Morning & Evening Trips

8.5" T.H.E. Jig (Chart/black)

5:45-10AM GOMH NE, SW, Bulldog, Lake Place
Conditions: 54-60℉, Cloudy to Mostly Cloudy, Wind out of the South, Water levels stable

I didn't make it out last night because I went to bed around 8PM. I heard from Lantern Man tonight that fish were getting busted all over the place last night.  That probably means the spottail shiner spawn peaked last night.

10.5" Minnow on the Cubby Rod

I had the alarm set for 4:15AM and I got up, but man was I dragging and my upper back as all tightened up.  I didn't get out of the house until after 5:30AM.  I got a couple jumpin' bullheads on the minnow on the Cubby Rod.

18" Minnow

The 18" is the second skinny big fish I've caught in two days.   Looks like the majority of the pre-spawn bite will be over by the catch and release opener this year. Bummer!  I fished the Horny Toad on both sides hoping to raise a dogfish.  I had a couple small toothy's swirl at it on the N side and I caught about an 11" jumper on it on the SW side.  I did get some oranges on both sides.

7.5" Minnow on the Cubby Rod

  Next I headed to Bulldog.

7" THE Jig (chart/black)

I got 3 sunfish there.  It was a slow bite.  I moved on to the lake place.  Good things I did because I discovered that one of my parents renters was using the Trophy, which he never asked for permission to do. Almost all the gas was used up and the trolling motor battery had been drained down so far that when I checked it 10 hours later it was only up to 89% charged while charging at 15amps.  I did manage to get the one nice 8.5 gill off the dock.  The neighbors to the West put their dock in at a different spot this year.

Don't know why?

I believe the pontoon lift has to sit on the right/our side of the dock.  Fine with me;  An easy cast to possible prime bass cover.

10.75" Glow Demon & Minnow

Evening Trip:
8:00-11:30PM Lake Place, Bulldog, GOMH NE
Conditions: 64-55℉, Partly Cloudy, Very Windy out of the NW to start calming down to nothing around 10:30PM.

I went into the cities this afternoon to get my annual ICD check done.  I got the tech that like to fish, so we talked fishing the whole time.  We got back a little after 7PM.  I went and got the situation with the renters straightend out and did some fishing off the dock.  I managed to get one decent sunny in the wind.  When I went to grab the camera out of my pocket it wasn't there; I had left it at home, doh!

Next stop was at Bulldog Lake where I really wished I had the camera because the Moon rise was spectacular in a purple tinted sky above.  I missed a couple bites on the THE jig before I headed over to HFA to give it a try.  As I was parking there was a big swirl that had me thinking dogfish.  I cast to the spot with the Horny Toad and promptly got smacked by a 15" bass.   That was the only bite I got there.

6.75" Glow Demon & Minnow

Next I headed to the GOMH.  A guy was leaving as I pulled up. The guy came back and asked me if he left to early.  We talked about the bite at the GOMH for a little while.  I basically told him the truth, I have no clue what the bite will be at this spot from one day to the next.  I think the silvers should definitely be in right now, but for the most part it looks like they have left to probably go spawn is my guess.

After that conversation was over the guy left and I headed down to the NE side where it suddenly occurred to me I had my back up camera with and the Rite in the Rain Notebook to record my fish catches in.  That stroke keeps me from thinking clearly about things sometimes.  I got a couple jumpers and a toothy and the one orange that bit on a minnow.  That is what the guy who left got, minnow gobbling orange bullheads.  I noticed that the reel handle on my lighted bobber had been chewed on by a chipmunk in the garage today.

Lantern Man arrived at about 10:45PM.  Shortly after he got there I got my one and only silver for the night.  I went and brought it to him on the SW side.  He told me about last night and we discussed the state of fishing right now.  We were both perplexed on why the silvers aren't in the area in any numbers.  He did get about 10 last night but most of them weren't keepers.  I went back to the NE side.  A fox started screaming bloody murder every 20 seconds or so for what seemed like half an hour.  Coyotes, loons, other birds, and possibly wolves joined the racket.  Full Moon I guess!  My upper back and shoulders were barking at me pretty good because tonight I didn't do any stretching or take a pain pill prior to fishing as is my routine.  LM got a couple silvers, one of which was a keeper on the SE side in the middle of the channel after the current stopped moving through.  The current was really moving into Sullivan until about 11PM when it slowly began to grind to the stop.  I left at 11:30.