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 Bullhead of the Year and Ice Out

7" Cubby Mini-Mite/Minnow

6:30-9:30AM GOMH, Bulldog, Rock
38-44℉, Partly Cloudy, 3-8mph W

So I took my first-morning open water trip of 2020 this morning.  I got a bite, finally. It was none other than a tiger bullhead; First time that has ever happened for a first fish in open water.  I got it on the SE side.  John W. showed up as I was posting to Instagram.  I ended up getting his phone # before he left.
I was back on the SW side ad I made a cast into the hay area.  The bobber was drifting at a steady pace in the wind when it just stopped moving and turned sideway.  Thinking it was caught on a weed I didn't set the hook.  I'm pretty sure I rolled a big jumper because I saw a lot of white.  That was my last bite.

I also tried Bulldog and Rock without any success.

In the afternoon I vacuumed out the Trophy and discovered some treasure I had given to Steve three years ago that he left in Florida when he moved up here the first time. Two Madd Maxx Frogs (Big Sexy and Bluegrass).

I should have done this last year before I put it in the garage

Score

Clear at Jenny's

Heavy Wave with a brisk SW Wind

The vacuuming took longer than expected.  It was filthy and I had to stop for a break to get something to eat.  Steve gave me an energy bar that did the trick.  After I was done I went down to the boathouse and discovered the rods that I accidentally left there last winter.  I had intended to go back and get them late last Fall, but it slipped my mind.

Because I didn't get out of there until after 5 o'clock I went straight home rather than fish.  I ended up eating a Porky Burger which held me up until after 7PM.  When I crossed 27 conditions turned nasty fast.  Heavy snow and wind.  I was like dang.  By the time I got to Church the sun was beginning to poke out.  I went to Bulldog first, nothing biting.  It looked like ice was still on 40-50%.  Then I went to Rock briefly, the ice was out.  I drove Platte Lake drive and could see ice in the North Bay and some along the NW side of the Big Island.  I then drove to the Platte Lake Public Access which was totally ice-free, so Platte Lake ice out is official at Bass Pundit

 

Cool, Not As Windy, Clear And I Caught Something

Not Quite a half moon above the PRO

7:45-8:45PM
Conditions- Described in Title.

Tonight I arrived at the GOMH a little later than I would have liked, but I don't think that mattered very much.  Nobody was there again tonight.  I got 1 bite.

That's right it was a tiger bullhead that had a bunch of parasites.  Got it on the Demon w/minnow. I did get another Cubby tied on my Cubby Rod from the break off I had on Monday night.  Nature was calling, so I left about half an hour earlier than I wanted too.  It was a pretty night, but it's gonna get cold again tonight.

Almost 6 hours for 5 Fish

It was a beautiful evening I fished from just after 6pm to midnight.  I had some issues with my jighead not holding the minnow when I would get a bite.  The bobber would go down for a second and come right back up no minnow.  I didn't put another jig head until after 10:30pm.

My first fish was a tiger bullhead.

Then I got a small toothy bullhead.

As it was getting dark I got a few bites, but missed them.  One particularly good when happened while I was  changing the water for my minnows.  Was probably a jumper or toother cause it pulled my rod towards the lake.  As it was getting dark I got a nice silver bullhead that got off on shore.  After dark I got two more.  I probably should have gotten 2-3 others.

Double Trip

Weather: This morning started with a thunderstorm right when I wanted to go fishing at first light. I managed to make it out from 6:30am to 8:30am. There was a pretty good NE breeze blowing.

In the evening I arrived at the GOMH at about 8PM, there was thunder in the distance but it was dead calm and only sprinkled for a bit.

On the morning trip I fished the SW, SE, and NE side getting nothing but jumpin bullheads and one small tiger bullhead. I think the thunderstorm along with the NE wind blew the silvers right out.

When I arrived at the Grumpy Old Man Hole it was full up with people on all sides of the bridge. GOM Willard and Bud were there along with Bucket Man, Kyle and son John W. plus a bunch of others. Not much was going on at first and I decided to watch. Apparently CO Kuske was there earlier and pinched a guy who didn't have a fishing licence. At about 8:20pm some of the guys on the SW side started getting some. By 8:45pm they had turned on and I just watched. When Bucket Man, Kyle, and John left the SW side I went down there. All I caught was one bullhead bullhead fishing from about 9:30pm to 10:30pm.

A Few Bullheads...

I didn't put the Flash Card back in the camera and when I discovered this at the lake I elected not to take any pictures because I wasn't sure if I had the cord to connect the camera to the computer. Since I have gotten home a search has turned up no cord; So if I had taken pics, I wouldn't be able to share them anyway.

Anyway my first stop tonight was Rock Lake around 6:30PM and that was a bust; Rock Dock not in. Next I headed to the GOMH and nobody was there. I started on the SW side fishing a white Terminator jig with the larger size Zoom Speed Craw for dogfish. I didn't catch anything and switched to the 1/16oz Panfish Chatterbait and on one of my first few casts I got an 11" jumpin bullhead. A guy, who I will call V from here on out here at the blog, showed up to fish, so I headed over the SE side to try my luck first dogfish with the Terminator jig. I didn't catch anything so I switched up to the Chatterbait and I don't think I had any bites on that. I was thinking about going to NE side, but a guy showed up and took that spot, so I stayed put. I started fishing a glow Cubby with a minnow and I got a couple of small jumpin bullheads on that. V pulled in a couple of jumpin bullheads, then a tiger bullhead, and then amazingly enough he pulled in a silver bullhead. He missed a couple of bites then got another silver bullhead, then another one and then his spot seemed to peter out. My bobber got knocked upwards and I set the hook into a silver bullhead which I kept to give to V. A short time later my bobber started moving off sideways and I got a small silver bullhead that I threw back. About 5 minutes later I got a couple of bites and missed them, but the 3rd time was the charm and I brought in 8" orange bullhead, which I kept for V. I would miss one more silver as it was really dark. The bite was so slow V and I called it a night at the same time around 9:15PM maybe a little after.

Tonight's Adventures in Mini's...

I didn't get out of the house till after 6:15PM tonight and my first stop was at Bulldog Lake to try for Dogfish but the wind was blowing in pretty good and nothing was going on. Next I headed to the Rock PA where the "Rock Dock" is still sitting up on shore. This is getting ridiculous, the area docks were in the water at this time last year and the ice had not even been off the lakes for a week. The ice has been off the lakes 27 days so far.

Anyway at Rock I caught a dink on a brown grub.


I didn't stay at Rock long before heading to the GOMH. When I arrived Grumpy Old Man Willard was in his truck and a guy who from here on out will be referred to as MC was fishing with his 2 sons on the SE side. MC said they had gotten a few jumpin bullheads. I started out by throwing a Storm Wildeye Swim Shad but as usual lately the fish wanted nothing to do with it. On my first cast with a glow Cubby the bobber was in the water for about 3 seconds before it went down and I brought in a 13inch class jumpin bullhead. I had a few bites and missed them and MC and his boys pulled in a couple more jumpin bullheads. I got another bite and landed this tiger bullhead.
This was to be my last fish of the night though I did get a couple more bites including one that I fought about half way in that was probably a jumpin bullhead, but might have been a giant silver bullhead.

MC managed to catch 1 silver bullhead and when he left he put it back in the lake.

Kids Night at the GOMH

I should have known something was up when a young girl was getting minnows ahead of me at Bear Traxx tonight. Pete and I got out of the house around 6PM stopped at Bear Traxx for bait and were at the GOMH by 6:30PM. When we arrived Grumpy Old Man Willard was there along with the lady (grandmother it turns out) and girl who were at the GOMH the other night; the lady knows Willard. Also Rapala Boy was there with his Dad and younger sister. Another young kid showed up around 7:15PM.

Pete took up a spot on the SW side of the bridge and I just watched for a while as the SW side was kind of full until Rapala Boy and the young girl from Bear Traxx went over to the SE side. I was fishing in "my spot" by 7PM. "My spot" is a couple of rocks that are easy to stand on towards the Western most area of fishable water before the bullrushes start. Maybe I will take a picture of the rocks (stay tuned for that).

As per usual things started slow. Some of the others missed bites and Pete and I had break offs where we had to work to retrieve our bobbers. I believe the Grandma got bit of once or twice. I had yet a second Cubby stolen by a pike and I had enough of that, so I tied on a green hook.

I got my first bite after 7:30PM by a small toothy bullhead. That was followed up by a couple of tiger bullheads (Yes I said it, tiger bullheads). Then I got into 3 jumpin bullheads, including this 17inch class fish.


The silver bullhead fishing was slow on the SW side. I think Rapala Boy's family caught 3 maybe 4 silvers. The grandma and young girl may have been skunked completely, they left around 8PM and Pete got completely skunked.

I got this one huge bullhead.