Fishing With Steve On Platte

2.53lbs/16.75" Bobby's Perfect (Sparrow)

7:00-9:35PM Cane Across from PA, Chuck's Point
Conditions: 72-67℉, Mostly cloudy some sprinkles, Light NE wind
Water Temp: 72℉ water level rising.

2.53lbs/16.75" Sprinker

I had been dragging all day, but I took an extra 1/2 shot of Xtra Strength 5-Hour Energy and I was good to go.  Should have left the house 15 minutes sooner, oh well.  Steve decided to risk possibly getting rained on and went out with me.  We started out quite slowly due to water in the boat and only managed to get up to 17MPH on the way to the area around the cane across from the Platte Public Access.  I missed my first few bites on a subsurface white Spro Sprinker knockoff.  Not sure why the lure didn't want to run up on top, it worked fine yesterday.  I switched to the black purple head Sprinker Frog because I didn't have the white orange head one in the boat.  Steve missed a couple of good bites.  I was just about to change out the Sprinker when I got a small pike and 15" bass on back to back casts.  Steve missed a really good hit on the Terminator Poppin' Frog.  I got the 16.75" bass.  Steve missed a fish that blew up the Poppin Frog the second it landed.  I suggested he give another frog a try.  I gave him the 7'4" Tatula with a Bobby's Perfect on it.  He immediately got blasted by a nice pike which he launched toward us on the hookset and it got off.  Shortly after that while I was taking a piss off the front of the boat Steve got a 15.5" bass and it stayed on.

The relief he didn't get skunked.

I caught 15" on the Hot Mud Camo Terminator Frog and lost one on it.  We got out a little deeper where the rice hadn't reached the surface yet, so I put on the perch 110 Whopper Plopper.  I got a bite on the very first cast, but it quickly came off. At the same time that was happening Steve got his big one of the night.  I worked us back toward the cane and we had some pike bites and that was it.  At about 9:05 I decided to finally make the move to Chuck's Point.  I had been contemplating moving since before 8, but the fish biting kept us where we were at.

 At Chuck's Point, Steve caught a small pike and I had a really good bass come out of the water after the Sprinker, but it missed.  I couldn't get the fish to pick up my follow up jig.  We got up by the shore as it was getting dark.  I missed a couple fish I'm pretty sure were pike and Steve got the last bass of the night.  And I missed a fish the hit my last cast with the Plopper 110, really.

Best 6 Bass of the night

Me 4 Bass
4 Pike
Steve 3 Bass
6 Pike

We missed the best bites of the night. 

Bay Lake Pre-fish

No Pictures forgot to take any.

Conditions: Hot, Sunny, Windy SE, water visibility only about 3'

We started out by going on the backside of Battle Point working farther North to farther South of where Rog and I crushed them in the morning.  I remember it being a great cabbage area.  All I seemed to find was milfoil, pike, and rock bass or two.  I also lost several fish on the Pure Poison.  We worked the area for a solid hour plus I would say.  Chuck got a couple of small bass and bit off a few times.  Next, we went to a place with cabbage but no fish.  Then a milfoil spot where Chuck crushed on a bunch of little ones the last tournament.  All we found there was dead foil.  Next, we went to the North tip of Malkerson Island.  Chuck caught a small one there.  Next, we went and fished just inside the little slop bay on the NW corner of the lake fishing our way out on Indian Point.  Chuck got a couple of bass including the best of the day, 15 incher maybe.  For me, it was more pike and possibly a rock bass.  We went to a spot along the island.  I had dink throw the hook.  I think we both got multiple pike as well. Next, we worked a flat all the way down Corey Point.  More pike and fish getting off.  I think Chuck landed a bass or two as well.

Next, we checked an almost non-existent reed bed and some wood in the water along that one island.  I caught one 12" squeaker throwing the Poison out into nothing.  The shallows were by the wood were devoid of fish except for a rock bass or two.

Next, we went into the Bay that is to the South of that island, it was the furthest south we went.  We fished some docks and got rock bass and a couple of dinks.  I did a have decent bass come out from under a tree to look at my jig.

Next, we headed North to work the non-existent reed bed between the two small islands.  Then went and fished along the South or Malkerson.  Nothing but pike there.  Next, we went into the bigger slop bay that runs along 6.  I think Chuck caught a couple small bass in here.  I missed a couple hits on the Sprinker knock off and had a couple of bass feeling bites as we exited the bay.  Next, we worked a couple of spots along the North shore East of Rutgers.  More pike and rockies.  It was now 1PM and pretty darn warm.  We went to the reed point over by the culverts where I got a few dinks on the Buzz Toad, then we called it a day.

I hope Chuck learned something because he was scratching his head when we finished.  Hopefully, I got clued in on a couple of color choices.  I know that being in the hot sun was really draining, which I discovered on Wed's.     

Devin Gets a Big'n Off the Dock! And More

3.24Lbs 4" Yum Dinger

5:30-8:00AM Starting Spot, Reeds Across the Way
Conditions: 58-70℉, Partly Cloudy turning overcast, Light North Wind turning calm

17" Terminator Frog

So I slept through my alarm for 35 minutes.  Then I didn't take any 5-hour Energy.  I think I arrived at the Lake Place about 15 after 5AM.  It didn't take long and we were off to the starting spot.  Todd got the biggest fish of the trip right away.  Naturally, I went toward where we got them last night (East), except the fish weren't there or they weren't biting.  The sun might have had something to do with it, who knows.  I got us headed back to the West where the shoreline is more shaded and I got 3x16ers on a Horny Toad. 

16.5" Horny Toad

Todd missed a couple of hits and cut the trip short to go running with Kristen.  I headed to the reeds across the way and found a bunch of small pikes, not a single bass.  Not having taken the 5-Hour Energy just killed me because conditions were perfect, but I was running on fumes and had to go home and go to sleep.

I got up around 3PM when the girls called to have me come and take them tubing.  Isabelle caught her a bass off the dock while I was asleep.  After taking the girls out tubing while we were waiting for dinner Devin was fishing off the dock and caught herself a toad

15" Terminator Frog

8:45-9:30PM Starting Spot
Conditions: 79℉, Partly Cloudy, ENE Light Wind

So Todd Belle and I went to the starting spot.  I was to busy trying to find the fish to take a picture of the sunset, which was gorgeous.  I had some pike swirl and missed one that sucked the toad runner in.  Todd kept us from getting skunked.  Belle might have had a fish on for a few seconds as well.

  I think I didn't get 17" bass Todd caught in the morning recorded.  A pretty solid day for how little time was put in and the fish not being very active.

Bass Opener Day 1

5:15-6:00AM GOMH NE
When I arrived Wheel House Guy was there and he had gotten a couple of jumpers, toothy, and golden bullheads.  The shiners were getting beat up in the tube but I couldn't get hit.  A tournament fisherman came through and didn't stay in the boat channel, which sent a bunch of vegetation loose.  A did manage to miss a couple of topwater hits before more tourny guys came through.  By the time they blasted off 6AM, I was packing up to leave.  I did notice nobody started on SPSI

2.73lbs/17.25" Hexa Chinooki (Bubblegum)

6:30AM-12:45 PM SPSI, SPRO, Channel Inn Bay, Starting Spot
Conditions: 67-82℉, Partly Cloudy, Wind from calm to really blowing out of the West
Water Temp: 68-70℉
Seeing as how nobody stopped at the South point of the small island I did on my way to the river.  I was rewarded with my first keepable bass of the season throwing the Chinooki across the Point. Shame it was the only bite I could muster.  I then headed to the river mouth.  There was one non-tournament boat up by the first bend.  I elected not to go in and see if anything was still in the river mouth area.  It's a good thing I didn't try to go down to the damn as there were 3 other non-tournament boats that came out while I was fishing the SPRO.  I didn't get even a hit in the river mouth.  I decided to work down the West shoreline seeing as how I missed a good blow up doing that earlier in the week.

2.88lbs/18.25" Booyah Toad Runner

I was quickly rewarded when this skinny 18 incher crushed the Booyah Toad Runner.  Today was my first-day throwing this bait.  One blow up one hook up.  I thought maybe the Toad Runner might have the answer to my Sprinker hook up issues.  After I missed the next 6 to 10 solid blow ups that hope faded.  I almost picked up one of those missed blowups by a good fish on a Yum Dinger but pooched the hookset and lost that fish too.  I must have missed 5 or so fish before the action stopped on the West shore so I headed to the North shore where I missed 3 or 4 more good opportunities either not hooking up or losing the fish within a couple of seconds.  Very frustrating.  I caught a couple of small bass on the Dinger and Horny Toad.  At about 11AM I needed a change of scenery so I headed into Channel Inn Bay.  I went right to a spot I found last week and had a 17" class fish ht the Toad Runner and battle me nearly to the boat before getting off.  I got pretty down after missing that fish.

3.43lbs/18.5" Toad Runner

But that dejection was quickly turned to elation when this fish gobsmacked that Toad Runner Frog.  It was the kind of topwater smash that I live for, that frog got lit up.  The wind was making for difficult boat control.  Unfortunately, I ended up spooking some good fish and didn't get any more.  I wanted to head up to the "Juice" in the NW Corner, but there was a tournament boat in the area, so I went to try North Center Bay.  Nothing was going on in there.  I lost a pretty good (15/16ish) fish on Double Caine Point shortly after picking up the War Eagle Buzztoad buzzbait. Dang wind.  I caught a couple of dinks off the point.  I then drifted with the wind through the dead reedbed throwing the buzzbait. When I got just past the starting spot I had a 17/18 fish on for a few seconds before getting off.  There was a group of fish in the reedbed and I quickly caught 5 bass and missed a couple more before I had to leave so I could see the weigh-in.  I waved at Dennis and Ruff as I passed them.  Little did I know that a couple of minutes later when Dennis went to start his boat the battery was dead.  Too bad for them because they would have come in 2nd and had big bass as well.  Chuck & Billy Bongs caught a bunch of 16-inch fish, but couldn't find any 3lbers.  The tournament organizers team won with a stout 18lb plus 5-fish limit.

3.61lbs/18" Terminator Frog

I went home ate some lunch watched Major League Fishing and took a nap waking up at 5PM.  I didn't get over to the Lake Place until after 7PM.  When I arrived Isabelle made me a s'more.  Steve, Todd and I headed out a little before 8:30PM to where I was getting them in the afternoon.  Steve jacked a 15 incher on his second cast while I was still in the back of the boat.  Didn't even get a picture of it.  The fish were there and active, but out hooking percentages all sucked, with me driving the suck truck.  Todd did land the one pig and 13" dink.

2.84lbs/17.25" Toad Runner

      I did add to the daily tally with this fish and a 16-incher.  Here is the best 6 for the Day

17.81lbs for 6 Bass 

For the Day:
18 Bass  (At least 25 missed fish)
10 Pike

GOMH, 1st Cast Bass, A Backlash, and Bluegills with Devin off the Dock

So I headed in the Trophy to "The Dock" past Jenny's.  I got a bass fishing in open water on the very first cast that was pretty much the only bass I got.  I went to fish the dock and got a nasty backlash that I tried to pick out for about half an hour before finally giving up.  On the way in I noticed some big bedding bluegills just to the East of the dock.  Devin and I cleaned up on them.

GOMH Details
Trophy Trip Details
Devin Details All gills were released.

Skunked Mostly From Lack Of Trying and Timing

I was plum worn out from yesterdays fishing and didn't get out of bed until this afternoon.  I didn't get over to the lake place until almost 8:30PM.  I had to drain water from the Trophy.  After doing that I decided to just fish off the dock.  I didn't get a hit and fished maybe 10 minutes.  I got bit by mosquitoes though.  Steve came down and had something steal his Dinger.

I went to the GOMH and no one was fishing, but a thunderstorm was approaching fast.  I fished with the Grass Pig and the Shallow Shad not getting a hit.  I then decided I didn't want to get rained on and called it quits.  I'll get 'em in the morning.

Dinkfest At GOMH, Sprinkering In the Trophy

 I believe this was the trip where all I did was throw that Sprinker, missing most of the hits.  I must have forgotten to bring the camera out on the Trophy or maybe this was the day I dropped the camera or maybe I had a memory card failure.

GOMH Details
Platte Lake Details

Good GOMH, Catching and Missing Fish On Platte

GOMH Details
Platte Details

GOMH, River, SPRO

Full Trip Details

Devin's Birthday Bullhead & More

Devin's 12th Birthday Bullhead is a toothy

5:00-7:00AM GOMH SW NE SW
Conditions: 35-42℉, Partly Cloudy, Calm or slight NE wind

When I arrived this morning to get Devin her birthday bullhead no other than Sneaky C was there fishing.  He said he had just gotten there and had gotten a couple of toothys. I talked with him for a while and found out about the very good Opener he had out on the Big Pond.  Eventually, I went down on the SW side.  I think heard Sneaky catch a couple of fish and then he left.  I went over to the NE side and didn't get a thing, so I went back to the SW side and thankfully got Devin's Birthday Bullhead.  I got one small jumper as well.  Because it wasn't happening I went home and posted about my morning on Facebook and switched cars.
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4.10lbs/18.5" Poison/Swim Fluke Jr.

9:00-2:00PM Inlet Bay, Dennis Flat, Center North Bay
Conditions:50-67℉, Mostly Sunny, Wind ENE

So the plan was to fish them shallow on the North side of the lake, but a trip from The Tree to the Starting Spot only produced one or two pike, so I headed out onto Dennis Flat and quickly caught a couple of pike and a 15.5" on the Poison.  I worked the Flat back to the East.  After I quickly caught a couple of nice ones I anchored.  To heck with fighting the wind.  It was a good spot and I caught several nice fish there including my biggest of the day (Pictured above).

16.5" Hooked by the Parasite Clip

After sitting there for a good hour and a half things got kind of slow so I moved into the reeds and had a big dogfish follow, but not hit doggone it.  Not much was going on in the reeds so I drifted back across the Flat catching pike and bass as I went.  I went shallow again as I passed Double Caine Point.  I got a couple there as I made my way into North Center Bay.  I got a couple of decent basses there but it was mostly pike and small ones.  Nothing on the West side of the bay up to Big Bass Point.

Best 6 for the Trip

For the trip:
18 Bass
17 Pike
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2.08"/15.75"

 
8:00-9:30PM F Flat with Devin and Steve, then the Reeds Across the Way with Steve
Conditions: Perfect but it didn't matter

So I took out Devin and Steve on a quest to get Devin a birthday bass on the Trait Crist Fishing Rod Combo that I bought for her birthday.  I thought I would head to the dock area of F Flat, but as I was heading that direction a boat was pulling into the area.  No problem we should be able to get some fish over by the North reed corner.  Wrong call.  The choice to work our way to the dock, wrong call.  Sure Steve and I missed a few bites, but Devin wasn't getting bit.  We got over to the dock and nothing was there and Devin wanted to head in, so I took her in and went back out to the reeds across the way with Steve. 

Not much was going on in the reeds.  I should have done what I should have done with Devin, which was head to North Center Bay.  Steve did get the one decent one and a dink and I missed a couple on the Sprinker.  We did have a great view though.