Skunked Tonight, Got Minnows Today

Sunny when the sun came up, then clouded up quickly. Cloudy when Dad and I went to Onamia. Sun came out again by 3PM. Nice night. 

I think Local Walleye Guy fished tonight on the NE side for a while. The weather was pleasant, but I forgot my headlamp. Got minnows today at Reed's. We then went to check Kathio Bridge for suckers, none. Had a turkey take out the driver-side mirror, and dad stopped too quick, spilling the minnows; what a mess. Didn't get a bite. Had a loon make me believe I would get something tonight the way it was bird-dogging on the SE side. There was open water off of the point at SPSI, but was only open 75% of the way there. 

 

Dev's Bullhead and A Bunch Of Toothy's

15" Grass Pig

5:00-8:45AM
Conditions: 50-60, Partly cloudy, calm then a light SE wind.

Today is my niece Devin's Birthday and I started dedicating my first fish of the morning to her two years ago.  I don't intend to break the tradition as long as I'm able to carry it on.  So today I was after Devin's fish.
 
I was admiring the moon on my way West to the Grumpy Old Man Hole.  I was a little shocked to see a truck there parked on the NE side.  It had a 13 Fishing sticker on the window.  I assumed the person was fishing on the NE side, but was pleasantly surprised he was on the SE side.  It was the manager from Reeds Sporting Goods who I met out here a couple of years ago. He had gotten one golden bullhead and was fishing with a lighted bobber.

I got my stuff and headed down to the NE side.  I was hoping the first fish would be a golden bullhead, but once again this year Devin's Fish was a jumpin bullhead.  As you can see it was a scraggly looking fish and only had one good eye.  Second time I've caught that fish this year.

After a few more casts with the Grass Pig I grabbed the rod with the Crackle Jerk Shad. I put a cast right next to the wall and snagged a spottail shiner.

 I actual hooked it on the middle treble, but didn't think to take the picture until I had taken it off.  Just a few casts later I was going to the truck to get the bucket out of the Kia.

18" Jerk Shad

That's right a golden bullhead. And a few casts later I had another one.

13" Jerk Shad

This bullhead went back in the lake to grow bigger.  Pretty soon after that the Reeds guy left and I got some toothy's.  A fish smashed something over by the pad roots.  The second time it happened I went to try and get it with the Horny Toad.  I couldn't get whatever it was to go.  But a fish hit something farther down so I tried for that fish.  Didn't get it either.  Then one farther down hit and I tried for that one.  I got this one to hit but missed it. It didn't seem like a very big fish.  I worked my way back to the pad roots.  A fish waked at the Horny Toad very dogfish like.  I let the Toad drop and it took it but I botched the hook set.  Wasn't to happy with myself.  The sun was now well up.  I caught a toothy with a broken off treble in it's mouth.

20" Jerk Shad

 I then went to the SW side and started by throwing the Piranha.  I made a throw into the tube and a good fish was on it immediately.

17" D & M Piranha

I got a couple of small toothy's on the Piranha and a couple on the Jerk Shad.  I got a 12.5" jumper on the Jerk Shad as well.  My last fish on the SW side was a small toothy on the H2O LCR.

I went back to the North side and there were no jumpers to be found.  I spent about an hour throwing the Horny Toad and got one small 13" jumper and missed a couple of toothy's.  I thought it was 7:45AM but it really was 8:45AM when I left.

10 toothy's
4 jumpers
2 gold
1 spottail

This Morning GOMH Trip

19.75"

5AM-9AM
Condtions- Clear, Cool 40°F to start this morning up to 50 or so by the time I left.

I started on the NE side naturally.  I was fishing on the rocks not having any luck in my usual spots, so I cast back behind myself when that 19.75" fish hit my swamp gas Grass Pig. Next I got a couple of small jumpin' bullheads in my usual spots, then I cast back out towards where I got the golden and I got this chunky golden bullhead.

18" and Fat

 A couple of small jumpin bullheads later and I landed this cigar, which went back.

15.5"

With the clear skies it got light out much quicker than yesterday.  I was on the SW side about the time I caught my golden yesterday.  Jumpin bullheads were active on that side.  After my second toothy I went to exchange rods.  I worked by sides and up on the bridge.  Things slowed, when Josh who I met yesterday showed up sometime probably after 6AM.  Another guy showed up and fished with me down on the SW side.  He was trying for panfish.  I put on a .75oz red/chart craw colored Red Eye Shad and bombed it way out there with my Lamiglas 735 and had this toothy bullhead hit it on the very first cast.

18"

I got toothies on 2 of my next ten casts or so.  Josh had gone to the other side by this time.  He came back after getting a toothy and a few jumpers on the other side got nothing and left.  I went to the North side and got 1 small jumper.  I came back an got 1 last small jumper on an Xcaliber X75, while trying several of my new rattlebaits.  I also got fish on both of the Brovarney Jigs I threw yesterday.

Devin's Belated Birthday Greeting From the GOMH

With all the fishing I've been doing I kind of lost track of time for got to get the younger of my two nieces who live down in Florida a birthday card this year.  Devin caught her first bass ever this year, so I came up with a plan to dedicate my first fish of the day to her. It had to be the day after her birthday because it was around 11PM on her birthday when I came up with the idea.  I was hoping it would be a golden bullhead, but it turned out to be a nice chunky 16" jumper that hit my Grass Pig first.  Second fish of the day was a golden bullhead.

17"

I got it way up under the bridge.  That was my only golden of the morning.  It looks darker in the picture than it actually was.  I arrived at 4:45AM and didn't get the golden until around 5:15AM.  A guy showed up who was fishing the Grumpy Old Man Hole for the first time.  He showed up just as I was contemplating moving to the South side.  We talked for a little bit.  Then he went to get his stuff and went down on the SW side.  I arrived on the SE side maybe 5 minutes later.  Turns out his name is Josh and is the Assistant Manager at Reeds Sporting Goods.  He and his wife just bought a house in the Hillman area, not sure if it was in town or not.  He is a multi-species fisherman who prefers toothy critters, which were biting this morning.  I ended up getting 8 toothy bullheads today, with a couple of more missed..

I think got Josh one or two toothies and a couple of jumpers as well.  An older guy came and started fishing on the SW side with Josh for sunfish.  He didn't have much luck.  Fishing slowed and I was contemplating going back to the N side when Josh picked up his stuff and started heading that way.  I told him I was just thinking about doing that and he was nice enough to offer to fish on the NW side, so I could go back to where I was fishing when he first saw me in the morning.  I took him up on the offer.  I buzzed off my first cast with a swim jig toward the channel buoys and was immediately struck by a jumpin bullhead.  I hadn't gotten anything but toothy's out there so far this year.  I had a fish caught or hit on probably my next 10 casts before it slowed down.  Josh got a jumper on a minnow and then had to leave.  As he was going a loon swam into the area I was getting bit in and Josh said something about it.  I took a picture of the loon as it came in, then it came in closer and kept diving in the area I was getting fish.  The loon must of pretty well scattered the bait fish that were in the area because the fish stopped biting for me.

I missed one last toothy and left around 10AM.  I got fish on the Grass Pig, Frenzy Crankbait, Berkley Ripple Shad and two different Brovarney Jigs one with Devil Spear and one with a Grass Pig Jr. for the trailer.