Incredible Night On the Water, The Fishing Was OK Too

What awaited me when I arrived at the lake place tonight.

8:45-9:45PM 3 Loon Flat & S.P.S.I.
Conditons: 70℉, Mostly Cloudy small thunderstorms coming through all evening, Light NNW Wind
Water Temp: 69℉

I wanted to go fishing tonight starting at 5PM, but small thunderstorms kept developing over the lake, so I just stayed at home until about 7:40PM when I headed to the lake.  It pretty much quit raining the second I parked the Kia and there was that magnificent rainbow.

Looking NW from our dock

 I didn't know if I was there to go fishing or just drain water from the boat as the weather to the NW looked threatening and that was the direction the storms had been coming from.

An eagle sat up in a tree to the East keeping an eye on the sky with me while baitfish spooked occasionally well out front of our dock.    There were frequent cloud to ground lightening strikes taking place that I could here anywhere from 12 to 18 seconds after I saw them. I was not optimistic about getting out.  At about 8:10 someone from across the bay decided to take their pontoon boat out for a slow cruise around the lake.  I thought they were nuts.  Then about 5 minutes later a fishing boat took off from across the bay and someone else started pulling a tube around. I then noticed a guy in a boat fishing the docks across the way.

I bet he got a big fish off of those docks tonight 

Cloud to ground strikes were still going on.

 Although this picture doesn't really show it some blue sky appeared to the NW at about 8:30.  At that point I put the battery in the boat and got my tackle.  Lesson learned, with all the people with smart phone weather apps, they know what is going on with the weather as it is happening.  I need to seriously think about buying myself one.

I ended up just bringing one tackle bag, normally 3, and 4 Rods, normally 10+.  It was going to be topwater or bust for me tonight.  Should have brought a frog rod with too, because casting in the rice, pads, and reeds doesn't work so great with topwater plugs.

21" Whopper Plopper 90 (Yellow Head)

So I headed out to 3 Loon Flat where I got some bass yesterday.  I got a few pike slashing at my lures and caught this one.  At about 9:10PM I decided to pull the plug and head for the South point of the small island where I wrecked them the other night.

The reeds are off the South point of the big island

 I had to stop and take a picture of the sun as it set, then I was quickly back on my way.  I stopped well short of the juice and could have really used the frog rod to probe the pads, rice, and reeds as I made my way South.  As I got close to the juice I grabbed the rod with the River2Sea Double Plopper Buzzbait on it.  I figured it was a great chance to actually catch a fish on the thing, rather then just have them slash at it.  The first fish to strike at it didn't get it yet again, but sure enough I quickly caught a pike.

21.5" Double Plopper Buzz

And with that fish I closed out a fish on everything in Mystery Tackle Box #3.

Another Blog post on this topic coming later

At that point I immediately put that rod down and went to the Jackall Pompadour and threw it right over the juice where a good fish immediately belted it, but didn't hook up.  Several more casts later with nothing showing interest I put the Pompadour down and went to the Shower Blows knock off. Was hooked up on the first cast with this dink.

11.5" Shower Blows Knock Off (Chart/Herring Bone)

Charles Steinbauer, my boater for the Platte/Sullivan tournament, I'm sure is wondering why they didn't have that buoy out there on tournament day.  I decided not to weigh the fish because it was getting dark quickly.  I got another dink a few casts later after a couple of fish just slashed at it.  By the time I got that fish which was hooked dangerously for me off I was to far to be able to cast to the juice.  I tried working the other side of the trench, but all I got there was a couple of weeds.

I made my way back towards the buoy and a got another dink, this time on the Yellow Head Plopper 90.  By the time I got that fish off I needed to move back towards the buoy.  While underway I made a cast 15 feet past the buoy, but only 5 feet from where my line passed it.  About half way back to the buoy finally a good bass hit the Plopper.  Then the fish started fighting towards the buoy.  I kicked the trolling motor on high in case it made it buoy.

16" Whopper Plopper 90 

Fortunately, the fish cleared the buoy and I landed it.  Unfortunately, the boat went pretty much right over the juice.  I thought maybe it was dark enough I didn't wreck it, but apparently I did because I didn't catch another fish there.  I went in close to the reeds and made the mistake of trying to cast to a lane I thought I saw in the reeds.  The cast was about 7 feet off the mark to the left, so I had to go get the Plopper.  I put on the black Shower Blows knock off and got a quality bass on my last cast of the night.

15.5" SBKO

It was so dark I didn't notice the fish was bleeding until I looked at the camera's LCD screen to make sure I framed the fish correctly. One of the hooks must have clipped a gill during the fight because I didn't take a hook out of the gills to take it off.  The mosquito's were terrible tonight.

5 Bass
4 Pike

At least as many bites that didn't hook up.

Platte Lake Pig

5.09lbs SBKO

5:15-2:00PM GOMH NE, West Point, F Flat, 3 Loon Flat
Conditions: 60-73℉, Cloudy to Partly Cloudy, WNW moderate wind the whole time
Water Temp: 66℉

I started off the morning catching jumpin' bullheads at the Grumpy Old Man Hole.  I got 3 on the V&M Wild Worm (14.75,14.5,13.5), 2 on a Jerk Shad (14.75,11.75), and 2 on the Savage Gear Armor Tube Worm (14,11).  I didn't get anything on the SW side.

I then took my sweet time getting out in the Trophy.  I lost some bites at West Point.  For instance I had the Wild Worm turned into a Ned Rig, probably by a pike.  I did get one small pike on the Tube worm.

I then headed to the eastern end of Fall Flat that I could also call Flag Flat for the 3 American Flags along the shoreline, so I'm just calling it F Flat now.  In the overcast conditions I wanted to see if I could get fish on topwater and that is what I did the rest of the day, but getting mostly pike instead of bass.

16.25" SBKO

I got a couple nice bass pretty quickly (16.25,15.66) on the black Shower Blows knock off.  I watched the 15.66 come out from under a dock and grab it.  It was then a hammer handle fest until I got to the pads on the West side of the flat. Then BOOM!

So big I couldn't boat flip it.  I had to use the net for safety reasons.  It put up quite a fight almost pulling the rod out of my hands at one point.

Got her out front of these pads

  I got a couple blow ups on a Bobby's Perfect, but only managed to land one small pike.  I also missed some bow ups on the SBKO along the dock to the West of F Flat.  I worked my way all the way to the reed bed off the point.  I fished the reeds for a little bit getting one dink on the edge on the SBKO and having a fish blow up big in the reeds, but miss the frog.  While I was still in the reeds a fish got blown up out over the flat.  The flat is a 4' to 6' deep area with cabbage that is exactly like F Flat, just farther out from shore.  There were baitfish all over the place.  I caught a couple small pike and was about to go in for the day at noon when the fish went berserk.  I got bit on 7 straight casts on the SBKO.  3 bass and 4 pike.  I only landed one small bass. The other two were both on and 16" class fish.  The pike all hooked up and were 16" to 22" inches.

Then I caught a pike of missed a blow up sporadically.  3 loons swam over and checked out what I was doing.  I am now calling this area 3 Loon Flat.  The sun began to break through the clouds and I caught a 15" bass on the Powder Whopper Plopper 90 and had a few fish miss it.  I then called it a day at 2PM.

15 Bass (19.75, 16.25,15.66,15,14.75,14) 15.34lbs for my best 6
20 Pike

Rainy Morning MTBing It, Productive Short Evening

16.25" V&M Wild Worm

5:00-8:30AM GOMH NE, Culvert, Bulldog, Rock, Peavy
Conditions: 60℉, Cloudy Light Rain, Calm to Windy ESE, water flowing into Sullivan pretty good.

Maybe the sky was spectacular this morning and I missed it because I was wearing the hood on my rain jacket.  The main objective this morning was to catch fish on the rest of my Mystery Tackle Box plastics.  I did just that and got a bonus fish on the Ima Pinjack.  First Bite was on the Buddha Baits Swagger Worm.

15" Buddha Baits Swagger Worm

I did some reading up last night on the V&M Wild Worm.  I was rigging it weightless, which is wrong because it's designed to be fished on a shaky head; The weight of the jig makes the thing swim.  The fish really liked it when I put the jig with it.  I lost a good one, then caught the 16.25" in the first picture and a 14" later on.

Chowed It On the Jighead

I then got missed a few hits on the Netbait Paca Slim on the Z-Man Shroomz Jig before I landed a 14" and 11" on the combo.

14" Z-Man Shroomz Jig/Netbait Paca Slim

The last fish of the morning was a pike on the Ima Pinjack.  The water at the GOMH is to shallow for the Pinjack, especially now with the low water.

21.5 Ima Pinjack

So I have now caught a fish on all the Mystery Tackle Box plastics.  I really like that Paca Slim.

I went and tried the culvert, Bulldog, Rock, and Peavy.  Overcast perfect conditions, but nothing going on.  All the lakes connected to P/S are low.  We need more rain than we got today

5 Bass (16.25,15,14,14,11) 8.20lbs
1 Pike
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Evening Trip

16.25" SBKO

8:00-9:45PM West Point, Fall Flat
Conditions: 66℉, Cloudy with some drizzle, Windy WNW
Water Temp: 65℉

16" Savage Gear Armor Tube Worm/Ike VMC Wacky Jig

I slept until 6:30PM and didn't get moving toward the lake right away.  I chose not to fish the GOMH and went for the Trophy hoping maybe I could get a topwater bite on the Fall Flat.  I fished West Point first and got a couple on a the Armor Tube Worm wacky rigged off of the juice dock.  I also got one small pike by the tree dock.

About 8:45 I headed to the Fall Flat where it was reasonably calm.  I tried the Pompadour. but the fish were having none of it.  I tried a frog, nothing.  Then I went with the Shower Blows knock off and the 16.25 blasted it.  I ended up with 3 or 4 bass on it and a couple of pike.

My 6 Best Bass for the Day

5 Bass (16.25,16,14.6,14,12.9) I think I might have forgotten to write down a 15" fish
3 Pike

Jackall Pompadour Lives Up To The Hype!

18" Jackall Pompadour (Bone)

5:30-10:00PM Out front, West Point, East of GOMH, South Point Small Island
Conditions: 74-70℉, Partly Cloudy, Windy SSE almost calm towards dark.
Water Temp: 66℉

22" Bobby's Perfect (Brown/Sunfish)

So I started off tonight fishing out front.  I got this first pike in front of Sherman's.  Nothing down to Beaver Point and then the wind caught me.

A Blackhawk Helicopter flew by.  I then decided to hit up West Point.  I got a 16" next to the juice dock and a 14.5" next to the next dock East.  I also got a small pike off of the juice dock.

16" Netbait Baby Mad Paca (Green Pumpkin)

From there I headed to the start of the slop East of the GOMH.  I lost the first blow up. Then I got a 15.25" bass.  I managed to land this pike.

Notice both hooks are outside of the fish and the line runs through it's mouth with the nose of the frog caught in it's mouth.  There was some activity in the slop and I missed one good hit that must have pulled BP down by the legs.  I also had a good sized pike come all the way out of the water on a blow up.  Also discovered there is a dead head about a foot below the surface in about 7' of water.  I didn't take the time to GPS it.  I just couldn't get a hit in the slop, so I pulled out at about 8:45PM and went to the South Point of the small island.  I put on the Jackall Pompadour, I almost didn't bring the rod to throw it along with me this trip, so glad I did as it was game on.

15.75" Pomp

16" Pomp

18" Pomp

I caught 9 bass and 1 Pike in the next 45 minutes and missed about 4 or 5 hits as well.

Also took the time to notice the cool sky

15.12lbs for my Biggest 6 Bass

12 Bass(18,16.16,15.75,15.66,15.25)
6 Pike

Nothing In the Morning, A Few In the Evening

15.66" SBKO

5:30-6:45 GOMH NE, Culvert, INlet
Conditions: 41-49℉, Sunny, Light Wind, Water Level Low

I was greeted by a red wing blackbird this morning.  Didn't get a hit anywhere and somebody showed up and took both sides of the South side, so I was SOL.

I did get a bobber though, so there is that.
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Evening Trip

16" SBKO

7:30-10:00PM West of Fall Flat and Fall Flat along the docks
Conditions: 68-60℉, Partly Cloudy, Light NW Wind turning calm by 9PM
Water Temp: 66℉

15.5" SBKO

The wind was blowing a bit to much for me to go into the reeds across the way like I wanted to, so I headed to calm water by the Dogs House.  I got a small pike  off the first dock on an Outkast Jig with Craw Fatty trailer.  I was going to fish docks, but I couldn't resist throwing topwater for the most part.  I did miss a couple bites on the jig.  I got the first bass (15.5) of the evening on the SBKO to the East of the Cabin Dad and I looked at.  I got the second bass (12.75) on my very next cast back towards the Cabin we looked at.  I got a pike on the Bobby's Perfect Frog

 I then had a pike attempt to steal my SBKO.  Fortunately it didn't get the hooks.  A pike then did proceed to steal the Bobby's Perfect I had on the Tatula Frog Rod.  I ended up choosing to not go to the reeds when the biggest bass of the night to the SBKO in front of the Flag Place.  I also caught a dink and a pike there.  I ended by running the Double Plopper Buzzbait and having 3 fish swirl at it.

 Not a stellar night, but not a total bust either.  It needs to warm up.

4 Bass (6.19lbs)
8 Pike