Double Extended Trip At The GOMH

 

19.5" Rocket Shad

3:00-7:45PM GOMH SW

48-51℉, Cloudy some drizzle, 5-10mph NE

Water is very high falling

Todd dropped off the pontoon today. I went to the lake place and got a rake and a landing net. I cleared some dead fish and slop before fishing. Somebody had a minnow trap hanging from the SW corner of the culvert. I got a couple of 4lb jumpin' bullheads to start. A mom and gram showed up with two boys to teach them magnet fishing. They each caught something. After they left, some teens showed up. I broke off the Wing It Bobber rig about a yard above the bobber when I was fighting a fish that felt like a panfish. I saw the bobber and caught the rig on my first cast; it was out there quite a way. The teens applauded me when I landed a 3lb jumper. They left. Federal Ammo Dave showed up with his posse and started on the N bridge. I got a couple of Gator Bullheads and lost a big Orange Bullhead that I thought was a bass by the way it pulled; the big gill dove under a small dead dogfish and into the cattails and got off. Dave's posse came to the S side of the bridge as it started to rumble in the distance. One of Dave's guys got a silver as I was packing up. I was gone before it began to rain. I shot my report video when I got home from the car in the rain. It was a short storm. The power went off at the lake place. I noticed on the radar that the heavy stuff missed us but bullseyed on P/S.

Short Mid-Morning And Long Evening GOMH Trip

10:00-10:30AM GOMH 
53℉, Sunny, 3mph E

1 JUmp (Just a quick trip to see if anything was happening. It wasn't. Hopefully, I'll have the Trophy in Platte tonight.) 

5:30-11:30PM GOMH NE SW

63-71℉, Sunny, 0-6mph ESE

Another guy arrived a little before me and took the SW side. Amazingly no boats when I arrived. The other guy got one jumper about 45 minutes in. Shortly after that, Lantern Man Son and Kyle showed up. I gave them the SE and went to the NE side. Two dudes showed up and fished off the N bridge. I caught a small toothy. I had a bigger one follow me in. I started seeing baitfish activity. Got more toothys and a few jumpers as well. One of the Jumpers buried me in the shore weeds, but thankfully Dock Guy had rubber boots and a net and was able to net the 2.5lber. The bald dude finished the shore East of GOMH and got one silver. I got into three oranges, and then some wind came up. Got a couple more toothy and jumpers. I went to get my sweatshirt and hoodie, which were on the SE side, with Brett. And behold, Drinkin Dave was up on the bridge fishing, sober. So we talked for about 10 minutes. When I finally returned to the NE side, Dock Guy and his dad had left. I didn't get any bites, and the guy who was there when I arrived left, so I went and joined Kyle on the SW side. We both got a couple of silvers, and Brett got 3 or 4. We called it a night after 11 PM. Wild beat the Blues 3-0 and are now up 2-1 in the series.

Two Trips, DD Was Back In the Evening

1st Jumper of 2020
Crawtube (White)

1st Toothy Bullhead of 2020
Crawtube (White)

5:50-7:30AM GOMH Bulldog
38-35℉, Sunny Fog, Calm

A bit of fog this morning thanks to the cool down.  Unfortunately, the camera just didn't capture the fog and pink clouds on the horizon well.  An eagle flew up on a tree on the SW point just as I was getting out of the car.  My old Canon was pretty good at that.  I missed a couple bites than finally connected with a couple jumpers and toothy's on the SW side.  I gave Bulldog a quick try, nothing.  I think I got minnows on the way home.
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18" Cubby/Minnow

5:40-11:00PM GOMH SE NE SW

50-67℉, PC, 2-7 NE

The plan was to see if the GOMH was open if not or nothing going on give Bulldog and Rock a try.  There was nobody on shore fishing, but there was a boat right off of the SW side.  I went down on the SE side, nothing.  I then went to the NE side.  The way the wind was blowing in told me this was my best bet for a bullhead or dogfish.  I missed a bite in the tube and out from the stairs about 15 feet.  Unfortunately, there weren't dogfish.  After about an hour of trying to reconnect with the bites and missing several times, I caught a jumper in the tube and a toothy that cut me off; Both fish came on a white craw tube.  I managed to get the tube and hook back as it was visible and in reach of my rod underwater on a rock.  There was quite a bit of boat traffic through the area.  I went back to the SW side at 8:30PM when the boat finally left.  I got a bite on the Cubby in the mud and the fish ran straight to the cattails about 10 feet down to the west.  I managed to pull her into a cut when her mouth was open and up on the top, but before I could reach her she dove down and to the left straight into a cattail clump.  I had to get down on my knees and was, fortunately, able to dig her out without falling in.  18" of jumpin' bullhead hooked in the roof of the mouth on 4/1 fireline.  I cut my right thumb with the Fireline.  About 8:45 Dave from last night showed up with his two buddies.  I lost a good silver when they were getting set up.  I got a 9" just before Lantern Man showed up around 10PM.  Lantern Man got a couple silvers and one of DD's buddies got a golden.  Dave didn't do a whole lot of talking tonight. They left at about 10:45.  I had enough at 11PM, it just wasn't happening.    

Slow at the GOMH

I helped Steve clean my crappies today

5:00-5:30PM Bulldog GOMH SW SE
60℉, PC, Calm

I had to go get the muffs for the motor, which were at the Lake place.  I helped Steve clean the crappies.  On the way back I stopped at Bulldog and the GOMH.  There was a guy fishing from Shore to the South.  Never seen that before. I'll have to check that out sometime. Lantern Man stopped as I was getting out of the car.  He went home with 5 last night and stayed till midnight.

8:50-11:30PM GOMH NE SE
48-68℉, PC, Calm

I thought the rowdy bullhead fishermen were fishing off the bridge on the Southside so I went to the NE side.  I spotted an eyeball in the water the second I turned my light in the water.  I threw my first cast out toward the middle.  Bobber did something funny then went back to drifting.  My minnow was gone.  I hooked into a bullhead same spot I got the 13-incher last night.  At first, I thought maybe it was going to be a golden, but it was another 13-inch silver.  Maybe the same one as last night.  As I was landing the fish. Dave came over to see what was going on.  Dave is a talkative guy who has a place on Sullivan.  Turns out it was him, not the rowdy bullhead fishermen that I heard earlier.  He was curious about what I was using.  He went back to the other side and talked Lantern Man's ear off when he arrived.   I missed a couple of bites then a light boat came through.  They informed me there were a lot of crappies on the western shoreline but way out of my casting range. At about 10:15PM I switched to the SE side.  Lantern Man had gotten a couple. DD talked and talked.  Turns out he worked for Federal Ammunition and was an international salesman.  The gift of gab, who would have guessed.  Turns out he and LM share a passion for duck hunting.  The guy also knows his fishing as he was describing in detail something that was working out on Tonka this ice fishing season. LM got a couple more silvers before DD left at about 11PM.  A light boat came through at DD was packing up and I got 10" silver just after the boat passed under the bridge. That was my last bite of the night. LM got 4 more I think, but two of them went back.  I packed up at 11:30PM. A third light boat came cruising through as I watched from the bridge.  I didn't see anything.

Vikes picked O-Tackle Boise State Ezra Cleveland and CB Cameron Dantzler from Mississippi State and they traded away the second to last pick of the night which didn't make the Kfan staff happy as that they had been waiting all night for that third pick.  Buzzkill for them.

1st Silver Bullhead of the Year

12.75" Cubby Mini-Mite/maggots

Worked on the Trophy Today

7:00-7:25PM GOMH NE
7:30-8:10PM  Bulldog
8:15-10:00PM GOMH SE SW

67-53℉, Partly Cloudy 0-7mph,
Water Level High and rising

Dad didn't want to get up so I headed up to the lake place on my own.  The first job was to move the lawn tractor.  I couldn't get it started, so I called Dad and he came up.  While I was waiting for him to get there I tested out the new auto-bilge pump. Dad got the tractor started.  I didn't push the throttle up high enough to get it in the choke position.  We pushed the Trophy out of the garage.  I got it vacuumed out.  At first, it wasn't sucking very hard.  I took off the hose and it was filled up with sand.  Once I got it cleared it worked a whole lot better.  I couldn't get the bow light to work.  I've still got to switch out the bilges and get some other things done.  I hope to have it in the water by Friday at the latest.

I started out at the GOMH.  The guy with the orange/brown truck was there again.  This time on the SW side.  It was fairly windy out of the South, so I went down on the NE side.  I think a fish rolled across the way along the cattails.  I think I got a bite in the general area on the Cubby but I missed it.  This guy named Dave who has a place on Sullivan showed up and was going to fish off the bridge so I packed up.  I talked to him on the way back to the car.

I then went to Bulldog.  I had what was probably a bass eat the Rocket Bobber. That was the only bite I got.  I went back to the GOMH and the guy with o/b truck was still there fishing the SW side.  He didn't get anything and left at about a quarter to 9PM.  He said he got about 10 jumpers.  I missed what I think was a small toothy.  I then went to the SW and got the one silver bullhead on the Cubby Mini-Mite.  I may have missed one more bite. Sure would have been nice to have some minnows.  I wrapped it up just before 10PM.