hole. The wind was blowing pretty good out of the South. Per usual I set up on the NE side. I started out throwing something new; A watermelon/red Big Bite Baits Bio Bait Crawtube. The BBB Crawtube is made of a biodegradable plastic that has "Bio Bait" scent which is slimy and stinks. They are on sale at Tackle Warehouse for $1.99 a pack and since I was getting some other things I couldn't resist picking up a few packs at that price plus a 15% discount for Labor Day. They are 4" just like a Lake Fork Crawtube, but they are more compact and less bulky than a Lake Fork CT.

Crawtubes have been my #1 bass catcher this season and obviously I was hoping these inexpensive baits would be fish catchers. I fished for about 10 minutes without a sniff and then on a cast to the middle of the channel just out from the bridge something nailed it, but when I set the hook nothing was there. I kind of figured it was a pike, but I kept casting to the area anyway. On about the 7 cast back something picked it up and this time I hooked it and it was a good fish.

She went 18.5". GOM Willard drove up just as I was taking pictures. He congratulated me on the nice fish and told me he had gotten a couple of jumpin bullheads yesterday, but nothing that big. I let her go and resumed fishing. A couple minutes later I had another hit and brought a 14"+ jumpin bullhead in. I offered it to Willard, but he didn't want it. A couple of casts later I got an 11" jumpin bullhead. After about 5 more minutes with nothing I headed to the South side. I got a couple of nibbles, but nothing to set the hook into. By the time I got back to the NE side it was getting dark pretty quick. I decided to throw a frog and on about the 3rd cast it got belted good up in the rice. It was obviously another good fish.


Choked the "Big Sexy" Mad Maxx

This one went 18.75"

I did get one more hit on the frog in the pads, but I think it was a pike. It got dark fast and I left a little after 8PM.

Rooster, Turkey, Duck, Geese, Dogs

Got out before the sun rise this morning. First stop was the Bulldog PA. No Luck even though on a long cast I was able to get close to a spot where a fish came up. Next I went to Erskine. I started throwing a Zoom Horny Toad. There was a rooster crowing for a while, then I was joined by a turkey and ducks started quacking from the same direction as the rooster.. I had a couple of hits on a black/yellow River2Sea Bully Wa frog but I couldn't convert. A bunch of geese flew over me fairly low. I caught a pike on a white Berkley Havoc Lane's Grass Pig off the dock. Right after that I had a small bass on that got off. On the next cast to the exact same spot I got a bigger bass, but it came up and tailwalked and spit the hook. Soon after that a pug showed up and I could see a boxer over by the houses. The turkey followed me around. Didn't get anymore hits.

I went to Rock, nothing.

I went to Jenny's, nothing even though there was some fish activity.

Got home a little after 9AM.

Morning Froggin'

Yesterday I got my replacement rod from St. Croix for the frog rod I broke in July (I didn't mail it until the end of last week). So this morning I wanted to go out and throw a few casts to break it in. I decided the reel I'm putting on this St. Croix Legend Tournament Bass Carolina Rig Rod is better suited to a weighted hook with a dipper rather than an unweighted Zoom Horny Toad, so that is what I rigged it up with. My older LTB Carolina Rig Rod was rigged with the Horny Toad.

A little after 7AM I headed out to Jenny's. Nothing doing on the Berkley Havoc Lane's Grass Pig and the Horny Toad. The lure of last resort was a Mad Maxx Frog which I can throw out quite a bit further than the 1st two lures I tried. Getting out farther was the trick and I had a blow up which I missed. I cast out to the same general area and something exploded on it again and this time I hooked up.


It was a chunky 15.5". I did manage to get a couple of other weak hits, but didn't hook up with them. I think I left around 9AM

Small GOMH

Headed out to the Grumpy Old Man Hole. Water is down just a bit but still really high even though we haven't had any rain in the past couple weeks. First order of business was testing a new topwater lure called a Ball Frog from Balsley Lure Company. Didn't get anything on that. Went through a battery of baits before catching this 10" jumpin bullhead on a Tonka Tackle Halo Crawtube.

This was all I caught. It seems that the fish may have vacated the GOMH for the year. I can't say I've ever done well there in the Fall.