Sullivan Lake 4/6/07

My alarm went off at 4:40am. I turned it off and tried to go back to sleep, but when that didn't work I got my sorry but out of bed, ate breakfast, and went fishing. I was on the water and heading to the Platte River Outlet (PRO) on Sullivan Lake. My first few casts were to the North Shore rice with a white Spro Bronze Eye Frog and they produced nothing. I made a couple of casts to the West shore rice and got nothing. I then cast to the PRO mouth just off the West side and missed a fish. On the next cast I hauled in a 17incher that had a nasty scar in the middle of it's body. I think it must have encoutered a pike as a young fish. A few casts later and I landed a 16.5incher just a little farther in the river on the West/South side. I got a 13" and a 14" off the North side, one of those fish was on the Horny Toad. I missed a couple of strikes on the Frenzy Popper as well at the PRO mouth. I headed into the river where a Beaver was swimming around and occasionally slapping it's tale. I missed a couple of hits and finally got a 15" about 300-400 yards into the river. It was starting to warm up and get pretty windy so at 7:30am I called it quits thinking that fishing would be tough.

The Trophy is ready!!!

We finished the transom repairs yesterday and so today was the inagural voyage of the Trophy for 2007. The motor didn't start on the first pull but it did start and soon I was off for a couple of hours fishing at Rock lake.

16incher takes on Kermit.

Fishing Report 6/5/2007: I arrived at the landing sometime after 7PM and put the motor through it's paces. Had a little issue with the fuel line becoming unbuttoned at the motor, but eventually got that fixed. Once I was satisfied with the condition of the motor I headed to the Rock lake Platte River Outlet (PRO). The entrence to the bay was already significantly weeded up with Rice and other weeds so the motor got bogged down pretty quick. I started at the Eastern edge of the pads and worked my way west. I was set to throw a Spro Bronze Eye, a Zoom Horny Toad, and a swim jig; I never did get around to throwing the swim jig. I fished from about 7:30 to 9:30 getting about 8-10 bass from 13" to 16". All but 1 of the bass came on the Bronze Eye (pictured), the other one came on the White Horny Toad.

During a cast, I had the reel handle come off the reel I was throwing the Bronze Eye with. Fortunatly the handle landed in the boat, but I could not find the nut
I decided to do a rod and reel switch and kept right on fishing, although my distance was significantly cut back on the replacement reel.

The action on the fish was spread out with the action improving as it got darker out. I fished a fair distance West, but about 120 yards short of the beaver dam. There was a big beaver swiming around.

Memorial Day 5/28/07 Bordon Lake

The fish that made it all worthwhile, 18"+ Smallie!!!

The Story: Once again I was to be fishing with "Shake" Michael "Cyberfish" Thompson and "Bake" Jack Halverson. The plan from the night before was to hit Bay Lake. However, we made a last minute decision at Tutt's Bait to give Bordon Lake a go. So we ended up going to Bordon flying by the seat of our pants/no lake map. As we launched the boat it started to drizzel and by our first stop it was raining with a SE wind. We hit a hump/rock pile somewhere on the western side of the lake. This spot produced a small largemouth for me on a spinnerbait and a pumkinseed for Bake on panfish plastics. After giving this spot a fair amount of effort we headed to the Western Shore line where a steep break abutted some reeds. We tried in shallow and got nothing. Along the break Bake nailed a couple of nice 12" to 14" largemouth. Shake switched to a watermelon tube and started catching 12" to 14" largemouth. We worked our way North along this reed/weed breakline with Mike catching largemouth on a steady basis. Jack struggled for panfish and I cast spinnerbaits, Flukes, Frenzy Poppers, and RattleRaps all to no avail. Finally up by the point that leads into the Western arm of the lake Jack got a single Crappie. We fished the point which had a steep break and Shake nailed several bass on the tube while Bake hit a Jack fish (Pike). We worked our way around the point along the Southern shore of the Western Arm. Mike picked up a rock bass and a couple of more larry's and that was it, I switched to a tube and started catching largemouth too. At this point the sun had come out a little bit and it was starting to warm up. Working that Southern Shore of the Western arm I got a solid tap and the fight was on with the big fish of the day; the smallmouth pictured above.

The South shore started to be more weeds than inside weedline and we weren't getting anything so we switched to the Western arms North Shore. This shore was windblown and had beautiful weeds but we could not get a spinnerbait or rattlerap to go. Jack did catch one 9" crappie, but the sunfish and schools of crappie were nowhere to be found. Eventually Jack gave up and turned over boat control to me. We started hitting points on the North shore of the Western arm. Mike and I caught largemouth on most of the points and Mike even got a 15-16" smallie. The day started to warm up significantly and the wind started to blow. Bake really wasn't into fishing and so we called it a day at about 2:30PM. The size of the Largemouth wasn't big but they provided a fair amount of action and the big smallie once again made my day.

Bass Opener Sun. 5/27/07 Mille Lacs

No skunk for me. My only Larry of the day.

Solid Smallie caught on our first reef. 18"+!!!

2nd and last smallie followed quickly on the heals of the first. (I think this is the same fish as the first pic.)

The Story: I met "Shake" Michael "Cyberfish" Thompson and "Bake" Jack Halverson at the Wahkon Park access just after 10am. It was cool bright and sunny with a brisk wind out of the NW; the wind would diminsh throughout the day, thank goodness. Upon boat launch we headed a short ways West of the launch and anchored due to the wind. Shake had hammered the panfish in this spot the previous weekend. I was fishing the reeds for Largemouth Bass with a white swim jig and Chart/White Spinnerbait. Shake and Bake were fishing panfish plastics under bobbers trying for monster Crappies and Gills. Bake got on the board first with a 10" Crappie. Neither Bake nor Shake could follow that fish up with anything. For the next couple of hours we worked ourself East along the reed bed anchoring up because of the wind; During this time Mike caught a little perch and one small bass and I got the Largemouth pictured above with the swim jig. I did miss two strikes on the swim jig, one probably from a bass and the other from a dogfish right under the boat. The fishing was not happening in the shallows at all, so we tried out a little bit farther; the wind had layed down significantly by now. On the trip farther out we saw a big smallie, but that was about it.

With the wind down we decided to hit some reefs out by Half Moon and the Twin Islands. It didn't take long and I landed a big 18"+ smallie on the Chart/Wht spinnerbait (pic above). Shortly after that fish I landed another smallie that was a little smaller. Shortly after that Bake landed a nice smallie and we thought we were off to the races. We worked the reef for another hour to hour and a half without getting anything. We tried the reef running West from Upper Twin and got nothing there. We headed back in to Wahkon to see if the panfish had moved in shallow with the warm sun and less wind. Mike caught 1 crappie and a couple of perch, but that was it. We decided to pull out and give Isle Bay a try.

Isle Bay showed us some sight fish: a couple of big muskies, 1 crappie, 1 Dogfish. We didn't catch anything. We then tried the Malone Island Reef for some smallies and got nothing. We tried one reef farther out than called it quits around 8:30PM. All in all a very slow day, but I was happy due to the two nice smallies I caught.

Lakeview Eddy's Launch 5/29/07

On 4/29 I went with Dad and the people of Lakeview Community Church on an Eddy's Launch. Dad strikes first again with a nice eater. Pictured with Launch Captain Tom.

One of the guys with a fish that had to go back. All totaled the launch had 6-8 that were to big to keep.

Dad's 2nd fish, this one may have to have gone back, 20+.

Dad with a big smile as he racks up #3

Dad packs in with #4, a good eater.

Dad catches his 4 fish limit with this one.

The Nights haul 7 plus one from 1 from Don Weinmeister.

The Story: The people of Lakeviw decided to take out a launch, this was spearheaded by Dad. It was cloudy with gathering rain showers as we headed South from Eddy's down to Rocky Reef. Our launch parked in 13ft of water and Dad landed the 3rd fish of the trip. I missed my first one of the night in this spot. After about an hour and a half of pretty sporatic action and a rainstorm we headed out by one of the other launches in about 22ft of water. In this spot Dad had the hot hand landing 3 eaters 1 over and a rock bass. On the night I went 3 keepers from 10 hits and got 1 rock bass. Dad and I did the best of anyone on the launch. We fished off the back of the launch this time and I now will seek the back out because it's easier to fish from there. All in all our launch probably landed 20+ fish with 6-8 overs and 6-8 cigars with about a dozen keepers, 7 of which were caught by Dad and I.

And God smiled on the Basspastor...

5-26-2007 Minnesota Bass Opener
The forcast was calling for descent SE winds in the morning, so I set my alarm for 5:15am thinking I might head to Mille Lacs and give Eddy's Jetty a shot for some walleyes. I managed to roll out of bed and prepare myself to go fishing. I packed a swim jig rod and spinnerbait rod thinking I would try for some smallies off the Cemetary Jetty after I got done at Eddy's. The winds didn't seem that strong when I left at 10 till 6 and I made the call on the way to hit the Cemetary Jetty first. From what I can tell Cemetary Jetty is an old boat launch and harbor that has long been forgotten in Vineland bay. I have had some success catching smallies there in the past and thought a smallie or two would be a good way to kick off the Bass Opener.

I arrived at the cemetary and took the swim jig rod and spinnerbait rod with me down to the lake. Standing on the old concrete boat launch I threw the swim jig first and got nothing. I switched to the spinnerbait and actually got a strike from something I figured to be a perch. I moved down the shore line about 30 yards and tried casting again with the spinnerbait. Much to my surprize and delight I hooked into a 12" Largemouth Bass. On the next cast I caught another one. On the next cast I got a 15 incher. A couple of casts later I nailed another 12" Larry. I've never caught a largemouth in this abandoned harbor and here I caught 4 of them. I was quite pleased.

I worked my way out along the harbor to the Jetty tip casting, but not getting anything. The wind and waves were coming in pretty good at the Jetty tip, but with the SE wind I was able to cast OK. I didn't get anything at the tip and so I started working my way down the harbor mouth. About 3/4 of the way down I got a hit from a larry bass that I saw but it missed it. On the next cast I caught a 12inch Larry. After another couple of casts I got a 14" Larry. I moved down a little farther and ended up hooking into a chunky 18.5" Larry Largemouth. I was as amazed as I was pleased. Unfortunatly I didn't bring the camera. I ended up catching two more largemouth (13" and 14"). I also did have a few more bumps from fish I may or may not have caught. I also had 1 pike bump for sure. I didn't get any smallies but the largies were almost as good. I figured I fished out the area and headed to Eddy's.

For some reason the wind and waves were not as strong at Eddy's as they had been at the Cememtary Jetty. I threw a few casts with the Purple Perch than called it quits. I didn't even try leeches because it was obviously just to calm and I didn't want to use up the leeches on perch. So I headed to the GOMH.

Just as I arrived at the GOMH there was a nice Ranger bass boat passing underneath. I didn't get to hear how they were doing. I tried the spinnerbait on the NE side and immediatly hooked into a small jumping pike. After a few more casts with nothing I switched to the swim jig, but didn't get anything on that either. I then headed across the road to the SW Sullivan side and tried a silver husky jerk for a few casts, nothing. I then switched to the same old white/chart dual willow chart 3/16 Strike King Spinnerbait and got a 10" bass. Ha 10 bass on opener from shore, not bad. Without anymore hits I switched to the swim jig which I can cast further. Another bass boat came under the bridge. They hadn't been fishing yet. I got a couple of bites on the grub of the swim jig but nothing hooked up. After a short time I called it quits.

10 Larry's from shore, alright. I'll take it.

5-24-07 Eddy's Jetty

I arrived at Eddy's around 7:30 PM it was overcast with a slight NW wind blowing. I chose to fish the North Jetty harbor mouth. I put on as little a leech as I could find and caught some perch. My bobber went down and I set the hook and felt nothing, but my hook and bead were gone, strange. As it got dark I put the light on my bobber and switched to a bigger leech. At about 9:20 my bobber went under and I landed a 22" eye. About 15 minutes later the bobber went under but I didn't connect. There were a couple of guys at the center jetty and they landed 3 small eye's. Right at 10PM I got a bite and set the hook, much to my surprize it was a giant bluegill. I didn't measure it, but it was easily over 10". With the bluegill, I called it a night and went to watch the launches come in. Eddy's had all 5 launches out on the night. Some of the launches came back with quite a few fish while a couple of them only had a couple of keepers.

Eddy's Jetty 5-19-07

I arrived at Eddy's Jetty around 7PM. When I arrived it was cool and windy from the SE. The wind however was more E than S unlike on opener where it was about even thus allowing me to cast well. With the SE wind I decided to throw the Purple Perch Husky Jerk off the North conrner, but I quickly discoved casting was difficult and it just wasn't working out unfortunatly. I elected to switch to leech and bobber off the center Jetty harbor mouth. The spray from the waves ruled out fishing from the rock outcropping and so I fished off the North Harbor center dock. Casting proved difficult and the bobber got blown about quite a bit. I did not dress warm enough and it was cool. The wind was blowing a steady 20MPH with higher gusts. Sometime around 8:15 I got a bite and missed it. About 15minutes later I nailed a 20"+ eye, so back in the drink it went. I went back to the car and got a glove for my left, rod holding, hand. At about 8:45 I missed a bite right close to where I was standing, lost the leech. About 10 minutes later my bobber went down again and I landed a 23" Walter who bit right at my feet. The wind got worse, I was cold and called it quits about 9:15PM

5-17-07 Eddy's Jetty

I headed out about 7PM and started using the rig I used last night on the launch; slip bobber, white beed and a red hook. No one was at the Jetty when I arrived and so I took the North Jetty harbor mouth. I started with small leeches and caught a couple of perch. I switched to minnows and the perch were hitting them too. Eventually I used up all the 6 or 7 minnows on perch. As it started to get dark I was hoping the eyes would move in. Nothing and then at 9:30 I got a bad tangle with the Vanish line and had to go to the truck to get another reel. As I was getting re-rigged the plastic bag holding my bobber stuff burst as I took it out of my jacket pocket, wonderful. All in all it took me about 15 minutes to re-rig. I cast out on the bobber seemed to be fine and then after a little while it went under. I set the hook and got nothing leech still there. I cast out again and the same thing happened. Apparently I had put to much weight on and I was slowly sinking the bobber. I got the right weight on with about 10 minutes left to fish. I eneded up with 0 walleye. The 3 guys fishing the center Jetty got 1 small eye.

5-16-07 Eddy's Launch Trip

Tonight Dad and I went out on an Eddy's LaunchDad draws first blood but it was only a Cigar.
Dad's first keeper of the night with our Eddy's Launch Captain Tom. Dad's second cigar goes back to the lake.
Our biggest fish. It was slightly to big to keep.
It wasn't shooting fish a barrel good, or maybe it was.
Dad with the nights haul.

The story:
The launch left the dock right around 6PM and it only took about 10minutes to reach our spot in Vineland Bay. We were sitting in about 10feet of water and we never moved from this spot until we left at quarter to 10PM. The night started quickly with a guy on the back of the launch landing a nice eye in the first couple of minutes, but after that it was a long lull. We brought our own rods but the stuff I gave Dad was having all kinds of problems so we switched him to an Eddy's rod with a red hook, no beed. I was set up with a longer rod, lighter bobber, white beed, and red hook. Finally after about an hour Dad's bobber started bobbing but all that happened was a lost leech. A little while later I landed a perch. We only got perch bites catching a couple in the first two hours. Sometime a little before 8 PM Dad reeled in our first Walter, but as the pic shows it was only a cigar. I caught a few more perch then tied into our first keeper eye of the night. Not to long after my catch Dad brought in another keeper (picture). Dad caught the next walleye as well, but it was another Cigar and it went back in the lake. I followed that up with a 14.5" keeper. Dad landed the next eye but it was just a bit over 20" and so it had to go back (picture). Shortly after that, Dad caught our forth keeper. I missed a good fish. Around 9:30PM I landed our 5th and final keeper. The launch as a whole caught a bunch of fish as the barrel of fish picture shows, about 6 fish had to go back for being to big and about 6 that I saw went back for being to small. It turned out to be a really nice night weather wise because the wind died down. Dad and I also missed lots of bites, sure some were probably perch, but some were most definitely eyes as well. I cleaned the fish when we got home.

The score: Dad 5 walleye (2keeps, 2 cigar, 1 over the slot) and a couple of perch
BP 4 walleye (3Keeps 1 cigar) and about 6 perch.

Shore Nuff: In the afternoon I hit Platte at Jenny's, Rock, Bulldog, and the GOMH. I got a small pike at Rock, a small bass at Bulldog, and two small bass on the SW side of the GOMH.

5-15-07

Got to Eddy's around 8PM and the North and Center Harbor mouth's were covered with anglers. After thinking about it a bit, I elected to try the South Jetti corner. When I first arrived there was a pretty stiff wind out of the North and so I brought the jerkbait rod thinking that after dark I may be able to get some action. I made some preliminary casts to check for rock snagging. I was definitely hitting more rock than on the North corner. After a few casts I put on a leech under a bobber. My first several drifts produced nothing. Around 9pm I started to get bite, but it was little perch. I did see a couple of eyes get caught off Center and North Harbor mouths around this time and later. As it got dark the perch bite shut off. Around 9:40PM my bobber went down and I set into a 16" eye which was barely hooked, but I landed it. I got another bite right at 10PM, but it was a cigar and I threw it back.

The launches brought in a few fish, but nothing spectacular.

Opener Report 5-12&13

Different Night Same Story: I hit Eddy's Jetti last night about 10PM armed with my trusty 6'6" Fig Rig rod and Glass Purple Perch Husky Jerk. I landed a 16 incher on my very first cast. The action was quite hot for the next hour with me landing a fish about every 5-10 minutes in between trips back to the car. A couple of guys from St. Cloud moved in on where I was fishing on the N side of the Jetty but it didn't matter as I kept right on catching fish. I ended up giving these guys 3 fish putting them 1 short of their limit.

Around midnight my back started getting sore and I headed to the truck and took about an hours rest. At this point, I had landed 8, missed one, and had a couple of hits that never hooked up. All fish were 15-19+ with a 19 and 3/4 being the biggest. As I sat in the car I watched some bobber fisherman catch 1 small eye and one nice one. I heard somebody say that a guy caught a 28.5" off the Jetty, but I didn't see that fish.

Roundabout 1AM I resumed shore casting and landed my 9th fish. The action stopped after that and my back got sore quick. Eventually, I switched to a lighted bobber and minnow. I whiffed on my first 2 bites and then pulled in a cigar. At 3AM I called it quits.

The winds of change

5-13-07: It was a windy day out of the SE for most of the day, however by the time Dad and I hit the Eddy's Jetty it had calmed significantly. Arriving around 7:30PM I got us rigged up for bobber fishing and we headed to the center Jetty harbor mouth. Dad started with a leech and I tried a minnow. It wasn't long and Dad had something pull down his bobber, but he missed it. The night progressed with Dad missing 2 more bites. Some fisherman on the North Jetty harbor mouth caught a couple and were getting many more bites than we were. The minnow was worthless and I eventually switched to the Jumbo Leech. It was getting dark by now and we had the bobbers lighted up when my float went down and I landed a 16" eye. At 10PM the Eddy's launches came back and we moved to the North Jetty where I had been catching my fish. I threw the Purple Perch while Dad kept the leech. The wind was just to calm and my jerk bait bite died. Dad got a bite and missed it. And I decided to go back to bobber fishing. Dad got a bite and pulled in a 12inch bullhead which swallowed the hook; When I took the hook out the bullhead bled all over me. After a little while I think dad missed another bite and around 11:30 he called it quits. I went to the North harbor mouth cause the guys fishing there said they were biting. After 20minutes with no action I called it a night. 1 fish that's it. We might have done better fishing during the day when the winds were howling.

5-14-07 Another windy hot day where for most of the day the winds were out of the W SW, but a front came through around 5PM switching the wind the NW and cooling things down. Dad and I headed to the Eddy's Jetti at 7PM. After a little rigging at the car, we were all set for more bobber fishing at the North Jetty harbor mouth. It didn't take long and we were getting bites... from perch. The little bait stealers were going through our remaining leeches and minnows fast. Finally, I caught a couple of the little bait stealer's. Dad got a nasty tangle which I had to cut, lots of line go bye bye. Dad went to Eddy's marina to get bobber stops and more leeches. They didn't charge much for the bobber stops and gave around 2-3 dozen leeches of all sizes for $4. I put on a smaller leech and caught a couple more perch. The wind was blowing 10-15 out of the N shortening our casting distance and moving our floats S along the Jetti fairly rapidly. I let my bobber get too far to the S and a guy fishing the center Jetty harbor mouth cast over my line and we got all tangled up with him trying to do the untangle eventually he had to cut his line. His jig head was stuck through my Fireline and I had to crimp down the barb to get it free. Eventually, it started getting dark and I had a good pick up and had what felt like a good fish on for a couple of seconds but it came off. Dad gave up about a quarter to 10 and I stuck it out till the bitter end. The people just to the north of us and the guy on the center Jetty got a small eye a piece. Disappointing trip.

Limit

The plan was Mille Lacs at Midnight from Eddy's Jetty and while the execution was not perfect. Still I had my limit by 1:30AM

The Story: I arrived at Eddy's about 5 minutes to midnight. By the time I was unloaded and ready to cast it was open season. I started off of the South end of the Jetty as that in the past I've done best from there. The wind was NOT out of the NE but the SE with pretty good size rollers coming in. I put on a size 12 Glass Purple Perch Husky Jerk. Casting into the wind proved difficult and I quickly realized this was not happening. The wind was set up perfect for casting from the North end of the Jetty, so I headed there.

Upon arriving on the North corner I started chucking long cast quartering the wind and within 10 minutes I was hooked up and landed a 15-16 incher. I took a walk to the truck to put him in the pail then headed back to the North corner. I had some spectators now and they were kind of in my back cast zone and so I couldn't fling the Husky Jerk as good. Fortunately they moved fairly quickly so I could get a full cast out. Within 5 minutes of getting my casting up to par I had a good fish on but it came off right at shore. I think I lost it due to a treble hook breaking. This was the biggest fish I had on for the night and it very well may have been in the protected slot (20+inches). I then had to chuck and wind for about another 15 minutes and I was rewarded with a 17" eye. I took him to the truck and then headed back to my spot. At this point visions of an Opener eye limit started dancing in my head.

It took another 10 to 15 minutes and I was hooked up again with another eater. As I went to lift him in it became unbuttoned and fell into the area where rock and water meet. I quickly turned on my headlamp and got after him; It was a close call but I got him before he could swim away. Once again I headed to the truck to put him in the pale.

Back to casting. After about 10 minutes I made a particularly good cast and got smacked right away by what felt to be another eater. Unfortunately it got off and my hopes of an Opener limit were back on hold. After another 10 to 15 minutes I got struck again with a 15-16 eater that got hooked along the head with all three trembles. And boom I had my limit within an hour and a half.

After putting the last dude in the bucket I headed to the North side harbor mouth where 4 guys were fishing. They had caught a couple of keepers and a couple of throw backs and 1 bullhead. I think they were all using leeches. After some small talk I headed home.

Opener Eve at the GOMH

I had to head up to Bear Trax to get some Fatheads for Midnight at Mille Lacs, so I decided to make it a twofer and hit the GOMH for some Opener Eve action. The only person there was GOM Willard and he was sitting in his car. Time was about 7:20PM.

I gave a shot at Dogfish first with the white panther. I tried the NE side, nothing. I then headed to the SW side and quickly had my line broken by what had to have been a slime rocket. I was dismayed at first, but then I thought the fish got off right by the weeds and shore, so maybe the white panther might be sitting in reachable range; Sure enough it was. I made several attempts with the short St. Croix Glass rod, but that was getting nowhere fast. I took off my shoes and sox and pulled up my pant legs and waded in. My arm got a bit wet, but that was OK because the white panther was saved. I went back to the truck to retie.

I decided to stay with the White Panther and try from the SE side. After a couple of casts I nailed a hammer handle. I deposited the fish into Platte Lake and resumed casting. After a bit of a lull I started hooking into some little jumpin bullheads. I got 5-7 of those with several missed. After another lull, I decided no doggies were gonna bite and I went to the Cubby Rod.

I cast out the bobber and couldn't get a sniff. Eventually I took the bobber off leaving me with a glow Cubby and split shot, shortly after making the change I nailed a silver bullhead. Willard had a pale and so I put it in it. A couple of casts later another silver inhaled the Cubby and now Willard had two. Willard joined me with wax worms. He got a couple of small orange bullheads. It started to sprinkle and Willard went back to the car. It was a cool and breezy night and Willard was all about staying warm.

Another guy came and started fishing the SE side; He got two silvers and a jumper. After a long Lull I nailed a nice 12" silver bully. I then quickly caught a small one that I released. On to another lull. Finally I got another on the Cubby. It was starting to get dark and very wet so shortly after that 5th fish I called it a night. All in all not bad for a couple of hours.

Fishing Report 5/2/07

Today we got the Trophy (boat) out of storage, which consisted of moving it out from the side of the Pole Barn into a garage door in the Pole Barn. Upon getting it out I noticed that the pin for the transom saver was missing. I was at a loss and nearly went into a panic. Fortunately I found the pin in the rolled up boat cover. Once we got the boat in the garage door Dad set about looking over the transom and I gave the boat a much needed vacuum job. The transom was not in as bad a shape as Dad thought it might be, but still he equated it to "an accident waiting to happen." Dad is going to reinforce the transom and that should make it all better. Hopefully the boat will be ready by Bass Opener.

We headed to the GOMH about 7:20 and it was windy (NE) and cool getting cooler. Lee Ander was there along with two other guys fishing the SW side. Dad and I went down on the SW side. Word was that things were slow. Dad missed the first fish when it bit his jig off. Shortly after that Dad landed a little Nort, which I released on the other side of the bridge. I landed our first silver bullhead and gave it to Lee Ander. The wind was nasty and would move our bobbers off to the west fairly quickly, it was annoying. At one point I gave the SE side a try, but after getting nothing and losing my minnow I headed back. While I was away Dad did catch a silver. Dad and I both caught a silver. When I was reeling mine in, the line got caught with Dad's and made a royal mess. I cut my line and ended up having to cut Dad's too. We called it a day at that point as that fishing was slow and it was getting cold.

Fishing Report 4/30/07 (Dad at GOMH)

Got to the GOMH at about 7:20 and was dropped off by Dad so he could check on the Platte Lake house. When I arrived, two guys were sitting on the SW side with an empty chair; it turns out there were two ladies with the guys taking a potty break. The SE area of the GOMH was well covered by a boat. I elected to go down and take what was left of the SW side by the empty chair. I put on a minnow and got a bite immediately, which I promptly missed. When the hook popped free, I nearly whacked one of the other guys, and my bobber came whizzing in. I lost my split shot in that process, so now my bobber would lay on its side. My tackle box with the split shot was with Dad in the car.

I put on another minnow and quickly caught a silver bullhead, giving it to the two guys. At this point, I elected to stop using minnows and conserve them for Dad because he would be coming down after he checked the house; there weren't many minnows left. While fishing with just the Glo Cubby Mini-Mite, I caught a few oranges and one silver. The guys to my left were bringing in a silver every few minutes, and the SE side boat was catching them too.

Dad arrived, and I got a split shot so my bobber would stand up. We both fished the SW side. He started getting silvers on the crappie minnows, and I got oranges on the un-tipped jig. Shortly after Dad arrived, the two ladies came back, thus crowding the SW side. I decided to go over and fish what was available on the SE side. On the SE side, I caught one orange bullhead, gave up after about 15 minutes, and returned to the SW side. As I was returning, a guy fishing the NE side brought in a 5lb dogfish.

On the SW side with Dad, I started tipping my jig with minnows again and immediately began catching silvers. Dad was mainly missing bites. The guy in the boat on the SE side landed a dogfish. The two guys and two ladies were steadily bringing in fish, and with Dad and my help, they reached their 40-fish limit, so they left. It was getting dark by this point, and I only caught and released a couple more fish. Dad missed a few. When it got sufficiently dark, Dad and I decided to leave. We had two live minnows left.

Fishing Report 4/29/07 (GOMH)

Got to the GOMH a little before 8 PM and was pleasantly surprised to find only Willard and one other guy fishing the SW side. Willard had one nice silver bullhead in the pail. I had a grand total of 2 live minnows and a bunch of dead ones to fish with my glow Cubby. I immediately caught fish on the two live minnows. I then started using the dead minnows and got fish on those as well. Someone left and gave their minnows to me, so I had live minnows again. I missed a couple before finally notching a couple more. I caught 7 keepers and 1 dink; I gave the keepers to Willard. As it got darker, the bite died off. I couldn't get my headlamp to light up, so I called it a night.

Morning Fishing Report: I got up at 5:30 and headed to the GOMH. Don W. was there already but he hadn't gotten anything. I managed to get skunked, though I missed a few bites and had a jumpin bullhead on. Don caught one silver and a bunch of little oranges on waxies. By 7am, I had enough and left. There were two guys that arrived the same time as me that fished the NE side and they were catching some kind of bullhead over there.

Evening Fishing Report: I headed to the GOMH at 6:30. The SE side was open so I took that. Once again Lee Ander was there with family and Willard was on sight too. Lewis made an appearce later on so all the Grumpy Old Men were accounted for. There was lots of coming and goings on this night and boats were fishing both sides (N&S) of the GOMH. I started out fishing with maggies and a glow Cubby Mini-mite. It was slow at first but as the night progressed the action got faster. My first fish was an orange bullhead, followed up by a small jumpin bullhead. I missed several bites but eventually got dialed in to a zone to the East of the current. Around 7:30 I got my first Silver which I gave to Lee Ander. About 20 min later I had another Crappie on then missed it at the bridge. I was sporadically hooking several orange's by now. I then caught a couple of more silvers, then switched to minnows and got hit immediately 3 times catching 2 nice fish. After another silver or two I had one on that collided with the weeds and my line broke. I switched to a glow ratso with a big hook and kept working minnows; I got my last two silvers on this. All in all I went home with 7 having released a couple of small ones and having given 1 to Lee Ander. It was a nice night to be out 75 degrees slight SW wind. I would say I did as well as anybody because the SW side was not fast and furious with the silvers.

Fishing Report 4/26/07: Got to the GOMH after 7PM. There were 6 guys on the SW side including Lee Ander and Don W. was fishing the SE side. Someone on the SW side caught a dogfish just as I arrived. Shortly after that Don nailed a silver bullhead. I took up a spot where the dogfish had been thrown at the W end of the SW side. I managed to catch a few orange bullheads including a nice keeper I gave to Lee Ander. I also got 1 small perch. Eventually the guys to the east of me started busting silvers. I was shut out until a couple of guys left. I stayed long into the darkness (10PM) and only managed 2 silvers and an actual bullhead. There was no bite after dark to speak of. Don went home with 10 and got 6 on the SE side. He said he missed quite a few fish. The guy immediately to my left for most of the night was catching orange bully's on waxies and a small jig. He missed a dogfish and eventually managed to catch 4-5 silvers. After everyone left I threw the still alive dogfish back in the water.

Fishing Report 4/25/07: I did an early trip to the GOMH starting around 3:30 to 5:30. GOM Lee Ander was there along with two other guys. 1 of those guys was in a boat fishing the SE side, and he caught several bullheads on a large twister tail. The guy to the west of me tangled with a couple of bullheads. I tangled with a couple of bullheads, catching a small one. Two bully's straightened my hook and got off. Lee Ander caught a 4lb plus bullhead on a waxie and jig. He also missed a orange bully. About 4:45 Willard arrived and started talking more "bacon." At 5:30 I went over to get Jenny for the fish fry.

After the fish fry dad and I hit the GOMH arriving around 7:15. It was 60 degrees and dead calm and the silver bullheads were just starting to hit. It was our good fortune that Willard had started fishing thus effectively saving the SW side for us to fish. The silver bullheads were hitting good tonight, nice and steady; I helped five different people fill out limits including GOM Lee Ander and Willard. I also threw several (4-5) silvers back. Dad's bobber was barely visible on the surface or was just beneath the surface. Dad missed several fish. Fish were hitting on waxies for Lee Ander and minnows for just about everyone else. I used both maggies and minnows, some of the minnows were dead ones. The later it got the more the fish seemed to prefer minnows. We quit fishing when everyone had their limit; it was dark but I could still see my bobber. All in all it was a lot of fun at the GOMH tonight.

Lee Ander told me that the channel by the golf coarse on Mille Lacs was giving up big crappies from 5-7pm. The main body of ML is still a sheet of ice.

Fishing Report 4/24: Headed to the GOMH at 6:20PM. There were three anglers fishing the SW side. Also at the GOMH was grumpy old man Willard. If he said bacon once, he said it a hundred times over the evening.

Since the SW side was covered with anglers I took the not nearly as nice to fish from SE side. In the first hour I fought two big bullheads but they both jumped me off by slightly bending the cubby hook out. The first hook up was at least a 4lber that jumped numerous times. A lady fishing the SW side said if I gave her the bass to keep, she would give me a couple of brewski's. I think she was half kidding, but then again maybe not.

I landed my first fish, which was a 2lb jumpin bullhead after I had been there about an hour. I was fishing a busted Cubby body with a minnow. I landed two more jumpin bullheads, a 2 and then a 3lber. About 8PM the people on the SW side started getting some action with orange bullheads then by 8:20 some silvers started showing up. I caught an unlucky break when a slimmer broke my line sending my Wing-It bobber into Sullivan Lake. However soon after that my luck changed because the guy and the girl fishing the SW side caught enough fish and packed it up. I immediately took there place.

For the next 20 minutes or so I proceeded to whack and stack silver bullheads on Dad's set up from last night (Chart flu flu and a minnow). Another guy showed up while the action was hot and he immediately started catching them too. As it was starting to get pretty dark the 1st guy left and the action slowed. I put on my lighted bobber and got about 4 more fish. The action slowed the darker it got. I got my last couple of fish on another set up with a Glow Demon. All in all I kept 9 (see pic) and released 3-5.

Word on the street is that Santa Claus Don woke up early and smacked em good in the morning around 6am. He said he also got a 5lb jumpin bullhead.

Fishing Report 4/23: It was a nice night of fishing with my dad at the Grumpy Old Man Hole. There were 2 Grumpy old men (Lee Ander and his brother). Dad had quite the time chatting with Lee Ander. The weather was a mild 60degrees with a slight breeze out of the west.

We arrived at the GOMH around 6 pm and there were several trucks parked. I thought we were gonna get shut out of the good spot, but as it turned out only Lee Ander was fishing and he wasn't catching anything. Dad and I headed down to the SW shore of the GOMH and set up shop. Dad had a yellow flu flu with a minnow and I was fishing a white Cubby Mini-mite. Things were pretty slow for the first hour or so with Dad missing a couple of bigger fish, probably bass. Eventually I gave in and tipped my jig with a minnow and after about 15 minutes I reeled in a jumpin bullhead of about 15 inches. Not long after that Dad tied into the Jumpin Bullhead in the first picture. I figure it was about 16 inches. I had a fish steal my minnow and Cubby tail.
About 7:45 dad landed the first silver bullhead. I was having a problem with my rod being tangled and before you knew it dad had landed three fat specs. About the time I got my rod situation straightened out Dad lost his bobber for the 2nd time. This time the bobber was out in current and went bye bye; we were able to retrieve the bobber the first time it came off. I let dad use my rod while I rigged his pole.

Round about the time I was getting dad's pole ready, our friend Don Weinmeister showed up. Don was using waxies and started catching Silver and Orange bullheads straight away. Dad and I were still catching them but not as fast as Don. I eventually switched to maggies and the bite for me picked up a little bit between the silver and orange bullheads. The bite was steady until it got to dark for me to see my bobber. All totalled we brought home 11 silvers and 1 orange with a couple of small silvers and oranges released. Don managed to get 9 silvers. A guy was showing up to fish just as we left, it was quite dark by then.

The Suckers: Stopped by the Rum River where it runs into Shakopee lake. The suckers are running thick and spawning like crazy. It was a cool site.

I have decided...

I have decided that the 06/07 Ice Fishing season will be a sabbitacal for me and my equipment. With about a month left before open water it isn't a very hard decision to make.

The 06/07 Ice Fishing season started out without safe Ice into the new year, thus delaying me getting my gear rounded up. I was given a permanent fish shack by my friend Dave Pranke of the Fishers of Men Fishing Club (Twin Cities). Interested in possibly using the new fish house, I tried to round up my gear in January. With the move to the new house my gear was scattered out, hard to find, and some of it was still at the lake in the boat house. All that rigmarole got me frustrated as I could not locate things I would need. After a couple of searches I gave up. The bug just never hit me to restart the search as the weather went into the deep freeze in late January through into February. It's now March and I still don't have my gear together, thus I have decided no Ice Fishing until next winter. Maybe I'll have a handle on all my gear by then.

Mille Lacs Trolling

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Mille Lacs Fall Trolling

Still alive, still not much in a blogging mood. I have been out for one Fall Walleye trip on Mille Lacs. I did OK Fishing from 8PM to 1AM or so landing 7 walleye from 1 cigar up to two 27"'s. Got them on either a Perch Frenzy Minnow, White Green Frenzy Minnow, or Mystic Susp Minnow wht/blu.

I probably should have gone trolling tonight as that it was reasonably warm, oh well.

Mille Lacs Fall Trolling

Still alive, still not much in a blogging mood. I have been out for one Fall Walleye trip on Mille Lacs. I did OK Fishing from 8PM to 1AM or so landing 7 walleye from 1 cigar up to two 27"'s. Got them on either a Perch Frenzy Minnow, White Green Frenzy Minnow, or Mystic Susp Minnow wht/blu. Unfortunately I was unable to get down to the Salmon Run again this year, the reports say it's been a good year.

I probably should have gone trolling tonight as that it was reasonably warm, oh well.

A Week in GEM Camp Tournaments

Sunday, June 18, 2006

The Week in Tournaments:

Monday June 12th GEM Pepsi Challenge Tournament Town Line Lake:
The fish were on the feed this night with lots of fish caught in all boats. The winner of the 3 Bass, 3 Pike tournament was Dave Lindmark and the 6 kids in the pontoon anchored by Sarah's 20inch Largemouth. Sara is a girl, duh, who has mild cerebral palsy and retardation but she held up wonderfully for the week and was a joy to be around; Her 20 incher was big Largemouth for the week and her first fish ever. My boat, Rick and Justin, caught a bunch of bass and some pike but no size.

Tuesday June 13th GEM Pepsi Challenge Tournament Mule Lake:
The weather was sunny which makes Mule Lake tough, the fish did bite late in the day. The Tournament was taken by Guide Mike Thompson and his two kids. I think they won this Multispecies Tournament with 7 species: Largemouth, Smallmouth, Rock Bass, Perch, Sunfish, Crappie, and Pike. Mike caught several 4lb class largemouth on docks and a few good smallies on docks and poppers. My boat, Rick and Justin, didn't try that hard to fish multi-species. I caught a 4lb Larry and 4lb Sally on the Frenzy Popper.

Wednesday June 14th Pepsi Challenge Tournament Town Line Lake:
We went back to Town Line cause the fishing was so good on Monday night, but the weather was warm and sunny which made fishing much tougher. Mike Thompson took the tournament with Rick and Justin on the strength of 3 good Bass and Pike. My boat Malik and Dylan, struggled and didn't have much size on either the bass or pike. We did have fun "surf fishing."

Thursday June 15th GEM Pepsi Challenge Tournament Blackwater Lake:
Conditions were sunny with a south east wind with growing cloud cover late, not ideal but Blackwater has lots of bass and fishing was pretty good. The Best 6 Bass tournament was a tie at 97inches between my boat, Elijah and Alex, and Dave Lindmark and the 6 kids in the pontoon. The pontoon won the tie breaker with Rick's 19inch smallie which was also big smallie of the week. Thus my boat was shut out for the week.

Saturday June 17th Fishers of Men Club Twin Cities Multi-species Buffalo Lake:
The weather was cloudy with a slight South then North wind turning very wet. The fishing was tough and me and my partner Tony Hanf got skunked. Buffalo lake appears to be in the midst of a major decline thanks to winter time over harvest, weed killing, and run off. The Tournament was won by Mike Thompson and his Dad with 10 Crappies and a 20.5 inch Largemouth. The day was not a total wash out as that I had Angeno's Pizza for dinner.

Camp Summary: It was a good week with good kids. On to Lindisfarne.

Lobster Lake Pre-Fish

Pre-Fish Lobster

It was supposed to go like this:
I would check 2 spots bada bing bada bang and that would be that, I'd win the upcoming tournament. Unfortunately things didn't work out according to plan.

The Lobster Lake of June 8th 2006 is much different than the Lobster Lake of June 25th 2005. As I pulled into my hot spot of last year I immediately noticed the scum was gone, it was thick last year. I was almost in disbelief as no fish were holding in this spot. Last year I caught my limit there in 5 minutes and was able to go to the well several times throughout the day. I checked back later in the day and pike had taken up residence. I'm writing this spot off.

Things were still OK because spot #2 has the potential to be phenomenal. I made my way in to the spot and instead of bass there was carp. Beyond the carp I did get a few pick ups but I don't think it's gonna have the quantity or quality that I thought it might. What a disappointment!

Update:

I didn't do my preparation very well and was short crankbaits and plastics that would have helped me develop back up patterns and areas. The lake is more stained than it was last year and there seems to be a whole lot less weeds. Last year in my pre-fish day I caught a lot more fish and better quality than what I found today. I saw a gazillion sunfish, carp and small bass. As it stands right now I think getting 10lbs will be a challenge. Getting mentally prepared for this one is going to be a challenge.


Update: I had 11lbs-13ozs and finished 5th.

Sunday May 28 BP & Cyberfish:

It's not BP vs. Cyberfish because we were in different worlds a fishin. 

We started the day with a trip to Garrison Alliance Church. From there we headed home to watch the Indy 500 and eat the crappies that Cyb caught yesterday. Round about 4PM the adventure began. The plan was to hit Black Bass Lake in Kathio State Park in our float tubes. The DeLorme Minnesota Atlas and Gazetter makes it look like all you have to do is take a road or trail off of 169 to get there. It turned out to not be that easy and we could not find the lake but we sure tried and went down many a false trail.

The backup plan consisted of forsaking the little 20 acre mud hole which we could not find and hitting the 132,000 acre mud hole we could find. The destination was Wahkon bay were the BP would naturally fish bass and Cyberfish would fish panfish and this out of our float tubes. The bass vs. panfish dichotomy made a grudge match out of the question.

I got out on the fish first landing a 14" bass on a bit off "Merth" Zoom Trick worm. I quickly landed a pudgy 10" bass soon after that. Next thing I know Cyberfish is screaming in delight over a 10" gill. I went over and took his pic with a disposable camera Cyb brought along. I headed back to try and sight fish some more of those bass and the next thing I know Cyb is gleefully catching another 10" gill. I didn't go to take pictures of that one.

I was fishing an area where I could see lots of bass and gills, but I couldn't get any more of the one's I could see to go. Meanwhile Cyb was landing the occasional gill. I started casting a Snagproof tournament frog and managed to land a 17" and then a chunky 18" bass. Meanwhile Cyb was landing the occasional gill. I headed west and Cyb headed in to where I was seeing the bass and gills.

The trip West was a dud except for some nice small talk with some shore owners who were surprised to see a float tuber happen along. They even gave me tips on fish location but it was all for not because if there were fish there they weren't aggressive enough for a topwater frog. Meanwhile Cyb was landing the occasional gill, crappie, and a bass. Just when I got back in talking distance Cyb lost a big bass.

Now I think is a good time to interject the fact that Cyberfish was fishing with a telescoping cane pole. How many people do you suspect have fished Mille Lacs Lake out of a float tube using a cane pole? Cyberfish just ain't normal people THAT's FOR SURE! That big old bass got off by pulling the old swim under the float tubers legs trick. Cyb kept on a catching panfish while I toiled for another blow up. I finally got a strike but could not convert even though the fish gave me a second chance. Cyb kept on a catching panfish until dark.

We got off the lake and headed to DQ and that was that.

FYI- Cyb did get out early before church and pulled a 28" Platte Pike while float tube fishing.

Bass Opener

I didn't repeat last years mistake and got up early to hit the PRO where the early bird gets the worm. I woke up at 5:00 and was on the water by 5:35. It was a cool 67 with a bit of a SE breeze already stirring the air. I headed straight for the Platte River Outlet.

Upon Arrival I had several rods rigged and ready to go. I picked up the white swim jig and reddish purple trailer first. I got a hit on my very first cast but it was a pike. The Swim Jig was getting to caught up in the rice and so I switched to a green Zoom Horny Toad, shortly after starting to throw that I landed a 13.75" bass. Shortly after that I landed a 16.75" fish on the Horny Toad, then I landed a 17" bass with the swim jig. I then caught another 13.75" on the Toad and then a pike and then a 12" bass.

I had started making my way into the river at this point and another boat was coming in there with me. I landed a 15" right in front of these other two guys. They proceeded to go right in front of me and start fishing almost immediately the guy in the front of the other boat caught a 14-16" fish. I kind of worked slowly allowing for us to have some separation. I then started thoroughly working the wind blown side of the river. I caught a couple of 12 inchers then I got 2 that were 15-16", this was fishing behind these two guys. I narrowed the gap between us and decided to split.

I went to a semi-protected part of the PRO outside of the river. The slop was thick enough that it was Snagproof Frog time. I started by throwing a white frog and was shortly rewarded with a 16" bass. A little bit later I caught a 15" fish. I switched to a brown Snagproof Bobby's Perfect Frog, I got a bite and broke off, I'm not sure if it was a pike or not. Disappointed I tied on a Black Red Sparkle Frog and kept fishing. I worked my way to the river mouth then headed to the south shore of the PRO. All I got on the south shore was a few hits from Pike.

I then headed into "Old Cabin Bay" to do a little dock fishing except the good dock run was all covered up by parked panfish fishermen. I moved beyond them and started on docks with a black and green jig. I got a few on the docks and missed a few but nothing bigger than 15" and the fishing was fairly slow. I headed in about 11 O Clock. Overall I did alright. Conditions started to get tough with that wind, there were a ton of people on their docks or out in boats, it was a zoo out there by 9AM.

And then I took a nap

I went out for about 45 minutes around 4:30PM. I was fishing docks in our bay with the black and green jig. I managed to get one little bass. Didn't see much activity but a few sunnies. I left my polarized glasses here at the house. I got back to the house by 5:30 and shortly after that Mike "Cyberfish" Thompson arrived and we had dinner. He had been out on Mille Lacs hammering crappie and sunnies. He said he saw a lot of bedding Larry's and Sally's but could not get them to bite. After Dinner Mike cleaned crappie for a fish fry tomorrow.

We decided to go out around 7:30 in the calm area just to the East of our place. I got one 12"bass and Mike had a couple of follows. This area is full of rice which caused the Trolling Motor to overheat and now I have no working forward speeds. NICE! Fricking Minn Kota piece of crap.

Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer and more windy than today. Dad will have a look at the trolling motor tomorrow. I have a sinking feeling that I will be using our old trolling motor for at least the first couple of tournaments. I think it will work out ok provided I don't have to fight millfoil or rice. Tomorrow with the high winds and boat out of commission Mike and I may go float tubing on a little lake.

Mille Lacs Launch with Dad

Tuesday night I got a call from Mike Cummins of the Fishers of Men Club Twin Cities asking if I would be interested in going out on a launch on Mille Lacs with his Church. Dad has been talking about doing this for a couple of years and so when I asked him we were both in.

At 4PM Wed. Night we headed out the door for Scenic Bay Resort where we were launching out of on Mille Lacs. I elected not to bring anything but a few hooks, beads, and an ice fishing depth finder. Everyone (about 20 people) arrived around 5PM and we were out by 5:20. It was cloudy and threatening rain, but actually stayed dry the whole time. We had light wind intermixed with calm periods and even some sunshine now and then. We were set up with slip bobbers and I rigged myself and dad with different bead set ups and we had different hook colors. We got no bites at the first spot which was sand over 20' of water. We then moved into 16' and rocks where there were a few nibbles but no walleye's. We then headed into shallow water on top of a reef and still nada. We then headed out to about 17' out towards "The Graveyard." We were not there long an Abby Cummins was pulling in the first eye of the trip.

We fired up the grill and ate food. Fish started to be caught and my bobber went down and I reeled in a nice 16" eater. More fish were caught all around the launch and Dad missed a couple of bites.

Abby Cummins caught her second fish which was 22" and the big fish of the trip. Quite a bit later I hooked into a 21" which was the 2nd biggest (Pic above). Dave Villa who was next to me caught a small eye and a rock bass and missed a good bite as it was getting dark. Dad had one last chance at a good fish but it got off on it's way in.

(for better picture click to enlarge)
The group caught 13 keepers had 3 that were two big and probably 3 go back that were too small. All and all we had a good time.

Fishing with Gordy

On Thursday, May 18th, the Fishers of Men Club Twin Cities had our first 3rd Thursday Night Outing, held on the third Thursday night of the month duh!, on Lake Minnetonka. Unfortunately, my boat was the only one to turn out. I arrived at the Maxwell bay access around 3:45 and was out fishing by 4:15PM. It was getting more overcast and threatening rain. I headed up to a weedline in Stubbs Bay and started off by fishing a Bomber Fat A for Pike. I fished my way down to the channel back into Maxwell with only one hit, and that fish didn't hook up. I then moved into the NW bay of Maxwell, which is a big milfoil weed flat. It was calm there, so I started fishing with a Spook-type topwater. I got a small pike and missed a small bass. It started to sprinkle about 5 O'clock. At about 5:15, I had a big swirl that missed the Spook. I let it sit then started walking it again. WHAM! Either a big Pike or Muskie engulfed the Spook, and I set into an instant break-off.

Fortunately, the lure didn't hook up and was left sitting on the surface where the swirl had just been. I retrieved my lure and headed in to pick up Gordy. Gordy was waiting at the dock, and we stayed at the ramp until 6PM to see if anyone else would show. From the Maxwell Access, we headed to Crystal Bay. In the channel between bays, Gordy spotted what we thought was a life jacket; it turned out to be a halfway decent rain jacket with a quarter in a pocket which I hauled aboard. Having another rain jacket is always good for GEM kids. We then headed into a little bay inside Crystal, where I had caught crappies and sunfish before. On our way in, I had a swim jig get bit off; Shortly after that, Gordy pulled in a 16" bass. Shortly after that, I got a 14" bass on the Spook topwater.

Gordy and I fished all around in that little bay. I missed a couple of topwater strikes and also caught a decent-sized bass. Gordy broke out the ultra-lite tackle and caught a couple of small sunnies. Eventually, things died off, and we headed back into Maxwell. The area of Maxwell we ran into was teaming with carp and panfish. While I missed a pike and jumped off a bass, Gordy caught several sunfish and crappie. Sometime when we were in Crystal Bay, it stopped raining, and by the end of the night, it had cleared out nicely. At 8:30, we headed back to the ramp to beat out a league that was weighing in at 9PM. The rest of the Fishers of Men club missed out on a good time.

Today...

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Today...

Was a nice day a wee bit windy. I hung out most of the afternoon throwing the Frisbee to Pattie Lou. Eventually I braved the wind and went out fishing. I caught 3 Pike including a strong 29" that made my day. I also had a break off and caught several bass. I fished Sullivan.

Tomorrow I will be heading to Lake Minnetonka for the inaugural Fishers of Men 3rd Thursday Outing. At this point I expect to be the only boat out there. Oh well.

More trolling motor problem, my bracket broke, but dad worked out a pretty good fix for me. Minn Kota Endura transom mounts are junk for serious fisherman, step up to the Maxxum's.

Brought the Widow Olson some fish to eat and she repaid me with a chocolate bar and banana bread. Had fish for dinner, yum.

Opener In 4 Parts

Opening Report Part 1:
I'm Back. The wind and waves were howling in out of the East which means I couldn't cast very well. After about 6 to 10 casts I was out of there. If the wind stays like that than the Eddy's Jetty may be pretty good tomorrow during the day.

Opening Report Part 2:
I've spent the day so far inside relaxing, the weather has been cool rainy and windy, but plan to get out in a bit. Here is the results so far from the Gov., Governor, first lady reel in walleyes.

Opening Report Part 3:
Around 3PM or so I started getting around to getting the boat ready in a steady drizzle to light rain to steady downpour. I was not thrilled about this. When the boat finally launched I trolled a Excaliber Floater Shad for Pike and Walleye's. I got a pike and then the motor started giving me trouble so I headed into the little east bay. I got 3 small pike and a bass. From there I headed into Sullivan and trolled the Excaliber Floater Shad for Pike and Walleye's with no results. I then headed to the South side of the Pro. I started with throwing a swim jig and caught a small bass immediately. Shortly after that a pike separated me from the swim jig. I put on a spinnerbait and worked all the way into the river. I got 2 more small pike and a bass. I was getting hungry and so I headed back into Platte. I decided to troll with the Excaliber Floater Shad for Pike and Walleye's when I was between the two Islands. Trolling in I whacked a 5-6lb Northern and then I decided I was good and headed in.

Opening Report Part 4:
The weather was finally clearing up and so I decided to head to Mille Lacs and Eddy's Jetty. The reports from Mille Lacs today have been that the fish were on fire. I waited until I saw all the fishing stuff on the 10 O'clock news and then headed out. Between 10:45 and Midnight I landed 4 Eyes all off the same spot on the Jetty. The first two were a 15" keeper and 19" keeper. I then landed a 21.5" slot fish and 20.5" slot fish. After casting for another 15 minutes or so without a bite I decided that was good and left.

Not a bad end to a somewhat crappy day.

Fishers of Men Spring Outing

The Fishers of Men Spring outing was held at Broadwater Lodge on Woman Lake May 6-8.

The weather was nice and the accomodations were excellent for the 2006 Fishers of Men Fishing Club Twin Cities Spring Outing. We had 19 guys and 3 GEM kids. I arrived around 6pm on Friday and headed out to Otter bay to find the guys who had arrived already. I recognized Merv Heitschmidt, Gary Ellis, and Mike Cummins. I kind of avoided them and looked for shallow fish. Otter bay looks like it would be a shallow backwater but it is actually a fairly deep dropping bay. I saw a few bass and lots of baitfish shallow but no crappies or sunnies. Around 7:30 the other boats headed in. Shortly after they left I headed in too.

The guys had been putting a hurt on the Crappies in 10 to 22ft of water and were in the cleaning shack. Frank Evans, formerly of Atikwa Lake Lodge, had caught a 14.5, 1lb11oz Crappie. They pretty much had limited out for 6 guys.

Jeff Compton and family wanted to head out and so I guided them out to the spot those guys had been fishing. I caught nothing but they got 3 and 1 slimer. After 1/2 an hour I headed in to get dinner at Patricks in Longville. Even though the other guys were a 1/2hour in front of me they still had not gotten there fish dinners yet. I had chopped steak and some of the guys fish along with a hearty salad bar. We then headed to One Stop where I bought a highly defective Wing-It Bobber.

Back at the Lodge Mike Price and Armondo had arrived and Dave Lindmark showed up late with Corey and a friend. I hung out with Lowell and Gary Ellis. Gary was nice enough to put 4lb line on one of my reels.

Saturday: After a good pancake breakfast I headed out with Gary and Lowell in search of some slabs. Right away we were smacking fish. Gary got 2, Lowell got 2 and I got one and missed one. That bite died and we moved. I got a bass in the next spot. After a dry spell we moved again. Gary caught a couple more, Lowell got one and I missed another couple of fish before it was time to go in for lunch.

Lunch was taco salad and sandwiches, yum.

I then putzed around for a while, I headed in to Longville to get an ice cream cone and replace that Wing-It Bobber. After getting back I embarked with Jay to go slab hunting.

Fishing was slow, Jay got a slimer and I got 1 keeper crappie and one little one. Jay needed to go in and so I took him in. I then headed out for about 45minutes before dinner getting a decent fish drifting. That was it for me and the elusive Crappie.

We had an excellent fish fry for dinner then hung out into the evening. Mike and the Braham crew took off. Armondo and Mike had a reletively tough day out on backwater lakes. Fishing on Woman was slow but consistant for most with a few limits caught.

Sunday: People were up early for a breakfast of leftovers. I ate and went back to sleep. When I woke up Villa, Thompson, and Jay were about to leave. Lindmark left shortly after them. I headed to fish as that Robert and Tony and the Compton clan were out fishing. I met Robert at the Otter/Broadwater narrow and they told me nothing was going on so I headed in to pack up and leave.

I headed over to Boy Lake to hunt dog fish. The wind had started kicking up out of the south pretty good. I caught two bass including a chunky 19.5 out of the Maiden Cain. I then headed to the Creek that connects Boy and Swift lake. The creek got shallow and I was seeing rocks, so I abandoned that quest and fished the creek which had current moving swiftly. I got a couple of small hammer handles on a white swim jig.

I moved out to the weed flat out from the creek and was throwing the swim jig until a pike took it. I had caught a couple of slimmers and had a decent size eye follow. I then went to the white jig and pig and caught or missed several more slimers. I checked out Rabbit Lake then decided I had enough and packed up.

When I got home I tried Rock for doggies for about 45 minutes. No dogs but bass and slimers were active.