Busted Off 4 Times, Landed Two Fish

 

The one that I landed

Not many of these around today

3:30-7:30PM Rock 16' My Area

38-43℉, Cloudy, 3-9mph S SE

About half the visibility of yesterday at best, shouldn't have wasted my time with the camera.

It was overcast and I wasted too much time shallow where there wasn't much activity. By the time I got out to 16' visibility was trash and I wasted time with the camera when I would have been better off using the Vex for my eyes. I caught 1 YP. I then had a Demon and a THE jig get bit off bing bang. I did catch a little pike a couple of minutes after THE Jig got bit off. I then missed about 5 good feeling bites and some big marks. Finally got another Demon tied on, which was ignored for over an hour. Finally got a bite and it broke off right away. At the end of the night, I had what I think was baitfish followed by a big mark that missed the Twitch. I packed up and right before I was going to reel the Twitch up a big mark appeared and bit. I was hoping it would be a walleye. It was 4/5lb pike that got tangled in the friggen transducer, which should not happen as I have a separate hole drilled for it. I thought I got the line free, but it turned out it was also wrapped above the Vex Float. The fish broke me off. Easy Come, Easy GO! What a disaster of a trip.

2Pike 

1YP

Rocky Solstice Action

 

23.75" Demon/Minnow

11" Demon/Minnow

6" EBay Blade Bait (Gold)

Famous Rock Lake Bullhead to end  the night

3:00-8:00 PM Rock Lake My Spot 12-16'

37-38℉, MC, 0-5 MPH SE
Visibility was about 5' to start, but by 4PM reduced considerably with the overcast and sediment in the water.

I took Mack out and visited with Belle and Bean. Nobody was out so I just parked where the dock normally sits. I waddled my way out and drilled four sets of holes starting at 12' by the Cane. I immediately had perch down the 12' hole. I caught a couple on a small gold-blade bait. The Perch scattered sure enough I had a pike come through and hit the bait, but it came off quickly. I saw a couple more pike come through. I put a minnow down and had a pike hit it. Unfortunately, the line got caught on the blade bait when I was trying to reel it up. As I was trying to get the line off of the blade bait, the 3lb test down by the Glow Demon broke. Who knows if I would have been able to land the fish if it didn't get caught On the blade bait. It got slow. I left the minnow down and checked my other holes for life, 2 out of 3 did. I got back and my bobber was down. I set the hook and landed the pike which was hooked on the outside of the beak, fortunately.  I saw one or two more pike and caught a few perch on the minnow. It was getting dark and the action shallow stopped, so I worked my way deeper, stopping briefly at the 2nd set and then set up shop at the 3rd set where I was marking something on the bottom. I switched to a glow Tubby Jig and finally got a bite, small crappie. That fired up the school. I got a nice crappie out of the hole that engulfed the Demon/Minnow, but the line broke before I lipped it. I took pics, got the Demon out of the back of its throat, threw it back, then got retied. Put the minnow back down and got hit quickly.  Once again I broke the 3lb test before I lipped the fish. Then I knocked my forceps down a hole when I went to reach for it. I didn't put it back where it belongs. To make it even more of a cluster of a situation I needed to cut myself a fresh leader of 3lb test off of one of my jigging rods to get the minnow back in action. By the time I was back in the action, the fish had gone inactive and it was like pulling teeth the rest of the time. The final fish was a bullhead. I think the crappies started hitting a little before 6PM when I was contemplating giving up for the night.

8Crip 

7YP 

1Pike 

1Bullhead

 

Bulldog, Didn't Impress Me

 

10" Demon/Minnow

3.55-7:50PM SE of the Access, then to Holy Family Hole

31-36℉, PC, 2-10mph NE

Hopefully, I finally got the seat secure. Was sore today so I moved extra slowly. Decided to go to Bulldog. Started out from the reeds just to the S of the access. I didn't think through what I was doing. I should have drilled single holes to look for fish instead of the full 4. I didn't see anything and quickly bailed for the basin. Some guys that were fishing the NE side passed in front of me. There was a wheeler and two guys fishing just to the North of Holy Family I set up about 30 yards to the SE of where they had their portable. Pretty dead until dark. Fish were in the bottom 10 feet. I missed my first 5 or so bites. Finally got one to hook up on the Demon/Minnow. Also caught a couple on T.H.E. Jig. I could call them in with a Northland Buck Shot Spoon. but didn''t convert any on it. The other guys left. I went and checked their holes and didn't mark anything. I caught my last crappie at 7:45. I moved like a turtle on my way to the Access.

5Crip 

Back To The Rip Rap Rocky Way

 

Finally caught 'em

One small crappie

4:00-7:15PM My Spot 16'

27-34℉, MC PC, 0-4mph S

I had to mess with the seat yet again at the access. I got out early enough to give me a little camera time, but visibility was crap due to slight overcast and sediment. I think I saw a couple of bass and a pike along with some sunfish. I couldn't locate the Switch, so I sent down the White Spoon.  The fish moved on about the time I pulled the camera up and never moved back. I did eventually drill three holes by the cane but didn't see anything. I caught the sunfish that had been looking at me for a good hour. I called it quits after that. So much for getting in a groove.

1Crip 

1Sun 

Started Rocky Again, But I Ended Well

 

First Fish

2nd Fish

3rd Fish

I discovered something

Final Fish

4:15-8:00 PM 15-16' My Spot Rock Lake

15-25℉, PC, 0-4mph NW

Not much visibility today.

I was moving like a slow turtle getting the car packed. Once on the ice I didn't have the flexibility to get my left foot ice spikes on and also had to retighten the seat posts moving like a turtle. I drilled four sets of holes and started in the ones the Trap got blown off of last night. I caught a quick perch. I didn't have a camera hole in this set and the sun was setting. I quickly changed to the farthest North set where I did have a camera hole drilled. There was life so I put the camera down but due to sediment visibility was crap. Think I had a pike attack on the Cubby, but I set into nothing. It went dead, so I moved a bit South and spent the rest of the night on this set of holes. The first fish up was a nice sunny on the Cubby. Then I got a couple of crappie on the Cubby. Put a Glow Demon/minnow on a Meat Stick, because I forgot to get the bobber rod re-rigged last night. The crappies seemed to like the minnow tonight. I caught 18 total and missed as many. A bullhead was the last fish of the night. I called it quits at 8 PM. I think I'm close to being in a groove ice fishing after a rocky start to the season. My thought early on tonight was ice fishing for me this year was as smooth as rip rap; things had smoothed down considerably by the time I was done tonight

18 Crip 

1 Perch 

1Sunny 

1Bullhead 

Blown Off Tonight

 

Where the Trap got blown and my walk back

I didn't get skunked, however.

4:45-5:30 PM Rock Lake My Spot 16'

34-38℉, PC to Cloudy some flurries, 5-25mph W

I ate chicken from the corner and watched the Pack lose, so I got out later than I had planned. I drilled 4 sets of holes. Life was down in the first one so I set up camp. I got one crappie in the first set of holes. I decided to check other holes and didn't think about the wind, so I didn't secure the Trap or ensure the cover was as low as possible. I got three crappies in the second set of holes I went to when a gust got hold of the Trap and blew it straight east to the far shoreline. I ended up with the line on the bobber rod getting broken and a nut that holds the left side of the Trap getting lost. I was quite lucky no rods were broken. I did go back and fish for a bit, but gave up pretty quick.

4Crip 

Not Efficient At Rock Lake

 

8.5" Glow Demon/Minnow

6" Glow Demon/Minnow

4" Not Skunked

3:40-6:15PM Rock Lake 15' My Spot

30-36℉, PC, 0-4mph SW

3-4' visibility

I went to my spot and drilled 6 holes in a circle. I then put the camera down in the first hole and there were sunfish swimming around. I then drilled three more holes got the rods out and started fishing. I wish I would have hole-hopped with the Vex instead. I ended up just staying put. There were sunfish, perch, and at least one pike down there. Visibility wasn't great due to sediment in the water. I caught two sunnies and two crappies after I had pulled the camera up. I missed a bunch of opportunities because I wasn't patient. After dark when things slowed down I drilled two more holes at each of the other hole locations then scouted with the Vex and glow Cubby. Didn't mark a thing. I fished about a half hour longer in the Trap marking a couple of fish, probably sunnies. I really should have gone fishing yesterday, but I overslept in the afternoon. Not sure when I'll be able to get out again.

2Crip 

2Sun 

Saw:

1 or 2 Pike, some small perch, and mostly small sunfish but there were a couple nice ones that came through.

First Ice Trip of 23/24

Not Skunked

8:45 AM -12:30 PM Rock Lake

36-40℉, Cloudy, 4-15mph SW

Ice 4-6" Depth fished 6-15'

I finally got my act together and headed out this morning. Stopped at Bear Trax for minnows and waxies. I unloaded while backed down to the ice at the ramp. I went to sit down to put the ice spikes on my boots and the seat was kittywampus. I had to find and tighten down the seat posts on the Fish Trap seat, which probably took Turtle Man 20-plus minutes to accomplish. I headed a short way to the North along the reeds and drilled holes.  NO life in the weeds. A guy showed up about a half hour after I started fishing. He's been out on Platte, Long, and Bulldog this year and not having much luck. He covered a lot of ground from South to North. I finally discovered some life in about 14' of water. I caught the lil pike, saw a bunch of little perch, and maybe a sunfish. I went to one more hole and quit at 12:30. Never put a minnow down. I think I know where I can go to catch some next time.

1 Pike