Fishers of Men Fall Outing Sept 28 & 29th.

This 17 incher was caught on Mule Lake with a bluegilll colored Strike King Pure Poison with green pumpkin Craw Fatty Trailer on Friday.

This 28.5" Pike was caught on Saturday on the same Pure Poison at Town Line Lake.  It was my first fish of the day and I was lucky I caught it because in totally inhaled the thing and I didn't have a leader on it. I put a leader on it and caught a few more small pike.  I also managed to catch 3 decent bass.  I caught my third bass on the last cast of the day.  It bit just as Mike Thompson laid the hammer down as we were going in.  It turned out that fish along with my 3 best pike won me FallEE WallEE for the 3rd straight year.

Mike Thompson got a 19" bass on Town Line Lake

Bass Snatchers Pokegama July 28th

My boater Adam had a good day getting 3rd Place and Big Bass 4.15lbs 

The fishing at Pokegama was tough for me in large part because my back/ right leg was in pain for much of the day.  I couldn't keep contact with my lure like I needed to and hooksets were an issue as well.  The weather was partly cloudy to sunny with a bit of a breeze out of the South, blowing strongest at the end of the day.

We got on the "juice" immediately in the morning.  On my 3rd cast I got a big fish, but it was the wrong kind.

It was a big bowfin that did a number on my hook.  While I was landing the fish, Adam got his first bass.  I got the bowfin off the hook and no sooner did Adam have his big bass on.  I got it netted went back to dealing with my line.  Adam had another fish on immediately.  He may have gotten one more before I got my line back in the water.  I finally picked up first bass a 13 incher on a Blue Bruiser Crawtube.  I also got a small pike.  Adam got 5 fish on the starting spot.

We headed to our second spot and got nothing.  Then we went to run some docks.  Adam got his limit fish and I missed a couple bites on a Zoom Fluke.  Adam caught his first cull and I got a 10" bass and another small pike.

We went back to our first spot and I got a  14" bass on the Crawtube.  I think I got another pike as well.  Adam got a couple more fish.   We went to another spot and Adam caught 3 or 4 and I got nothing.  Next we headed out of Poole Bay and went to Salter Bay but that was a bust.  Next we went to Sugar Bay where I got a couple of 13 inchers on a brown/green pumpkin Crawtube along with a non-keeper and a pike.  We went to 1 more spot in Sugar then headed to the river.  The river turned out to be a bust and we headed out of there stopping to fish some slop in Jay Gould.  I finally got a good bass on a Horny Toad (15.5").  I ended  up missing a couple more on poor hooksets.  Adam got 3 or 4 more bass.

Next we headed back to our starting spot and I got my limit fish (15.5") on the brown/g.p. Crawtube.  I was relieved to get my limit.  I also culled my first fish of the day with a 14" fish.  Next we headed way down to the bottom of Sherry Arm to fish slop.  Adam picked up a few fish on a frog and I missed my first bite.  Finally I got one on a Zoom Horny Toad that went 15.25".  I think I missed one more and Adam got a couple more.  We ran back up to Sugar Bay for 20 minutes than fished the last 10 minutes in Tioga Bay where I caught a dink pike to end the day.

My weight was 10-15 and got me 19th Place.  Adam's 16-6 got him 3rd Place.  1st Place was Chuck Johansen who was fishing by himself with 19-1. Apparently he was fishing docks.

I should have had over 12lbs easy, but my leg was just to much of an issue.

Eddy's Launch with Spike and Dad

This evening my old boss at Gander Mtn in Maple Grove Mike "Spike" Miller got together a group to go out on a launch out of Eddy's Resort on Mille Lacs Lake and Dad and I went along.  The weather was warm, but not to hot, mostly sunny with a bit of a walleye chop.  We started off going for smallies in some shallow rocks.  My dad's rod had a problem with the bead getting on the wrong side of the bobber stop.  Several small smallies were caught and Jessica my old roommate from when I lived in Champlin got a 17"er.  I didn't get Dad's rod in order for about 35 minutes and by then we were heading out for walleye's.

Spike got the first eye of the trip with this 26.5" which was the big fish for the launch.

It was a slow night with only about 6 or 7 walleye's caught for 20 of us.  I lucked out and got the last eye of the night as we were pulling up anchor.

24.5"

I think dad might have had a bite, but am not totally sure.  It was a good night seeing some old friends.

Bass Snatchers Whitefish Chain July 15th

We fished from about 7AM to 3PM.   It was sunny for the first couple of hours, then got cloudy until about the last hour when the sun came out again.

My boater Dave Branum and I were second boat out and we headed to the North East corner of Big Trout Lake.  I decided to start throwing a Paycheck Baits Repo Man and was rewarded on about my 3rd cast with a bass, but it jumped off just before it got to the net.  A few casts later I had another one on that got off half way back to the boat.  Dave then landed the first fish of the day.  Shortly after that I got a 12" squeaker and then I got another 12" squeaker.  About 15 minutes later I landed a quality 15.5" fish also on the Repo Man.  After that the topwater bite died and Dave was getting a few on a jig, so I switched up to a Strike King Ocho on a mushroom head jig.  I got a 13.25" and 12.75" on that.  


We moved to a sunken hump in the middle North part of Big Trout were I missed a good feeling bite on the Ocho.  We then moved to a close by weedline and I got 14.75", 13.25", and another 14.75"on a Blue Bruiser Crawtube and a couple that didn't help. We moved West to another weedline spot where we found rock bass.  Eventually we headed back to our starting spot as it sprinkled a bit.  I got a couple of shorts on the Repo Man, so I switched up to a gold Berkley Frenzy Popper and got a couple that didn't help, then I landed 16".  We moved back to the weedline in the middle North and I got a 16.25" and a 14 on the Frenzy Popper.  Caught a few more that didn't help on the Frenzy and Crawtube.  With an hour left, we headed into Middle Whitefish, then to Upper Whirefish where I caught a rock bass and a pike.  Then it was time to head in.


I ended up with 12/8 but one of my fish died so I dropped to 12/6 which put me in 12th Place.  My boater Dave only got 9/10, which put him in 25th out of 30.  The weights were up again this tournament with 12lb bags to 15th Place and 10lb bags to 24th place.  Last time we were on Whitefish two years ago in early June, my bag would have been good for 5th Place and the time before that in 2006 also in early June it would have been good for 6th Place.  Guys are catch them this year.   The winner was Dennis Lothspeich with 16/15 with an ounce more than Chuck Steinbauer.


My Thoughts:  I was a bit disappointed we didn't get any smallmouth, which I would have thought would have happened with those topwater fish up in Big Trout.  I think we might have actually seen a lake trout that came up to the surface and then swim right by us.   

Bass Snatchers Leech Lake June 30th

Well due to my sore back  I'm getting to this a bit late, but better late than never.

We launched out of Horseshoe Bay around 7:45AM.  And we were fishing 5 minutes later down in Uram Bay.  First cast I landed a 17.75" on a white Zoom Horny Toad out of the reeds.  I thought great, I'm screwed. Getting a fish on the first cast has been bad luck for me in the past.  About 20 minutes later my boater Darren landed a 5lb 50z fish that was big bass for the tournament.  Unfortunately he was 3ozs short of our club's buy in running big bass pot.  Darren missed a couple of bites and had a pike steal his Spro he got the fish on.  We worked around the bay for a couple of hours.  As we were working our way out I spotted a fish hit something in some shallow reeds.  We moved that way.  I put a cast in the area with a Mad Maxx Big Sexy Frog and got smacked by a 15.75".  Darren ended up missing one more bite, then we headed for Sucker Bay, which took about  25 minutes to get to.


It clouded up by the time we got up there.  We started in some Rice on the West side of the bay.  I think Darren got 1 in the rice, then he broke off his other Spro Frog.  We got up by some docks and Darren got a fish on the crawtube, and I jumped off a good fish on a Spro.  On the backside of the same dock, I hooked an 18", on the Spro which was my big bass.  I think Darren got a couple more among the weeds on the docks.  

Next we went to some Reeds and Darren and I doubled up on crawtubes.  My fish was 14.25".  I next got a 15.75" on the crawtube.  I filled out my limit with a 13" on a white Horny Toad.  Next I stuck a nice pike in the reeds. I missed another hit.  Darren was catching and missing fish occasionally.   We got to some undercut banks and I got a 14.5" on the crawtube.  I missed one more hit on the undercut banks before we got into rice again.  We moved across to the East shore and I missed a couple on frogs, before I finally caught my last fish, a 16.25" on a Mad Maxx "Big Sexy" after the sun came back out.  Darren got the last keeper.

My 6 fish went for 16/11, which is my best Snatcher weight ever, but was only good enough for 21st Place. The weights were crazy.  Darren got 5th with 19/7. Four bags we over 20lbs and Art caught the new Snatchers biggest bag at 22/10 and his boater Todd Berghuis caught 21/14.  An 18/7 bag was 12th place.  We blew away the club's record average bag by over 3lbs at 16.7lbs. Blew away clubs record total weight in a tournament by 127lbs.


Overall it was a fun day and I can't complain to much Darren had us around good fish.

Tonight's Launch at Eddy's with Dad

Tonight Dad and I finally got out on another Launch trip out on Mille Lacs.  The weather was almost perfect, maybe a tad warm.  Dad started things off with this 23" fish.

I couldn't see the screen to know I cut it off.  Then Dad got a 24" fish.

Then Dad got a 22" fish.

Finally I got on the board with a 23" eye.  Unfortunately the setting sun is behind my head or it would have been an awesome picture.

Then I got a 24" er.

Dad closed out the night with the last fish on the Launch and the only keeper for us non- Native American's on the boat.  It was a 15inch eye.

All fish were caught on a red hook with single yellow bead.  I think Dad caught the most fish on the launch,  maybe one other lady got 4 as well.

Morning at the PRO

This morning I fished out of the Trophy from 7AM to 10:30AM.  I fished in the Platte River Outlet area of Sullivan Lake.  I decided to hit the SE side of the Intersection on a whim.  Turned out that was a good call as I got my biggest fish there.

17.25"

I think I got it on the Horny Toad, but I may have got it on a black Spro Frog.  I think I got 5 in this area.  Then I headed to the River mouth and got a small pike.  I got a couple in the River mouth, a 15",12"and a pike in the river, and a couple of 13.25 at the dam and a 10" on the Grass Pig.  I got a 13" on the way out at the River mouth.

12 bass
2 pike

Boat Fishing on Rock

Tonight I fished on Rock in the Trophy from 7:45PM to 9:30PM.  I started out in the reeds by the access and got a single 14" bass and I missed a few hits on the Horny Toad.  I worked my way into the Platte River Outlet area and got another 14" fish and missed a couple of good strikes as on the Horny Toad.  At 9PM I decided to run to the Beaver Dam.  There I got 3 fish on the Toad including this 16" and I missed about 3 more.

 I threw out the Crawtube and got 16 and a 14".  Then it was time to go.  I really need to get my frog game together, missing to many fish.

This Mornings Trip

I was out this morning from 7:15AM to 10:15AM.  I started East of the GOMH and didn't have a sniff.  I then went to the GOMH and got a jumpin bullhead on the Pure Poison and this one on a Crawtube.

Next I went to the Culvert and got an 11" bass on the Horny Toad and a 14" on the Poison.  I also lost a Mann's Baby Minus 1 in the South Culvert that got hung on something and I had to retrieve a frog that I broke off in the cattails.  I then went to the inlet and lost a swimbait hook in the reeds.

Toad's and Big Sexy at Jenny's

15.25"

Tonight I fished from 7:30PM to 9:20PM at Jenny's.  I got 5 bass on the swirl black/white Horny Toad and 3 Bass on a Mad Maxx Big Sexy frog.  Nothing over 15.75".  I also had a pike bite off a Toad.

I then went to East of the GOMH and had a few swirls but no takes on the Toad.  The mosquito's got to bad so I went up to the bridge to talk with John W.  Apparently he got a couple of nice jumpin bullheads there tonight and 1 nice one at the Culvert.  He even got a golden bullhead under the bridge.

Morning Horny Toad

14"

Got out and got a couple and a small pike in the morning East of the GOMH from 6:15AM to 7:45AM

Horny Toad Tonight

Tonight I got out at 7:30PM and it turned into a Horny Toad night when I put on Pete's waders that he forgot here last week.  At Jenny's I got 5 bass and I missed a couple.  The three biggest were about 15.5".  This was the first of those.

 At about 9PM I went to go to the Grumpy Old Man Hole, but when I saw there were people there I stopped short along where the lake is next to the road.  I climbed down into the weeds and got a 15.5" bass, then I got a little pike, then I got 13" bass,  then I missed some bites before I got another 15.5" bass.  Next I landed this little dude.

Yep I got a little Bowfin.  After that I got 2 more 15.5" bass and I missed a few bites.  I quit at around 9:45PM.

This Morning I.C.G

This morning I hit the Inlet on the South End of Sullivan, the Culvert and the Grumpy Old Man Hole.  I got a solid 16+ at the Inlet on a Crawtube.  Didn't measure cause I left the board at the GOMH last night and I forgot to get a picture. I also missed something on the Grass Pig.  I got a 14" or so bass at the Culvert on the Pure Poison.

At the GOMH I got 6 jumpin bullheads, including this 15" all on the Crawtube.

Missed a toothy bullhead and a couple more bites.  I did get my measuring board back.

Missed A Good One At the GOMH

Tonight I missed a good fish at the Grumpy Old Man Hole on a Horny Toad.  It came all the way out of the water and had it.  I just blew the hook set.  I'm going to need to work on my Horny Toad hook sets this week, with Leech Lake coming up next week.  I did catch two small jumpin bullheads on a Pure Poison with Craw Fatty.  I got out a bit late, so I didn't get to the Culvert or Inlet.

Yesterday I got 2 bass at Jenny's on the Horny Toad and got bit off.  And in the morning I got 2 bass at the Culvert on a spinnerbait and a Crawtube and I got 2 jumpin bullheads at the GOMH on a Yum Wooly Bug.

GOMH On Fire!!!

20"

Apparently the recent rain lit the fire at the Grumpy Old Man Hole.  I fished from 8 to 9:45PM and caught this 20, 2x 17.25, 15, 6x 14's, 4x 13's, and 2x 12's.  Plus several more missed fish.  Got most of them on a Crawtube including the 2 17's.  Got the 20" and 1 other fish on the Horny Toad, and I got a couple on the Pure Poison with Craw Fatty.

1st Smallmouth of the Year

Today on my way back up from the cities I stopped at a bridge over the Rum River and caught a nice 18.5" smallie.  Unfortunately a couple of casts later I back-lashed and my spinnerbait was gone.  I tried to retrieve it as the line broke at the reel, but I didn't have a crankbait to catch the line with.  I also fished at Mille Lacs and at the Rum River at the Shakopee Lake bridge.  Didn't get anything there.

BP 4 Pete 2

This morning Pete and I went out and fished from about 6 to 8AM.  Pete got his spinnerbait back at the Culvert and missed a pike.  I might have missed a fish.  Then we went to the inlet.  Pete caught a nice 18" bass on a spinnerbait and got one more.  I got 2 bass and 2 pike in the culvert area on a Crawtube.

Pete had a major meltdown over his gear giving him issues.  He finished it off by breaking the top guide on his rod and chucking the rod into the lake.  He was able to retrieve the rod.

BP 5 Pete 4

Tonight we went out from 8PM to 9:30PM.  At the Culvert Pete got the first fish.

Pete lost the spinnerbait.

Later on I got a pike and a nice bass on the Strike King Pure Poison

17"

That was it for the Culvert.

Next we went to the inlet where I got 2 bass and missed another out from the culvert with a Crawtube and Pete got 1.  Pete got 2 off of the access and I got 1 and missed 1 in the reeds with the Grass Pig.

Pete 3 BP 0

Tonight Pete and I didn't get out until after 9PM.  I figured we were just going to try and recover a lost spinnerbait for Pete at the Culvert.  But Pete managed 3 quick fish on a different spinnerbait..  And luckily I spotted where his lost spinnerbait was so he could put on his waders and get it, otherwise Pete had no clue where it was at.  So it was a successful trip for Pete anyway

BP 2 Pete 1

Tonight we were out from 8PM to 9:30PM.  Didn't get anything at the Culvert or at the Platte Lake Access.

We both got a small bass at the West Sullivan Access

I got this small pike at the inlet on a Grass Pig

Pete had a pike bite him off.

Pete 2 BP 1

Tonight we got out a bit later than planned fishing from 8:30PM to 9:30PM.  We fished at the culvert again and on the South end same as last night.

Pete caught 2 bass including his biggest one yet.

I got 1

14"

Then we headed to the South end of Sullivan.  Here is a picture I took last night of Pete wading.  (Couldn't find it last night because it was in a new folder.)

BP 4 Pete 3

Pete and I went out shore fishing again from 8PM until 9:45PM.  We went by the GOMH and didn't stop even though Willard was there.  Platte Lake Access was being fished, so we went to the River Culverts.  Pete got the first couple of bass on the Yum Wooly Bug.

I then caught a 16" on the Wooly Bug on a weighted swimbait hook.

Pete caught his last bass on the WB and I got a 15.5".  Pete hung the WB up in the weeds and I had to break it off.  Pete then got his waders and retrieved his Rapala from last night.  I got a chunky 19" on the Wooly Bug.

Right after that I lost the grip pin off the swimbait hook, so we were SOL on the weedless bottom bumping lures.

We went to the outlet on the South end of Sullivan and I amazingly caught a walleye on the Pure Poison w/ Craw Fatty.

Pete waded around but didn't get anything.

BP 3 Pete 1.5

Tonight Pete and I got out for some shore fishing.

First stop was the Grumpy Old Man Hole.  I think we both got a bite, but didn't catch anything.  Next we went to the NE access on Sullivan.  That was a bust.  Next we went to the Platte Access and Pete got this pike.

Next we went to the culverts over the Platte River and I got this nice bass, missed another one, and a pike.

16"

Got them on the Pure Poison with Havoc Craw Fatty. Pete got a Rapala stuck in the cattails.  Then we went to the inlet on the South end of Sullivan Lake.  Pete got some bites on a Yum Wooly Bug but couldn't hook up.  He gave it to me and I caught a 14" bass.  Gave it back to Pete and he got a couple more bites but only caught a stick.

Bulldog & Platte

I got out fishing tonight from shore at 8PM.  First stop was Bulldog where I got this 14" largie on a Yum Wooly  Bug.

Next I headed to Jenny's where I got 2 bass and missed 1 or 2 more.

16.75"

Same Fish

Last stop was the Grumpy Old Man Hole.  Willard was there with another old guy.  John W. was there and he got a limit with the help of a jumpin bullhead from me.  Caught on the "Big Sexy" Mad Maxx same as at Jenny's.

B.B.S. Bay Lake June 2nd

2nd Place

Conditions: Day started cool in the low 50's getting up to about 70 in the afternoon.  I was sunny and had light to medium winds out of the W NW.

Blast off was at around a quarter to 7AM and we stuck around close to the launch but didn't get anything so we left after 20 minutes.  We went around to the West side of Battle Point and started fishing the weedline.  I immediately caught a pike on a red Spro Aruku Shad.  Then my boater Roger landed the first small keeper of the day on a flat sided chartreuse DT shallow runner.   I landed a couple dink bass and a northern.  Roger got a couple more keepers before I got a 13.25" on the Aruku.  Roger landed a couple more before I got my 2nd fish, a 12.75 on the Aruku.  Roger was putting on a clinic with the DT.  I slowly got a 15.25", a 13", and a 16.5" on the Blue Bruiser Lake Fork Craw Tube.  We decided to run back to where we started so I could finish my limit.  I got a 14" to finish my limit on a chartreuse Cordell Spot.  I then started throwing a blue/black Strike King Pure Poison Chatterjig with blue/black Berkley Havoc Craw Fatty Trailer.  I was just thinking I was going to quit throwing it when I got 17.75" bass.  I  culled my smallest got her in the well and immediately got a 17.5".  Put her in the well, put a new Craw Fatty on and within a couple of casts had a 16.75" in the boat.  Bing bang boom, now I had more weight than Roger.  I got a 14.75" to cull out a 14" and then things got slow.

We were headed to Johnson Point but a boat was there so we started working up from West to East along the North side of Corey Point.  It was slow for a while, but then I got a 16.5 on the Crawtube and I figured I had around 13lbs.  I got a few more that didn't help and then I got a 15.25" that culled my previous 15.25" up towards the tip of Corey Point.  That convinced Roger to fish there a little more and he got his best fish and another cull or two.  We were both pretty happy with our bags at this point.  I was now after 11AM and we fished off the SE tip of Malkerson Island.  Just got a couple that didn't help.

We headed to the bar off the South side of Brighton Point and got nothing but rockies and a pike or two.  For the last hour or so we headed back to our starting spot.  I  got a couple that didn't help and I don't think Roger got anything to help himself either, and the day was done.

When we weighed I was shocked to hear Rogers weight at 14/6.  I was even more shocked to hear my weight at 15/11 which put me in 2nd place where I stayed through the rest of the weigh-in.  My big bass was 3/2.  I didn't realize it at the time but I was only 2oz behind new Bass Snatcher member Jim Smith who got 1st.  Roger got 3rd Place. Bay Lake was really on with 15 guys at just under 12lbs and up.  10lbs bags went down to 25th Place.

Analysis:  Surprisingly we out fished our pre-fish day where we had about 13lbs a piece.  I really thought I was in the 13lb range.  Here were my two baits.

The huge key was that flurry I had in our 2nd pass off of Battle Point with the Pure Poison.  I had my 3 biggest fish in like 7 casts.  Not only was it my best Snatcher finish, but it was my best weight in a Snatcher Tournament by over a pound.

I counted 21 bass, 12 Pike and 5 Rock Bass

Tonight on Platte

Tonight I fished Platte Lake from 5:30PM to 9:30PM.  I started out across from the access in the vicinity of the   maidencaine. I didn't get anything until I got up closer to shore in the Reeds.. I got two 14 inchers on consecutive casts.  I got a 15 on the Grass Pig.  It was the only one I got on the Grass Pig.  The rice is up enough to foul the Grass Pig so I didn't throw it much.  I got into the rushes up by shore and caught some on the Horny Toad and a yellow Spro Bronze Eye Frog.  I fished near a tree that was fallen into the lake and I got a pike.

 I went around the point to check a little river inlet, but a pontoon was sitting on it, so I headed up to the NW Corner. I managed to pooch my first half a dozen bites or more on the Horny Toad before landing this 16", which was my big fish of the night.

I then managed to miss a couple of more good bites.  Of coarse I caught a 12 incher that smacked the Toad.

I moved to the North Point and got 14.5 on the Toad and a couple on the Spro.  I made one last move to the more East North Point and got a 15 on the Toad and a 14" on the Spro.  Over all I missed a lot of bites.

Bay Lake Pre-Fish

I got from 7AM to almost 5PM to fish with Roger Ubl my boater for Saturday's Bay Lake Tournament.  It was a fun day on the water as we caught a ton of fish.  The rap on Bay is that it is a peanut factory and that was pretty much the case as we didn't get a single 3lb bass.  However we did land several quality 2lb fish, which will be gold on tournament day.

I'm not really sure where the fish are in regards to the spawn.  Several of the fish were chunky, but several had raw anal fins but they were still chunky.  One thing is clear, we are gonna catch a lot of pike.  I got 32 pike to my 25 bass and Roger caught about the exact same numbers as me.  I hope the fish are as active on tournament day.