Not My Day, Lost 4 Crackles in the Morning/Trophy Motor Problems and Lost Sunglasses Evening

6:00-10:00AM GOMH, BB Point, NW Juice, F Flat Docks
75-60℉, Sunny, 0-3mph SE
68℉ Low





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7:50-9:25PM Chuck's, Green Cabin, Big Bass Point
80℉-71, PC, Calm
69℉ Low

Sunny Warmer Slowish Fishing

12" Cubby/minnow

17.25" Picasso Jig

6:15-9:00PM F Flat Brown Boathouse
40-58℉, Sunny, 0-20mph I was in the protected area, but there was some gustiness after it got calm after 7PM.

My new Garmin Fish Finder GPS arrived today.  Mom had to run a few errands in Onamia, so I was going to take the Expedition up to the lake place.  I wanted to be fishing by 5PM.  I went down to the pole barn to get the truck when I realized mom had my tackle bag in the Kia.  So I scrubbed the Expedition idea and got the Garmin mounted on the portable carrier that I originally used for my Vexilar before I replaced it with a different better one.  I am still waiting on a Scotty small craft transducer mount.  That should come tomorrow.  Mom got home at about 5:10PM and had Porky Burgers, so I ate half of mine before I left. I started fishing at 6:15PM.  There was a slight ENE wind when I arrived.  I had failed to notice previously that I only had about a dozen minnows left.  I started at "the dock" on F Flat than worked my way to the juice like I did yesterday.  When I got to the spot I dropped anchor not leaving any slack in the line. First fish was the 17-inch bass, which somehow pulled me out far enough that the anchor was no longer on the bottom.  Right after I caught the bass those two large loons came in to investigate what was going on. I ended up drifting right over the juice not realizing I was moving.  When I finally looked back towards shore I had moved about 35-feet to the SW.  I was like dang how did I not notice that.  I then used the trolling motor and caught a 13-inch bass on the Cubby.  Finally, around 7:45PM I got a crappie on the Cubby.  I didn't get another one until after the sun had set.  I managed to pick up three more pretty quickly and missed a few bites as well.  I put a stickleback on at one point and fish would peck at it but not take it.  Finally, I took it off and put on a regular crappie minnow and got bit immediately by a crappie.  I think a small bass was the last thing I caught.

I stopped at the GOMH on the way home.  Lantern Man and his kid were there.  They had gotten one jumper, one toothy, and one golden. No silver.  I didn't fish.

Successful Trip On F Flat

12.5" Panfish Hair Jig/minnow

19.25" 4/4 Panfish Jig/minnow

18" 3/3 Pure Poison/Swim Fluke Jr

Two Loons over the juice

6:00-9:00PM F Flat Brown Boat House
38-41℉, Overcast turning PC, 0-5mph ENE

I got a later start than I had planned on.  I woke up from my nap at 4PM but had other distractions.  I started to the East of "the dock".  Didn't get anything there.  I was about 10 feet to the west of the dock when I got a 13" bass on the Cubby and minnow.  I anchored but didn't draw anything more.  As I got closer to the juice I anchored again in about 3' of water in front of the Brown Boat House.  I got the 18" and a 16" bass throwing the Poison.  I then got the pig bass on the pink/white Panfish Hair Jig.  Steve sent me a text about a 3lb bass that an eagle had dropped on the road. The sun finally showed up and so did the crappies.  I got one on the Cubby.  On the very next cast, I had another bite hang me in the weeds and my line gave way.  I went back to the Panfish Hair Jig Rod.  A number of crappies would grab the minnow and just sit there in place leading me to believe I had caught a weed.  I missed about 5 bites that way.  I caught 6 crappies total throwing the big one back.  As it was getting dark I realized I hadn't put my headlamp in the jacket, doh.  The last bite of the night was 13-inch bass on the Panfish Jig.  I fished with the lighted bobber until 9PM, didn't get any bites.  I called ahead for Steve to put the boathouse outside light on.  When I got in I took my time and retied a new Cubby on the Cubby Rod.  I got to the GOMH at 10PM.  Lantern Man had gotten two silvers.  Since he wasn't crushing them and I didn't have my headlamp I decided not to fish.

6 Crappie
5 Bass

GOMH, Big Rice, Fog/Green Cabin, Melon Patch, Big Rice & Broken Rod

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

15.25" X-Rap Shad Shallow (Perch)

6:00-6:50AM GOMH
7:30-10:30AM Big Rice Point
60-66℉, Fog, Cloudy, Light Rain, Calm to 5MPH
73℉

17" Bobby's Perfect (Sparrow)

I started at the GOMH when it was still pretty dark thanks to the fog and heavy overcast.  I got 4 jumpers there.  The 15.25" and 12-incher came on the perch Shad Shallow X-Rap.  I got a 15-incher on the chart/orange belly Rippin Rap and a 12.75" on the junebug chatterjig.  The Panfish guy showed up around 6:15, so I didn't fish the South side.

18.25" Picasso Jig/Craw Fatty (Sunfish/OkCraw)

The fog was still heavy when I left the GOMH.  It wasn't as bad on the East side of the lake, but once I was past the island I was down to maybe 30 feet of visibility.  Thanks to the GPS I found the reed edge and followed that around to Big Rice.  I didn't have any action until the fog had mostly lifted.  I missed the first blow up, which happened right next to the boat when I wasn't expecting it as I worked my way towards the tip along the front side.  I had a bass miss the frog in a hole in the rice, which I couldn't recoax into hitting.  I caught the 18-incher in a different hole in the rice.  I thought it was going to be a dogfish with the way it pushed water when it hit.  I got the 17-incher off the tip on the Sparrow Bobby's Perfect.  I had the Picasso Jig get bit off by a pike.  I also caught an aggressive 15-inch bass on the back side.  If it wasn't raining and cold I would have stayed out later.  I foolishly left my sweatshirt in the car, but rain wasn't in the forecast. How was I to know it might rain.
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17.25" Mad Maxx (Big Sexy)

6:30-9:05PM Chuck's Point, Melon Patch, Big Rice Point
70-60℉, Mostly Sunny, 6-2mph NW
73℉

17" Monsoor Swim Jig/Grass Pig Jr (GP/SG)

I put the red tackle bag on the center seat per usual.  Big mistake.  It got bounced off and broke my favorite frog rod, the 7'4" heavy Tatula.  I am very much now regretting not picking up more of them over the years as the rod is now discontinued and they have seemingly all been snapped up.  Just last week I did buy the same rod in a Tatula XT in a deal on eBay I couldn't pass up.  This was my inaugural trip with that rod in the boat; I put an old Team Daiwa X on the rod as well as a "Big Sexy" frog.  So not wanting to cry over spilled milk I picked up the XT and started casting in the reeds on Chuck's Point. I had a good blow up but discovered that the drag on the reel was totally backed off.  The fish got off. Not the ideal start to a trip.  I quickly decided I didn't like the way the TD-X felt on the rod, so I exchanged it for the Tatula that was on the broken rod.  Better, but not as good as feeling as the broken rod.  Nothing was taking the frog, so I switched to the Monsoor Swim Jig, different rod, and was into fish immediately.  I caught 5 bass (15.75, 13.75, 17, 12, 13.25) on the Monsoor Jig and lost 3 or 4 in the reeds as well.  I also got my first bass (15.5) on the new frog rod and a Sparrow Bobby's Perfect. The bite slowed down to a crawl around 7:15, so I headed to the Melon Patch, which was dead.  I caught one small pike on the Monsoor Jig and that was it.  I broke for Big Rice by 8:15PM. I was immediately rewarded with the biggest bass of the night, the 17.25" on "Big Sexy".  I caught 3 more bass (16.25,14,12) and a small pike on Big Sexy as well.  It stayed surprising light out and the skeeters weren't much of a bother, so I stayed out past 9.

18.25lbs (Fish 2 & 3 were from last night)

         

With Todd at the Melon Patch, With Steve in Todd's Pond

15.75" Ish's Phat Frog (Ballin')

Fog rolled in at about 7AM

6:00-10:00AM Melon Patch
58-68℉, Fog and Smoke Haze, 2-5 MPH SE S

3.65/17.25" Bobby's Perfect (Sparrow)

Todd got the first fish of the morning and I got a 14-incher and that was it for the first hour and a half.  The fog rolled in and the wind calmed down some. 

15.25" Bobby's Perfect (Sparrow)

Then I got the 15.25" thug out of the spot I first got a fish in the Melon Patch and the 17-incher shortly thereafter in the middle of a weed cover filled cove in the rice.  I got a 23" pike as we fished our way across the Melon Patch.  I think Todd missed a fish and I had a fish hit me in some pads in the rice and not get it.  The fish didn't go for any of my follow-ups.  We worked farther NE than I ever have after Todd lost a good one up that way.  I caught a 16.25".  Todd had what I estimated was a 30-inch pike dangling next to the boat.  He thought I was getting the net when I instructed him to just pull it into the boat.  As he began to do that the gator squirmed and got off.  Todd wasn't that disappointed about not getting a picture.  A little later on Todd had a pike bite of the Ish's, but I quickly got to the spot and found it floating.  I re-tied it on and about 3 casts later a bigger pike bit it off again, but this time it didn't resurface. Bummer.  I caught one last 12-inch bass giving us 6 for the morning trip.
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16" Zoom Magnum Super Fluke (Disco Violet)

6:45-8:40PM Todd's Pond, Green Cabin Bay

77-73℉, Hazy Sun, 3-7mph SE Wind

78℉

We went to Todd's Pond to start.  I had a pike miss my Terminator Frog right away. Then Steve missed a couple of bites up against the cane.  I had a fish "dog me" in the reeds.  I couldn't get the fish to pick up anything else. Steve had something just suck his frog under the pads.  He set the hook hard but didn't get it.  I just heard the fish get off and figured Steve set the hook too quickly, but that wasn't the case the fish was moving off with the frog for several seconds before he set the hook.  It was probably a dogfish or had the frog by the legs.  I had another fish "dog me" this time by the rice where I had a bass miss my frog a few days ago.  I got the fish, probably the same bass as the other day, on the Mag Fluke.  I had one other fish "dog me" that I didn't get.  At about 8 I got us out of the Pond and headed for the SE corner of Inlet Bay, but I didn't like the way that looked and quickly moved us to Green Cabin.  I got a quick pike.  Steve missed a bite.  I got a 13-incher on the Terminator Frog and then rolled one about the same size.  That was the last bite of the trip.

15.38lbs for the Best 6 of the Day.