Morning Run And Gun And A Night That Wasn't Fun Then Was

4.45lbs/18.75" Cali Ish's Phat Frog

16.5" Shower Blows 105 (Bone)

5:45-10:10AM NPBI, SFBI, SPSI, GOMH, Intersection NE
68-58℉, Mostly Sunny, 1-4mph NW
WT: 76℉ water level on the rise from the rain we got this week.

So my plan was to quickly hit the North Point Big Island then see if the bass were still on the outside rice edge at the starting spot.  I got 14.5" and 8" bass on the bone Shower Blows and then I snagged somebodies braided line that was stuck on the tree.  There was a lot of line and I needed to adjust boat position and the trolling motor sucked some of the line in so I had to take the time to remove the prop and get it out of there.  I got that done and changed plans hitting the South Point Big Island next.  I lost a bite and as I was about to leave something got shelled big time along the southern shoreline flat.  So I went to investigate.  I got a pike and 16.5" LMB on the Shower Blows.  I was disappointed by the lack of cabbage.  There was some baitfish activity.  I then went to the North Point Small Island and didn't get a bite.  Next was SPSI where a loon family was fishing.  I got a pike and 13-incher there as well as missing a couple of bites. Next, I headed to the GOMH. I had a 14-incher jump me off on the craw tube and got a 16-incher on the Shower Blows.  I did a little frogging and punching along the NW of the Intersection without a bite.  I then went to the NE and got a 16' on the Cali Ish's and a 14.5" on the Shower Blows.  Fish would bust out in the middle occasionally, but I didn't get a bite.  I lost a bite at the GOMH on my way back in.  I was going to fish the West Point docks, but they put up a swim area line between the docks, so I didn't bother.
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Well that sucks, no more 1.25oz Tungsten

2.93lbs/16.66" Craw Tube (Junebug Tokyo)

6:30-9:30PM Starting Spot Slop and Rice Island
70-74℉, Partly Cloudy, 2-5mph NW,
WT: 76℉

So I headed into the slop at "The Starting Spot."  It looks too darned good to be as devoid of fish as it seems to be.  There were some fish in there as I missed a couple of blow-ups that may have been bass and I spooked some fish that moved a lot of water.  I am just growing more convinced the lake suffered partial winter kills the past two years.  I left the slop after about 45 minutes and headed to the rice island in a deep state of frustration.  I threw a frog at the hole on the rice and had a fish boil on it big time when I got out of the hole and on to the rice.  When I couldn't get that fish to strike again that was almost the last straw.  I wasn't having any fun and I was hungry.  So I was going to try the Tokyo Rig and if I didn't get anything then I was going to call it a night early.  I put the 1.25oz Tokyo Rig on and went to punching.  Lo and behold I got a bite so I laid the wood and caught that hammer handle.  After I got the fish and rice off of the rig I discovered the rig isn't exactly the sturdiest thing in the world as the tungsten dropper wire was gone.  I got my Tokyo Rigs off of eBay from China.  So easy come easy go I guess.  I just wrote it off as I caught a line cutter, could have just as easily been bit off.  On the very next pitch, I got the 16.6-incher.  That's more like it.  Something got blown up big time along the deep rice line and also towards the back of the boat off of the rice island within casting range. I threw the Poison out were the blow-up occurred and got a pike on the second cast.  I worked around the island punching it.  Didn't get another bite.

I headed back toward the Starting Spot Rice where the big blowup occurred.   I had what I'm pretty sure was a big pike dog the Sprinker Frog, then swirl on it.  I set the hook and came up empty.  Bummer, but pretty exciting.  I worked to the East and had a 13/14 bass on briefly out front of a good-sized hole in the rice that that takes a fairly long cast to reach.  On my second cast to the hole, the days slobber knocker knocked my frog. Didn't realize it was that big until I got it in the boat. That fish is a year or two away from being a 5lber.  A total pig.  The mosquito came out soon after that and I hung it up around 9:20 when there was still at least 15 minutes of fishable sunlight.  The skeeters were bad.

Not a bad day weight wise