4-29,30 At the GOMH

13.5"

Black & Decker Tackle Wrecker

23" Fin

11.75"

19"

4-30 Sunrise

Dogfish and Variety Night At the GOMH

27"

27"

23"

12.25"

17"

27"

Bulldog & Bullheads

8.25" Cubby Mini-Mite

6:00-11:45PM
Conditions: Warmer (70), little to no wind, sunny.

I started at Rock Lake and didn't get a bite so I bailed just before 7PM.

Typical Bulldog Potato Chip

18.5" Cubby w/waxie

7-8:45PM Bulldog
I caught several smallie sunnies about 3 nice one's (11 total missing more than I caught) and 6 bass from 13 to 18.5" inches all on the Cubby sometimes tipped with a waxie. I had a beaver come and bother me for a bit or I would have caught more fish.

11.25" Glow Demon w/minnow

20" Toothy Bullhead

20.5" Golden Bullhead

9:00-11:45PM
When I arrived at the GOMH there was a couple guys on the NE side, a guy and his girlfriend on the SW side, and a guy who knew my name on the bridge.  He told me his name, but I don't remember what it was,  Pretty sure he's a friend of Peter.  They had gotten some orange bullheads and a couple toothies.  I went down on the SE side.  Everybody left and I broke off my Cubby on the log.  I moved to the SW side.  I was just about ready to leave at 9:50PM when I caught a small silver (8.75").  I caught a couple more in the next half an hour.  At about 11:15PM I got the toothy.  I had to retie so I did the Cubby rod as well.  Since it was so slow I decided I was on my last minnow when I got the golden bullhead.  It was a beautiful night with a couple of loud owls hooting at each other, the frogs making a racket and the moon more than half way to full.

GOMH, Rock, GOMH

12' Glow Demon w/minnow

5:45-11PM
Conditions- Mostly sunny, warmer (62) cooling to mid 30's, 7 mph out of the North NE going down to nothing.

I started at the GOMH fishing on the SE side.  Joe's friend was on the SW side.  I had my Panfish Chatterbait get bit off by a toothy.  I fished until 6:30 then bailed for Rock after retying a PC on.

17" Panfish Chatterbait w/minnow

 I immediately caught pike on the new PC.  It was dead for quite a while, then I had Cubby get bit off by a fish that felt really good.

Loon came to visit

I was just about ready to leave when I got this crappie.

9.25" Cubby Mini-Mite

I think I had one more pike bite.  I left at around 9PM.  Didn't stop at Bulldog.  There were two guys fishing on the SE side, so I went down by Joe's friend.  The guys across the way got a couple of silvers.  I got one which I gave to Joe's friend.  Lantern Man showed up about that time and came and fished with us.  He got a couple of silvers.  A boat that was out bowfishing for carp came by and I got the silver at the top of this post.  They ended up coming back and going into Platte Lake.  They saw a large toothy while going under the bridge and also told us where they saw a bunch of dogfish.  LM got a couple more silvers.  I was getting cold hands so I left at about 11PM.

Morning GOMH, Evening Rock

17" Cubby w/minnow

5:50-7:20AM
Conditions- Cloudy, breezy out of the NE, temp 43 degrees
I started off on the SW side fishing it for an hour getting nothing.  I switched to the SE side and I got 3 jumpin bullheads.  Another guy showed up and got a small toothy.

18" Cubby w/minnow

6:15-8:30PM
Conditions: Mostly sunny, warmer than yesterday (54) and a slightly stronger NE wind
Had my Mini Fat Rap get bit off by a pike first thing.  A boater came and put in.  I missed one bite in the hour or so they were out.  As they were pulling the boat out I caught my only fish of the evening.  I tried Bulldog and the GOMH was covered up by bullhead fishermen.

Rock Dock Tonight

9.5" Cubby Mini-Mite

7:00-9:00PM
Conditions- Cloudy, breeze out of the NE,  temps in the mid 40's.

I decided to start at Rock again tonight figuring that the GOMH would have people on it.

19.5" Panfish Chatterbait

I picked up 3 pike (19.5,21,21) on the Panfish Chatterbait w/minnow; bing, bang, boom.

15" Cubby Mini-Mite w/waxie

Next I got this bass.  Then the crappie.  Then this sunfish:

8" Cubby Mini-Mite w/waxie

And that was it.  I fished to 9PM.  Then tried the GOMH for half an hour.  Nobody was there when I arrived, but as I was getting my stuff out of the back some bullhead fishermen showed up.  They didn't get anything during the time I was there and I didn't get a bite.

Two Toads, Two Sunfish at Rock, Sullivan, Bulldog

20" Panfish Chatterbait w/minnow

5" Cubby w/waxie

7.75" Cubby w/waxie

20" White Craw Tube

1st ever Donkey Bullhead

6:45-10PM
Conditions- Temps in the mid to upper 40's, maybe even the low 50's earlier in the day, mostly sunny, little to no wind.

Crushed a pig at Rock on the PC.  I would say it was just under 5lbs.  Also missed a bite on just the plain Cubby, put a minnow on and got nothing.  I left around 8:10PM

At Bulldog I put a waxie on the Cubby and got those two fish.  I left around 8:35PM

Nobody was at the GOMH.  Brought out the white Craw Tube to try and get a dogfish and I caught a donkey bullhead.  Lantern Man showed up about 5 minutes later.  He had a good golden bullhead get off at the rocks.  Some fish jumped out of the water in the middle of the channel.  I left around 10:15PM

Cool, Not As Windy, Clear And I Caught Something

Not Quite a half moon above the PRO

7:45-8:45PM
Conditions- Described in Title.

Tonight I arrived at the GOMH a little later than I would have liked, but I don't think that mattered very much.  Nobody was there again tonight.  I got 1 bite.

That's right it was a tiger bullhead that had a bunch of parasites.  Got it on the Demon w/minnow. I did get another Cubby tied on my Cubby Rod from the break off I had on Monday night.  Nature was calling, so I left about half an hour earlier than I wanted too.  It was a pretty night, but it's gonna get cold again tonight.

Windier, Colder, Less Snow

12.75" THE Jig w/minnow 

7:30-9:15PM
Conditions: Even windier (NW) and colder (33) than last night, snow was bit lighter.  I dressed warmer tonight wearing long john's, winter boots, and 3 pairs of socks.

The cold weather must have backed them out pretty good cause all I got tonight were two bites, probably the same fish;  I missed it the first time, put the minnow back in the same area and caught the second bite about 5 minutes later.  I was relieved not to get skunked.  I had been there about 45 minutes at that point.  The guy who rents our lake place had stopped and got to see me catch it.  He left and about 5 minutes later I had a major double cluster in my fishing line.  I'm going to have to respool both my long panfish rod and my night fishing panfish rod.  I could see the moon and stars in the western sky in a large break in the clouds when I left.

The Flash captures snow pellets reflections 

When I turned off the flash.
I took these pictures when I thought I was going to be skunked.  

Wind, Cold, and Snow

10.25" THE Jig w/minnow

Note- Blogged at 3am on the 22nd
5:45-8:45PM
Conditions: Windy out of the NW, cold 37 degrees down to 34, and it started snowing pretty good by the time I left.  It snowed off and on in various intensities on and off the whole time.

I wasn't gonna go, but the lure of probably having the Grumpy Old Man Hole all to myself was too much and I decided to go.  I put on my whole Arctic Armor suit and wore an extra pair of socks.  I should have worn boots and put on long johns.  Much to my delight when I arrived nobody was there fishing, but would there be bullheads.  I pretty quickly discovered that yes there would be getting a couple of jumpers on the Panfish Chatterbait.  I then got this toothy.

22" Panfish Chatterbait

I switched up to Cubby and minnow under a bobber and got a couple jumpers on that before I had some thing pretty good sized break my line.  I switched to my long panfish rod with the Rocket Bobber and T.H.E. Jig with a minnow. I got this jumper.

17" THE Jig w/minnow

I took numerous pictures trying to get it all in the screen, but was unable to do it.  I must have accidentally zoomed it in a little bit.  The picture I used was with me holding it closer to the camera, so it ended up looking like a 20" plus fish.  I got a couple more descent jumpers on THE jig.  It was getting dark and I was getting cold and wet when I got the one and only silver.  I only fished for about 20 minutes after getting it.  Nobody else came to fish the whole time I was there.

Morning GOMH Trip

Christmas Lake Guy Gets a Nice Jumper

6:00-9:30AM
Conditions: Sporadic sprinkles, cloudy, wind out of the E SE, on the cool side with temps in the mid 40's.

I thought more rain was going to make this into just a quick morning trip but it just sprinkled for brief periods.  I got a couple jumpin' bullheads when Local Walleye Guy showed up.  Despite being out in his boat numerous times he hadn't caught a crappie yet. Sure enough he got two silvers and a jumper before he got cold and left.  While he was still there I got a small toothy on T.H.E. Jig w/ minnow on my long panfish rod.  I had a big jumper jump me off on THE Jig, about 10 minutes before Christmas Lake Guy and his daughter showed up.  They fished for about half an hour in which time he caught that 4lber in the picture and I got a 14" on THE Jig.  After they left I fished for about another half hour missing one bite.  I was cold now so I was getting my stuff ready to go two guys in T-shirts showed up to fish.  I thought they were nuts.  I got in the car and it wouldn't start.  I got confused if the noise it was making was from the battery being low or not.  I thought maybe the starter had gone out with the clicking noise it made.  I couldn't call my parents who were at Church.  As I was thinking what I should do the two guys were leaving after only being there for 15 minutes.  I asked them if they lived to the South, which they did and they took me home.  Turns out it was just a low battery, not sure if I left the lights on or what.  Nobody was fishing when we fetched it.  

Wet Night At the GOMH

11" Glow Demon w/minnow

9:30PM-1:00AM
Conditions: No rain, light rain, moderate rain, wind out of the E NE

I got a late start tonight.  When I arrived the bullhead fishermen were on the SE side again.  Lantern Man's son and a buddy were fishing the North side for bullheads, and Lantern Man, the guy Lantern Man had a disagreement with over party fishing years ago who now works with LM and that guy's, brother and quick witted nephew with a headlamp as bright as a cars headlights were fishing on the SW side.  LM hadn't been there very long.  The other party had gotten there about 7:30 as near as I can figure.  I kept the fishing gear in the car and stood down there and shot the bull with them until they left around 11PM.  By that time the bullhead fishermen had left and LM son took over the SE side.  The action had been pretty slow for the most part on silvers.  I caught 2 right away which I gave to LM.  LM lost a golden bullhead as he was bringing it up on the rocks.  The bullheads across the way were going pretty good.  I got two more silvers which helped LM fill out.  They all left around midnight.  I didn't get a bite for about 45 minutes and rain was starting to soak through on the back of my left leg.  I was just about to leave when I got good silver, about 10 minutes later I got another and called it a night.

6 Silvers

No Silvers or Dogfish

Not the dogfsh I was hoping for.
(17.5" White Crawtube) 

6:00-7:30AM
Conditions: Sunny, 46 degrees, breezy out of the NE

I was up and the sun was coming up, so I went back to the GOMH.  I actually went to the GOMH, Bulldog, Bear Trax for more minnows and back to the GOMH.  On the first trip to the GOMH the only bite I got was the fish in the picture (NE side).  I tried for silvers first, but they were gone.  I did see a couple of really small orange bullheads along the rocks. Amazingly I didn't get a single jumper on the S side the first trip.  I got the 17.5 incher on the NE side.  Bulldog was dead.  I went back to the GOMH again and got a couple more jumpers, but on the SE side this time.  As I was packing up to leave Christmas Lake Guy showed up pulling his boat.  I filled him in on how I did last night and this morning.  He told me that the ramps on Sullivan haven't been fixed yet and the docks aren't in yet.  I just assumed since Rock Lake was done that Sullivan was as well.  I really hope they get on that before Opener.

Rock, Bulldog, GOMH

10.5" Cubby Mini-Mite w/minnow

7:00PM-3:00AM
Conditions: Comfortable, stars in the sky few clouds, calm to a slight wind late out of the NE.

I started at Rock Lake and didn't get a bite.  I left there at almost 8PM and on a whim went to bulldog.
I had some little sunfish pulling on the Cubby and I caught one of them.

I only stayed about 15 minutes then headed to the GOMH.  From the cars it looked like it would be packed, but it was mostly friends of Peter just hanging out.  I gave Peter a very belated birthday present of a Berkley Frenzy Popper, Paycheck Baits Repo Man, and Stanley Phantom all new in package.  He said somebody caught a dogfish.  While we were talking the people who were down on the SW side got up and left.

I quickly excused myself, pulled the car up into the vacated spot, and got my stuff down to the SW side.  I caught the silver pictured at the top of this post almost immediately.  I gave it to one of Peter's friends.  About 5 minutes later I got another one which I also gave to Peter's friend.  It got dark enough that I needed to get the lighted bobber which was up in the truck.  Lantern Man showed up and came and fished next to me seeing as that there were bullhead fisherman on the SE side.  I switched to Glow Demon rod and had silver swallow it.   I had to have Peter's friend get the hook out.  It kind of slowed down at that point.  Lantern Man was out on Thurs night and got his limit, which he had for dinner.  We would get a bite every so often.  My fish coming in close and his coming farther out.  The bullhead fisherman were pulling them in constantly.  I took about 20 minutes off of fishing when I called Pete.  LM moved to the SE side when the bullhead fishermen left.  With a little help from me LM had his limit by 12:30.  From then on it was just me and the muskrats and frogs.  I got into a pretty good rhythm catching them when I ran into some major line issues.  I ended up losing most of my Power Pro.  I only got one more silver after that.  I caught 28 silvers total from 8" to 12".