That Was Quick! Silver Has Arrived.

9" Cubby & Minnow

4:30-7:15PM Rock Lake
7:30-9:30PM GOMH SE
Conditions: 55-40℉, Mostly Sunny, Wind out of the North turning calm around 7PM, Low water

I started my fishing trip tonight with a brief stop at Bulldog.  A bunch of torn up reeds got blown into the access outlet area.  If nobody removes them it will make for great cover.  There was still ice on 15% of the lake.

I then drove around on North Platte Lake Drive.  The north bay was still iced up, but other than that it looked open.

Rock Lake was open and that is where I fished until 7:15PM

17.75" Cubby & Minnow

I just had one bite and landed it.  It got calm and I was getting chilled so I made the call to go to the GOMH.

Color me surprised that there was still ice at the access.  There were a couple of guys at the GOMH.  They hadn't gotten anything.  I ended up setting up on the NE side.  Those guys left.  I was just about to go up and get my dogfish rods when I got a bite on the Cubby.

14.5" Cubby & Minnow

Jumpin' Bullhead.

I decided to break out the lighted bobber.  I had a bite, but I missed it.  It felt very silverish.  I quickly put another minnow on and threw back to the same area.  A fish picked it up almost immediately and I got the silver bullhead at the top of this blog.  I had one other hit that I missed.

Can't say I'm shocked the silver bullheads showed up tonight.  It was sunny all day.  Now the question is will the bullheads move in thick starting tomorrow.  Bummer it had to happen on the weekend.

The long range forecast says we are in a run of above average temps, fishing should get good fast.

1st Bullhead of the Year

18" Cubby w/Minnow

7:00-8:30PM GOMH SW
Conditions: 50-46℉, Partly Cloudy, Windy out of the NW

Long Lake Ice Gone

Bulldog

Bulldog Lake 50% Open.  Ice out probably tomorrow.

Rock Lake

Rock Lake

Rock Lake 60% Open.  Ice Out Tomorrow!

Platte was a surprise with the Eastern side of the lake ice free.

The view from Jenny's Access. (That is West Point on the left.)

Platte Access

I thought maybe I would be able to call Platte Lake Open when I got done fishing, but the access was still iced in.  Tomorrow is the day.

Oops, didn't get it focused right.

The line broke a the pike was flopping up on shore.  It almost got away; I had to go down on my knee to grab it.  First bullhead of the year is a toothy.  It bit in shallow water, so I wasn't entirely sure if it was a fish or maybe I had gotten caught on a weed.  I set the hook and it felt like a small fish and I thought maybe it might be a silver bullhead, nope toothy.  That was the only bite I had tonight.

Red Wing Blackbird

There was a noisy male Mallard duck tonight over on the SE side.

1 Toothy Bullhead

Willard Was At The GOMH Tonight, Got Skunked Again

Willard is in the truck

5:30-8:15PM Bulldog, Rock, and GOMH
Conditions: 51-47℉, Mostly Cloudy, Very Light E wind.

I was amazed, GOM Willard has come back to the GOMH.  Highlight of the evening was catching up with him.  His older brother GOM Lewis has cancer pretty bad.  Willard was also at the GOMH this morning and somebody was fishing that didn't catch anything.

Tonight's Money Shot

Bulldog from Holy Family

Bulldog Lake was about 1/3 of the way open tonight.  Long looked to be 40% open.

Rock Lake looking North

Rock Lake was maybe 20% open and I would say the same for Platte.

Platte is open along the south shore of the Big Island

Three C-130's tonight flying low to Fort Ripley

I didn't get a bite tonight, but I did get a Piranha stuck in the ice at Rock Lake the about 4 feet in from the water line.  It just wouldn't come loose and I wasn't going to break the line and lose it.  I tried snagging it with both of my heavier set ups.  That was unsuccessful.  Eventually I used a piece of two by four drift wood to accelerate the melting process along the ice line.  After about an hour it finally came loose when the water line reached it.  Apparently it was hung up on the Trailer Hitch by the way that thing was bent out of shape.

My guess ice off Long Lake tomorrow and on the 31st for Bulldog, Rock, and Platte.

Tackle Warehouse Opener And I Got Skunked Again

Goal Achieved: #7 Under Technique And Tackle

I never got around to official opening the Tackle Warehouse last year.  I don't store much of my tackle in it anymore.  It's mostly full of old junk and extra plastics.  Sometimes I use my little man cave to work on securing my jig and spinnerbait skirts so they don't fall apart.

Today I was after some dogfish candy.

I haven't used a pork frog in several years.  I won both my first and second Minnesota Bowfin Club Grand Championship's with pork frog.  I thought it's about high time I get back to using them to chase another title.

It was such a nice day today.  In addition to playing around in the tackle warehouse for most of the afternoon, I also got the Muse Gold/Daiwa Emblem combo spooled up with 10lb Fireline. I headed out to check the lakes around 6:40PM.  I fished quite a while at Bulldog, but didn't get a anything there.

I would say Bulldog is 1/8th open. I little more progress on Rock Lake.

There is an open spot at the sunken island

As for Platte/Sullivan ice hasn't pulled away from the Eastern side of the lake for the most part yet.  From the access it looked like a different story on the NW side.

It looked like the SPRO was now totally open (no picture).  Channel Inn Bay was open.

View toward the Small Island

I think Platte is about 1/8th open as well.

Looking to the SW GOMH 

Single C-130 Flying to Ft. Ripley.  Normally there is two of them

I really thought I might catch something at the GOMH tonight.  There was some baitfish activity and a muskrat scarred something out of the bulrushes that made a fast moving V wake and no muskrat ever came up that I could tell.  I had a lively minnow on too.  I stayed until it was dark and I could no longer see the bobber.  I think the total lack of current moving under the bridge is why I didn't get anything tonight.  The anticipation of getting that first open water fish of the year and the warm weather made for a fun trip even if I did get skunked.

Trophy Out, Skunked at the GOMH

7:00-7:30PM The GOMH
Conditions: 51℉, Sunny, Calm

Dad and I got the Trophy pulled out today and I put the Fish Trap in it's place.  Expedition is now down at J.D.'s.  Hopefully I'll have it back by the time Mom and Dad leave for Florida.  I have to get the boat cleaned up.  I'll do that after they leave.  I won't take out the boat until the dock is in at Rock Lake.

It was such a nice night I just had to go fishing.  I'm pretty sure I will be catching fish by the end of the week.  I am opening the tackle warehouse tomorrow. Got to find them pork frogs.

Here is the view at Bulldog and Rock tonight.  Weather is good as far as the eye can see.

And I've changed the look of this blog.

Pleasantly Skunked On Classic Day 1

GOMH SW & Sullivan Platte River Outlet

I watched The Classic down at Lake Conroe all day.  It stayed cloudy with a North wind.  It got up to about 41℉.  I was kind of bored by the weigh in so I headed to the GOMH.  There is still some ice in the SPRO and open water hasn't progressed much toward the small island in Platte.  There was more open water to the North in Channel Inn Bay.

I wasn't really expecting to catch anything in 30 degree water, but you never know.

I  fished for about 5 minutes in the wind on the NE side, then I switched to the SW where it was actually kind of pleasant.  I got better acquainted with the Daiwa SS SV and the 6'10"Med Tatula and I tuned the Vision 110 Knock Offs I put hooks on.  Maybe they will catch me some fish some day.  I like the colors, but the quality of the lure blank isn't the greatest.  I didn't realize I had to put hooks on them, so I overpaid a little bit.  Oh Well.

I ended up fishing for about an hour.  Not a hint of a fish.  It was just nice to be out.  

Skunked On a Nice Day at the GOMH

2:30PM GOMH South Side

5:30PM GOMH South Side

2:30-3:30PM GOMH & Sullivan Inlet
5:30-5:45PM GOMH NE
Conditions: 54-52℉, Mostly Sunny, Calm then Gusty Wind

Dad had to run up to Fleet Farm today to get stuff for the Expedition, so we were unable to get the Trophy out today.  After a Dr. appointment I headed to the GOMH.  It was really nice almost no wind.  The open water area expanded nicely with the two warm days in a row we had.  Out of nowhere it got gusty from the West while I was fishing on the NE side.  No dogfish to report.  I did successfully fish with a Fuego reel that I fixed with some super glue to reattach an inductor that had come loose.👍👍  I've got at least two more of those reels with the same issue.  I fished for a bit on the SW side as well. Nothing.

     I then drove to the Platte River Culvert.  Water is pretty low.  Then I went to the Inlet.  Was surprised the South side of the culvert there was iced up, but with dark ice.  Nothing there either.

I had to pick something up in Onamia.  Lake Onamia had more open water than the GOMH at the outlet.  The gas station formerly known as Meleen's has reopened with a Taco John's in it where the tackle used to be.  I don't think I've ever eaten at Taco John's.  I'll have to give it a try sometime.  There were a couple of people fishing out on Mille Lacs.  One just north of Rocky Reef and a couple of people up by the Rum River Outlet. There wasn't a whole lot of open water there or at the Whitefish Inlet.  I circled back to the GOMH.  It was kind of breezy out of the SW.  I fish the NE side for 15 minutes then left.

It's not supposed to get above freezing tomorrow, then it warms up a bit and turns wet and windy.  I am rooting for rain at this point as we could use a good 10" in the lakes.  I believe lakes to the South and West of us will begin opening up again after that cold front stopped things dead in it's tracks.  It's supposed to be warmer down in the cities.  I suspect Tonka will be declared open in the next day or two.

I Went Ice Fishing Again

8.5" VMC Fly w/Jamei & spike

6:00-8:30PM Sullivan Lake (Sunfish Spot)
Conditions: 34-28℉, Mostly Sunny, Light N Wind, 26' of water

I went to Bear Trax and picked up some minnows and then headed to Rock Lake.  I was putting on my ice cleats when one of them broke, Doh.  I decided to drill some holes in the access area and look with the camera.  Ice was about 12" thick and honeycombed.  I didn't see any fish.  I wasn't going to walk out to my spot with only one ice cleat on.  I gave Bear Trax a call and they were open to 6PM, so I packed up and went and got a new pair of cleats.

I then headed to Sullivan.  I was the only person at the East access.  There were a couple of people fishing out toward the middle between the two accesses.  I went out to the spot I caught the sunfish last time I was out.  Fish were there, but I couldn't get them to bite, at least not bite so I could detect it.  I put the camera down and spotted some crappies, sunnies, and perch.  I watched crappies come up to the Fly look at for a few seconds then swim away a couple of times when I was down viewing.  I pulled the camera up because visibility just wasn't that good.  I had the bobber get pulled down a couple of times, but missed both fish.  I did get a couple of 8.5" crappies.  It was a nice sunset, but a little colder out than I wanted it to be.

     When I pulled away from the access the check engine light came on, Ruh Roh!.  Was this my last ice fishing trip of the year?

2 Crappies