Tonight With Steve Not Catching Much

Bass In the Boat Finally

6:20-8:50PM NW Bay, Melon Patch, Center B.W., Big Rice Point
77-70℉, Sunny, 2-5mph SW
77-75℉

Stevie Wide-Eyes

Steve came along tonight.  We started in the South rice in NW Bay.  He missed a bite and I missed a couple of weak ones. I wasn't impressed so I got us out of there and headed to the Melon Patch.  Nothing was going on there except for a couple of small pike.  I pulled up stakes at 8PM and decided to see if we could get something out of the stuff in the center of Big West Bay. Steve missed a great blowup, then caught the pike.  By 8:20 we were off to Big Rice Point (not a far drive at all).  I told Steve this spot has been hot.  He cast out and had a fish blow up on his frog immediately.  He lost it.  Steve missed at least 3 more before landing the only bass of the trip.  I don't know why the fish wanted nothing to do with "Big Sexy" tonight.

Frog Game Still Stinks, But At Least I Got 1 Today

I almost gave up on this particular frog

13" Snagproof Ish's Poppin Phattie

8:00-8:35 GOMH SW SE NE
8:40-9:10 HFA Access
9:15-9:40 Lake Place Dock
Conditions: 77-70 degrees, Mostly sunny, calm, the water level is low low and much of the rice is up to the point of being unfishable.

It was a frogs only night for me.

The 4th of July weekend may have started early as there was a family of young women fishing with Mom and Pop at the Grumpy Old Man Hole.  They were fishing off the bridge on the N and S sides.  I talked to the dad briefly as I went from the SW to SE side.  They had a couple small oranges in the pail.  He asked me if I was fishing for bass and if I'd had any success fishing there with big one's.  I told him the truth.  Yes I catch some nice sized fish, but this year with the low water there are fewer of them around.  There were no fish around at the GOMH for me tonight, not even a hit.  Nice old man George was there talking with the Dad when I came up from the NE side and left.

I then went to Bulldog and got nothing at Holy Family.  I decided to stop at the access as well.  A fish revealed it's location to me.  Not sure if it was the one I caught or not.  I cast over the area a couple of times and it hit outside of the pads and rice 10 feet from where the fish gave up it's location. I was glad not to be skunked.

At the Lake Place I had a good hookset on a fish to the West, but it didn't hook up.  I also had something pop the frog in front of Sherman's.  33% on fish striking the frogs is an improvement over 0%, but still not good at all.

Better Morning at the GOMH Out of the Slop Slip

14.5" Horny Toad

5:30-10:30AM
Conditions:  Hazy Sun and Cloudy for a bit when they bit best, moderate wind out of the SW,  Temps from 52-74 degrees.  The water level is more than half way to the low point this Spring.

The plan was the same as yesterday.  Get what I could from shore, then head out in the Slop Slip.  A wrench was thrown in the plan when somebody showed up and went to the NE side while I was unloading the boat.  I did try the SW side and NW side, and didn't get a thing.  That took me about 15 minutes total.

My first hit was on a black and yellow Lunkerhunt Lunker Frog that didn't hook up.  I followed up with a Fluke and got a bite, but I missed it.  I noticed the guy on shore walking a jumpin' bullhead to his car.  Strange because he had a bucket to put it in.  Maybe he was going to measure it.  I didn't pay attention to what he was doing.  Shortly after that I got the fish in the first picture on a yellow Horny Toad.

The next fish was one that exposed itself by trying to hit Ish's Poppin' Phattie.  It was a 12" jumper that I got on the bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke.  I think the next fish was this one.

24.5" Horny Toad

The fish hit about 10 feet out and nearly ripped the rod out of my hand.  It was a vicious hit.  A couple of minutes later I had a fish miss the Horny Toad as I was pulling it over some standing rice at the beginning of a long cast.  I cast right back and this fish smoked it.

15" Horny Toad

I then missed several good bites and caught a couple 20" toothy's on the Horny Toad.  I also saw two smaller toothy's come out of the water missing hitting my lures.

The jumpin' bullheads wanted some yellow in it this morning

I caught my second to last jumper (15") on that Spro Bronzeye and my last jumper of the day (14.5) came on the black/yellow Ish's Poppin' Phattie.  The fish really shut off the last hour and a half.

I would say I got about the same amount of bites as yesterday while in the boat, I hooked and landed more of them today.

Morning Trip GOMH, Culvert, and Jenny's

15.25" on a Yabbie

6:20-8:20am
Conditions- Post thunderstorm cloudy and windy out of the SE some rumbling, no rain

I arrived at the GOMH first and got the Yabbie fish first.  Then this 15.9" on Ish's Poppin' Phattie.

Then I went to the Culvert and got this pretty fish on a yellow Horny Toad.

Next I went to Jenny's and got an 18" pike on the Poppin' Phattie and that was it for my morning.

Evening Trip Jenny's, No Camera

8:05-9:05pm
Was a nice night to get out and fish.  I went to Jenny's.  Got a 16.5" bass and had a pike jump over my Ish's Poppin' Phattie and also missed 1 good fish that was hooked up and missed a few that didn't hook up.  Also used my Mojo "Crankster" for the 1st time.

Cutting Trees and Shore Fishing

The Sun Just About to Set at the Culvert

5:00-9:10PM
Condition: Nice night for fishing

I started out by cutting branches at Jenny's to give myself casting room.  After that was done I began experimenting with Bobby's Perfect Buzz Frog.  Missed my 1st three or four good blow up's.  I switched rods and went to the lake place via Jim's.  There I got a small pike and this 15.75" bass on Buzz Frog.

I also got a 24" pike on Ish's Poppin' Phattie that went up to John.

I then went back to Jenny's and got the legs bit off the Buzz Frog.  So much for using it at Leech.

I went to the Culvert and got nothing but pictures.  I then went to the GOMH and got a 25" toothy bullhead on a Mad Maxx Frog, which I gave to some bullhead fishermen.

Good Morning At the GOMH

16.5" My camera started acting funny.

6:15-8:45AM
Conditions-  Cool, but it warmed up quick, little wind, hazy, clouds, and sun

I elected to start out with a b/b craw tube on the NE side.  I thought my line started moving, but I'm not 100% sure as I set the hook into nothing.  A couple casts later under the bridge I got the skinny 16.5".   I then went to the SW side and got nothing.  I had a hit on Ish's Poppin' Phattie on the SE side that didn't hook up.  I went back to the NE side and got a 15.5" and 16.5" on the black Phattie.  I got a 12" under the bridge on a bigger sized Yabbie.  I also got a 16" jumpin' bullhead and missed something that nailed my white Horny Toad.  Before I left I went back to the SE side and got a 15" jumper where I had missed the fish earlier.

I went to the Culvert and got a 12" bass on the Horny Toad and missed another fish.

Two On Ish's Poppin' Phattie at the GOMH

14.75"

8:10-9:30PM
Conditions- Mostly cloudy light breeze.

I was disappointed with the casting distance I was getting out of my Revo Rocket yesterday at Leech Lake.  I looked into it and it turns out I had forgotten it has centrifugal brakes as well as magnetic ones.  I got all of those breaks turned off and now it is casting more acceptably.  I tied on a black Snagproof Ish's Poppin' Phattie Frog and that is what I got my two jumpin bullheads tonight on at the GOMH.  I also tried at Jenny's and at the culvert..

Woman Lake and Leech Lake Pre-fish with "Smitty"

Woman Lake: 7:00-9:00AM
Conditions- Calm, sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy

I got to fish today with my boater Jim "Smitty" Smith for the Bass Snatchers Leech Lake Tournament next week.  Jim is well known in MN bass tournament fishing community because he's been very successful and as I came to find out a really nice guy.  We hit Woman Lake first, checking it out for a tournament he's going to fish out there next Sunday.  We found some really nice smallmouth, but they didn't want to bite.  Jim caught 3 dinks and I didn't even get a bite.  I kind of had a brain freeze and forgot I had a rod with a Yabbie on it

Smitty with a quality Leech Lake largie

Leech Lake: 9:00AM-6:00PM
Conditions- Wind from light to fairly moderate out of the the SW alternating between cloudy and sunny with more sun late.

We put in at an area of the Lake I'd never been to before.  I got the first bite of the day out of some reeds on my brand new Snagproof Ish's Poppin' Phattie in black and yellow (Cali).

17" or so 

I missed one more good bite, then we switched area's.  In the new area I missed the first bite.  We went a little while and then Jim got two nice one's  in close proximity to one another out of the slop.  We got into an area with bullrushes, reeds, and pads and I got a 15" on a white Horny Toad.  Jim set the hook on a fish and his line broke.  I cast my toad into the area and ended up hooking his line with the fish still on it.  Jim grabbed the line and brought the fish in.  It was a quality 3lber.  In a tournament, who's fish would that be?

Jim was getting an occasional rock bass and I missed a couple of bites on a craw tube.  Jim lost a good one and I caught one that might have been 4lbs on the Horny toad.  We fished a lot of rice without getting any bites.  We pulled the boat out of the water and went to a different area of the lake.  Jim got a couple of nice one's including one on his last cast of the day and I got a 14" on a craw tube.

Over all Jim was disappointed we didn't get more fish.  I don't know why we didn't get more bites, conditions seemed to be perfect.  It was fun riding around in Smitty's sports car, a 19' Stratos with a 200hp motor.  Wind conditions will dictate what we do and here we go on tournament day.