I got the Trophy vacuumed out. I went down front; Our bay was 20% ice-free. I drove N Platte Lake Drive. Ice pushed North along the F Flat shore. Didn't see much open on Rock or Bulldog. Channel Inn Bay was almost completely open, and NPSI was close to being ice-free. Fished for 45 minutes and didn't get a bite. It started sprinkling as I arrived home.
Skunked
7:30-9:15PM SW B
No bites again. A minnow or two after dark was the only sign of life. shining off the bridge after dark, a "mudline" was clearly visible in the current flowing into Sully. I've never seen that before. I'm mildly concerned about my chances of catching something this month. Hopefully, Platte loses its ice tomorrow.
Checked around the area lakes. Platte and Rock are pulling away from the shore some, and the water level is really high. Still, 2 to 3 days away from ice-out, I think. A guy with 2 teenagers was at the bridge watching birds and taking pictures when I arrived. I started fishing, and they left soon after. Another guy stopped by for a little bit. He said a buddy told him he got a bunch of crappies here last week. Not! Had a few loons flying around and calling. No bites. Stayed until dark and didn't shine anything. I feel good about my chances of getting something by Thursday night.
I got Bentoned and Bonus Pointed right out of the money at Lake Murray in the BBC Group today. I got a bit of a late start due to eating chicken. Nobody was there. Heard a few loon calls. The SPRO is wide open. It wasn't too cold as I was wearing my ice fishing bibs, and there wasn't much wind. NO bites or signs of life. Two swans flew by in the dark.
Got 5" to 6" of snow yesterday. Uff Dah, was that depressing! Amazingly enough, the lakes were grey, not white, tonight. I fished for an hour on both sides. Open water was well into the Intersection and, as far as I could see, along the NSPRO. On the Platte side, open water along the shoreline nearly to the small island. ESE winds predicted the next couple of days gonna be doing some eating. Not many birds floating on the S side tonight. Some Eagles, Swans, and one loon heading south were flying around. Some small ducks on the Platte side.
Did not make it to the GOMH today. Got 5" to 6" of snow overnight; how depressing. Was cold and windy; how depressing. Slept most of the day. Moynagh only weighed a couple of fish, but that was good enough to move up a few more places. He now sits in 15th in AOY, just 49 points back of the 8th Spot.
Skunked (Went by Sullivan Inlet, which was now ice-free, flowing hard more than 100 yards out. Fished at the GOMH for about 15 minutes until it started sprinkling and I said nah, ain't putting up with this. Heard loons and saw eagles on the SW and ducks on the Platte side, but not a lot of birds around. Checked Bulldog, North Platte Lake Drive, and Rock. Some open water along the ice edge on NPLD.
I should have gotten up sooner; it was nice out and great color in the sky. Arrived just before sunrise. Fished both sides. Saw a flying loon and heard the first loon call of the year. Checked out Bulldog and Rock, not much progress.
Skunked
Here is my morning fishing report
3:45-4:10 PM SW NE GOMH
68℉, Cloudy, 6-8mph S
Water high and rising
Short stop, briefly fishing both sides. It darkened up considerably as I left to head to the lake place. I didn't get the boat vacuumed because of the rain. Trip fail. Got home and was too tired to eat dinner or get an evening trip in. I slept until 11 PM.
I got a late start because the rents went to the Brothers and brought me dinner, which I then ate. Eagle night, I saw a few swans and my first loon of 2023. Open water reached beyond the GOMH bays where the current is. Water came up quite a bit today, and the snow melt is almost over. I am optimistic I will catch something this month. Ice out may even beat last year's date, which was the 24th. It was too hot for me to work on the Trophy today. Tuma caught 27 and is in 2nd going into Day 2 at Toledo Bend.
I had to let Mac out at 1 PM. Ice is out of the boat. Lots of dead fish were scooped up by the evening. Made it to the Rock Access even though it was sketchy. Thanks, snow melt. Went by the Sully Inlet in the evening. Things just started getting rolling into the lake. No bites, no visitors while fishing. Not much traffic. Mid 70's today. Two herons in the Eagle Perch Trees and Pelican picking off dead fish as it swam the ice edge in Platte.
The water level is on the low side right now, with just a little current.
I headed up to the cabin after 7PM. I picked up the two hoses Steve bought and dropped off the new boat winch. Said hi to Mac and Bella and got most of the ice out of the Trophy. Arrived at the GOMH around 7:40PM. A lot of junk in the water and only a little more progress on both sides today. A red wing was in fatso's tree. I saw three dead sunfish. A beaver was swimming around and slapped its tail once. No bites. Four Canadian geese flew into the South side as I was packing up.
I just had to get out and do some fishing at the GOMH. I arrived a little before 5PM and fished until 5:30. Nothing happening except 4 Canadian Geese sunning themselves on the water's edge.
Fish Swami summary: Skunked (It was a nice day, and I needed a break from Water War prep. No signs of life. There was a little bit of refreeze on the edges from last night's cold temps. Will be moving into a water war next week, so I don't know when I will be out next.)
Not as many fish around as yesterday. Visibility was slightly better. Got that pesky weed out of the way with a jigging rap. Had a big bass come through. Saw one other little guy. Only caught one 9" pumpkinseed. I was a hot mess packing up and getting the car loaded. Two other guys arrived as I was unloading the car. They went to the Holy Family Hole. I almost bounced to go there at 6 PM when it wasn't happening but decided that would be too much work. I got the smallest minnows ever at Beat Trax.
Dropped off Dev, then went to Brainerd with Mom. Got back by 2 pm and felt like going fishing. Headed to Matt's Spot at The Dog. Sunfish and Pike were in the first hole. Ice is 23" thick, making drilling holes a PIA. I set up there. Unfortunately, visibility wasn't great, and I had a weed in the way I couldn't get rid of. Caught 3 nice sunfish. I saw LMB, bullheads, and even a dogfish swam through. Stayed after dark, hoping to get crappie, but no luck.
The drive-in was rutted, icy, slushy, and bumpy, but I got down to the ramp. A guy had parked up by the driveway and drove a side-by-side down. I didn't go far from the access. Saw a pike in the first hole I drilled and a sunfish out deeper. Set up at the first hole. Had a few perch and baitfish move through. Missed a couple of bites. Fished there for about 45 minutes. A little before 5 PM I moved farther out to my spot. Set down right on some crappies. They were mostly small and eager biters for the first 35 minutes. I got one 10" and a couple of 9"'s the rest were 6-8". Action slowed, but I had fish down there; I gave up a little before 7PM. Thankfully, pulling the Trap was easy. I was worn out for the next couple of days. Still feeling the effects of Covid, no doubt.
Getting the KIA loaded was PIA, but not in the back. There was one truck and three houses out fishing when I arrived. Lake conditions kind of suck. Shoveled out a spot in the slush. Had fish down there most of the time, but they were small. Missed a few bites on the minnow and several on jigs. Disappoi ting to only catch nine fish. The water level rose as I wasn't reading bottom at 30'. Going ba k in the dark was even more difficult than going out. This was my last trip with the KIA, as dad traded it in for an Equinox.
I was the only person out on the lake. My lower back got sorer and sorer as the night wore on. Didn't see any crappies on the camera during the little time I Had it down. I wasn't in the swing of things and missed a bunch of bites on the bobber and jigging rods. At the end of the night, when I was pulling the orange bucket out of the Trap, it got hung for a second, and I injured my back. Multiple trips to the chiropractor and a month plus without fishing resulted from that mishap. Ran out of propane at the end of the night.
I wrenched my back, putting the Fish Trap into the KIA. Got a cool pic of the sunrise before I set up. Had something good on right away take the cubby, but didn't get a good hook set, and it came off. Had a few perch and sunfish swim through. Got the pike on a Blade Bait, and that was it for action. Visibility wasn't very good.
1 Pike
There was a guy out fishing when I arrived. The ice was 4' and cracking when I drilled holes. Just a bit unnerving. Didn't mark anything so I just started fishing my holes. Marked a few towards the bottom. Missed a few bites. I'm rusty, bad hooksets. Landed one crip, and it was time to go. My back was sore all morning.
Went to the same area I was in a couple of days ago. Drilled 5 or 6 holes. Saw a sunfish down the 4th hole I checked, and it had green weeds as well, so I drilled my three and fished the night there. Unfortunately, I had weeds blocking my view of the minnow. Had a small pike that I saw on the camera take the minnow. When I set the hook, my line broke immediately. Had sunfish, crappies, perch, and pike all move through and inspect the minnow. I missed a few bites on the jig rod, or I wasn't patient enough to wait for the bite. The bobber only went down one more time, and it was the crappie that prevented the skunk. Once it was dark, fish stopped coming through. The wind came up about 5PM, and there was a minor and loud icequake as the ice shifted after it had been blowing hard for about 15 minutes. I was a little concerned a crack might have opened up between me and the access, but that wasn't the case.
Forgot to bring the spud, but there were a few people out, and there were old iced-over holes where I was fishing. I did a zig-zag pattern in 10-12' feet of water and spied a gill down in the third hole, so I drilled three more, and that is where I fished. Saw two gills catching one. Saw at least one pike, possibly two. It was about 10 minutes between appearances, and I didn't get a great look at the first one. A few marks came in, and looked, but I didn't detect any bites. Almost nothing as it got dark
1Sun
(This is YT Report I did with the VN Video Editor App, first-ever time using video editing software)
Slow to get out. Had to put the charger on the battery twice. Started off North Reeds Across. Missed a couple of bites on the RC. Lost something halfway in on the Pirahna that I saw but couldn't identify. I got a couple of pike; Then got the call about Dad's fall in the garage, so I headed in with about a half hour of light left. This was my last trip of the year in the Trophy and in open water. It got rainy, then cold. I took the boat out of the lake two days later.
3;30-6:30 PM Cookie Jar to NE Corner Inlet Bay, NPBI, F Flat
38-45℉ , MC, 0-5mph NE
45-46.5℉ Low Falling
Had the XCaliber CS100 get bit off because I carelessly let the pike flop around the boat side instead of making sure it was totally in the boat; Dumb mistake. Then when I put a new clip on, it had pine tar in it, which I got in my mouth; Yuk.
I'm lucky I didn't break a rod after lipping the night's big bass. I ended up going from down on my knees to my bum when I lost my balance as I was starting to stand up.
Hopefully, by this time next year, I will have a log of Vlogs. So simple to do. Why did;t occur to me to start doing them earlier.
(Started at the cookie jar getting two quick pike. Messed around in the reeds without a bite. In the NE Coner of Inlet, I got a pike and a few bass. Stopped at NPBI and didn't get a bite. Caught more bass and pike at F Flat. Fished until dark and made my first BP fishing report video. I knocked the trolling motor wire out of the battery clip when I fell backward, landing what will be my final bass of 2022. caught 13.62lbs. Also lost the XCaliber square bill when I didn't get the pike in the boat immediately. Turns out I forgot I caught a small bass after the 3lber, so that little fish was the last open water bass of 2022)
7 Bass
8 Pike
Update: Due to the weather turning windy, cold, and wet, I was unable to have another successful trip for bass out of the Trophy this year.
2:30-6:50 PM Reeds Across, F Flat, SPSI, SPBI, NPBI, F Flat
48-64℉, PC, 0-4mph SSE
47-50℉, Low Falling
Got a later start than I wanted due to not waking up before noon. I started at South Reeds Across on the inside weedline. There was a lot of activity, but I didn't get a single bite. I missed a couple of bites working the outside reed edge. I then went to F Flat and got some pike and one bass on the Bubble Walker. I then went to SPSI. Got a pike and good bass on the Bubble Walker there; the bass was 3lb plus and had a piece of weed stuck to the lure, so I couldn't see how well it was hooked. I tried lifting it out of the water, and it came off before I was able to get its full weight lifted. If I had known it was skin hooked, I would have netted the fish. Then I went to SPBI, getting the bass that had the BW wedged in its mouth. Then I went to NPBI getting my last bass of the night on the Piranha after I didn't get bit on the BW and Dark Sleeper. I missed a bite or two as I made my way to CPBI. I then beet feet to shallow F Flat, which was dead. Stuff was getting busted over toward Reeds Across. I finally bounced to the active area and had swirls I could cast to, but I didn't get a single bite. I started throwing Chatters and worked my way back to the juice; not a single hit on the return trip to F Flat, huh???. I did an hour of hunting for crappies in the deep hole. Didn't find much and gave up when I started getting cold.
.JPG)
