MN Opener (GOMH All-Nighter/Back Sat Night)

15.5" Jerk Shad (Crackle)

12:00AM-8:30AM GOMH SW
Conditions:  36-42℉, Clear to Cloudy, Light N wind to calm
Water level to normal high

11" Shiner Minnow

I was hyped up to cash in some gold on the shiner minnows I caught last week. It didn't work out that way. Eddy's Jetty was iced in, so the GOMH it was. I got my first bite around 12:30 am, but it was silver. Some guys on the other side got some gold right away. Lantern Man's son got one, and Lantern Man got one. Shorty after LM got his golden, he told me to throw into the current, which I did, and got a jumper.

14" Shiner Minnow

It then got real slow, and everybody left by 2:30 am. I went fishing on the NE side and got a 15" jumper on the Grass Pig. Peter W. showed up at about 3 am. He got a bullhead right away. I tried the NE side briefly again before someone else showed up to check what was up. At 4 am, the Wheel House Guy showed up and started fishing right next to me. Pretty soon, his brother and other relatives/friends showed up and took up the SE side. WHG got one golden on the NE side. It was dead until about 5:40 am, when I quickly got three nice jumpers on the Poison (2x18", 17.75").

18" Poison/Razor Shad

17.75"/4.12lbs Poison/Razor Shad

It then got slow again for about an hour. I got into a good run of 16" jumpers on a brown/grn pumpkin crawtube, dropping the two big ones. I missed a bunch of bites as well.

18.25'"/3.81lbs Crawtube

I got one good 17" on the Grass Pig and that last pig on the crawtube. I also got one toothy on the craw tube. WHG gave me a banana and some banana bread to eat before leaving. His brother, who fished next to me the whole morning, got a few jumpers and silvers. The people across the way got more of the same. For the most part, fishing was more difficult than expected. I should have fished on the NE side in the wind rather than camping on the SW side like I did. Still, 19 jumpers for the trip isn't exactly terrible. I was disappointed to not get at least one golden, though. My feet were fried from standing in my Bugaboots all night.

For the morning trip
19 Jumpers (18.25,18,18,17.75,17,16) for my 6 best (Stupidly, I only weighed two fish)
1 Toothy
1 Silver
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Dad got me up just before 5 pm to go and put the dock in at the lake place, which we did.

8:45–11:00 pm GOMH NE
Conditions: 62-50℉, partly cloudy, calm

9.5" X-Rap Shallow Shad

Nobody was on the NE side when I got there, so I quickly got my stuff and headed down. Lantern Man arrived as I was getting my stuff laid out. I got a jumper on the first cast and thought it might be on. LM's son came and down on the NW side. He had been fishing the Southside, getting silvers and jumpers. After he left the GOMH last night, his bridge hopping was a resounding failure. His first cast under the bridge resulted in some gold. His friend Kyle came and netted it, and Kyle got a golden on his first cast as well. They got another one, and I got the one I did casting out on the crackle Jerk Shad. I also got a 24.5" toothy casting out on the jerk shad. Two bow fishing boats came through.   LM son and Kyle left. I got the Rock bullhead. Other than that, it was pretty dead. Sneaky C showed up. He was a pretty good day on the gravel lizards wherever he was fishing. I left shortly after Sneaky arrived. I was still worn out from last night and didn't feel like flogging the water anymore.

So that is my 2018 Opener Day 1

Lake Place, Bulldog, GOMH

11" Glow Demon & Crappie Minnow

7:30PM-12:00AM Lake Place, Bulldog, GOMH SW SE
Conditions: 60-50℉, Mostly Sunny, Medium Wind WNW turning calm, water slowly flowing into Sullivan

4.5" T.H.E. Jig (chart/black)

I started the night off of the night getting some pike and small sunfish off the dock at the Lake Place.  I then headed over to Bulldog Lake where I only had one bite.

16" Panfish Chatterbait

  It was pretty dark by the time I got to the GOMH.  There was a guy fishing bullheads on the North side of the bridge.  He had gotten a couple oranges on minnows.  I went down to the SW side.  I got this Rock Bullhead.

7.5" Glow Demon & Minnow

Peter and Matt W. showed up and started fishing for bullhead bullheads.  I got me a silver bullhead.

10.75" Glow Demon & Minnow

  Since neither Peter or Matt wanted it.  I gave it to the bullhead fisherman who had one bullhead in the pail and he said he had missed a couple as well.

The agony of defeat

I got a couple more silver bullheads.  It was pretty slow so I switched to the SE side.  As Peter was leaving I hooked into a big dogfish.  It kept trying to swim into the cattails, but eventually I got it into open water.  I got my fish gripper out of the bag.  I was just about to take a picture of the monster when it got off.  It was at least 27" if not bigger. Bummer I didn't at least get a picture of it.  The hook just came out.  It wasn't bent at all.  I fought it for probably 8 minutes.

I got a few bites that I missed and got the 11 incher on my last cast.  A great way to end my panfish season as I don't plan on fishing tomorrow.  I just wish I would have used all my minnows up.  I have about 8 left.

Slow Morning Long Night at the GOMH

The Sun coming over the horizon at the GOMH

4:30-7:00AM GOMH SE SW NE
Conditions: 39℉, Mostly sunny with fog, Very light N Wind, Water seems to have leveled off.

23.9" Glow Demon & Minnow

I thought maybe some silvers might show up in the morning seeing as how they didn't bite last night.  I spent an hour on the S side, not getting a bite.  I then moved to the NE side and quickly picked up the golden.  I also got this butterball.

16.75" Glow Demon & Minnow

I went back to the South side and picked up a couple of more jumpers and one toothy.  It was a calm and peaceful morning. I decided not to get more minnows seeing as how the last two trips went down.

The view of Sullivan

Evening Trip:
7:00-7:25PM Bulldog
7:30PM-3:30AM
Conditions: 54-40℉, Partly Cloudy, Calm,

First stop was at Bulldog Lake.  I got a couple bites with T.H.E. Jig.  One of them was a big fish that swirled on the Rocket Bobber.  I caught the one sunfish.  Pretty slow, so I headed to the GOMH.

No one was there when I arrived, but by the time I had my stuff down to the water on the SW side two guys showed up and started fishing the SE side.  Then Dad showed up.  The renters had put the dock in a couple weeks ago apparently.  I gave Dad the Cubby Rod and he fished off the bridge.  He missed the first four bites losing his minnow each time.  I caught a toothy on the Swim Shad.

22.5" Swim Shad

Dad had a silver on that got off.  That was it for the night for Dad.

That crappie was huge!!!

The guys on the other side started getting some silvers.  I started getting some silvers.

10.5" Glow Demon & Minnow

Lantern Man showed up and started fishing with me.  The other guys got a few more silvers and left. LM went over to the SE side.  I caught me an ultra rare rock bullhead.

7.75" Demon & Minnow

We were both getting an occasional silver.  A pontoon full of young bow fisherman went to the river, then went back to Platte.  They got so may dogs and carp they lost count.  They said there were a lot of good size bass in the river. I think I know where I am going to be on Opener morning.

The Bow Fishermen

Lantern Man packed up at midnight.  I was down to only 2 minnows at that point, but LM gave me what he had, a couple dozen maybe.  It was nice out and the fish were biting occasionally so I stayed.  I decided to head over to the SE side and was quickly rewarded with a bullhead bullhead.

11.5" Glow Demon & Minnow

Size increased on the SE side as did the frequency of bites.  Unfortunately I missed a lot of them.  With a certain size of minnow I could call my shot.  The owls were hooting, the loons calling, the frogs chirping with the muskrats.  I even got to see a few shooting stars.

11.75" Glow Demon & Minnow

The action slowed down so I went to the NE side to give it a try,  There was a toothy swimming around in the rocks that I could see.   Other than that nothing was going on. The moon went down and I was down to about 8 of the wrong size minnows, so I left.

12.5" Biggest of the night

A long, but fun night.

I Caught A Rock Bullhead

9:00-9:45PM
Conditions: 38 degrees, windy out of the NW, mostly cloudy

I don't know if I've ever caught a Rock Bullhead before, but I pulled it from the tree on the SW side.  I also missed a silver on my very first cast.  Lantern Man's son arrived when I did.  He didn't have any bullheads when I left.  He was hoping to get some goldens after midnight.  A guy across the way got a small silver and missed another bite.

I also went fishing in the morning, late start, and I got a couple jumpers and a toothy.