1st Bass of the Year

17" on T.H.E. Jig and a waxie

3:30-8:00pm
32 degrees, light wind, cloudy, a bit of fog when I left.  Luckily I had put a waypoint down on my holes last week because I went the wrong direction when I left.  I went back to the waypoint, got my bearings and got off the lake.

I got back to Rock Lake thanks to getting the Expedition back.  Need the 4 wheel drive to get up the hill at the access.  I went and drilled holes slightly farther to the North of where I had been fishing.  I also drilled holes up closer to the reeds by where I got the perch and sunfish the last time I was out on Rock.  Sure enough that paid off with me getting two bass.

12.5"er took Go-Devil w/maggies

  I also got a bunch of perch on THE Jig, Demon and minnow, and the Go-Devil

I was not aware until this winter that perch were a significant baitfish in rock lake

As it approached the prime time crappie bit I hole hopped out to a deeper spot and pulled up a 9.5"er immediately.  I went and got the trap.  The fish were aggressive coming up but then would stop and look at THE Jig and waxie.  This resulted in dozens of missed hooksets.  I'm not sure if these fish were small crappies or sunfish; most probably a combination.

I went to a bobber and pulled a sunfish

Small crappie on the Demon and minnow

The fish continued to bite, so I continued to fish until 8pm

2 Largies
18 Perch
8 Crappies
1 Sunfish

Platte Lake Piking

Where did my spoon go? And how did I land it on 3lb test.

3:30-6:00PM
32 degrees, cloudy, light South wind

I decided to go to Platte Lake and fish the South side of the Small Island.  I ended up with 3 small pike.  Two of them came on THE Jig w/waxie and one came on the Go-Devil Spoon.  I also missed what was probably another pike on THE Jig.  I also got one small crappie on THE Jig.  Had a hit on the Tip Up with the shiner I caught yesterday, but I didn't get to it on time.  Could have been a bullhead for all I know.

1st Pike came on the Go-Devil in about 6ft

Next Pike came out of around 10ft on THE Jig

Crappie came out of about 12'

Last Pike came out of 12' as well

Sullivan Sucked Again

Not a tullibee

7:00-11:30AM
23 degrees, mostly sunny, wind out of the North

When I got out the ice was cracking pretty good.  I pretty much staid in my "Tullibee Hole" holes do to the cold.  Had a couple of takes on  the bobber with the wax worm that I missed.  Also think I had a hit on on the Go-Devil Spoon when I put the rod down.  Had a few fish come in suspended but it was mostly dead.  Managed to get 3 small perch and the spot tailed shiner all of which were off the bottom.

Sullivan Sucked

My massive morning catch

9:00AM-12:15PM
38 degrees, pretty calm, partly cloudy

I woke up late.  I fished the same holes as yesterday and a set of 4 somebody drilled yesterday.  Had what were probably some small tullibee in one of those holes for a while.  I couldn't get them to bite.  My glasses came apart sans picture.  Dad came with Kaylee and brought me an old pair.  I managed to lose the screw right before dad arrived. Dad had an extra screw that fit.  I had to take off to get mom the Expedition.

3:30-7:00PM
34 degrees, cloudy, a bit of wind out of the NW
I got my gear switched into Jenny's van.  I decided to hit Sullivan again.  I was kind of thrown off as a couple people were sitting where I wanted to try.  I went on a wild goose chase trying to find the big weed flat.  Eventually I found it.  I got some small perch.  The walleyes I was hoping to get never showed.

Sullivan & Rock

8.5" Glow Demon

 8:00am-2:00pm at Sullivan
Warming up to the mid 30's, mostly sunny, light winds
I got 3 sets of holes drilled and started fishing just as the sun came out from the clouds.  I got two nice sunfish in the first hour or so.  I think I had a school of tullibee under me for a while, and I got them to chase my lure up and down but not high enough for me to see them.   I didn't get a bit from whatever they were.  I really wasn't rigged as well as I could have been.  In the afternoon I put the camera down to see what was down there and it stopped working.  I decided to quit at that point and bring the camera home and get something to eat.

8.5"er from another vantage point

3:30-8:00PM
36 degrees mostly sunny, light winds very pleasant to fish
I started by drilling about 6 sets of holes.  Then I started in the set farthest North by the reeds.   I got a couple of sunfish, perch and had a pike break a Demon off.  I think I also had the pike hit the Grass Pig.  These fish wanted wax worms, not maggots.  Eventually I moved out to the deeper holes and the crappies showed up.  I forgot to take a picture of any of them.  My second to last fish was a pike on the Demon with a Minnow.  I got 1 last crappie on a Demon and Minnow.  I actually went and checked my holes on Sullivan but nothing showed up so I didn't fish.

14 Crappies
4 Sunfish
4 Perch
1 Pike

A true Rock "jumbo".

7.5" Sunny on T.H.E. Jig

They wanted waxies not maggots

He wanted a minnow

Rock Again Fishing Slower

 9.5" Glow Demon w/minnow

4:45-6:45PM
27 degrees, cloudy and windy out of the South

I got out much later than the last couple of days.  Due to blowing snow I couldn't figure out where yesterday's holes were.  I drilled one set of 3 new holes.  I missed the first couple of probably not crappie bites.  Eventually the crappies moved in.  I got the first one, an 8"er, on the Demon with maggots.  I then got caught up on fish hitting the Demon with a minnow.  I missed several more than I caught.  I also got one on the Scenic Tackle Go-Devil.  The action cut off around 6PM.  When I flipped up the Trap when I left there where no lights to the East.  I thought that was weird.  By the time I got packed up and off the lake I finally saw some lights in the East.

6 Crappies

Fishing the Rock with Mike Carlson

3:30-6:00PM
Same as the past two days, slightly winder, slightly colder

Today I took out Mike Carlson, a former small group leader from my high school days at Hope Presbyterian Church, fishing.  Mike had never ice fished using a flasher before.  Turns out he really didn't care for "video game" fishing.  It started out kind of slow with Mike getting a couple of small perch and a sunfish.

Glow Demon w/spikes

I didn't get a picture of the sunfish because I was out hole hopping at the time looking for sunfish.  He caught a perch and a sunfish blind.  After I found out he got a sunfish I went in the house with him.  I caught 1 perch. Sometime close to 5PM I got the first crappie.

9" Rock Lake Special on the Demon w/spikes

Pretty quickly after that Mike was bringing up his first on his rod with a minnow on a plain hook.

8" 

We caught fish pretty steadily over the next hour or so until we packed up around 6:00PM.  We fished out of three holes. Two with bobbers and minnows for Mike and me with the Vex with a Demon and maggies.  We had one double.

30 or so Crappies
3 or 4 Perch
1 Sunfish

Rock Slower Tonight

Big Fish of the Night 11.25" on the Demon w/spikes

3:00-7:30PM
Weather pretty much the same as yesterday.

I stared by drilling out old holes with the hand auger.  Put the tip up down in the hole I had the camera in on Sunday.  Then I drilled about 5 sets of new holes farther to the North but not really any shallower or deeper.  I started fishing right around 3PM in the farthest North Hole.  Didn't get anything there so I moved to the next hole and got this perch.

T.H.E. Jig w/waxie

That was it for that hole.  In the next hole I got my first Sunfish.

Glow Demon w/spikes

There were more of them down there so I put the camera down.  When I was trying to get the camera pointed I had something hit the Grass Pig but not hook up.  Eventually I got the camera in line.  I couldn't see that well as it was after 4PM by then.  I did manage to catch a couple more sunfish.  It got so I couldn't see the sunfish anymore so I shut the camera off and went hole hopping with a Scenic Tackle Go-Devil Spoon with maggies.  I finally got the first crappie around 4:50PM.

First Crappie of the Night  9" on Scenic Tackle Go-Devil

I managed to get 4 crappies on the Glow Devil.  I ended up setting up shop in the holes just to the south of where I fished last night.  That's were I got the 11 incher.  I got 14 crappies total on the evening;  All of them but the first four were caught on the Custom Jigs and Spins Glow Demon.  I got one 8"er and one 10"er in addition to the 11", the rest were 9"ers.

14 crappies
3 Sunfish
1 Perch

Rock On!

8" Sunfish Glow Demon w/spikes

3:00-7:00pm
30 degrees, cloudy,  mild but cold wind out of the NE

I got out to a little later start than I wanted to today do to my not being able to get to sleep last night.  I decided to hit up Rock again in hopes of getting a bass.   When I arrived I used the hand auger to open yesterday's holes.  Then I drilled 4 new sets in a little shallower water.  I was hoping to have them be in 8-10' of water but they ended up 13-15 pretty much the same depths as yesterday.  I put the tip up in first with a fathead.  Then went to the first shallow set of holes.  Nothing there, so I went to the spot I had the camera down yesterday.  I marked some stuff but didn't have any hits.  I pulled house to two more hole sets without any results but a few sniffers. I then set off hole hopping.  I got to the farthest North set of holes I drilled yesterday and I caught the 8" sunfish.  I released it in a hole the Trap was sitting at after measuring it and brought the Trap back with me.  I got a 7" sunfish.  I tried down viewing with camera but that wasn't really working so I went and put the camera down the other hole.  I got it pointed in the right direction with the help of the Grass Pig.  Unfortunately it was now to dark and I couldn't see my baits or the fish that were around.  I was surprised when the next fish I brought up was this crappie.

9" on the Demon w/spikes

I brought up one more sunfish then it was a crappie fest on the Demon and T.H.E. Jig.  A school moved in and they were aggressive.  Almost all of them were 9 inchers.  I lost one bigger crappie in the hole and got one right at 10".  By 5:30 the bite really slowed down.  I pulled up the tip up and put a minnow down in the hole that had the Aqua Vu in it.  When I brought up the Aqua View I busted the fin off.  Looks like no down viewing until I can get another one.  I had one fish mess with the minnow but not take it and I got a couple more crappies and I had a few sniffers.  I packed up around 7PM.  I have never caught crappies like that at Rock Lake ever.  I threw them all back.  Another year and those should be some quality keepers.

24 Crappies
3 Sunfish

Rock Lake Sunfish Fest

17" Pike on T.H.E. Jig w/waxie

10:30am-2:00pm
34 degrees, light wind out of the NW, mostly cloudy

I wanted to get some sunfish and possibly a bass so I headed to Rock Lake today.

I fished over by where I fished the last time I was on the lake.  Just North of the reed bank.  I drilled 5 holes in about 15 feet of water.  I didn't mark anything in the 1st hole.  I then put a tip up in it and moved on to the next hole.  I started marking stuff right away at the next hole  The 1st fish was the pike.  I put the camera down the hole looking down, but not straight down.  I saw something, but couldn't tell what it was.  Next I got a sunfish.

7.5" T.H.E. Jig w/waxie

So I went and drilled a 2nd hole in 4 of the holes.  The one hole i didn't double up had a tip up.  I positioned the camera where I could see my bait.  I caught several sunnies.  The action died, so I went hole hopping.  I started getting sunfish in the 4th set of holes.  I went and got the house but left the camera.  I got several more sunnies in this hole.  Then they got finicky.  I didn't get the camera because the sunnies were biting all over in the water column.  I went to the last set of holes and got a perch.

Perch on the Glow Demon

I managed to get a couple of sunnies out of this whole as well.  I went back to the holes with the camera and I had a pike hit my glow Demon but it didn't hook up.  I got one last sunfish.  I tried going to the holes with the Grass Pig and came up empty.  I eventually packed up to go see the football game.  Three of the sunfish I got were 7.5", the rest of them were from 4" to 6".

17 Sunfish
1 Pike
1 Perch

Peavy & Platte

7.5" Demon w/maggies at Peavy Lake

11:00AM-3:00PM Peavy
4:30-5:30PM Platte
32 degrees, really windy at times, cloudy with flurries giving way to some sun then overcast again.

I started by working the hump.  No luck.  I got checked by Kuske.  The on/off switch on the auger broke.  Fortunately for me it's in the "on" position.  At 1PM I bailed to my crappie spot.  There were a few of them out there.  They were smaller in size than what I had been getting.  I got 5 total with only one being over 9".  I decided to head out at 3PM.  I talked with a guy who was just heading out at the access who had been getting little sunfish at Shakopee.  I guess the lake has gotten pounded this winter.  The wind really started to blow.

I checked the NE access on Sullivan then drove onto Platte at the Public access.  I drove to the North of the big island on my way to "the hole".  I think I GPSed it from a boat  judging by where the permanent shacks were sitting to the West of my waypoint.  I drilled 6 holes and fished 3 of them.  I had two fish come through about 10 feet of bottom in 23'.  I had one hooked, it felt small.  I also had something on the bottom sniff my maggots.   It was really windy out.   I packed up at 5:30 and drove off at Jenny's.

5 Crappies

 

Peavy Lake Served Me A Skunk for My Birthday

1:30-5:30PM
24 degrees with dropping temps, very windy out of the NW, some snow
5' to 60'

Today I tried fishing around the hump that is out from the access.  I found fish in some of the holes from 15' to 30' of water.  Don't know what they were because I didn't catch them and I didn't put the camera down (Doh!).  I had two bites that I felt.  One got off immediately and one that got off half way up.  The one that got off half way up felt like a good fish, could have been a bass.  Around 3:45PM I headed towards my hole.  But the wind and snow were to much so I turned back.  I drilled some new holes off the South side in the deep water.  I did mark something down about 35' deep in 60', but by the time I got there it was gone.  I also re-fished some holes, nothing.  I may or may not go back to Peavy.

1 Crappie at Peavy

10.5" T.H.E. Jig w/ Waxie

1:30-5:30PM
27 degrees, cloudy, breezy out of the SSE

Today I wasted the first couple of hours trying to find sunfish on the Western shore off of the sharp dropping point.  I drilled my first set of holes mostly too shallow.  I didn't see a single fish on the Aqua View.  At about 3 I went and drilled holes in the deep water off the point.  I got the one fish right away.  I had several other aggressive sniffers, especially on the jigging rap but they wouldn't hit it.  They didn't touch a minnow.

1 Crappie

Peavy on New Years Day

11.5" T.H.E. Jig w/ Waxie

3:00-6:00PM
28 degrees, breezy out of the WNW, Sunny
35' feet down over around 50' of water

I went to the place I went the second time I was to this lake.  It was a lot slower between less fish marked and them being on the finicky side.

 The first fish of the New Year was the 11.5", followed immediately by it's partner that took a minnow.  I got 3 more out hole hoping with T.H.E. Jig.  Fortunately pulling the Trap wasn't nearly as difficult today.  It was much easier coming back when the wind was at my back.

5 Crappies.

Peavy Again

3:30PM-5PM
28 degrees, wind out of the north about 10mph, cloudy, 2" of snow on the ice


The snow made pulling the trap difficult.  I went out to the first spot I fished this year.  I drilled four pairs of holes.  I had fish down the first set but they were extremely finicky and didn't touch a crappie minnow.  I got 4, 9-10" in the first set of holes and a 7" in the 2nd set.  I slipped and fell on the ice twice.

5 crappies

Peavy Lake Again.

9"

3:30-6:00PM
34 degrees, light wind, cloudy.  Less water on the ice than yesterday
50 feet of water or so.  On the bottom or suspended around 30'

There was no one on the lake when I arrived, so I headed to where the other guys were yesterday.  There were two individual holes then a spot with 3 holes.  I didn't mark anything in the individual holes, so I stopped at the spot they fished yesterday.  Since I didn't mark anything there, I went and drilled about 6 individual holes.  I got back to the Trap, put a line down and had fish show up immediately.  I think I got 3 on a minnow and Demon and that was it, so I went hole hopping with T.H.E. Jig and a waxie.  I got 3 on that and one off the bottom before I got back to the Trap.  I lost what I think was a bigger crappie at one point as well while I was out hole hopping.  I started getting them at the Trap, so I stayed there until it was getting dark.  I went and drilled some holes to the south of where I was sitting.  I got a couple out of those holes.  The fish got real finicky around 4:45 or so.  Most were 9" but I got 3 ten inchers and couple that were smaller.  I never set the Trap up to whole time it was so nice out.  I ended up getting 14 crappies with 3 of them coming off the bottom.  

14 Crappies

Peavy Lake: No Sunfish, Yes Crappies

10.75" T.H.E. Jig and a waxie

2:00-7:00PM
34 degrees some sleet and snow mild North wind
30' or so feet down over 50' or so feet of water

When I arrived there was a guy leaving who was fishing with his kids right by the access.  He was only there for maybe 20 minutes and the kids wanted to go.  He didn't really have any info for me.  He usually fishes on Platte for pike.  He was the only person on the lake and I don't think there was a permanent house on the whole lake.  I went and fished in his holes and a couple of H.S. kids showed up.  They had been getting crappie and they headed north.  I worked the area around the point to the north of the access.  I didn't find any life.  After an hour of that I took the Vexilar and went trolling over the deep water.  I marked a fish, so I went and got my stuff.  When I got there the fish was gone.  I trolled around and marked another fish, so I started drilling holes.  It was about 3:30PM or so before I was fishing.  I put T.H.E. Jig down and had two fish move in immediately.  I caught a 9" which I released.  Then I got the 10.75" which I decided to keep.  That was the biggest fish I got.  I caught 10 fish total, 3 went back.  I think 3 of them went 10" at least.

My last fish of the night:

10" on Glow Demon and a minnow

10 Crappies

Good Night on Long

9" on T.H.E. Jig and a waxie

2:30-5:30PM
30 degrees breezy out of the SW and cloudy

The fish were finicky at first but turned on for about half an hour from 4:15 to 4:45.  I caught about equal numbers on T.H.E. Jig and waxie and a Glow Demon with a minnow.  I think I drilled 6 sets of holes in a line from east to west.  I didn't mark anything in the two most east holes.  I caught the most fish in the 4th hole.  I did try hole hopping outside of the Fish Trap, but the wind made that uncomfortable.  The fish were either under 8 inches or between 9 and 10 with one exception.  There were 6 or 7 other groups out fishing.  I was to the South of the permanent fish shack.  I did have to turn the heater on around 4:00.  The fish were caught between 22' to 26' in about 31' of water.

17 Crappies.

Long Again

8.5" on T.H.E. Jig and a waxie

2:30-6:30PM
Colder today 21 degrees, Windy out of the North, cloudy, it snowed for a bit

I drilled 4 sets of holes on a line from East to West and started approximately where I ended last night at the eastern most holes.  I couldn't see where any of yesterday's holes were.  I got 4 quick fish on the Demon and a minnow.  The fish were smaller than what I got yesterday.  After the first 4 the crappies got fussy.  I finally got T.H.E. Jig and a Waxie down and got 3 on that.  I wish I had drilled more holes when I first started because when I went to drill again I couldn't get the throttle to work, so I couldn't drill any more holes.  I ended up getting two more after dark on the Demon and a minnow.  The fish just weren't as aggressive as yesterday and I marked far less of them.

9 Crappies 7-9.25"

Long Lake

11.25" on T.H.E. Jig and Waxies

2:45-5:45PM
33 degrees Light rain and sleet Windy out of the N NW
20-25' over 31' of water

A little better size than Bulldog.  Got several in the 9.5" range and the 11.25" which was the biggest.  The rain and wind made hole hopping difficult.  I caught my first 14 on T.H.E. Jig's with waxies and the last 7 on a Glow Demon with a minnow.

21 Crappies

Wet Sloppy Mess

8.5" Bulldog Lake

2:00-8:45PM
40 degrees foggy light wind

All the snow on the ice melted leaving lots of water on the ice.  I'm glad I had an ice cleat for one boot.  I started off on Platte out of Jenny's.  I couldn't find the point and headed off the lake at 3:30.  I was set up on Bulldog by 4:15pm.  I started getting crappies right away on T.H.E. Jig and a waxie.  I managed to get 7 of them and then the bite shut down.  The foggy and  wet conditions made hole hopping difficult because I couldn't see the holes until I was almost on top of them.  I think the fish went down to the bottom as I didn't mark anything up high once it got dark.  At least it was warm out.

4 Species At Rock

1:30-6:30PM
32 degrees Cloudy wind 5-10mph out of the SW

Got the auger working today.  The issue was that I didn't have enough gas in the tank yesterday.  I planned to drill holes and then look with the Aqua View.  After about the 5th hole it ran out of power.  I didn't see any fish.  The first fish I got into were perch.  They were in almost every hole, so they wasted my time.  At about 4:15 I got to what was going to be my last hole, before I headed to Bulldog.  Low and behold I found some sunfish, so I drilled more holes.

It was getting dark and I forgot I had my sunglasses on.  I wondered why the LED's didn't seem to be putting out the amount of light they did last night .  My bobber with the Glow Demon and Minnow went down and I got a 22" pike on that.

Finally I realized I had my sunglasses on.  I caught one dink crappie.

That was my last fish of the night.

6 Perch
5 Sunfish
1 Pike
1 Crappie

Sullivan Sucked

9.5" on a Glow Demon with Minnow

3:45-7:30pm
30 degrees cloudy 5mph wind out of the SW

I made several wrong calls today.  I went straight out from the West Public Access to where there was only 1 house.  There were 4 or 5 houses about 250 yards to the South.  I started out going to the houses, but decided to go back to the one house area.  I left the hand augers in the car and didn't put more gas in the auger.  It's a pretty good hike out to the spots so I wasn't going to go back and get that stuff.  I had trouble keeping the auger running and it took probably 10 minutes to get a hole drilled.  I was in 40' of water.  I fished with a Grass Pig first.  I didn't see anything so I switched up to a Glow Demon.  I got my only fish on that.  I went to drill another hole to the NE of where I was.  I got it about a 1/3 of the way drilled.  When the guy in the fish house came out and offered to drill holes for me.  I only had him drill 3 holes and only knew the depth at the one where my Trap was sitting in 40'.  Turns out the other holes were in 37' feet.  I got 1 more bite out of the original spot but lost it while taking the transducer out of the hole.  I ended up drilling 2 more holes at around 6:30pm, but they were dead.  I finally left at 7:30pm