Couple Lil' Silver Bullheads

8"

Tonight I headed out after 6PM and stopped at Bulldog Lake first.  I got 2 nice 16" bass there.  By 7PM I was at the Grumpy Old Man Hole and I started on the NE side.  All I got were jumpin bullheads, so I switched the the SW side.  I had a jumper get off than I caught a 11" jumper.  Eventually I got 2 small silver bullheads and missed a few more bites.  A guy that was fishing on my side got some nice orange and one good silver.  The meat guy showed up and got 3 off of the SE side.  I left at 10PM.

Jumpin Bullhead Night at the GOMH

Tonight I hit the GOMH at 5:30PM and it was a jumpin bullhead fest from the first cast.

15.5"

I had 4 of them before I got a nice silver bullhead.

12"

After that all I got was a few more jumpin bullheads and I got Cubby's bit off by two toothy bullheads in a row.  That kind of ended the action.  I ended up taking off at 8:45PM because the wind was pretty bad and no bullheads were hitting.

GOMH Bullheads and Bulldog Bass

Tonight I decided not to take the boat out and fish from shore.  I got out after 5:20PM and was to Bulldog by 5:30.  I landed a couple of bass there.

Next I headed to the Grumpy Old Man Hole.  There were only a couple of groups there when I arrived.  A guy and a girl on the NE side and a kid and his dad on the SE side.  I took the SW side.  The kid said they had been catching a certain kind of bullhead.  I got a jumpin' bullhead to start things off.  My second fish was a silver bullhead which I gave to the kid.

I then caught another two silvers, which I also gave to them.  I then got another jumper, then I got an orange bullhead

The guy and the kid left.  I was considering making the move when another guy with his kid showed up and took the SE side.  When they arrived an old guy and two other guys came and sat down next to me.  They were fishing last night and said they were getting lots of crappies on the SE side last night.  They only got 1 crappie on the SW side last night, but they were using wax worms and getting sunfish.  The guy with the kid got a silver right away and I was thinking I should have switched sides.   I landed a couple of jumpin bullheads and then got a silver which I gave to them.  I ended up giving them 7 silvers and throwing one back.  They got a bunch of orange bullheads and a few silvers.  The guy and his kid caught some silvers and jumpers.  After they all left I got 3 more including this dandy.

11.75"

I was going to clean it, if I could get a couple more.  But all I got was this bullhead, which wrecked my jig head.

It was 10:30PM, so I called it a night.

Thought I Had a Big Dog

Tonight I fished on Platte/Sullivan,  mostly in Platte in the Channel Inn Bay.  I was working my up to the "Dogfish Cut" when I hooked into a big fish, unfortunately it was a big Pike.

35.5"

I thought for sure it was a dogfish after it hit up in a foot of water, man was I bummed when I saw it was a pike.  It had thick head with shoulders.  I decided to land it by grabbing it over the top of his head because it was to big for the net.

I also caught a crappie and a couple of nice sunfish and I got a few bass.

9"

7"

17.5"

The wind came up pretty good just after 8PM, so I headed back to the launch, which was good because my strap rope broke.

Peavy a Bust, Back to Rock

Tonight I headed out to Peavy Lake around 4:30PM.  I found a few bass and sunnies shallow in a little cut, but I couldn't catch anything.  Then I ran up to the North End as I started looking a guy pulled up in front of me and started going the same direction I was.  Spotted a nice sized pike and a single crappie. I got up by the guy and he'd never been on the lake before.  He saw a big carp.  I went passed him and found some small somethings up real shallow.  At 5:30PM I decided to bail.

I was on Rock just after 6PM.  As I pulled into the RPRO it looked like it was gonna rain.  I started drifting and got some sunfish, so I anchored.  The rain went just to the South of me then the sun came out and it got calm.  I missed a ton of bites getting 5 Sunfish total.  I threw them all back.  After 7PM I decided to try for dogfish.  I missed my first couple of hits, but they were probably pike.  Then I caught a couple pike on the Grass Pig.  I started also fishing with a Heddon Spit'n Image.  I missed my first few bites on that.  I then got a pike on the grass pig.  Then I got a bass on the Grass Pig. Then I got 4 bass on the Image, including this 17"

Then I got 3 pike and 2 bass and missed that many more bites on the Grass Pig.  I stopped at 8:30PM.  I don't think I came across any dogfish tonight.  One interesting thing was I went into the River and thought I spotted the pike that bit off my Grass Pig last week.  That or it had a white jig on it's noggin.

I went to the GOMH and got a bullhead and learned some info I hope to capitalize on tomorrow.

Dropped A Bowfin

Tonight I fished at Rock Lake from the Trophy.  I was on the lake by 5:30PM  I started out by going to the inlet from Bulldog Lake.  I got two pike there.

I then went to the RPRO and quickly caught another smaller pike.  I started trying for sunfish.  I actually saw a crappie as I was moving along.  It was pretty much completely calm and the sunfish were really spooky.  Finally I started get a couple and I put the anchor out.  Action was a little slower than the other day and I missed a ton of bites.  Much to my surprise I set into something that felt more significant and sure enough I got a nice crappie to the boat,  as I lifted it up it got off.  I got a couple of more sunfish and switched to trying for dogfish at 7:50pm.  I got two pike and then noticed my knot on the Tyger Leader was coming loose, so I retied .  I then got 2 more pike.  I threw a cast up by shore and I got thunked by a dogfish and then as they do, it got off.  I need to find my net, I think it's at the lake place.  I then got 2 more pike and a 15" bass by the beaver dam.  There were several otters around tonight.

I brought home 6 of the 9 sunnies I caught.

I forgot my headlamp at home, so I couldn't fish at the GOMH.

Bulldog and GOMH

Tonight I did some exploring.  I stopped at Bulldog and got 2 nice bass in 15 minutes.  Then I checked out the creek coming out of the North end of Long Lake.  Doesn't look there would be fish there but you never know.  Wish I had known to check it last year in the high water.

Then I hit the GOMH at 7PM.  A guy and his kid were fishing.   He was on the SE and his kid was on the SW shore.  He got a toothy bullhead.  Around 7:40PM I had a small toothy bullhead break me off as I tried to bring it onto to rocks.  It flipped back into the lake.  They left.  I got another bite but missed it.

It started getting dark and I missed a couple of bites.  It was just about to dark to see and I wasn't paying attention.  I started reeling in and there was a bullhead on.

I ended up getting 2 more and missing 3 or 4 bites.  I left at 10PM as it was getting cold.

Evening On Rock

This Evenings Catch

It was reasonably warm today getting up to 57° and winds were fairly light out of the NW, so I headed out to Rock Lake again.  I got to the lake a little before 6PM.  I decided to head to the North end of the lake to see if anything was going on.  I spooked a couple of fish where the creek runs in and had a small pike follow the grass pig and that was it.

I then  moved over bye the Island at the entrance to the PRO.  I caught a 21" pike and 16" bass on a white double Colorado bladed spinnerbait.  Unfortunately the skirt on the spinnerbait came off, I had to pull a skirt off of another one.

I then went into the PRO found the 53° water and started catching little sunfish on a pink Cubby.  I kept 11 for the garden and released an 8 incher.  At 8:10, I decided to try for dogfish.  I got a 20" pike on the Grass Pig, then I missed 3 hits.  As I got down by the beaver dam I threw the spinner bait and got a 16" bass.  Missed a couple of more hits on the Grass Pig and on my "last cast" for the night the Grass Pig got bit off .

I dug out that Tyger Leader now, so hopefully between that and Knot2Kinky that won't happen again.

I checked by the GOMH and two guys were fishing.  I think they said they got a couple but I'm not sure what.  I didn't fish.

Boats 1st Trip Out, Rock Lake

Traditionally I like to put my boat in for the first time of the year on rock lake because it has the best access of any of the area lakes and of coarse the rock dock.  I didn't get to the lake until 6PM which was OK because the weather hadn't been very good until then.  I wanted to put the boat on and leave it on the trailer so I could see it piss water before I put it in.  Well when I did that I had water quickly rising in the boat so I got out, pulled it back up and emptied it out and put a different plugin.  I did the same thing, but this time I figured out the bilge hole was below the water line and so it was coming in through the bilge.  I put the bilge over the side of the boat and that slowed down the flow pretty well, but not totally.  I got her started and she spit water, so I pulled it back out, pulled the plug out again put my fishing gear in and put the plug back in an launched her.  No problems.

I took one run South down the lake with the wind and got her up to 26 MPH, which I think is a record speed. I turned her back into the wind and got up to the mid 24's which is really good going into the wind.  I then proceeded to go into the Platte River Outlet (PRO) and go down to the Beaver Dam where the River runs out to Platte Lake.  Down by the Beaver Dam, there was a new big floating bog in place that ripped out from the shore in last years high water.

I put on a Lane's Grass Pig on a Berkley Swim Jig Head to try for some dogfish.  I fished the
beaver dam and didn't get nothing, so I headed to towards the bog and I got nailed by this pig ready to pop.

18.25"

She had to be pushing 4lbs.  As I went along the NW shore I noticed the pads where coming up pretty good at this point, but I didn't see any rice.

 As I was going along I noticed fish moving around so I put out a Cubby and started catching sunfish.

I got 9 of these guys from 4.5" to 6" inches.  One of them had a pike swipe at it.  I was hoping maybe a dogfish would get the same idea.  I saw fish get smacked by stuff a couple of time quite aways out from where I was sitting.  The water temp hit 50 degrees where I was getting them.   I also caught one nice 15" largie on the Cubby.

I ended up getting the Cubby caught on a pad and when I freed it one of the split shot came off and that pretty much ended my luck with the Cubby as I couldn't tell when to set the hook.

So I put the Grass Pig on and worked my way back to the Beaver Dam.  First fish as I got doing that was another sow 18 incher.

Not a fat as the first, but still it was a chub.  Next I got a 21" pike

Then I traded a 15 inch bass and an 18 inch pike.  Also missed a couple I think were small pike.  It started getting dark and I had a small dogfish follow to the boat and then disappear before I could throw a jig back at it.  Bummer.

I got down by the Beaver Dam and got this 17.5" fatso

I missed another fish and got one last 16" bass.   I headed off just after 8:30PM.  The Grass Pig and Cubby were the only things I threw, even though I had like 12 rods ready to go.

I went and fished at the GOMH and got skunked.  Nobody else was there.

Almost 6 hours for 5 Fish

It was a beautiful evening I fished from just after 6pm to midnight.  I had some issues with my jighead not holding the minnow when I would get a bite.  The bobber would go down for a second and come right back up no minnow.  I didn't put another jig head until after 10:30pm.

My first fish was a tiger bullhead.

Then I got a small toothy bullhead.

As it was getting dark I got a few bites, but missed them.  One particularly good when happened while I was  changing the water for my minnows.  Was probably a jumper or toother cause it pulled my rod towards the lake.  As it was getting dark I got a nice silver bullhead that got off on shore.  After dark I got two more.  I probably should have gotten 2-3 others.

Midnight Trip Bullhead

So after I got done blogging my last update, I thought right then might have been as good a time to go fishing as any so I headed out.  Lantern Man was still there and he gotten about 6 more in the two hours since I left.  While LM was there I missed a bite and he got a small silver bullhead.  After he left I got one bite and landed this bullhead.  I gave up at 2:15am.

Toother and a Bullhead (for real)

Tonight I headed out to fish just after 5PM.  I set up on the SW side and got a little toothy bullhead.

A little while later the Meat Guy showed up and came and told me they started biting right after I left last night.  Ohh well.  The guys on the SE side got some orange bullheads and once it was getting dark got a silver bullhead.  Those 3 guys left and Lantern Man showed up, LM got a silver.  I stayed until 10pm getting one bullhead:

Lucky I wasn't Skunked

I made the terrible decision this morning to head out fishing just after 5AM.  Didn't realize the wind was now blowing out of the SW.  Got to the GOMH and it wasn't good.   Amazingly I sneaked out one small silver bullhead on the Demon. Fishing probably will be pretty tough for a couple of days.  Windy and cool to cold.

Platte Access Dock and the GOMH

Unfortunately I forgot to bring the camera,  would have had some pics.

I arrived at the GOMH just after 7PM and pretty much nothing was going on.  At about 8:15 I decided to take the advice from a drunk from the other night who said crappies bite off the Platte Lake Public Access Dock right before dark.  Now I didn't know whether to believe him, but I thought it was worth a shot.  I get there and  on the very first cast my bobber goes down, but I miss it.  I'm like hmmm, maybe the drunk was on to something.  Next cast bobber goes down and I miss again.  Next cast I hooked into a chunky 18" bass.  That was the last bite I got staying to 9:45.

Then I went back to the GOMH and Lantern Man was there with his daughter and the wind was down to nothing.  They had gotten 5 silver bullheads.  Right away I smacked a slab and thought this might be good.  Didn't get a hit again until about midnight and I missed it.  It was getting to be about 12:15AM and I was just about to give up when I caught another silver bullhead.  I caught 2 more in pretty short order;  all of them were right up on the rocks.  At 12:30 I caught an actual honest to goodness bullhead and decided to call it a night.

Nuttin' But Jumpers

15"

I got 4 jumpin bullheads tonight on the Cubby and minnow, that was it.  May or may not have had a bite from a   SB.  Amazingly I was the only one there until it got pretty dark.  Kuske stopped by at about 8:10PM.  He told me they were getting dogfish on the culvert on the South end of the lake.  I fished from 7:00 to 9:00PM.

Morning Cup of GOMH

Got out to the GOMH at 5:45AM.  Got one silver slab and some jumpin bullheads.  I left at 8AM.  Jumpers were on the North side.

Slow GOMH

Oops Camera wasn't set right

I arrived at the Grumpy Old Man Hole tonight just after 5PM.  It was kids night on the SE side, but I still got my spot.  There was a guy catching some jumpers, orange, and toothy bullheads on waxworms.  I got bit off  around 6:20PM.  Got a jumper around 7:15PM.  Got my first silver at around 8:15PM and another around 9:15PM.  There where quite a few people fishing after dark but nobody was getting much so I left at 10:15PM.   No sense in freezing myself.

Got it right the 2nd time

Kuske dropped by again tonight.

Late Bite at the GOMH

I arrived at the Grumpy Old Man Hole last night at 6PM got set up on the same spot I was on last night on the SE side.  I didn't get my first fish until around 8:30 just as it was getting to dark to see the bobber.  I was fishing next to the owner of the Hillman Bar and his buddy and kid.  Dave Bentley showed up with his girlfriends kid around 8:10 and set up next to me.  The kid got a silver bullhead before I did.  Those guys left around 8:40 and Lantern Man showed up.  I ended up getting a ton of minnows from a guy I gave fish to last night via LM.  I didn't get my 2nd fish until after 9PM but then they bit pretty good until 11:15 when LM left.  Brian and his buddy showed up around 11:00 and fished the SW side until LM left.  I fished until 12:45PM.  I caught 24 silver bullheads total.  I only think 3 of them got kept.

I forgot the camera and Kuske came by.

Ran Out of Minnows Again

Lets just say I wasn't impressed with the scoop of minnows I got from the Deer Haven Store (formerly Gross's Store) and they didn't put my scoop back in the pail. Anyway's the minnows lasted me until 10PM tonight and I got 19 silver bullheads on them. Several came on dead minnows, glad I didn't throw the dead one's out when I got there.  Grumpy Old Men Willard and Bud where there but didn't fish.  I got their a 7PM and managed to get the same spot on the SE rocks I got yesterday.  I was kind of lucky because a big group arrived after I got there.  A lot of bullheads were caught on both the SE and SW side and even on the North side as well.  Lantern Man arrived after dark.  I think I threw back 4 total and didn't keep anything.  Only a couple of jumpin bullheads were caught by others.  I got everything on my last glow Cubby body which is now half a body.

Of Note:  I've already caught more crappies this year (74) than I did in all of last year (57).  Of coarse last year I didn't catch any until the 25th of April.  I stopped fishing for crappies on the Opener

Cubby's and Demon's at the GOMH

10+"

I got to the Grumpy Old Man Hole at a quarter to 6 and I took up a spot on the SE side where there was only one guy.  Basically nothing happened until 8PM.  I got 5 silver bullheads and a jumpin bullhead on the Cubby.  After dark I switched to the Glow Demon and picked up 6 more until I ran out of minnows  Brian showed up with a buddy at about 10:30PM,  they offered me minnows but I was getting cold so I left.  The bite really picked up after they got there.  I think I need to do something about the line on my night fishing rod.  I gave all but 3 of the silver bullheads away and the other 2 went back.  Kuske stopped by tonight as it was getting dark.

Windy Morning at the GOMH

1 Toothy Bullhead

20"

1 Silver Bullhead

9"

7 jumpin bullheads

Frustrating Trip to the GOMH

Tonight we ate fish.  Yum!

I didn't get out until 8PM and there were 3 guys on the SW side and 4 on the SE.  I went on the SW side.  They were catching them fairly regularly on the SE side.  I got 1 one silver bullhead and 1 jumpin' bullhead and the people on my right and left landed a few a piece before it got to dark for them and they left.  I missed several bites as they continued to catch them on the SE side.  I got an orange bullhead and gave that to the Meat Guy and his girlfriend.  After 9PM everybody left to the SE side so I went over there.  It took me a while but I got a silver bullhead that broke my line again as I was holding it up.  My bobber went flying into the rocks, luckily I spotted it from above, the light wasn't on very bright.  I decided to put on a Custom Jigs and Spins Glow Demon.  I got 3 sb and missed several on the Demon and then got broke off by a nice jumpin bullhead up by shore.  It started to rain so I left at about 10:45PM.

I was up and figured what the heck, lets get some more bullheads.  I headed out just after 5:30AM.  Much to my surprise there was another guy their and he was on the SE side so I took up the SW side.  Nothing happened until around 6:30 when this guy Brian pulled in a silver bullhead.  I missed a bite right up next to the rocks but got it to bite again.  Silver bullhead, I gave it to Brian.

I made another cast up by the rocks and had another hit.  This time it was a golden bullhead.

15"

I picked another silver bullhead off the rocks and got one more out further and missed a few hits.  Once the sun got up it was jumpin' bullhead time.

17.75"

That was the biggest of 6.  I left at 8:15AM

Good Night at the GOMH

Got my limit!

Tonight I didn't head out until 7PM, just as well.  There were a guy and his girl on the SW side and three teenagers on the SE side. I took up on the SW side.  Right about 7:45 the guy got a silver bullhead.  Then he got another than she got one and they kind of traded off fish.  Finally I got one when it was almost to dark to see.  The 3 teenagers gave me their fish and a guy who was on the N side gave me a orange bullhead.  I went over to the SE side and started catching fish.  When I got the big one my line broke sending bobber flying over the railing.  That fish just choked the glow Cubby and minnow.  It took me a while to get retied and by the time I got back current was coming through and the fish repositioned farther out from the bridge.  Once I got that figured out I caught them steadily until I left at 10:15.  I ended up catching 13 total.

12"

12" and 13"

I fished in the morning as well from 7 to 9:30AM and got 2 jumpin bullheads and a toothy.