2024 MN Opener Evening Trip

 

4lber Dirty Jigs SC Buzzbait/ToadZ

8:15-9:15PM North Channel Inn Bay Platte Lake

66-70℉, PC, 0-3mph W

Water Temp: Low 60's

This trip would not have happened if Steve hadn't taken Mom home from the late hamburger feed. Thanks, Steve! I went to Channel Inn Bay with limited daylight. I got the 4lber at Dogfish Corner, as well as a pike in the hay. I got a quick pike throwing the Swim Jig and a small bass on the first cast with the SBKO. Conditions said I should have gotten plenty of bites. I didn't bring a headlamp or spotlight. I stuck the boat landing, and Todd helped me unload stuff, which was appreciated. I was tired, and it would have taken me quite a while longer without the help.

2Bass 

2Pike 

A Fish Here A Fish There On A Beautiful Night

2.53lbs/15.9" Sparrow

West Point Dock Dink

Fall Colors Starting ON the Small Island

3:00-8:00PM West Point, CIB, Access PT Docks, Access Across
68-75℉, Hazy, 0-6mph SW
61-64℉ Low

Started at West Point. Got a couple of dinks on the dock before the point dock. Didn't get a bite on the point yet again. Then I went to Channel Inn Bay. I started at the reeds and worked my way South. I finally got a bass at the North rice opening so I worked my way in and got a second fish at the corner of the rice. I worked my way to the boat lane and wasn't getting anything, so I headed to Access Point Docks. I got a few bass there mostly dinks. My casting was much better tonight and I got a 2lber on a perfect cast under a pontoon.  Nothing to the West of the Access. It got calm, so I went to 6lb Flat. I got a pike on the rice wall. A bass after one busted way out on the flat. I got a small bass on Big Rice Point and one last bass in the slop. The fish shut down by 7:40PM.

13 Bass
4 Pike

Short Trip, Only Pike

24.75" Bobby's Perfect

7:30-8:30PM Channel Inn Bay, Intersection
65-70℉, PC, 0-4mph WSW
60℉

Got out late obviously. Started in CIB on the Northside of the rice point. Got the decent size pike out fro the pads and a couple little one's in the pads. It was apparent it wasn't happing here, so I went to the Intersection. Got a Sparrow bit off on the rice point. Dud of a trip

5 Pike

So So Night In the Trophy, Didn't Land A Bass Until 8:30PM

2.38lbs/15.9" Sparrow

7:00-9:00PM Channel Inn Bay, 6lb Flat to Big Rice Point

67-83℉, MS, 0-9mph WNW

74℉ 

I decided to start in Channel Inn Bay with the wind being what it was. I got a couple of pike and lost one bass and maybe had one other bass blow up.  It clearly wasn't happening so I went and tried the hot area from yesterday. I think I missed a bite way back in there, but it wasn't happening, so I scooted to 6lb Flat.  It started out with Pike, but I did get 3 bass (14,12,15.9) and missed a few more hits. I didn't weigh the 12-incher. I got the 15.9" on the last cast of the night off of Big Rice.

3 Bass

7 Pike

Good Trip Tonight, But A Lot of Misses And Two More Lost Sparrows

2.8?/17" Bobby's Perfect (Sparrow)

2.64lbs/17" Sparrow

6:00-9:00PM Channel Inn Bay Center Rice Point
73-81℉, Mostly Cloudy, 0-3mph SE
78℉ Low falling

I started on the northside of the rice point in Channel Inn Bay and worked to the South. At 8:30 I drove back to where I started and worked the northside until the skeeters got to me at 9PM. On about my tenth cast, I had a good fish on, but it got free as I was trying to bring it out of the rice. I got 3 or 4 fish off of the tip and I got bites all the way down on the Southside, but my hooking percentage was terrible especially after I got the 2nd 17-incher.  It was really frustrating missing bite after bite. I noticed I hooked two fish in the chin, so some fish were not eating the frog.  But other fish were choking it. Not sure there is much I can do when they are biting like that. On the northside, I got three 14-inchers and a 13-incher. I also got bit off twice in the East 15-minutes. That is a lot of frogs down the last few trips.

12 Bass
5 Pike

Good Evening Trip

3.32lbs/17" Bobby's Perfect (Sparrow)

12.89lbs

6:30-9:15PM N Reeds Across, Loon Sex Bay, East of GOMH, Channel Inn Bay
76-68℉, Mostly Cloudy, 3-8mph SE
72-75℉ Low and falling

I decided to hit North Reeds across and had a fish strike and miss on my first cast. Two casts later a 15.5" was in the boat. A few minutes later I got  16-incher along the pad/reed line. A few minutes later I had another 15.5" in the boat from the pad/reed edge. I missed one bite when I went to the shallow side of the pads.

Next, I headed to Loon Bay to try and get the fish I lost yesterday.  Not sure if the 17-incher was the same fish, but it was a chub at 3.32lbs. I also caught two 14.5's, a 13" and a 21-inch pike. I then headed East of GOMH. I missed one bite out in the rice patches.  It wasn't happening, so I went to Channel Inn Bay. I got a 15" off of Jaimen's neighbors and two small fish as I made my way North.

10 Bass
2 Pike

OK Bite Tonight

3.35lbs/17.5 Mad Maxx (Grapes Of Wrath)

5:30-9:00PM SPSI, East Of GOMH, Channel Inn Bay
Conditions: 72℉, Cloudy, Light SE Wind
Water Temp: 72℉

Damn pike stole my last Grapes of Wrath Mad Maxx Frog

I started off fishing the south point of the small island. I ran into some 12" bass there getting 1 on Mad Maxx and 3 on a brown/grn pumpkin craw tube.  I also got a 8.5"on the craw tube.  There was a lot of baitfish activity on the flat, but not so much for bigger fish busting them.  I fished the Whopper Plopper for a good 25 minutes and didn't have one hit.  I then started fishing along the slop on the far edge East of GOMH.  I got the 3lber in a boat channel entrance.  Just beyond the boat channel entrance to the West is where the Maxx got bit off.  It swirled right next to the boat and Maxx was gone just like that.

17.33" Zoom Horny Toad (Watermelon)

 I got a 15.25" and the 17.33" on a Horny Toad in the same general area I had the 17 incher jump me off yesterday.  I worked my way farther West today, but the area was dead.  I left and went to Channel Inn Bay and started fishing the boat channels.  I got a 18" pike and had one that was 24 plus jump out of the water at the Toad. I got a 15.5" out front of a boat channel in the channel.  I had a 15.75" miss the Toad in some pads right by the boat; I pitched the Toad back and let it sink and it nailed it.  My last fish a 16" bass that hit the Toad as I was making my way out of the thicker stuff.

Best 6 Bass Tonight

11 Bass
1 Pike