Fishing With Steve/Gold at GOMH

As we headed in

7:00-9:30PM Across from Platte Access, Starting Spot
Conditions: 80-70℉, Partly Cloudy, Windy NW N NE
Water Temp: 68℉

14.75" Bobby's Perfect (Sparrow)

I was hoping to be on the water by 6PM tonight, but there were complications.  We were off by 7PM.  First spot was across from the access where we did well last week.  Mike B. was over in the cane, so I started to the West.  A little farther to the West than I realized.  The wind wasn't diminishing as forecast.  I got to a spot that just had to have fish and I put the anchor down.  Sure enough, Steve got a fish and then I got one. This was at about 7:25PM.

16" Terminator Frog (Hot Mud Camo)

We both missed a couple of fish and the wind increased out of the NE, so at about 7:50 I headed to the NE corner.  Steve missed a couple of bites right away, a positive sign.  The last couple of times I was at the starting spot bites were tough to come by. I had a fish miss the frog, but got the 15" with a Dinger.  Then the bite was AWWWWWWWWN.  I landed 6 and Steve landed 3 including one double hook up.  No hawgs, but we had fun.  Steve missed twice as many as he caught.  I only missed a couple of fish for the night.  The first time this year where my landing % with a frog was north of 50%.  The Sparrow Bobby's Perfect did the damage for both of us. No toads were caught or even hit tonight to my knowledge.

16.25" Bobby's Perfect (Sparrow)

Best 6 Bass Tonight

8 Bass for me

4 Bass for Steve

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18" Rippin' Rap (Sexy Shad)

10:50-11:35PM GOMH NE

Conditions: 70℉, East Wind

16.5" Rippin' Rap (Sexy Shad)

Seeing as how I didn't get out fishing at all yesterday, I wasn't fished out for the day just yet.  The skeeters haven't been bad this year at all.  I headed to the GOMH to do a little gold mining.  It wasn't going well, but then there was some noise in the tube and I think I missed a bite on the Jerk Shad.  I put on the Sexy Shad Rippin' Rap as my last lure of the night.  I got the 16.5" first. Because Steve said he wanted to clean and eat a walleye I kept it.  I got the 18 incher a few minutes later.  Right after I took the picture the golden flopped and it's gill plate cut the back of my left pinkie finger.  Unfortunately, my self-sticking gauze was in my bag at the cabin because I plan on fishing with Todd in the morning.  I couldn't fish effectively with  that bleeding pinkie so I called it a night.

2 Gold   

Mille Lacs & Dink Fest at the GOMH

Three Trips Today: Mille Lacs and the GOMH Twice

A little more wind and haze this morning

My arsenal for the night

2:00-4:30AM Eddy's Jetty North Corner
Conditions: Mid 50's, Hazy Moon with clouds moving in at about 4AM, Windy out of the ESE dialing it back a bit as the night wore on.

There was a thunderstorm to the North East that put on quite a lightening show for me for about an hour and a half.  It was up by Grand Rapids so I definitely couldn't hear any thunder.  I started out throwing various Rippin Raps and just couldn't buy a bite. Forty five minutes of that and I switched to the Grass Pig.

I might be on to something?

I had the tail bit off the Grass Pig.  I put another one on and moved to the North Corner where I had a good one smoke it.

25" Grass Pig (Swamp Gas)

 I think on my third cast back I was hooked up again with a nice one.

23.75" Grass Pig

 About 15 casts later it was fish on with my longest of the morning.

25.75" 

 About 15 minutes later I got this one.

23" Grass Pig

Then I ran into some issues.  My Fireline got dug into it's self really badly and it took me probably 15 minutes to get that straightened out.  Then I had 4 consecutive fish get off and then my tail got bit off again.

I did finally land one, but the size shrunk.

15.33" Grass Pig

 The clouds moved in and they stopped hitting the Grass Pig.  I got one last fish on the purple perch Husky Jerk.

14.5" Husky Jerk (Purple Perch)

My upper back was really starting to ache, so with that fish I packed up and headed to the GOMH after doing some stretching.

6 Walleyes
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Morning GOMH Trip

5:30-8:00AM GOMH NE SE
Conditions: Mid 50's, Mostly Cloudy, Wind ENE, water clearing and falling a little

16.5" Piranha with Swim Fluke Jr.

This golden bullhead was all over the Piranha and into the pail.  I then got another one.

19" Piranha

With the two I got last night looks like walleye's on the menu this week.  That was it for bites I landed on the Piranha. The panfish guy showed up just after I landed the second golden. Baitfish were getting busted out, so I switched to a Grass Pig and landed a 15" and a couple of dink jumpers on the Grass Pig.  I missed several hits on the Grass Pig.  Maybe should sharpen that hook up.  I switched to the Tomato Jerk Shad and landed this fat pre-spawner from under the tube.

17" Jerk Shad (Tomato)

 I landed one more good one (15") from under the tube, then the Dink Fest began.

The sun was getting up soI switched to the SE side.  I started out getting more dinks with the Jerk Shad, but I got a couple of good one's as well.

16" Tomato Jerk Shad

 I started throwing topwater and could only get dinks.

10" Whopper Plopper (Bone/Red)

12" Knock Off Shower Blows

I was really impressed with the knock off Shower Blows.  It casts like a rocket and has great action.  The hooks are sharp, but a little bit brittle as I discovered taking the hook out off a bass during the afternoon trip.

10.5" Lucky Craft Gunfish 117

I made my goal of catching a fish on the Lucky Craft Gunfish 117.  I caught 1 dink on a green pumpkin craw tube.  I got a toothy on the Jerk Shad.  My back was starting to bug me again, so with that I left.

2 Gold
1 Toothy
24 Jumpers
Six Best Jumpers (17, 16, 15, 15, 14, 12)
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Afternoon GOMH Trip

10.5" KO Shower Blows (Chart/Hrg Bone)

3:30-5:00PM GOMH SW SE
Conditions: 60℉, Mostly Cloudy with rain earlier, ENE Wind, Water is definitely clearing up

It stopped raining after my chiropractic appointment.  I was heading to the GOMH rain or shine.  Just as well I prefer to not get wet.  It was basically back to the dink fest with a couple good blow misses.  I got 15" and 14.75" on the Shower Blows Knock Off and a 14" on the Tomato Jerk Shad.  Mike B. was out in the Tuffy today and stopped by to catch up for a little while.  As I was packing up to leave the sun came up along with the wind and the dogfish lady showed up, so I talked with her for a little while.

13 Jumpers
2 Toothy

For the Day my totals were
6 Walleye
2 Golden
37 Jumpers
3 Toothy

Skunked Again Tonight

Rock Dock not in yet, so I improvised.

4:00-9:30PM
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy to cloudy, Windy out of the SSE, Low 60's

I started out by going to the Grumpy Old Man Hole today.  It was a good thing I was there because Mike B. stopped by pulling his Tuffy.  He had been out on Rock Lake and didn't have any luck in the RPRO.  I didn't have any luck at the GOMH.  I then went to the lake place and got the Slop Slip and drove over to Rock.  The wind was heavy enough that I wasn't going to paddle anywhere so I stayed out from of the access.  Didn't get a thing.  I stopped at the GOMH on the way home and tried for about an hour. Nothing.

Maybe the warm temps tonight and rain we are supposed to get will bring some fish in before it turns cold tomorrow night (fingers crossed).

Rock, Bulldog, GOMH

18.5" D & M Piranha w/chart twister tail

7:25-8:45PM Rock
9:00-9:20PM Bulldog
9:30-11:30PM GOMH
Conditions- Warmer today (62), mostly sunny, breezy out of the SE

I arrived at Rock and there was one trailer in the parking lot.  I didn't see a boat anywhere on the southern part of the lake.  I started out throwing the D & M Piranha that I got the two fish on last night.   The 18.5" hit on a cast strait out from the dock.  The baby blue/chart. skirt came apart so I was done throwing that bait for the night.  It had a nasty sore just above it's pectoral fin and looked to be spawned out.

I put on a Pure Poison and got a hammer handle on that.

20" Pure Poison w/Grass Pig Jr.

 I tried a square bill and got nothing but weeds.  Tried a couple of X-Raps and had the orange one get cut off.

Price of doing business in the North country.

I tried craw tubes and didn't get a hit.  Switched to a 3/4oz Red Eye Shad and got nailed casting to the South.

16.75" Red Eye Shad

   While I was taking pictures I heard the boat come around the corner and wouldn't you know it was blog reader Mike B. and his brother in the Tuffy.  They found aggressive fish in the Platte River Outlet on Grass Pigs.  Apparently some pads are up already.  We talked for about 5 minutes.  I didn't want to hold them up as it was getting dark, so I headed to Bulldog.

14.5" black/blue craw tube

I caught two 14" fish on craw tubes there, then headed to the GOMH.

10.75" Glow Demon w/minnow

 I heard something get hit under the bridge then caught that silver bullhead and I thought maybe a bite might be on, but that was all I got in 2 hours. About 50/50 split between live bait for silvers and artificials for bigger bullheads.  I left right before it started sprinkling

Rock Fishing

(Click to Enlarge)

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.

Quick Evening Trip

16" Jumper Taking a dump

8:40-9:50PM
Took a quick trip to the GOMH catching fish only on the NE side.  Peter was there and Mike B. came by in his boat and said fishing had been pretty good.  I managed to land 2 dinks and the 16" on the Yabbie and a 18.5" toothy on it as well.  I also got a 14.25" on the KVD Dawg. Peter got a couple of toothies on a Ripple Shad I gave him and a crankbait.

It was sunny and calm.  We went in and got the cupboards from Todd's today.

GOMH Throws Me A Curve Ball and Stupid Boaters

19.5"

8:30-11:15PM
Conditions:  It was warm enough for short sleeves, partly cloudy, and very little wind on a day that got to 77°F, the warmest day of the year I believe.

The plan was simple, Go and confirm where I should put myself for Bass Opener in the morning.  I wouldn't even fish if it was really crowded.  There were a lot of people on the SW side, couple on the NE side, and nobody on the SE side so I grabbed two rods and went down there.  I started throwing the Piranha, but the fish weren't having that so I switched up to chucking rattlebaits way out. Nothing.

Blog reader Mike B. was out in his boat today and stopped by to talk as he was on his way home.  I don't remember if I had caught anything yet at that point.  We had a good talk and then he left.

Boats started leaving and people started leaving.  I got a toothy and a jumper on the Spro Aruku Shad in "Cell Mate" color.  One of the boats that left trolled through on his trolling motor, not  a problem.  They must have gotten a golden because they came back through not alerting the bullhead fisherman (the guy WAS fishing for bullheads) up on the bridge and he ended up hooking one of the ladies in the boats rods.  That's a problem.  He was able to get it off quick and the guy on the bridge didn't say anything.  After the guy turned around and went through again, another boat decided to troll through, again not a problem.  The 1st boat came back through again, this time I warned the guy to pull up his line.  I made a remark to the bullhead fisherman that continuing to troll through an area where people are fishing from shore is pretty bush league.  I don't know if the people in the boat heard me or not.  They turned around and went back through.  Then the 2nd boat came through catching a nice golden right in front of us and immediately went to turn around.  I said something to the guy, which he didn't appreciate.  He told me there was no law against him trolling under the bridge like that.  It's to bad Willard or Bud  wasn't there to go off on him because that would have been fun to hear..  However, he didn't put his lines back in and headed under the bridge again to leave.  He said something to the other boat as they were coming back through.  This time I cast across the channel and happened to hook his line.  A battle I would win seeing as how I was using 40lb  Power Pro, but the lines unhooked.

I asked the bullhead fisherman if the people who had been fishing on the other side were gone, and he said he thought they were, so I went to the NE side.  It wasn't long before I had a my first golden bullhead of the evening, a small keeper which I gave to the bullhead fisherman.  I ended up giving them 4 golden's.  As the boat came through on one of the passes they asked me how many I caught and I told them.  On their way back through the next time I asked them how many that had gotten and he said they were getting close to their limits (3 people in the boat).  I asked them if they had gotten any bass and they said not one.  So every fish I heard them catch was a golden bullhead if they weren't lying to me.  I did get one nice toothy which I snagged under his jaw.  She was released.  Toothies that size help keep the small one's in check.

33" or so toothy bullhead

After the bullhead fishermen left on a pass from S to N they caught a young guys lighted bobber.  One of the young guys came across the road yelling for them to stop which they did and turned around bringing the bobber in the boat.  The guy kind of lost control of the trolling motor and ended up going under the bridge and I think he scraped his boat a little bit.  Ah justice.  They left not long after that.  I ended up getting my limit golden for the day and left.

Fishing w/ Mike B. at the GOMH

Conditions: Occasional drizzle, cloudy, and cool.

I headed out to the GOMH around 5:35AM.  I was the third car and the second black Expedition.  Turns out the Expedition is blog reader Mike B.'s truck.  It was still dark out when I got down to the SW side, so I didn't know it was him until he started talking.  He had been there for a while and was getting silver bullheads fishing plastics only.  They were going so I started catching them to on the Cubby Jig head with no body and a minnow.  He was throwing everything back.   I had just finished telling Mike about the guy that got the crappies on the North side of Platte Lake when that guy showed up and started fishing next to us.  The three of us talked fishing while landing silver bullheads.  Mike got one that had to be 13" but I didn't think to get a picture of it.  My bobber looked a lot like the other guys bobber and I got confused a couple of times looking at his bobber while reeling mine in; one of those times I had a fish on.  Mike pulled out his fly rod and started getting bullheads on that.  He also got a nice golden bullhead on a Road Runner and a couple of jumpers as well.  The wind switched to out of the West and the bite really slowed down by 7.  I had caught 10 or 11 by then and I was ready to go.  Mike gave me some of his Monk Weedless Spoon's to try out.  I've seen him fishing them so I already had some idea of what they do.  Can't wait to try it out.  He recommends throwing it on spinning gear, but it seemed heavy enough to me that it should work on a baitcaster that is good with lighter lures.  I guess I'll find out.

When I was driving away I noticed that it was calm on the North side, so I turned the Expedition around and went and gave a few casts for dogfish.  I didn't get anything.  I then headed to Bear Traxx to get some leeches.

That was the only fishing I did today.

I Thought It Was Gonna Be On, Instead I Got A Mystery

I arrived East of the GOMH at 8:15 and on my second cast with the Herb's Dilly I got this 16" bass.  I then fished the Dilly for the next 20 minutes, mostly getting it caught in the rice.  I eventually gave up on the Dilly and took my 3 Frog rods to where I got fish last night.  I missed one hit on the Horny Toad.  Then Mike B. came into talking range as he worked down the shore line.  I got a small pike on a black/blue Snag Proof Pro Series Tournament Frog.  I think I got it out with my hands, but might have used my pliers.  This little detail will come into focus in a minute.  Willard drove by just as I released it.  Mike caught several fish beyond my casting range.  I missed a couple of fish on the Snag Proof staying in the spot maybe longer than I should have.  I moved and at about 9:30PM I got this 26" pike on the Horny Toad.

At this point I went to get my pliers from the car.  The pliers were not where they were supposed to be.  I think I got confused at this point, because I now think I carried the pliers with me and must have dropped them.  But at this time I thought I had possibly left them on the car bumper when I caught the pike this morning.  Luckily I was able to get the fish off without need of the pliers.  I looked for the pliers up by the road and in the car, but didn't retrace where I had been tonight.  I will try to do that in the morning.

Will I find them or Not?  When did I lose my pliers?

Couple Of GOMH Trips

Today I fished at the Grumpy Old Man Hole, the river culvert, and the inlet from 5:30AM to 9:00AM and at the GOMH from 9:00PM to 9:45PM.

In the morning things started slow with me getting nothing on the North side.  I switched to the South side and did get a couple of bites on the clack/blue Pure Poison that didn't hook up.  The tail of the Grass Pig Jr. got bit off. I switched to a black/blue Chigger Craw and got my first jumpin bullhead while swimming it.  I got one more doing that and missed a couple.  I switched to the Pure Poison and put a Chigger Craw on it and got 2 that way.  I was going back to the car to change Chigger Craw colors because the one I was using only had one claw left.  I decided to fish off the bridge and immediately smacked 3 fish in a row doing that including my biggest of the morning.

16.75lbs

I switched to the breen color and got one more off the bridge.  I also missed one on a Frenzy Popper off to the SE.

I then went to the North side and got a jumpin bullhead off "the juice" on the Frenzy Popper and the Chigger Craw.  It was now coming up on 8AM so I headed for the river culvert.  I might have had one bite there.  Next I went to the Inlet. I got a pike on the Cane Thumper before losing my jig in the weeds when I made a bad cast.  I had a quality bass on the Chigger Craw jump and get off right by shore.  It was at least 16 inches, maybe as big as 18".

The Evening Trip:

Some grumpy old men tonight

I didn't have much time so I went right to "the juice" and nailed fish on my first 4 casts with a Frenzy Popper.  My second fish was this 16.5 incher.

Willard came over an said hello and Mike B. showed up in his boat.  I got a total of 8 jumpin bullheads and one sunfish on the Frenzy Popper.  On the way home I clipped a deer with the Explorer.