Morning And Evening at the GOMH

11.5" Cubby/minnow (Pink)

17.25" X-Rap 6 (Firetiger)

7:30-11:30PM GOMH SW
36-39℉, Cloudy, 4-7mph NNE
------------------------------------------------------------------------
7:30-9:30PM GOMH SW
39-34℉, Cloudy some sprinkles, 7-15mph NNE

Two trips today.  I briefly fished the NE side both times and didn't get a fish.  The morning trip.  Had me switching out lures frequently. All I caught were jumpin' bullheads.  That little piece of bog drifted off the rocks and so I used the crawtube rod to pull it out into the current and it drifted out of the area.  I am pretty sure it was retired CO Kuske that came and fished for a couple of minutes.  While he was there I caught a small toothy on a Tiny Fat Rap.  He caught one jumper and left.  I fished maybe 15 more minutes and left myself.

The evening trip started out with an attempt at Dogfish.  Didn't get any.  Caught a few jumpers on the Poison.   I then switched to silvers and got 4 of those on the pink Cubby with a minnow.  Fish weren't nearly as active tonight.  I missed maybe one bite.  I got cold and the fish stopped biting so I left at 9:30PM.

Morning and Evening GOMH Trips

16.75" Glow Demon w/minnow

5:15-6:50PM
Conditions:  36-33degrees, calm, mostly sunny

The silvers were either not there or active.  There was some baitfish activity.  Got some jumpers and one toothy on the NE side as I was thinking about taking that tube picture.  Here is the toothy.

23" WildEye Swim Shad

8:30-11:30PM

Conditions: 60-50 degrees, mostly sunny, calm

10.25" Glow Demon w/minnow

The access at Bulldog was taken by that guy, so I tried Holy Family, didn't get a bite.

At the GOMH Joe's bearded friend was there.  He had gotten a couple toothy's and a couple jumpers.  He got his first silver shortly after I got there.  The guy and his daughter showed up and fished by me and the Rowdy Bullhead fishermen showed up as well. My first fish was a bullhead bullhead.  The RBF got a dogfish on the North side.  The bite was slow as it has been.  CO Kuske showed up at about 11PM.  Joe's friend forgot his lic. but Kuske was able to verify he had one.  I got 2 silvers, Joe's friend got 3, and the Dad and daughter got about 3 a piece. I got sick of pulling teeth so I left at 11:30PM.   

Early Bird Gets A Worm or Two

10.25" Glow Demon w/minnow

4:45-7:45AM GOMH SW
Conditions: 41-36 degrees, light N wind, mostly clear

I started out on the SE side but didn't get a bite there.  I moved to the SW side and got a couple silvers in close to the rocks.  I got a few jumpers this morning, but only one of them was a slobber bullhead this morning. Less bites this morning.

18.75" Craw Tube

This redhead duck kept me company for a good part of the morning.  It was cool watching it dive for whatever a redhead duck dives for.

As I was about to take off CO Kuske stopped and we talked for a couple minutes.

No Surprise, Got Skunked

6:00-7:00PM
Conditions: 33 degrees, Cloudy, moderate wind out of the SE

If we didn't have the KIA I wouldn't have gone out today.  34 degrees for a high, really.  Weather man got today wrong by about 8 degrees.  We just cannot buy stable weather now.  I tried at Rock, GOMH, and the Platte Lake access dock.  There was no point in it, no benefit.


On the native netting front from this past weekend:
On LakeStateFishing.com some guy claimed their were photo's of so many crappies and sunnies it was sickening.  I challenged him to produce the photo's.  Funny, he hasn't done that.

I then posted what the Platte Lake Owners Association posted on Facebook at LSF.

From President Dave Bramer: Conservation Officer Paul Kuske wanted to advise Platte Lake the Fond Du Lac Band had been on our lake this past weekend doing a tribal harvest. He stated that he witnessed all of what happened and that he wanted to make sure all of the numbers of fish that were taken were correct. 5 walleye and 50 pike were taken from our lake. The band was also on Sullivan Lake and Long Lake. C. O. Kuske has also advised their associations about the harvest from their lakes. If anyone would like to talk to him about this, C. O. Kuske advises that they call him at 320-745-2023.

I called Kuske today and got the scoop.  Kuske told me the Fond du lac band took 57 pike, 7 walleye, a bullhead or two and a tullibee.  I think that was it, so no bass or bowfin.  The chuckleheads at LSF then claimed Kuske wasn't there, is lying, taking orders to do so from on high at the DNR, and taking bribes from the tribe.  Whatever chuckleheads.

    

4 Bites for 4 Bass at Rock Tonight

17" T.H.E. Jig w/minnow

4:15-4:45PM GOMH
5:00-7:30PM Rock Lake
Conditions: Temps in mid 40's, cloudy, windy out of the SSE

Kuske was at Bear Trax when I went to get some minnows and a lighted bobber.  He said nothing is going on yet.  I started out at the GOMH, but quickly bailed on that.  It was a good thing I brought my long panfish rod that I use the Rocket Bobber with because the dock wasn't in yet, so I wouldn't have been able to get the Wing-It on the Cubby Rod very far tonight with the wind.  I got 4 bites and caught them all.  All fish were on the T.H.E. Jig with a minnow.  It started to sprinkle and I was cold so I left and didn't check to see if anyone was at the GOMH.

1st Bass of the evening

Top of the mouth

1st fish was 16.75"

2nd fish was 13.75"

Last fish was 16.25"

It Got Chilly Tonight

4:15-8:00PM
Conditions: Overcast, cool/cold with wind out of the ENE.  Water flowing into Platte, except the last hour when the flow got back to normal.

The wind was such that I didn't even try Rock Lake tonight;  With it being out of the ENE I  wouldn't have been able to get any casting distance and with temps only getting into the mid forties I would have chilled down much faster then I did.  I set up on the SW side of the GOMH.  The guy who lives on Christmas Lake who helped us when we had the tornado stopped.  While we were talking I got a bite from a good jumpin bullhead on the Cubby .  It was heading for the weeds so I put pressure on it and my line broke.  That was the only bite I had tonight.  Two boats came in from Platte and fished for a bit then left.  Two different pairs of guys also came and fished for a bit.  They didn't get anything.  As the second pair was leaving C.O. Kuske showed up;  that was around 7:30PM.  I only talked to Kuske for a couple of minutes.  No fishing reports other than the one I gave him.  I was kind of surprised how light it was out at 8PM, when I decided to quit.  I guess you could say I haven't been paying attention to when it has been getting dark this past week.

It looks like the weather this week is going to be cold and wet.  We definitely can use some rain.

Peavy & Platte

7.5" Demon w/maggies at Peavy Lake

11:00AM-3:00PM Peavy
4:30-5:30PM Platte
32 degrees, really windy at times, cloudy with flurries giving way to some sun then overcast again.

I started by working the hump.  No luck.  I got checked by Kuske.  The on/off switch on the auger broke.  Fortunately for me it's in the "on" position.  At 1PM I bailed to my crappie spot.  There were a few of them out there.  They were smaller in size than what I had been getting.  I got 5 total with only one being over 9".  I decided to head out at 3PM.  I talked with a guy who was just heading out at the access who had been getting little sunfish at Shakopee.  I guess the lake has gotten pounded this winter.  The wind really started to blow.

I checked the NE access on Sullivan then drove onto Platte at the Public access.  I drove to the North of the big island on my way to "the hole".  I think I GPSed it from a boat  judging by where the permanent shacks were sitting to the West of my waypoint.  I drilled 6 holes and fished 3 of them.  I had two fish come through about 10 feet of bottom in 23'.  I had one hooked, it felt small.  I also had something on the bottom sniff my maggots.   It was really windy out.   I packed up at 5:30 and drove off at Jenny's.

5 Crappies

 

Mille Lacs Bust, Opener Saved By Bullheads

Conditions: Clear and cold, but no wind so I was never chilled.

I didn't have my tackle organized enough to be at Mille Lacs at midnight because I overslept a couple of hours yesterday but I arrived at Eddy's at around 12:20 AM.  As I was driving I thought about my plan to stay until sun up and fish for smallies and decided with it getting so cold tonight that wasn't a good idea.  At Eddy's they put up a construction fence up around the whole place including the Marina but the Jetty wasn't blocked off in any way.  The lights were off and there was a lot of piled ice where I fish.    I could have fished off the center dock, but elected to put on my waders and head to Option #2 where I fished last year.  There  were a couple of cars there that I parked across the street from.   A couple of guys were going to their car while I was getting my stuff ready.  I said loudly enough for them to hear.  Did you get your limit already.  They didn't acknowledge me at all and got in their car and left.

It was right around 12:45 when I got down to the water.  I took my jerkbait rod and two rods with swimbaits, one of them being the Abu Garcia Rocket/St. Croix LTB with the Powerbait  4.5" Rib Shad.  I put my stuff down where I crossed the road.  I could see and hear the two guys were fishing closer to the inlet.  I picked up the jerkbait rod and waded pretty much straight out.  I tried 3 different jerkbaits to no avail.  I didn't see a single walleye which was a bad sign because I saw them last year.  At some point the two guys left, but I didn't see or hear them when they did. I got over closer to inlet and actually saw a walleye.  I then noticed a guy walking toward the area where my stuff was laying so I quickly walked back.  Turns out it was a creel survey guy.  He told me he hadn't talked to anyone who got a fish and said the eye's just got done spawning and he thought the eye's were going to be in a post spawn funk.  He took the water temp at shore and it was 42 degrees.  He wished me good luck and took off.

I picked up the Rocket and on my very first cast I put in the rocks.  Luckily I got it unstuck, but the hook was bent.  I thought no problem, I'll still be able to hook fish.  Wrong!  I had several hits but I couldn't get a hook into anything.  I suppose it could have been bumping suckers as well.  Eventually I went and got the other swimbait rod.  I had a few fish just grab the back of the swimbait.  Eventually my feet got to cold and I decided to head to the GOMH.  I took off my waders, tied a new hook on the Rocket rod and left right at 3AM.

I arrived at the GOMH at about 3:15 and there were two cars who's people were all fishing on the  SW side.  I went to ask if they caught anything;  They said they weren't getting much and didn't have any golden bullheads.  Liars, they did get one, which I found out later when more of their friends arrived.

I decided to go to the NE side and started throwing the Rib Shad, that didn't get anything so I switched to swamp gas Havoc Grass Pig and I got this golden bullhead on the first cast.

18.5"

It was beautiful clear night which I noticed after a brilliant shooting star went across the sky.  There were loon calls and an owl hooting in the distance.  Eventually I decided to go to the SE side before somebody else showed up.  I wasn't there long when a couple of the other guys left as another group was showing up.  It stated getting light out and not much was happening.  A guy on the other side landed a good sized golden bullhead.  Another couple of people arrived and one came over to fish by me.  He told me that golden was 4 to 5lbs.  It got light out and I landed a 20" toothy bullhead that hit the Grass Pig.  About 20 minutes later I missed a couple of hits then had a good toothy bullhead hit right by me and rocket 3 feet in the air.  I landed it.

27" or so

Good thing that other guy was there to take the picture, because a selfie of a fish that long doesn't look good in my opinion.  I also got this one on the grass pig.  I tried several different jerkbait only getting one bump that didn't hook up. I also missed several hits on the Grass Pig.  I noticed the Rib Shad didn't seem to be swimming very well and I didn't have any hits on it.  C.O. Kuske showed up but didn't come to check me.  The guy who fished next to Mike and I yesterday who I'm going to call Local Walleye Guy showed up in his boat and picked up 3 people from shore.  He went over and parked by the point on the SW side of the GOMH, they were throwing suckers or shiners and getting golden and jumpin bullheads occasionally.  Us shore fishers were not getting much.  I did get one small jumper on the Grass Pig.  I tried the NE side one more time but my upper  back was really barking at me and I had enough of that.  I left around 6:45.  Got home and called the Chiropractor.  Fortunately Dr. Grunst was willing to take me in early because he was all booked up.  

OK Morning at the GOMH

Why I call them "silver".

This morning I arrived at the GOMH around 5:40AM.  I got a hit from silver on my first cast, which got off on me.  Next cast same thing.  A couple of casts later same thing.  Finally I landed the 12" in the picture.  I was fishing with a pink Cubby with the tail cut off and a minnow.  I landed a couple more silvers and then it slowed down.  The guy who lives on Christmas showed up with his foreign exchange student and they took up the SE side and a guy who I've seen before who is a Cook at the Casino showed up and came down and fished next to me.  I had 4 in the bucket at that point.  The Cook had been there last night crushing good sized orange bullheads, while the people next to him were getting silvers.  I landed the occasional silver and The Cook got a couple as well.  The guys across the way got a couple of really nice jumpers before they had to leave.  We started getting a few jumpers   I switched to T.H.E. Jig and minnow and landed my last couple of silvers on that as well as a couple of jumpers.  C.O. Kuske came buy and said it was probably only a partial winter kill on Platte this winter.  The action totally died when Kuske showed up.  He left and I got one last 10" jumper before I had to leave at 8:20AM.

Another Good Night at the GOMH with Dad

Dad and I got to the GOMH about 7PM.  Everywhere was filled, so we took up on the bridge on the Sullivan side.  I started out by weed whacking.  I found out Chris from the Bass Snatchers was there again tonight.  He ended up giving us some minnows, which was nice.  CO Kuske pinched another person tonight for no license  Dad got a silver bullhead and a jumpin bullhead and missed several other bites.

9.5"

 As for me I got 2 silver bullheads, a toothy bullhead, and 10 jumpin bullheads.  I possibly lost a golden bullhead as well after it got dark.  I missed several bites tonight.

All in all it was a good night.

Nuttin' But Jumpers

15"

I got 4 jumpin bullheads tonight on the Cubby and minnow, that was it.  May or may not have had a bite from a   SB.  Amazingly I was the only one there until it got pretty dark.  Kuske stopped by at about 8:10PM.  He told me they were getting dogfish on the culvert on the South end of the lake.  I fished from 7:00 to 9:00PM.

Slow GOMH

Oops Camera wasn't set right

I arrived at the Grumpy Old Man Hole tonight just after 5PM.  It was kids night on the SE side, but I still got my spot.  There was a guy catching some jumpers, orange, and toothy bullheads on waxworms.  I got bit off  around 6:20PM.  Got a jumper around 7:15PM.  Got my first silver at around 8:15PM and another around 9:15PM.  There where quite a few people fishing after dark but nobody was getting much so I left at 10:15PM.   No sense in freezing myself.

Got it right the 2nd time

Kuske dropped by again tonight.

Late Bite at the GOMH

I arrived at the Grumpy Old Man Hole last night at 6PM got set up on the same spot I was on last night on the SE side.  I didn't get my first fish until around 8:30 just as it was getting to dark to see the bobber.  I was fishing next to the owner of the Hillman Bar and his buddy and kid.  Dave Bentley showed up with his girlfriends kid around 8:10 and set up next to me.  The kid got a silver bullhead before I did.  Those guys left around 8:40 and Lantern Man showed up.  I ended up getting a ton of minnows from a guy I gave fish to last night via LM.  I didn't get my 2nd fish until after 9PM but then they bit pretty good until 11:15 when LM left.  Brian and his buddy showed up around 11:00 and fished the SW side until LM left.  I fished until 12:45PM.  I caught 24 silver bullheads total.  I only think 3 of them got kept.

I forgot the camera and Kuske came by.

Cubby's and Demon's at the GOMH

10+"

I got to the Grumpy Old Man Hole at a quarter to 6 and I took up a spot on the SE side where there was only one guy.  Basically nothing happened until 8PM.  I got 5 silver bullheads and a jumpin bullhead on the Cubby.  After dark I switched to the Glow Demon and picked up 6 more until I ran out of minnows  Brian showed up with a buddy at about 10:30PM,  they offered me minnows but I was getting cold so I left.  The bite really picked up after they got there.  I think I need to do something about the line on my night fishing rod.  I gave all but 3 of the silver bullheads away and the other 2 went back.  Kuske stopped by tonight as it was getting dark.

Single Jumpin' Bullhead

15"

I got out tonight at 5PM and fished Rock and got nothing.  I went to the GOMH and it was dead until 7:50PM when I got this JB.  That was it for the night.  Kuske came by and checked my license.  Lantern Man showed up right before I left.  He got a couple crappie at Mille Lacs.

1st Silver Bullhead of the Year

Today Pete and I fished from about 1 to 3PM at Jenny's, Don's, Rock, and the GOMH.  I saw some small sunfish at Rock and a little pike and I presumably had my pink Cubby and a minnow bit off by a pike.  We saw  Kuske at the bridge.  That was it for action.

We headed back out at 6PM

When we got there was 2 guys fishing the SE side.  That got a jumpin bullhead and told us crappies were biting at Little Rock Lake.

Pete was 1st on the board with a jumpin bullhead.  He got it on a beetle spin.

3lber

Next up was me getting a high 4lb JB on my Panfish Chatterbait. Chatterbait is in it's lip.

A while after that Pete and I got doubles on 2lb jumpin bullheads.  Another guy showed up and started fishing the SE with me.  He was at the steps and I was on the Eastern shore.  He caught a jumper on his minnow and I went back to the SW side with Pete.  The other guy got a couple more jumpers and I missed a bite on my glow Cubby and minnow.  An Eagle flew over and circled and then we noticed another Eagle up in a tree just to the West of us.  Eventually I got another bite and it was quality silver bullhead.

A little while later I got another on the Cubby.  Kevin Wotceck showed up and said he was getting fish at Fish Lake;  He didn't fish.  The guy across the way got a silver which he ended up giving to us.  I didn't get any bites on the lighted bobber and Pete was so busy messing around with his to be worthless.  One other guy came by and saw we were getting fish.  I expect their will be a crowd tomorrow provided it doesn't rain.

GOMH Oh Yeah!

Weather: Today was sunny and in the mid-'60s with a breeze out of the NE about from 3 to 10. As I fished the wind would come and go.

Tonight I arrived at the Grumpy Old Man Hole right about 5PM and I set up on the NE side. I started off throwing a clear smoke sparkle Berkley Havoc The Deuce double tail grub on a ball head jig and I was quickly rewarded with an 18 inch toothy bullhead.

I didn't bother to ask if anybody wanted it and threw it back. I started getting some small jumpin bullheads, several of which were jumpers. Next I tried a couple of swim jigs with no luck whatsoever.

I pulled out the River2Sea Wide Glide that I won in a contest and tried to work it. It didn't help that it was breezy and I couldn't work it right. I tried later when there was less wind and still couldn't get the hang of it. The lure is suppose to glide from side to side. It takes a different cadence than a normal walk the dog bait. I'm skeptical that I am going to like it, do to the difficulty in working it properly.

Eventually I put on a black/blue Strike King Pure Poison chatter jig with Berkley Havoc Craw Fatty black blue flake. It didn't take long and I got this 20" class fish.

I gave the toothy to a guy and girl that were fishing. The girl had just left to go to the South side and had been throwing a spinnerbait right where the fish hit. I proceeded to miss a couple of toothy's and then it got slow when the wind picked up.

I was hoping the Poison/Fatty off the bottom when I had a hit and it quickly was apparent this was no little fish. It took a couple of powerful runs pulling drag before I saw it was a toothy. I couldn't see the lure and the line was coming out the side of it mouth. I thought for sure it was going to break me off, but the 14lb Fireline held and I landed this 35 inch beast.

The guy who took the picture thought it was a good idea to take the picture with the truck as a backdrop. I wish he hadn't. This pike went back in the lake. I wish all people would throwback pike that size so they have a chance to get to 40". At 40" I don't care if somebody keeps it for the wall. This is my biggest GOMH toothy bullhead and biggest Platte/Sullivan Pike. However, Cyberfish caught one quite a bit bigger than this one a few years back in shallow slop in like July or August on a hollow body frog. I wish we had a pic of that fish.

After this one I might have gotten a couple of more toothy hits but nothing for sure. Of note, I did get this 18.75" pig jumpin bullhead on the Poison/Fatty.

I'll tell you what, that Berkley Havoc Lane's 4" Craw Fatty is a good bait.

As it got dark GOM Willard came over to see me. He actually had been fishing tonight. He ended up giving his bullheads (orange's and 1 silver) to GOM Lee Ander's grandson to take to Lee Ander. Willard didn't see the pike, so I showed him the picture on the camera.

Also of note, tonight Conservation Officer Kuske showed up for a few minutes. He didn't come over to talk to me, so I didn't get to show him the pike pictures. There were several boats tonight fishing the South GOMH.

I left about a quarter to 10 or so. Didn't even try for silvers.

Double Trip

Weather: This morning started with a thunderstorm right when I wanted to go fishing at first light. I managed to make it out from 6:30am to 8:30am. There was a pretty good NE breeze blowing.

In the evening I arrived at the GOMH at about 8PM, there was thunder in the distance but it was dead calm and only sprinkled for a bit.

On the morning trip I fished the SW, SE, and NE side getting nothing but jumpin bullheads and one small tiger bullhead. I think the thunderstorm along with the NE wind blew the silvers right out.

When I arrived at the Grumpy Old Man Hole it was full up with people on all sides of the bridge. GOM Willard and Bud were there along with Bucket Man, Kyle and son John W. plus a bunch of others. Not much was going on at first and I decided to watch. Apparently CO Kuske was there earlier and pinched a guy who didn't have a fishing licence. At about 8:20pm some of the guys on the SW side started getting some. By 8:45pm they had turned on and I just watched. When Bucket Man, Kyle, and John left the SW side I went down there. All I caught was one bullhead bullhead fishing from about 9:30pm to 10:30pm.

Single Speck

This bullhead is the only fish that bit for me tonight.

I arrived at the GOMH around 6:30PM and there were 3 people on the SE side, someone on the NE side and only one guy on the SW corner, so I quickly moved in next to him. CO Kuske was also there when I arrived. The guy next to me had a silver bullhead in the bucket and he got one more before he left at about 7PM. The people on the SE side got nothing.

Conditions were overcast and breezy out of the NE. The wind was cool but not cold.

Lantern Man showed up at about 8:20PM and took up on the SE side. As I was leaving at 8:45PM he had a 3lb-ish dogfish break him off.

By A Whisker...

I thought for sure I was getting a skunk for the day. There was no activity at the GOMH and a wind from the wrong direction, and no Rock Dock to fish from. Still, I put my time in and fished all afternoon. I started out by checking for suckers; there weren't any. Then I headed to the GOMH as the sun was out, and it was warm but windy out of the NE, which actually is a good direction for the Southside of the GOMH. CO Kuske stopped by again. He said crappies were being caught at Pierz as if today. I fished for about an hour then headed to Rock. After seeing the futility of fishing Rock in that NE wind, I sat in the truck and listened to the radio, hoping the dock installers would show up. While I was sitting there, a guy who I think I might have met before came down in an ATV to go fishing. He gave me some interesting info, and he did not catch anything. After that guy left, I went back out to try again and while I was fishing, a boat came down to launch, so I got in the truck to move out of the way. I parked in the lot, and one of the guys with the boat motioned for me to roll down the window, and he lets me know my back left tire is just about flat. The tire wasn't totally flat, so I made the decision to limp the truck about 3 miles to Bear Traxx hardware and gas. I made it with no problems and got the tire filled back up; I could hear the leak, so I immediately drove 5 miles South to J&D's, a full-service station. In 30 minutes, Jeff had the tire patched, and I was back on the road. Our place is less than a mile South of J & D's, so I headed home to check on the dogs and get them their supper. Once that business was done, I headed back to Rock. Nobody was there, so I pulled up to the ramp and started fishing. The wind was just a bit better, but it had clouded up pretty good. I think I missed one bite but I am not totally sure. I finally bugged out at 6:30PM. I was surprised when I arrived at the GOMH that nobody was there, not a particularly good sign. As I was taking my stuff down to the SW side, Grumpy Old Man Willard showed up. He gave me a hard time about how he would catch as many fish as me by just sitting in his truck. Right around 7:30PM, Willard left, and I started seeing a couple of signs that some baitfish were around with predators chasing them. I made several casts to the area but didn't have any bites. It was getting pretty dark, and I was reeling in by some cattail stalks when I thought I got hung up, but the snag started moving quickly to my left. Sure enough, I had a bullhead. I lifted him out of the water, and before I could grab him, my line snapped, but he was well over the shore, so I picked him up. As you can see in the picture, it was a male pike that was milting. I didn't get skunked; the GOMH comes through again.