GOMH & Slop Slip At The Cabin Again

Beat Up 17.5" Chigger Craw

6:00-6:40 GOMH NE
7:00-10:00AM Lake Place out of the Slop Slip
Conditions: 72-58 degrees, Sunny to Mostly Sunny, Calm or very light SSW wind

A little bit of a late start this morning thanks to my slow wake up.  I decided to hit the GOMH first.  The guy was fishing the SW side for sunnies again.  The 17.5" was the only bite I got. A couple of boats went through the channel.  More boats on the lake this morning.

16" Slush Minnow

Out of the Slop Slip I drifted West.  I missed a fish on the Poison  and pulled the fish on the Slush Minnow.  Had a pike come out of the water after the Slush Minnow.  Got a 14 pike on the Poison and had a pike go air borne after the Whopper Plopper.  I moved up into the reeds and slop missing my last 3 bites.  It's tough to get a good hookset in the Slop Slip.  I'm either out of position or the boat is moving towards the fish.  The second miss was a 17-18 bass that came leaping 2 feet out of the water.  0 for 3 on Frog bites, that stinks.

I will probably go back out tonight.

Yep I went out again
7:30-9:45PM Slop Slip in the reeds, pads, and rice
Condtions: Mid 70's to high 60's, Mostly Sunny, Light SE wind turning calm

Choked It!

I cast off the dock until most of the boat traffic cleared at about 8PM.  I didn't get a hit while on the dock.

I put in and headed East.  I had what I'm pretty sure was a small pike try for the frog in shallow between Sherman's and the next place down.  I wasn't seeing much signs of life so i started working for off the tip of the reed point, but then a pontoon came and anchored.  I put a cast in toward the middle of the weed bed and had a hit that I missed.  About 5 minutes later doing the same thing I got the one that choked it.

16" Spro Frog black/red

The XH Zillion Frog Rod hooked up no problem this time.  I had a couple pike try for the frog and not get it thankfully.  I missed something again.  I got a 15.5" on the Spro and missed the last couple of bites that didn't get the frog.  As I was paddling in they started a fireworks show that lasted for 45 minutes.  After  got everything packed up I sat in the Kia and watched the show.

It Wasn't A Sunfish

17" Chigger Craw pumpkin grn flk

7:00-8:15AM GOMH SW NE
Conditions: 58 degrees, N wind, mostly sunny

After yesterday's trip I was in no big hurry to get out.  It was cloudy in the East with no color in the sunrise. I started on the SW side. Nothing on topwater.  Got the first bullhead of the morning on the Poison.

14.33" Pure Poison/Swim Fluke Jr. White

It was a really good fighter.  I thought it was going to be 15" at least.  Then I got a 12" under the bridge on the Chigger Craw.  I went over to the SE side. No hits.  Then I went to the NE side with just the Chigger Craw.  I was about to go back when I had what I thought was a sunfish picking at it.  After about 7 seconds of that it got picked up and I set the hook into the 17 incher.  That was the last bite of the morning.

8:40-9:05PM Rock Lake
9:15-9:45PM Lake Place Platte
Conditions: 60's, Calm, partly cloudy, perfect topwater conditions

Tonight was to be the inaugural trip for my new 7'4" Heavy TD Zillion Swimbait Rod I won on Ebay this week.  Unfortunately I spooled the line on the wrong Fuego Reel, one with absolutely no brakes.  First cast off Rock Dock was a birds nest, which I had to reel in and untangle in the parking lot because a boat was coming into get trailered up.  Once they were out of the way I did a couple more casts with the Piranha and back in the car the Zillion went.  The reel is unworkable.  Fish were on the surface but I couldn't figure out what they were. They weren't really getting hit and I couldn't get a strike on any of the topwater lures I tried.  I left shortly after 9PM and went to the Lake Place because dad told me about fish activity in the rice.

20" Spro Frog

I missed the first hit because the fish silently took the black/red Spro Frog off the surface and it was far enough out I couldn't tell my frog went missing.  The rod got pulled down and by the time I collected myself for the hookset it was to late.  I missed a good hit over in front of Jim's Dock and a smaller fish hit as well.  I got the pike out beyond the rice out front of Sherman's. The skeeters showed up and I left.

Oh What a Morning, Trophy in the Evening

She's back in the water again after a two year absence

5:00-6:30AM GOMH

The county had done some mowing, which is nice.  Mosquito's were fierce when I arrived.  It was a calm humid overcast morning perfect conditions to catch some fish.    But all I had was one toothy swipe at the Jerk Shad and some small fish boil on the Spro frog and not get it, both on the Sullivan side.

I tried the opening to the East of the GOMH with the Spro, but it was totally dead there.

I went to Bulldog.  There was activity, but nothing went after my frog.  I gave up a little after 7AM

6-9PM
Conditions:  70's, mostly sunny, Wind out of the East

After spending a couple hours getting the Trophy ready, it was time to head to the water.  I went to the West access on Sullivan because if the Johnson gave me any issues I would be right where I wanted to fish.  I had the boat in the lake by 5PM.  I then spent an hour trying to get the gas motor to start and keep running.  At 6PM I had enough of that and put the trolling down and went fishing.

The point of getting out in the Trophy was to work on my pitching game in the reeds.  I got a poor hookset on the first fish that bit and the fish gut hung up in the reeds and got off.  The next fish to show itself was a small pike that jumped out of the water after the craw tube.  I stuck the next fish.

11.75' Craw Tube Green Pumpkin 

I went quite a while not getting anything, so I put the troller on high and got to the juice.  There the first fish I pitched up was a pike.  I then got a 15.75" and a 15".

15.75" Craw Tube

The fish were relating to the rice reed transition line.  I was satisfied with where I was it in, so I started throwing the Spro.  I missed a fish, but quickly got a 14".  The first on the Zillion XH rod.  I skedaddled back ramp at 9PM.  Loading the boat without the motor went as smooth as could be other than the bumpy ramp.  I don't like that access.  Me backing down was a total clown show putting in.  Thankfully no one was around to witness it.  

Late Morning at the GOMH & Evening at Rock and Bulldog

7-8AM GOMH NE
Conditions: A warm 62 degrees, Cloudy, Very windy out of the SW, water flowing into Platte, unfortunately the rain mostly missed this area yet again.  We really could have used the inch they got in Brainerd.

I could have been out there earlier, like 4AM earlier but I went back to bed.  Then Kaylee woke me up at about 5:30 AM and I dragged around, but eventually got out.  When I arrived a differnt truck was there than yesterday and the guy was going down on the NE side.  That was great as I was planning on hitting the SW side.  Sadly I discovered it was a fishing buddy of the guy from yesterday and they took his truck.  He was still getting fish, but not as many and smaller.  He also got a nice tiger bullhead.  I missed a weak strike on the Lamiglass with a Grass Pig.  And that was it.  The guys buddy came back after about 20 minutes, so I went to the NE side

I brought the camera, but didn't take a picture of my two fish.  One was a 12.5" jumper caught on the Chigger craw and the other was a 23" toothy also on the Chigger Craw.  I missed one other bite on the Chigger Craw in the tube and also might have had a smaller toothy get off.

I also tried the Culvert and the Inlet to no avail.

When I got home there was a message from the post office that my new fishing rod, a TD Zillion 7'4" XH Frog, that I won in an Ebay auction on Sunday had arrived and for me to come in and pick it up.  I was amazed because I paid for the rod Monday morning and didn't expect to have it for the Snatcher Tournament on Sunday at South Long

8:15-9:25PM Rock
9:30-9:45 Bulldog
Conditions: Low 60's, Mostly Cloudy, NW Wind diminishing to manageable levels.

Naturally I wanted to try the new rod tonight, but my shore spots have been duds for hollow body frogs this year.  Having no confidence in my spots and lots of  back log in my blogging plus the distraction of the Orlando attack lead to me getting a late start.

I elected to go to the Rock Dock because I haven't fished there much lately and it's the most protected from the winds we had today.  The plans changed pretty quickly when there was some kind of baitfish jumping out in the lake within casting range and nothing was going for the Ish's Frog I had tied on.  I went to the black Stanley Phantom.  I had something, probably a pike, boil on it, but I blew the hookset.  I've done to much of that lately on the rare occasions I'm getting a hit on topwater.  I tried a bunch of baits, but the fish weren't going for any of them.

There was a possible bass hitting something in the rice to the North out of casting range for the Zillion's, but within range of the Tatula's.  (Don't read anything into the difference in casting distance.  The Zillion has 65lb braid (I forget what brand) and the Tatula has 40lb TD J-Braid.  There is a world of difference between the two braids.)     Whatever it was it didn't want the Spro.

The Mosquito's drove me off of Rock and pretty much did the same at Bulldog.

On the way home 40 feet in front of the Kia a deer ran across the road in a full sprint. I barely had touched the break peddle and it was gone. Fortunately there weren't any slower moving buddies, chasing dogs, coyotes, or wolves.

The fact that I didn't go to the GOMH tonight to try for some golden bullheads along with my late starts tells you something about my enthusiasm for fishing today.  Hopefully I'll be more motivated starting tomorrow when the weather is better.