Skunked And Lost A Lure At the GOMH

The new tackle carrier

How much open water

4:30-5:30PM
Conditions: Sunny, Colder 34 degrees, wind out of the NW

I went back to the well today and came up empty in more ways than one.  I made a cast with the STX I caught the toothy on yesterday and hit the wall just right knocking it off the Speed Clip.  Bummer, that lure caught fish.  Oh well, easy come easy go.  When ice started forming in the tip of my rod I left.

1st Open Water Fish of the Year

19" STX

3:45-5:00PM
Conditions: 54 degrees, light S wind, mostly sunny, water level is really low.

My Fish Trap doesn't fit in the Kia Soul but my long rods do, so I went to the Grumpy Old Man Hole to try a little open water fishing.  I didn't expect to catch anything, but you never know at the GOMH.  I fished the SW side with a blue/silver STX and didn't see any signs of life.  I then fished the area with a bluegill D & M Piranha.  Still nothing.  Then I tried a chartreuse/white STX and a fish swiped and missed.  I let it sit for about 5 seconds then twitched it a couple of times and BAM! Fish On!  A 19" toothy bullhead is my first open water fish of the year on February 27th; The earliest first open water fish since moving North in 2003.  I fished a few more lures on the SW side and then tried the NE side where there wasn't very much open water.  Nothing on the NE side.

Fishing Season ends tomorrow for pike, bass, and walleye, so I may give the GOMH one last shot tomorrow, if it gets above freezing.  I might go ice fishing tomorrow as well.

All the open water I had to fish on the Sullivan side

Crappies and Sunny's Tonight

Almost 10" VMC Tubby Jig

4:30-8:00PM
Conditions: Cloudy, cooler 28-24 degrees, wind out of the NW

Today may be the last day I take the Ford Expedition out on the ice.  Dad is taking it on a church retreat this weekend and it's suppose to get close to 50 degrees on Saturday and will be above freezing from Friday afternoon through Sunday night.  I'll find out if the Fish Trap fits in the KIA Soul tomorrow.  I'm guessing not with fishing gear.

I felt good about how I fished today.  Nothing was going in the sawdust holes.  I discovered a small group of crappies and sunfish in my North waypoint holes.  After they left I drilled holes but was unable to locate any more fish.  I went in by the maidencaine and got a couple sunny's and a crappie.  As it was getting dark I moved out.  I switched to all minnows on the Glow Demon's.  The crappies weren't very active, but I managed to catch 9 of them before my propane ran out and I called t quits.

I had 3 trumpeter swans do some fly bye's.  Pretty Cool.  Also saw an eagle on the way to lake soaring as I got to Richardson's Corners and saw an eagle while fishing yesterday.

14 Crappies
10 Sunfish

Missed ??? And Got Some Crappies

Last fish of the night 11.33" Glow Demon w/minnow

4:45-9:10PM
Conditions: Mostly sunny, light wind out of the NW, 32-28 degrees

I started out at the sawdust holes.  Nothing doing.  I worked my way closer to the maidencane where I got a couple of perch on the red VMC jig.   I had either a pike or a bass hit my red crawfish Rippin' Rap but quickly get off.  I switched VMC jigs and moved towards the middle of the maidencane and got some sunfish.  I moved out to the sawdust holes for prime time and camped.  That turned out to be a good call as I got 11 crappies on the Glow Demon.  I would have caught more but I had my line get caught under the spool on my reel and it took me 20 minutes to get untangled.

    

9" Glow Demon w/minnow

I hooked the crappie after I had the line off the reel, but didn't have the tangles out of my line yet.  Fortunately I was able to get my line straightened out and land the fish.  The fish disappeared at about 8PM.  I did some hole hopping and didn't find anything.  The ice was making noise and the moon was up by the time I left.

1st fish of the day

Sunny's were slightly bigger than yesterday

11 Crappies

7 Sunfish

2 Perch

I Thought It Was Gonna Be A Crappie Fest

9" VMC Jig w/maggots

4:30-7:45PM
Conditions: Overcast, 35-32 degrees, wind out of the WNW

It probably would have been a crappie fest had I fished smarter.  My first 3 fish were crappies and 6 out of my first 10, but then I was mobbed by small sunfish.  I was fishing out were there weren't any fish yesterday near the sawdust holes.  I was content to catch sunfish for about half an hour until I caught 20 of them.  I moved North and got one crappie then nothing.  I then moved shallower and got some little sunfish there.  I was hoping maybe a bass would come through but that didn't happen.  I broke off the brown, orange, and glow VMC Tubby Jig on little sunny that got tangled in the transducer.  I put a smaller red glow VMC Tubby on and got a few small sunnies on that.  It was pretty dark before I went back to the sawdust holes.  I managed to get 4 smaller crappies and bullhead out there on the Glow Demon and a minnow.

Most were this size or smaller

Close to being a keeper, but not quite

Bullhead got on the scorecard again

33 Sunfish

11 Crappies

1 Perch

1 Bullhead

To catch more crappies I should have put a minnow down sooner and I should have stayed out and drilled holes out there.

I Found Some Fish Eventually

9" VMC Tubby Jig w/maggots

4:30-7:45PM
Conditions:  Mostly Cloudy turning clear as the sun went down, 32-28 degrees, light wind out of the South.

Fish weren't out where they had been so it took me about 35 minutes to locate some small sunnies in about 13 feet of water.  Then I didn't drill a second hole right away. I did get two crappies, then I drilled a couple of more holes.  I got one crappie on a minnow, then fish vacated the area. Got a couple more small crappies in the last set of holes and I think I got a few bites from some little sunnies that didn't hook up.  All in all it was kind of a lackluster trip.

Found some perch first.

Then some little sunnies.

Small Crappie

As the Moon came up with the ION and Expedition.

5 Crappies
11 Sunfish
2 Perch

Morning Trip, Lots of Sunfish

8.90" VMC Tubby Jig w/maggies

7:00-9:30AM
Conditions: Mostly Sunny, windy out of the NW, 28 degrees

I pretty much drove up to my holes from last night.  Didn't need to re-drill all but 1 hole.  I started in the holes I got them in last night (farthhest South).  I got one crappie and a about 6 sunfish, but not much was happening so I moved by 7:30.  I skipped by the middle set of holes and went to my farthest North waypoint set.  The fish were there and very active.  Occasionally I would pull up a crappie or a bigger sunfish.  Didn't get any pictures of the crappies; They were running small.  I never did put a minnow down.  All my fish were on the VMC Jig w/ maggots.  I broke off a sunfish when it got hung up on the transducer cable and I got careless.  I'm really getting the hang of my set up with the "spring bobber" and tungsten jig.  Once I got done fishing I was going to set the camera down, but the battery was dead because the camera got turned on at some point.

8"

A lot of potato chips 

  8 Crappies
40 Sunfish

Back on Rock After A Week of Cold Weather

6.5" VMC Tubby Jig w/maggies

4:00-7:30PM
Conditions:  Partly sunny turning cloudy, wind out of the SSW diminishing, temps right around freezing.

I got out a little later than I wanted.  The fish weren't out where I had been getting them.  So I drilled a couple of holes to the South in approximately the same depth.  First hole I started getting some sunfish and a crappie, so I drilled a second hole for a minnow and the fish left.  I went to the farthest hole South and they were there.  I pulled up a bunch of sunnies and a few crappies, so I drilled a second hole.  The fish stayed this time and I didn't move from there.  I started getting some crappies on a minnow, then I got a bullhead.  Action slowed by 6PM.  I stayed until 7:30 trying to catch what were probably turned off sunfish.  They would bite occasionally, but I could't hook them.  My biggest crappie of the night was 10 inches on the VMC with maggots.  All fish released.

6.5" VMC w/maggies

9" VMC Tubby Jig w/maggies

Same fish in first picture

10.5" Glow Demon w/minnow

 20 Sunfish
10 Crappies
1 Bullhead

Back At Rock This Morning

9" VMC Tubby Jig w/maggies

7:00-11:00AM
Conditions: Temps 35 going up to 37, cloudy, windy out of the West

Since the temps were above freezing and it's gonna get cold I decided to hit Rock again.  I started in a set of three holes somebody drilled yesterday.  I got one crappie there.  Next I went to the holes I fished out of last night.  I called the fish in with a Rippin' Rap and then but the VMC Jig down and I caught a mixed bag of crappies, but mostly sunfish, most of which were 5-6 inches.  I got maybe 3 that were 7".  I also got 1 perch.

6.5" VMC Jig

4" VMC Jig

Around 9:30 the fish stopped coming in.  I went and drilled some holes along the reed line in about 10 feet.  I got perch in all of them and 1 sunfish.  No sign of bass or Pike.  I brought the camera but didn't use it.  It started snowing and the wind picked up even more than it had been blowing, so I quit at 11AM.  All my fish were on the VMC with maggots.

29 Sunfish
7 Crappies
7 Perch

Ice Fishing in February...

Something I didn't do last year.

20.5" VMC Tubby Jig w/maggies and Gulp Minnow

4:15-9:15PM
Conditions: Temp 33 degrees, mostly cloudy to cloudy, some sleet, windy out of the South

I got out a little later than I would have liked.  I picked up some minnows at Bear Trax and drove out onto the ice.  Someone had been fishing in my area earlier in the day, but was gone by the time I got there.  I drilled a couple holes in 16 feet.  Then drilled holes up by the maidencaine.  I didn't bring the camera with me.  Going shallow was a waste.  At about 5:15PM I went to the deeper holes and spent the rest of my night there.  I caught a crappie first on the VMC Tubby Jig with maggots and Gulp Minnow.

8.5" VMC Tubby Jig

  Then I got the pike.  Then it was crappies coming in pretty consistently on the VMC Jig.  I had a couple of minnows stolen before I got any crappies on them.  It started sleeting around 6:30PM so I put the ION in the truck.  I had a mark come through at about 8 feet.  I thought it was going to be a bullhead, but it was this chub of a sunfish.

Almost 8" VMC Jig

The minnow got hot and I landed the biggest crappie of the night on it.

10.5" Glow Demon w/minnow

I ended up with 10 crappies on the Glow Demon with a minnow and 13 on the VMC with maggies.  Most fish were right about 9 inches with one potato chip.  I may get out before sunrise tomorrow.

23 Crappies
1 Sunfish
1 Pike