8:30-2:00PM Crow Wing River/Gull River
74-67℉, Cloudy some light rain turning PC, 3-5mph S
We started at the confluence of the two rivers just South of the access. I noticed fish activity out where there was current. Didn't get anything on the point. But Bruce hit paydirt at the rice island (fish in the picture). He immediately lost another good one. We decided to not hammer on them and went and checked the slop island further down. I had a good 90% sure it was a bass blow up on my hookless Snagproof Frog there and there was activity all the way along that thing. I had a pike strike at me off the end of it.
We then checked a couple of inlets then headed up the Gull River to the 210 railroad bridge. There was some activity in the 1/8th of a mile south of the bridge. Bruce got bit off and I had a couple of blow-ups. We didn't see any activity in the next 1/4mile or so. We then jumped around a few places. We had a couple of who knows what blow-ups on an algae mat and Bruce lost a small bass off of a dock and got a small possible keeper bass off of another dock. We had enough of the Gull River at that point. We ran into Hammer who was fishing the slop Island at the confluence. We then ran up the Crow. Briefly talked with Dennis then continued up to as far as we felt was safe. We fished our way back running a couple of different times. The sun came out and we were done shortly after that.
Beau took out just after we did. Bo knows the Crow, apparently, this stretch of river is pretty much his home water.
I went to the GOMH this morning. Forgot the camera. I got a toothy bullhead on the crawtube and one on the
ebay Swim Jig and Devil Spear. I also had several bite at a Horny Toad. I got jumpin bullheads on the Horny Toad, Pure Poison/ Craw Fatty, and the crawtube
Only took a picture of 2. Got them at the Grumpy Old Man Hole, so really it's 3 Toothy Bullheads. Got the 1st one on a Havoc Grass Pig and the last two on my Ebay Swim Jig with Devil Spear trailer. Also got some jumpin' bullheads. I fished from 7:45 to 9:15PM
I hit Bulldog up just after 5AM getting one small bass. The I went to the GOMH and got some jumpin bullheads on the Strike King Pure Poison, and a Crawtube. Eventually I got this toothy bullhead on the brown/orange Ebay Swim Jig
20"
Then I went to Jenny's and got a slightly smaller pike on the Ebay Jig
Here is how last night and this morning went. I arrived at Eddy's at 11:30PM and nobody was there fishing, so I took the North Jetty at the harbor mouth. Right away I had a hit that didn't hook up on an X-Rap. I cast for about an hour with nothing more. At 1:35AM I got this eye on a leech.
24.5"
My next bite was a rock bass at 2AM
At 3AM the moon was up and I decided to throw raps again and on my second cast I landed this fish on a firetiger Husky Jerk. I thought maybe it was going to be awwwwn, but that was it.
22'
At 4:40AM as the sun was starting to light the sky pretty good the bobber went down. I had a mishap on the hookset, but it held while I got my line unhooked from the dock and so I landed this leech fish.
23"
That was it for the action. I left at a little after 5AM
I hit the GOMH at 6:30AM I got two toothy bullheads missing at least 3 others and I got 2 jumpin bullheads. I was done at 8AM
20.5"
Overall I'm satisfied with how Opener went. I think the fish bit well, there just weren't a ton of them roaming around after the first night
I was not a spring chicken and didn't get to the launch until after 6AM. I wasn't fishing until about 6:45AM and much to my surprise I couldn't see anyone at the spot. As I was getting set up there was a red Lund heading my way. There was a bit of a SW breeze and I got blown towards the North Shore. I ran the trolling motor to get back towards the South shore. As the boat approached he was headed to go between me and the South shore. I yelled and pointed for him to go around the other way. I lined up my first cast of the morning with a white Stanley Jigs Phantom(spook). Next thing I know the red Lund is passing between me and the South shore and headed right to where my bait is sitting. I was not happy, so I yelled at the guy (I have this on video and will post it when I figure out how to post to Youtube). Anyway, if there were fish there, there weren't any longer.
Fishing the area I had one hit on the Phantom but it didn't hook up. The next bait in the quiver was a Havoc Lane's Grass Pig (Dipper). I could feel fish hitting it but they didn't hold on so I could set the hook. Next, I tried a purple Berkley Frenzy Popper and had a fish hit that and not hook up. I went subsurface with a PB&J Yum Wooly Bug and finally I got a bass.
It was only 11.25". A couple of casts later I got my first "keeper" at 15".
I caught a few more fish but it was slow. Eventually, the red Lund came back out of the river. I asked them if they caught anything and the guy swore at me, so I'm guessing that is a no. I could see another boat in the river fishing it's way towards me. They said it was really slow and only got a couple of small fish. I had to see for myself and they were right. The one notable thing is that I caught my first Dipper fish. Actually, I got two, one on an unweighted setup and one on a weighted hook. Both fish smacked it and held on.
Eventually, I left the river and went to fish the greater Pro. I was throwing the white weighted Grass Pig and I had it get bumped a few times but the fish were not taking it. Finally, I had enough of that and switched to a black-blue Pure Poison Chatter Jig and got a bass on that. After a while, it became clear the fish just were not chasing so I started pitching the Wooly Bug to groups of pads. I was rewarded with my biggest fish of the day at 17.75".
I caught a few more and missed a couple of bites doing that. Eventually, I went to where it was calm and looked for fish. Saw one good bass, a few average to small ones and one nice pike. Not a single dogfish. Eventually, I got back into the wind and got one on the Pure Poison and an Orange Swim Jig with Havoc Devil Spear trailer. I got a few more hits that didn't hook up and on one of the hits the Spear tail came off. I switched the tail to a 4" pumpkin Action Plastics Grub and got a couple pike. As I was fishing down the shore a couple of guys from the Bass Snatchers came by (Ruff & Ludenia. They were getting the lay of the land and hadn't started fishing yet.
I worked my way to the GOMH and into Platte where I got a 15.25" on the Pure Poison, along with a couple of pike.
I worked into Channel Inn Bay where it was calm and it was dead, not even panfish.
Eventually, I worked my way into the Big West Bay. I tied on a baby bass Ninja Spinnerbait and the pike fest was on as I drifted the weed flat in the wind (and it was windy folks). I think I caught about 15 pike and two bass. Eventually, I made a switch to a smaller black and red faux Ninja and the bass and pike evened out a bit. I think I finally narrowed down an area that was holding a few bass and I headed in.
It was an ordeal getting the boat trailered in that big wind on a NE shore access, but I did it and didn't break anything. I'm lucky I didn't swamp the boat and break stuff.
I ended up with:
24 Bass (Best 5:17.75, 16.25, 15.25, 15.25, 15)
26 Pike
Note: My "new and improved" trolling motor bracket didn't survive the first trip. I can still use it for now, but we are gonna need to try something else.
It was raining today and so I had to go an put the cover on the boat. Naturally when I was done with that I threw a few casts from the dock. I used a white Monsoor Swim Jig with a Pearl Essence 5" Action Plastics Super Mag Grub. I had a follow from a small pike and then a couple of casts later I caught a small pike and that was it for action.
Conditions: A very nice day but a bit cooler than it's been. Sun with temps in the high 50's. Wind was out of the SE at about 4-7 turning calm around 6:40PM. I fished from about 4:30PM to 7:10PM
The Report:I started by hitting the first dock to the West of the lake place. Nothing. I then continued in that direction and had a hit, missed it. In fact as I kept going that direction I missed the first 5 hits I got. Visions of another skunk were running in my head until I got this dude on a spinnerbait. Yeah, no skunk!
I fished the last 3 docks on the South Shore of the Big Middle Bay. That wasn't happening and it was coming up on 6PM and I needed to make a move. I decided to go to the South shore of Platte just to the SE of the small island. I don't think I've fished in this area for at least 3 years. I started out on the weed flat fishing in extremely sparse reeds. I managed to catch one small pike out there on a white Monsoor Swim Jig with pearl essence 5" Action Plastic Super Mag Grub. I worked my way West and towards shore eventually getting to a thicker reed bed. I was working my way around those thicker reeds throwing the swim jig when I got on the lake side where the reeds thinned out considerably. I made a cast by a couple of isolated reeds and I got hit, then hit again, then on the third hit the fish hooked up. I fully expected it to be a pike, but it was this 14.25" bass. The end of the tail got bit off the grub, but I cast it right out over the same spot and had another bass on that was the same size jump off right at the boat. I cast back to the spot again and got a 13.50" largie. I decided to give the Repo Man a try and it took a couple of casts, but I got 13.50" on that. Then nothing, so I tried the swim jig and nothing. I cast a junebug crawtube to the spot and got bit, but I missed on the hookset. Same thing on the next cast. On the third try I got a 14.75" and that was it. I tried throwing a few more things and it seemed the bite ended. I put a new Super Mag Grub on the swim jig. I cast over the hot spot from a different angle and had a hit that didn't hook up. Cast back a couple of times more and nothing. I then cast back with the crawtube and got a 13.75" and 14.25" on consecutive casts and that seemed to be it for the spot.
It was now about 6:50PM and getting dark quick, and I made the decision to fish the point that comes off the South tip of the small Island. It was a good call. I smacked this 17.5", obviously on the Repo Man. A couple of casts later a 17.25" largie just lit up the Repo Man right after it landed. I had one more blow up on the Repo Man but it didn't hook up and it didn't come back for seconds. As it was getting dark I moved the boat off the end of the point and was casting over the tip before the drop off with a white single white Colorado blade spinnerbait when I got the last bass of the night, which was 14".
It looks like the secret to catching bass on Platte right now is to find a pod of fish. Easier said than done as the previous two days of no bass proves. I'm not sure what was so special about that one little area to give up so many fish. I plan to go back there tomorrow and try it again and GPS it.
Tonight I had to go and drain water from the boat. I forgot to grab the slop frog rod, so I had to use what was in the boat house. First I picked up one of my 6'10"MH swim jig rods. On one of the casts as I was bringing the swim jig across the rice and I had a fish hit and miss. I cast right back to the spot and it smashed it this time. I set the hook hard and the line broke, apparently where the braid was connected with the wire leader. Haven't had that happen before.
I went and grabbed a rod with a Fin-Tech Title Shot Jig with white/red Strike King Bleeding Bait Flippin Tube. As I brought the tube off the rice into the open water of the boat channel the tube was nailed by a 14.5" largie which I caught. No camera for pics.
I had to get a move on for the Vikings pre-season game and so I didn't hit up Jenny's.
Today I got my gear together, so I could start fishing out of the Trophy again. I headed to the lake around 5PM, but forgot the bag with the camera. Once there I got the boat loaded and messed around with my tackle for a little bit. A fish busted a long cast out front of Sherman's (neighbor to our East) in the rice. I was able to make the cast and it hit, but I came up empty. This incident lured me putting the trolling motor down and heading in that direction. I wasn't off in the boat until 6PM. There was quite a bit of activity in the slop but nothing was going after the white Spro Bronzeye Frog. I worked to the reed bed and then I started pitching a jig to holes in the curly leaf pond weed as I worked my way back West. Nothing was happening so I slided in and fished a couple of docks, getting a hit on a bubblegum Super Fluke from a little pike. A lab had been playing in the water at the next dock down the line, so I decided to head to the reed bed off of the end of the North point of Channel Inn Bay. I started out at the tip and worked my way towards shore.
My first fish was a 26" Pike that hit a brownish Lethal Weapon 2 Jig with watermelon Zoom Speed Craw. A few casts later I got hung on a reed and as I was trying to pull it free my line snapped about 15 feet out from the end of the rod. I went and retrieved the jig. I quickly re-tied and got back to casting. I had a hit and set the hook and once again my 30lb Power Pro snapped, this time about 5 feet off the end of the rod tip. I picked up my other swim jig rod that had a blue/pink Monsoor Swim Jig with Action Plastics 5" Super Mag Grub and cast back to the same area and got a hit but the fish got off. I headed to that area and I was able to find the tag end of the line and retrieve the jig again, no fish. I think I'm going to have to give those guides a thorough inspection with a cotton swab, as that I didn't see any trouble spots. It could be weak spots caused by backlashes. I through the Spro Bronzeye up by shore in the rice and reeds and had a hit but it didn't hook up.
After thoroughly fishing the area I started heading to the docks. I got a pike in very shallow on the rice inside weedline. I thought for sure it was going to be a bass. On the first dock I caught a 11.75" bass on a white Zoom Horny Toad. At the next dock I made a good cast and had a fish hit, but I missed it on the hookset and was unable to get it to bite again. Got nothing on the last dock.
It was about 8:30PM now so I decided to hit my best docks to the West of the Platte Lake public access. The first few docks didn't have fish. Finally I got a bite on the Fluke but the fish was swimming right towards me after it picked up the Fluke and I got a crappy hookset and missed the fish. On the next dock I got a bite and promptly broke my line, seemingly at the knot. I cast at the heart of the dock with a Zoom Horny Toad putting my line through part of the dock up off the water and backlashing a little bit. I got my line situation straightened out and there was a fish on the end of the line. I really didn't get a hook set, but the fish hooked up anyway. I tried to pull the fish up and over the part of the dock I had gone through, but that didn't work so I had to go over with the trolling motor and grab it. The bass was 15.25".
I got the Horny Toad re-rigged and decided to throw it out around a patch of weeds (cabbage with sparce rice and reeds) that was out towards the lake. I had what I believe to be a huge bass blow up on the Horny Toad but it missed it. I made repeat casts with the Toad, but it wouldn't hit again. As I fan casted the area I had a pike break me off. Next I started throwing the blue/pink Monsoor Swim Jig. I had a little bass follow it to the boat. I had a fish hit in the vicinity of where I got the blow up, but it didn't hook up. I retied a watermelon Horny Toad and electric chicken Super Fluke. I was throwing the Toad out towards those weeds when I had a pike bite off both legs. I kept using the Toad and got a 12.5" bass. I decided to throw in at the dock again with the Fluke and had a hit, but I missed the hook set. The sun was starting to get low and I wanted to get to where the slop starts so I decided to move on. I had several blow ups on the Toad and eventually coaxed a 15.25" bass to hit after it missed the first time. The Toad was wasted and I lost it while catching in a bunch of weeds.
Next I started throwing a clown Spro Bronzeye Frog. I went with the clown cause I was worried about pike and I have several clown Bronzeyes. I got to where the rice, reeds, and pads, get thicker and missed a fish that very well might have been a dogfish right next to the boat. I started working my way down the reed edge out towards the lake and was rewarded with a 15.25" and 15.75" both on the Spro. It was quite dark by the time I headed back in. The mosquito's really were not bad at all.
Tonight I got out for a little over an hour before it got dark. It was overcast with about a 3MPH wind out of the SE.
My first spot was to try the biggest reed bed in Platte's big center bay. In the reeds I got the picture fish (13" largie) on a brown (sparrow) Snagproof Bobby's Perfect Frog.; Not too much later a pike stole that frog, so I tied on on red/brown Bobby's Perfect. A bass was messing with the frog but didn't take it, so I pitched back to the spot with a swim jig and I got my second bass which was a 13.5". Next I caught a 20" pike on a "electric chicken" Zoom Super Fluke. While I was in the reeds I think most of the strikes I got came from pike.
On my way out of the reeds I threw the Fluke at a dock and got a 14.5" largie.
Next I headed to the reeds at the South side of the big Island hoping I could get something going there. Not long after I stopped a pike ripped the Zoom Horny Toad I was throwing to shreds and that was pretty much the extent of my action for the night.
Since Bass Opener is always on Memorial Day Weekend I consider the MN Bass Opener to be a 3-day affair.
Today I slept in and didn't start fishing until about 5PM and I fished the whole time on Platte. The day was mostly sunny but had turned to partly sunny by the time I went fishing. When I first got out winds were out of the WSW at about 7MPH, eventually it got calm for about 1/2 an hour, then a 5MPH SE wind started up. Water Temps were 69-71.
My first stop was the Channel Inn Bay North Point reed bed. With my success there Sat. morning I figured this was a place I could pick up a few fish and I was right. My first bass took a Zoom Horny Toad that had sunk sub-surface. I had a fish on and didn't set the hook. The fish let go and then the Toad got picked right back up and I set the hook into a 13incher. I was having problems with the trolling motor not working at low speeds and the wind was such that I had to set up outside the reeds anchor and then fan cast back into the reeds. I caught a few bass and pike on swim jigs doing this. The biggest was this scrawny 15.75" The wind died and I proceeded to get a couple more bass and a pike on the watermelon red Horny Toad.
A little after 7PM I made the move to the North side of The Big West Bay where the big maidencaine bed is. I started at the tip of the maidencaine bed fishing with the Horny Toad, eventually I switched up to a clown Spro Bronzeye Frog. A fish gave itself away in close to the maidencaine bed. I pitched into the hole with a red/black Terminator Top Secret Jig w/junebug Zoom Speed Craw and was surprised when I brought in a pike. Pretty much parked in the same spot casting out away from the maidencaine bed into the rice, sparce reeds and sparse pads I got a 15" bass on the Spro. I worked down a little ways casting out again when I got a small blow up that missed the frog. I cast back and this time it ate it. I set the hook and my 40lb Power Pro snapped with a crack somewhere along the rod. Since I had a lot of line lost I figured I just might be able to catch my line. While I was moving in that direction the fish jumped trying to spit the hook. Sure enough I spotted the line but it started racing away from me. I had the trolling motor on high and eventually I caught the line and the fish was still on. Hand-lining a bass through rice isn't easy, but I got this 16" in the boat. I don't know why the line broke where it did, I'm going to have to give the rod guides a close inspection. By the time I was ready to fish again I had drifted well off the maidencaine onto the rice flat with sparse pad fields. I decided to keep throwing the Spro and drift with the wind. I got a couple of smaller bass doing that.
At one point a fish gave away it's location and I cast to the spot and something bumped the frog. I cast back again and it bumped it again. I cast back a third time and this time got a 13" bass. I put down the anchor so I could fan cast the area. On one of my casts when the frog was getting close to the boat something that seemed to be big charged at the frog but swirled away at the last second. I made repeated casts but couldn't get anything to hit.
Since the sun was starting to get low on the horizon, I decided I better start heading back towards the maidencaine bed to where there is some bullrushes and reeds. Unfortunately in the previous half hour a boat with three people had anchored and moved several times in that area in close to the bullrushes where I was going. By the time I got to the bullrushes that boat had left the area. I managed to get a few bass on the Horny Toad from the bullrushes or reeds including this 15" fish. It was starting to get dark so I decided to work the maidencaine on my way out. I had a 14 inch class bass hit the Horny Toad and I fought it to the boat where it jumped and got off and that was my last fish of the night.
4.5 hours fished 16 Bass 3 Pike Best 5 (16,15.75,15,15,14)
It was around 7PM when I headed out the door to go to Mille Lacs to try for some smallies. I stopped at Subway and ate, then it was off to Eddy's Jetty. When I arrived their were 2 guys fishing on the South Jetty, which is where I got most of my smallies last year. The center Jetty was also taken so I headed to the corner of the North Jetty.
BAM!!! It didn't take long. First cast with a wht/chart with wht&chart willow leaf blade spinnerbait and I connected with this 17.5" beauty
A couple casts later, BAM 19.25"!!!
Action stopped on the spinnerbait, so I picked up a blue/pink Monsoor Swim Jig with pink 5" Action Plastics Mag Grub and BAM, 18"!!!
I went back to the spinnerbait and had a hit but after a couple of seconds the fish was gone and so was my spinnerbait. I'm not sure if it was a Norman Speed Clip malfunction (Note to self, don't use Speed Clips with spinnerbaits) or if the spinnerbait broke.
Tried using the blue/pink Monsoor Jig some more without luck, so I switched up to a wht/chart Monsoor Swim Jig with pearl 5" Action Plastics Mag Grub. I quickly caught these two swimmers on that. The 1st one is 12 and the 2nd one is 13"
Next came a long lull where I tried a Subwalk, SK Sexy Swimmer, Storm Kicken Stick, and a old school Frenzy jerkbait (had a hit on the Frenzy that didn't hook up). Nature was calling so I went to the porta john and then I headed to the South Jetty but didn't get a sniff there. I decided to go back to the North Jetty and try Berkley Frenzy Poppers, but it was a bit windy and the fish didn't want topwater. I then tried the Frenzy Jerkbait Again, a couple of X-Rap Shallow Shad, and a couple X-Rap jerkbaits. No luck so I went back to the swim jigs and on the wht/chart I connected with this 18.25" The bugs were starting to get bad, so I left at about 9:30PM.
Once again today I was up early to get it AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWNNN. I started fishing by 6AM and didn't come off the water until nearly 4PM. It was overcast the whole time, starting with a somewhat light SE breeze that switched around to the SW and picked up to about 10mph. The action was slow but steady and I pretty much caught a few fish everywhere I went.
I tried to start out with a little topwater but that didn't happen. Then I tried some docks and that really didn't happen either. My first fish of the morning was a pike. I got my first bass shallow in between a dock and this 12 inch fish was quickly followed with a 14" and both fell to a Zoom Super Fluke.
(First Fish of the Day) Next I made a move from the North side of Cabin Bay to the South side of cabin bay where the weeds are quite a bit more prevalent. I missed a couple of good bites on the Horny Toad and caught a little pike on it. Covered a lot of rice. Finally I got a got a good hook up on a brown Bobby's Perfect frog and it was my biggest bass of the season so far at 16" I worked the rice and reeds some more but only got another pike to show for it.
My next move was to go to Loon Sex Bay and fish Loon Sex Point. I got a 13 incher right away on a Zoom Horny Toad. Farther down by the last dock before LSP I cast the Horny Toad in very shallow to a rice and reed mix and a good fish gobbled it up. The fish was 16.5" but weighed 3lbs, so I got my first Derby Fish. On my way back up to LSP I got a couple more bass including a 16.25" and I missed a couple of quality bites that very well could have been bigger fish. After I worked off the point I headed into the bowels of Loon Sex Bay and into the rice, that paid off with only a couple of fish. Next I worked the North shore of LSB and got a couple of bass doing that and then it was into the rice again with pretty much nothing to show for it. I went back and worked LSP one more time and got a couple of fish out of it.
My next stop was somewhere I have almost never fished which is the reeds on SE side of the big Island. Someone told me they saw lots of bass beds there last year and I thought I would check it out. I got 15" on my very first cast with a Zoom Super Fluke. I popped a few more bass fluking the reeds.
After that I headed to more reeds, ones that were in the wind on the North Side of Plattes Big Central Bay. I control drifted with the wind and took several passes. The first was with a blue/pink Monsoor Swim Jig with pink 5" Action Plastic Mag Grub and I got a pike and little bass on this. Next pass I used a char/wht Monsoor Swim Jig with pearl 5" Action Plastic Mag Grub and I got a couple of pike and a nice bass. I started the next pass with a blk/blue Strike King Pure Poison Chatterjig but aborted that about a quarter of the way into the pass for spinnerbaits. I caught a good pike on a wht Strike King Burner Spinnerbait and got another good one but as I was lifting it into the boat the fish shook violently and opened up my Norman Speed Clip and just like that the spinnerbait was gone. I put on a sexy shad Strike King Premier Plus Spinnerbait and got a couple of Pike on that.
Next I started working a white spook and had several pike miss it. I got closer to shore and some rice and got a bass. I worked that North shore line with the spook and a Frenzy Popper but that just wasn't happening, so I switched to a Fluke and that disappointingly only gave up 1 fish. I don't know why the bass just weren't loaded in on that North shore. Finally I had enough and headed in.
19 Bass (9@14" or bigger) Best 5 (16.5,16.25,16,15,15) 10 Pike 0 Lost Swim Jigs (That Cortland Toothy Critter saved me a couple of swim jigs today)
Tonight I didn't get out on the water until after 7:30 and I fished until around 9:15PM so I was out close to an hour and a half. The plan was to drift through a large reed bed and throw swim jigs. Things started out real slow. I started with a blue/pink Monsoor Swim Jig with electric blue 5" Action Plastics Mag Grub, but apparently the fish just didn't want it like they did this morning. I didn't start catching fish until I switched to a wht/chart Monsoor Swim Jig with 5" pearl Action Plastics Mag Grub. My first two fish were pike.
My first bass was this 14" When I got to the other end of the reed bed I had gotten 3 bass (14",13",14") and 4 pike. I decided to work my way back through the reed bed and I picked up 1 more pike on the swim jig and 2 bass (14.25", 14") on a buzz legless Zoom Horny Toad.
I did miss a few bites but don't know if any of them were big fish.
I was underway a little later than I thought I should be by about 15 minutes, but it didn't matter the Sullivan Platte River Outlet(PRO) river mouth was all mine for the taking and I had it for a good half hour plus until a couple of more boats showed up. I started out the morning casting the purple Berkley Frenzy Popper, but that only lasted a couple of casts. I managed to miss my first two hits.
This was my first bass of the morning: It had given it's position away in the rice and I missed it the first time it struck, but got it with a yellow Zoom Horny Toad on a follow up cast. The fish was 12".
My next few fish came to the South of the river mouth on an unusual inside weedline on a olive/brown Lethal Weapon 2 Swim Jig with Watermelon Seed 5" Action Plastics Mag Grub. The inside weedline is unusual because normally the weeds (rice & pads)) grow tight to the shore there. Eventually I moved into the river and that is when 2 boats showed up and went right past me fishing all the way as they went. About 30 feet into the river I sat down in a productive spot and proceeded to whack a number of fish on Zoom Super Flukes and the purple Berkley Frenzy Popper. It seemed like a little better quality came on the popper. This bass was 14.75" and came on the BFP. I did work my way down to the first bend in the river but it was slow so I headed out.
Next I was going to try and drift the North end of the PRO but I quickly discovered the rice is ultra thick this year. I was even having a hard time fishing Spro Bronzeye and Snagproof Bobby's Perfect Frog in the stuff and I dare not stray from the boat lanes that were in the stuff already. I got 1 bass on a Super Fluke before I decided this was a battle not worth fighting.
Next I headed in Platte and Channel Inn Bay. I worked some awesome looking water North of the Grumpy Old Man Hole. But my only bite came from under a pontoon and the fish hung me up and got off. It felt like a good one.
Next I tried working the NW shore of Channel Inn Bay but the usually productive water was dead and some of it didn't look very good either. Eventually I worked my way out to the point and into the reeds and I started banging fish on a blue/pink Monsoor Swim Jig with electric blue Action Plastics 5" Mag Grub. The first fish to hit in this spot was my biggest of the morning at 15." I had what looked to be a bigger bass swipe at the swim jig close to the boat. I worked the area hard and couldn't get it to bite again. Eventually the bite on the reed point shut down.
I decided to head to the NW corner of the lake where I thought the wind in the reeds might have the bass active. All I caught on a long drift pass was 1 bass and 1 pike and I think I missed a couple of other hits. There was some awesome looking water in that NW corner and I am a bit surprised that all I caught out of it was 1 small pike. It was now after 11AM and I decided fishing was kind of tough in the bright sunshine so I decided to pack it in.
Platte Dock:Tonight just after 7PM I headed over to our lake place to get my gear ready to go for tomorrow morning. Naturally I had to throw a few casts off the dock. Casting over towards our jerk neighbors dock I got these two fish. I had a few other good bites casting that direction but didn't hook up. I think several of the bites were from a pike because the Zoom Super Flukes were getting all ripped up. I also caught another 14" or so inch bass casting towards our cool neighbors dock.
Bulldog: I arrived at Bulldog right about 9PM and immediately landed 3 small bass on a couple of different swim jigs.
GOMH: A little surprising that there was no one fishing at the bridge when I arrived. In the 15 minutes I fished I landed 4 jumpin bullheads. This one was the 1st and biggest. The 4 jb's were caught on 2 different swim jigs.
Today we put the dock in at the lake place and I observed bass spawning. 3 big one's actually.
Tonight I got out just before 8PM and headed to the GOMH. Once again it was swim jigs with 3 rods rigged up with them. I started out by catching 3 jumpin bullheads and a toothy bullhead on the SE side along with several missed bites.
I got 2 jumpin bullheads on the NW side. I fished there cause there was a guy catching orange bullheads on the NE side. When he left I moved over to the NE side and got another jumpin bullhead. I went back to the SE side for one more crack and got a jumpin bullhead on my last cast.
Bulldog: Next it was on to Bulldog where I caught 3 bass and missed about that many bites. It was getting dark and the mosquito's were getting thick so I headed in around 9:30PM.
