Skunked Today

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Sunset at the Grumpy Old Man Hole

Today I fished in the morning and evening.  Not a single bite at the GOMH or Rock.  I did see and hear loons and eagles, 3 deer, more swans, about 100 ducks and a rabbit.

Rock Dock In

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6:30-9:00PM
Conditions: Cool, overcast, with light wind out of the NE

When I arrived tonight Joe from the Bass Snatchers was just pulling out to go to the GOMH.  We talked for about 5 minutes, then he left.  As I was hoping the Rock Dock was in and the ramp was fixed.  That probably means all the area lakes docks are now in the water.  I heard loons calling tonight.

Rock Loc Monster???

I had three bites tonight and I caught two of them.

16.5" Cubby w/minnow

24.5" Cubby w/minnow

The pike bit right before I left at around 8:15pm.  I tried to take a picture of it on the dock next to my ruler, but the fish flopped into the lake.  Oh well.

I did try the GOMH.  Nobody was there and I didn't get a bite.    

It Got Chilly Tonight

4:15-8:00PM
Conditions: Overcast, cool/cold with wind out of the ENE.  Water flowing into Platte, except the last hour when the flow got back to normal.

The wind was such that I didn't even try Rock Lake tonight;  With it being out of the ENE I  wouldn't have been able to get any casting distance and with temps only getting into the mid forties I would have chilled down much faster then I did.  I set up on the SW side of the GOMH.  The guy who lives on Christmas Lake who helped us when we had the tornado stopped.  While we were talking I got a bite from a good jumpin bullhead on the Cubby .  It was heading for the weeds so I put pressure on it and my line broke.  That was the only bite I had tonight.  Two boats came in from Platte and fished for a bit then left.  Two different pairs of guys also came and fished for a bit.  They didn't get anything.  As the second pair was leaving C.O. Kuske showed up;  that was around 7:30PM.  I only talked to Kuske for a couple of minutes.  No fishing reports other than the one I gave him.  I was kind of surprised how light it was out at 8PM, when I decided to quit.  I guess you could say I haven't been paying attention to when it has been getting dark this past week.

It looks like the weather this week is going to be cold and wet.  We definitely can use some rain.

Rock 'N Again

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

5:15-8:45PM
Conditions: Partly cloudy, cool under 50 degrees, very little wind

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Swans coming to investigate me.

One of two immature eagles that put on an aerial show right above me 

The day started out with a bird show.  But then this pike grabbed my minnow and my attention.

20" Cubby w/Minnow

After missing a couple bites I hooked this one.

14.75" T.H.E. Jig w/minnow

Missed a couple of more bites, then I got this one.

16.5" T.H.E. Jig w/minnow

My Rocket bobber started moving off to the right.  I thought that's odd.  I set the hook and got the 10.5" crappie.  I got one more 9.25" crappie when I didn't even realize I had a bite.

The Moon rise was really something.  Just wish I had a better camera.

I did go to the GOMH and fished for 20 minutes, but it was dead there, not even any current.

Rock Fishing

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4:15-7:15PM at Rock 7:30-9:00PM at the GOMH
Conditions: Cool, mostly sunny, wind out of the NW so I was protected at Rock

I had minnows on my mind, so I forgot the wax worms at home tonight.  Fortunately they had minnows at Bear Trax.  I set up shop at Rock Lake today.  I had a pike bite off my Cubby minnow to start the action.  I switched to the long rod with a Rocket Bobber and a chart/orange T.H.E. Jig with a minnow.  I quickly got a bass on that.

15.25" T.H.E. Jig w/minnow

 About 15 minutes after that I got this pike.  I didn't even notice it was spitting eggs until I cropped the picture.

25" T.H.E. Jig w/minnow

That was all the bites I had.

I went to the GOMH and Mike B. was there.  He missed one toothy bullhead that cut him off.  He left at about 7:45pm.  I stayed until 9PM and didn't have a hit.

With ice going off on Platte today.  I'm going to have to go into Onamia to get my boat stickers next week.  The Trophy will definitely be in the lake this year.

Open Water At Rock And More Bullheads at the GOMH

Surprise Golden Bullhead

7:00-8:45PM
Conditions: 50 degrees or so, some sun and clouds, windy out of the W

I got a late start tonight.  First, I drove by Bulldog to find it about 60% open.  Then I decided to check on Rock Lake which was 50-60% open.

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Rock Lake Access Needs Repaired.  Hopefully the DNR will be on it, like they were the last time this happened.  The NE access at Sullivan is pushed up as well.

Looking to the North

Looking South

There was a strip of open water separating ice on the North of the lake and ice on the south of the lake from shore to shore.  It was really windy but the wind was out of the W so it was protected and somebody was home.

20" Cubby Mini-Mite w/Wax Worm

I stayed until about 8PM.  Then I drove North Platte Lake Road and to the public access at Platte to check ice out conditions.  I would say it was 75 to 80% ice free and I'm calling ice out day tomorrow even though I could have driven a boat from Jenny's to the launch ramp today.

As I was driving back past the GOMH, I decided to stop.  What could it hurt, right?  I was shocked when my bobber went down on my very first cast.

14.75" Cubby Mini-Mite w/Wax Worm

A couple minutes later I had another bullhead on.

21" Cubby Mini-Mite Wax Worm

I wanted to get home to watch Vikings, so I headed out at about 8:45PM.

More Bullheads The Next Morning

20" Glow Cubby Mini-Mite

6:40-7:30AM
Conditions: 38 degrees with a bit of a breeze out of the SE a little bit of clouds on the eastern horizon.

I started out fishing on the NW side, didn't have any bites.  Went down on the SW side low and behold I got toothy bullhead.  A little while later I had another one steal my Cubby.  In the wind it was kind of cold and I didn't really dress for it, so I gave up.

1st Bullhead of the Year

19" Glow Cubby Mini-Mite

5:30-8:00PM
Conditions: Warm and breezy out of the South, some clouds, some sun.  Thunderstorms popping up to the East and SE.

Tonight I went to visit Jenny to see her quilts after that the plan was to look at the lakes and maybe throw a line in the water.  I was surprised by how open the water was at Bulldog Lake.  I would say it was 15% Open.

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Looking to the NE from Access

Looking SE from the Access

Rock Lake didn't look open at all; The same with the East end of Platte Lake.  I was surprised by how open Sullivan and Platte were at the GOMH.

Platte River Outlet Area 85% Open.  Ice was in the area by the river mouth. And water was open well into Sullivan Lake itself.

Chanel Inn Bay and all the way past the South Island

With the amount of water the lakes should be open by some time early next week.  I was planning to leave to watch Survivor tonight, but it was so warm I decided to stay and keep fishing.  I was fishing in shorts and a T-Shirt under my Cabela's jacket.

You can see how low the water level is in this picture.

On a whim I decided to go and fish the Platte side where it was calm.  That is where I got the fish.

 It was quite a night with swans, ducks, geese, and sandhill cranes flying over making a racket.  It finally calmed down and the moon came out for a bit.

Mille Lacs Trip Tonight

Me and my Mojo & Fuego 

Everything I threw tonight.

What I caught:

What is it?

2 sticks, a piece of wood and many zeebs

The Sunset

I also saw several eagles, some seagulls, and a flock of geese.  No fish activity this time.  I had to dodge one large iceberg that blew across where I was fishing.  I noticed the iceberg had an open hole presumably from an ice fisherman.  I flipped my spoon into the hole, just in case there was a pike underneath (lol).  It would have been nice out if it wasn't so darn windy.  Air temps were in the low to mid forties.

Mille Lacs Skunk

Scale on my thumb

It was supposed to be warmer today than it was.  I was hoping it would be 55 and sunny, instead it was 45 degrees and cloudy.  Still I headed over to Mille Lacs to try for some open water pike.  When I headed out at about 6:20pm it was raining/sprinkling.  I ended up going to Garrison to get a bite to eat.  It stopped raining by the time I was done, so I headed to take a look at the inlet.  There was enough open water so I put my waders on, grabbed my rods and got in the water.  As I was walking to the inlet I spied a couple of 2-3 inch fish, I couldn't tell what they were.  I put 3 of my rods down and waded out to about 4 inches shy of the bottom of my jacket.    There was more open water than I originally realized.  I thought I would be able to cast to the farthest ice edge, but it was a good 20 yards beyond my longest cast.  I saw some fish activity along the ice edge beyond my casting distance.  I made a cast to the South and bumped a fish;  I know it was a fish because I caught a scale.  It was getting dark and I forgot to pack my headlamp.  I spooked 2 large fish as I got up by the inlet mouth.  No clue what they were.

OK Crappie Night at Rock

10" fell to the Demon Crappie Minnow Combo

4:45-7:15PM
27 degrees, wind out of the South,  Partly Sunny.  Was definitely warmer than yesterday, but the wind kept it cooler than I would like.

I got out to a later start tonight. I drilled two sets of holes.  One where I got most of the sunnies yesterday and then one by the holes I've used the last couple of nights.  All I could get in the sunfish holes seemingly were perch.  I don't really know because the fish weren't really in a biting mood.  The minnow rods bobber got pulled down several times resulting in the one of the two perch I caught.  I moved out to the crappie holes and they weren't stacked down there tonight, but they came in fairly regularly.  Most of them fell to the Demon/Minnow combo tonight.  I dropped several of them tonight on the way up.  I should have had over 15 easy.  I left my rods sitting on the ice when I left.  I figured that out when I unpacked the truck when I got home.  Kaylee got a trip to the lake out of it.

9.5"er

11 Crappies
2 Perch

Rock Again Tonight

Hmmm I found some sunfish

3:45-7:00PM
Cold and Windy 23-16 degrees, mostly sunny, wind out of the WNW

Today I started in the holes I got the bass out of yesterday.  All I could get today were some perch.  I moved to some holes I didn't fish much yesterday in a little deeper water.  I got some small sunfish and a crappie in these.  The fish were frustrating me again tonight.  Rushing to the bait but not hitting it.  It was also much tougher fishing in the colder weather between my line and guides freezing up.  I caught a couple crappies out of the holes I ended in last night.

Biggest sunfish I got

9" Crappie

5 Crappies
5 Sunfish
3 Perch