Tough Bite Tonight, But I Tricked A Few

4.54lbs/23" Shad Shallow

3.04lbs/24" Jerk Shad (Ghost Shad)

24" Raileye

Took the pic of this 17.5 because I was bored

1st Fish to go for the Shad Shallow

6:30-10:00PM North Corner, NCSR, CSR
41-35℉, Cloudy to Clear, 0-4mph NW

It took half an hour to get my first bite on the Ghost Shad Jerk Shad.  I'm pretty sure it was the same rail of a walleye I caught yesterday morning.  It was an hour plus until the next bite.  In the meantime, a fish busted on something a way out from the North Corner.  I went out to stand on the NC Boulder.  I ended up hanging up the Rage Simmer and breaking it off. I almost lost the Grass Pig twice tonight as well.  I went back to the North Corner once I got the Grass Pig tied on and I got a 17.5" with it.  I also lost one or two bites on the Grass Pig.  I started running through baits: Tomato, STX, Rippin Rap, all without a bite.  A slight NW wind came up around 8:30 or so while I was running through the baits.  I put on the Shad Shallow and finally got a bite (21) on the Center Standing Rock.  Between CSR and the NC I landed 3 (19,20.5,23) more eyes for the night.  At 9:55PM I had a good one up to the rocks get off and lost another good one about 15' feet out on the very next cast.  The sky when the clouds cleared off was really something tonight with the big dipper over Indian Point.

16.11lbs

8 Eyes counted as caught tonight

Good Morning, OK Evening at the Jetty

3.17lb/24" Rage Swimmer (Ghost Shad)

24" Raileye

20.5" Rage Swimmer

Caught the same fish later in the day

All fish were caught in the first hour

6:00-8:00AM Harbor Mouth, CSR and North Corner Eddy's Jetty
41℉, Cloudy some light rain, Wave action but no wind
It rained during the overnight hours.  I was awake and it was warm so I thought I'd give the Jetty a try even though my morning trips have been pretty lackluster.  This trip didn't disappoint.  There was still wave action even though it was pretty much calm.  Just like last night, they were on the Rage Swimmer; That is what I caught all 6 fish on.  Unlike last night, I caught fish at the Harbor Mouth.  They were done biting by 7AM.  I caught the fish that I would catch tonight first fish at the Harbor Mouth.
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3.79lbs/22" Jerk Shad (Tomato)

Same fish as in the morning

Lost a very good fish trying to bring it over the two center big rocks

6:30-10:00PM All my spots produced fish tonight.
41℉, Partly Cloudy, No wind to speak of.

When I arrived at the Jetty tonight there was guy rigging up at his car just to the North of my parking spot.  I was thankful to see he went to the North Jetty.  I remarked as he went by that I expected it might be slow tonight because of the calm win.  Fortunately, the action was consistent and made for a good night.  I hooked into the first fish (17.75) of the night on the Ghost Shad Jerk Shad within my first 5 casts off of the North Corner Standing Rock. The other guy caught a fish about 5 minutes later.  There was a boat fishing about two cast lengths out front of the North Jetty.  I was fishing at the Center Standing Rock when a big center console boat came in hot passing the boat to the North then swerving quickly back south right into the north harbor while coming off plane.  I was just thinking maybe that maneuver might get the fish moving and active when I caught my second fish, another 17-incher on the same Jerk Shad as the first fish.  About 10 minutes later the other guy stopped by to compare notes as he left.  He had gotten two 20 plus inch fish and was surprised to hear both of mine were only 17-inchers.

My next three fish (20.5,17.5,20) were all on the Rage Swimmer.  The 17.5" was the same fish with cancer that I caught this morning, but this time I got it at the NC Standing Rock.  My last 5 bites (18.7,19,?,20.7,22) of the night all came on the Tomato Jerk Shad.  I was fishing off of the Center Standing Rock with the Jerk Shad paused when a big fish just steamrolled it.  As I was pulling it over the two big guard rocks the fish pulled off and was gone.  I didn't get a real good look at it, but I would say it was probably over 26-inches and may have been my biggest Jetty fish ever.  I should have been more careful with it.  Lesson learned the hard way. Oh well, no use crying over a fish that I'm not sure how big it was.  I think I'm going to try and move one of those guard rocks to make a spot for landing fish.

19.81lbs for the evening trip

16 Eyes for the day.

Good Night at the Jetty

4.96lbs/25" Jerk Shad (Ghost Shad)

(Same Fish)

6:35-10:00PM North Corner, NCSR, CSR Eddy's Jetty North
41℉, Partly Cloudy, 3-6mph SE

5..15lbs/24.75" Jerk Shad (Ghost Shad)

Ghost Shad H2O Xpress Ultimate Jerk Shad

Since I arrived at the Jetty at 6:30PM I decided to put on a Ghost Shad Jerk Shad, a color I don't throw very often.  It paid off with my two biggest fish (24.75,25) of the night when I got down to the North Corner.  After not getting another bite after 15 minutes I switched up to the Rage Swimmer around 7:15PM and caught a 20-incher when I got to the Center Standing Rock.  The fish was caught by the stinger hook.  I just kept catching them on the Swimmer so I didn't put it down until 9:30 or so when the action finally slowed.  I caught 9 walleye's total (24,22,22,21,21,20,20,18,17) on the Swimmer.  I think it was the 24-incher that had a DNR tag in it.  First tagged fish I've caught this year, which is kind of remarkable because I'm well north of 100 walleye's caught out of Mille Lacs this year.  I caught two fish (20,17.5) on the Crackle Jerk Shad and two fish (20,18) on the Tomato Jerk Shad in the final 20 minutes of fishing.  Remarkably I didn't get a single bite at the Harbor Mouth tonight.

31.08lbs for my Best 8 Eyes tonight

  15 Eyes (Only lost 1 hooked fish, they were really getting Rage Swimmer good tonight)

Rainy Evening With Darth Wader

26.5" Jerk Shad (Crackle)

6:30-8:00PM Lost one at the Harbor Mouth and had a couple of ticks at the North Corner
8:00-8:45PM In the Car
8:45-9:15PM Taking Pictures of Mike and helping him get the kayak on his car
9:15-10:00PM Harbor Mouth & North Corner

Mike had been out bobbing on the waves for about an hour when I arrived at 6PM.  He hadn't gotten any bites.  He came in and we talked for half an hour.  I gave him one of my Crackle colored Ultimate Jerk Shads to use.  About 6:30 I thought it was getting dark enough, so we went out on the Jetty and I showed him how I was catching them.  He went back out in his NuCanoe and a boat started a trolling run towards the Jetty from about a 1/4 mile to the North.  I briefly had a fish on at the Harbor Mouth that hit my Rage Swimmer.  Not long after that Mike whooped and hollered alerting to the fact that he had caught one.  The trolling boat which was almost to Mike looked like they hooked up as well as their progress stopped and started drifting to the North.  Mike paddled in so I could take some pictures with his camera.

This was taken with my camera

Mike went back out.  It sprinkled for a while, then light rain.  Mike caught a couple more fish.  It started to rain, rain and Mike hooked into a better fish that he wanted me to take a picture of so he paddled to shore.  I didn't get a picture of that fish with my camera, unfortunately.  I went in the car to wait the rain out and Mike went back out.  At 8:45 I had enough of sitting in the car so I went out and put my Cabela's Guideware Rain Jacket on; I had been fishing earlier in my Ice Armor Jacket.  Next thing I know Mike is cussing up a storm and calling me over to take a picture of the 26.5" fish.  He was taking a picture of the fish on the measuring board, which sits between his legs when the fish flopped knocking the camera out of his hands into the lake. Adding to Mike's frustration was the fact that he had to net the fish.  Mike's net and treble hooks don't get along too well and the Jerk Shad has three sets of trebles.

26.5" Jerk Shad

  The bite had slowed and losing the camera made Mike want to call it quits for the evening.  So Mike paddled into the Harbor and I helped him get the kayak up on the car.

2.49lbs/21.5" Rage Swimmer (Ghost Shad)

I went to the Harbor Mouth and caught a fish on my the first cast from the standing rock on the Rage Swimmer.  I hollered over to Mike who was still strapping up the Kayak.  Next thing I know Mike is out on the Jetty with me asking for a rod to use, so I gave him the one with a Crackle Jerk shad on it. After Mike got situated I went back up on the standing rock and was soon reeling in a cigar that was caught by my stinger hook.  That was the first time using the stinger with a paddletail got me a fish.  I forgot to weigh the little guy.

Smoking the Cigar

14.5" Rage Swimmer on the Stinger Hook

Mike wasn't getting any bites, so he called it night.  I fished my way down the Jetty and got my biggest and last bite of the night at about 9:50PM, which was also caught by the Stinger Hook.

3.68lbs/22.5" Rage Swimmer on the stinger hook

  I did try the Jerk Shad for the remainder of the night.  Nothing wanted the Tomato or Crackle.

3 Eyes for me
Darth Wader: 7 Eye's are what I'm giving him, maybe he'll get back to me with an accurate number.

Morning & Evening At Eddy's Jetty

2.44lbs/20" Jerk Shad (Crackle)

6:00-8:00AM North Jetty Center Standing Rock
41-43℉, Cloudy with light rain at the end, 4-7mph S

The moon had disappeared behind the clouds by the time I arrived at the Jetty.  Didn't get anything for the first 40 minutes or so.  Had a fish bump the Rage Swimmer at the Center Standing Rock.  I went and got the Crackle Jerk Shad and pretty soon it was fish on.  About 10 minutes later I got another one on the Jerk Shad.  Had a couple other fish bump the Jerk Shad and not hook up.  It started sprinkling and nothing was going on so I left.
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3.30lbss/21.5" Rage Swimme (Ghost Shad)

2.97lbs/21.5" Jerk Shad (Crackle)

3.57"/22" Jerk Shad (Crackle)

This rock had me fooled for a while

7:10-10:00PM North Corner and Harbor Mouth
43℉, Cloudy some light rain/mist, 3-7mph SSE

There was a pretty good ripple on the water and a couple of times I thought some wave action might start forming out of the SE, but it never happened.  I started off fishing the Jerk Shad working my way from the Harbor Mouth north.  I was just about to give up on the Crackle Jerk Shad when the first eye of the night hit it on the North Corner.  As I was bringing it up on the rocks the hooks came loose shooting the Jerk Shad into the tree. I went and grabbed the fish before it could find it's way back to the water.  I left the rod there while I measured, weighed, and took a picture of the fish.  I was able to get the tip of the tree branch to break off.  A few minutes later I caught a scale.  I quickly cast back to the same area and a walleye (22") snatched the Jerk Shad.  That was it for action on the Crackle Jerk Shad.  I basically went an hour plus without a bite.  I rigged up a KVD Jerk that never got used, a Tomato Jerk Shad thinking maybe the red color might help the fish to see the bait, and I put the stinger hook on the Rage Swimmer.  I was casting at the Habor Mouth when I'm 90% sure I had a fish hit it.  After a couple casts with nothing I went and grabbed the Tomato.  About 5 casts later it was fish on, a 20-incher.  I went and put my Vikings sweatshirt in the car as it was sprinkling again. I had taken it off because I was too warm and set it on one of the posts about 40 minutes earlier.  About 5 minutes after I started casting again at the Harbor Mouth I had a pretty good 23/24-inch walleye hit the Tomato.  I was pulling it over the rocks and it came off and back into the lake it went, bummer that I didn't get the weight for that one.  I then worked my way north casting the Tomato.  I did have something bump me and not hook up on the North Standing Rock.  So went and got the Rage Swimmer to see if I might get a hit on that.  I caught the rock instead.  I ended up going back to the Harbor Mouth and on my second cast, the 21.5-incher left no doubt about it choking the Rage Swimmer.  For the last ten minutes, I fished the Tomato.  At 9:59PM it was fish on.  I got it within 10 feet and it came off, bummer.  And that was my night.

2 Eye's Morning
5 Eye's Evening

Eddy's Again, A Bit More Action Tonight

5.22lbs/26" Jerk Shad

6:30-10:00PM Eddy's Jetty North Corner, NCSR, CSR, Harbor Mouth
50-46℉, Partly Cloudy, 4-9mph SSW

3.15lbs/21" Jerk Shad

I was disappointed to see there was no wave action at the Jetty.  The wind was out of the South, not the SE like the forecast claimed.  I started out throwing the Speed Shad per usual.  Didn't get a bite.  The moon came up.  I switched to the Jerk Shad and started getting fish at the North Corner.  I got 4 eye's (21,17,21.5,19.5) in about a half an hour.  Over the next hour and a half, I think I got 2 fish; One (21") from the Center Standing Rock on the Jerk Shad and one (20.5") at the Harbor Mouth on the Grass Pig.  I had missed several bites at the Harbor Mouth before the Speed Shad finally got pulled down the hook, so I switched to the Grass Pig and promptly caught the one.  I also had several fish short strike on the Grass Pig.  I decided to go to the car and get a Rage Swimmer and super glue it to the swimbait hook I used for the Speed Shad. While I let that cure I switched back to the Jerk Shad and it was AWWWWN at the CSR.  I got fish on three consecutive casts (21,21.5,20).  I then had one get off and the action stopped.  I went down to the North Corner Standing Rock and barely hooked the biggest one of the night (26); It had followed the Jerk Shad in on the previous cast.  I didn't notice it was following until I pulled the Jerk shad out of the water.  So I cast out about 10 feet past where it was sitting.  The eye beelined right to it and hooked up on just one of the back trebles (See picture above).  Luckily it stayed hooked as I brought it over the rocks.  I got a 19-incher off of the North Corner at 9:50 or so on the Jerk Shad.  After getting that fish weighed and measured I decided to pick up the Rage Swimmer and fish it the rest of the night. Sure enough at 9:59 I got a 24-incher at the Harbor Mouth;  My watch started beeping it's 10 o'clock alarm as I was pulling the fish up onto the Jetty. A good way to end the night.

12 Eye's

Eddy's Calm Night

6:30-10:00PM North Corner and the middle of North Jetty
40-31℉, Clear, Calm

26" Jerk Shad

4.89lbs/26" Jerk Shad (Crackle)

5.07lbs/25.5" Jerk Shad

3.81lbs/22" Jerk Shad

I went to Subway to pick up a couple of sandwiches and then headed to Eddy's.  Travis Frank was pulling out the Due North Rig when I arrived.  I didn't talk with him as I was more interested in eating my sub than talking.  Apparently, he caught his personal best smallmouth.  There were several boats visible on the horizon and two empty trailers their at Eddy's.  There was no wind which was a bit of a disappointment, but it was what was on the forecast so it was what it was.  I started out throwing a smaller Speed Shad on a football swing head for about half an hour before I broke it off, bummer.  Then I went to throwing the big Speed Shad per usual.  At about 7:15PM I was on the standing rock in the middle of the North Jetty when I thought maybe I had a bite.  A couple of casts later I had two eyeballs follow me in.  The first sign of life.  I then went to the harbor mouth and there was a 20 or so inch eye tucked right in on the rocks.  That fish stayed there the whole night and barely paid any attention to what I threw at it.

3.83lbs/23.5"

At 7:30 or so I finally switched to the Jerk Shad.  I went to the North Corner Standing Rock and got bit on about my fourth cast.  Yeah, no skunk.  I didn't get any more bites in the North Coner so I went to the Standing Rock where I got the follows.  I pretty quickly caught 3 eye's (19,22,22) and lost one.  Then I didn't get a bite for about an hour and 20 minutes.  I just kept throwing the Jerk Shad.  Finally, the heaviest one of the night nailed me on a long pause at the middle of the Jetty.  At about 9:40 I got the last bite of the evening at the North Corner Standing Rock.  It was the 26-incher and it was foul hooked at the pectoral fins.  The way it fought I thought it was going to be bigger than it was.  Can't say I was too disappointed.  6 fish isn't bad on a calm night without a lot of fish moving around.

23.14lbs Not bad for only 6 fish

6 Eye's
3 Follows