Change of Plans = A Little Better Fishing

6" Glow Demon w/minnow

3:15-6:35PM
Conditions: Cloudy, Windy out of the SE, 32 degrees,

I was going to go to Bulldog, but I called Peter Woitalla before I left and he was out fishing, so I went and joined him and Matt Williams on Platte Lake instead.  Matt drilled two sets of holes for me.  It was a bit slow at first.  I missed a fish, then caught the sunfish.  At prime time I got a good crappie up to the hole, but it got off the Go-Devil Spoon.  The next fish I landed on the Glow Demon w/Minnow.  I got 2 on T.H.E. Jig w/ a waxie and lost one at the hole on it as well.  The fish got super finicky after Matt and Peter left.  I gave Matt my 3.  I only caught 1 more.   Though I had several come in and sniff at me.

10?? I busted my (Hawg Trough Ruler) on THE Jig w/waxie

4 Crappies
1 Sunfish

1st Bass of the Year

17" on T.H.E. Jig and a waxie

3:30-8:00pm
32 degrees, light wind, cloudy, a bit of fog when I left.  Luckily I had put a waypoint down on my holes last week because I went the wrong direction when I left.  I went back to the waypoint, got my bearings and got off the lake.

I got back to Rock Lake thanks to getting the Expedition back.  Need the 4 wheel drive to get up the hill at the access.  I went and drilled holes slightly farther to the North of where I had been fishing.  I also drilled holes up closer to the reeds by where I got the perch and sunfish the last time I was out on Rock.  Sure enough that paid off with me getting two bass.

12.5"er took Go-Devil w/maggies

  I also got a bunch of perch on THE Jig, Demon and minnow, and the Go-Devil

I was not aware until this winter that perch were a significant baitfish in rock lake

As it approached the prime time crappie bit I hole hopped out to a deeper spot and pulled up a 9.5"er immediately.  I went and got the trap.  The fish were aggressive coming up but then would stop and look at THE Jig and waxie.  This resulted in dozens of missed hooksets.  I'm not sure if these fish were small crappies or sunfish; most probably a combination.

I went to a bobber and pulled a sunfish

Small crappie on the Demon and minnow

The fish continued to bite, so I continued to fish until 8pm

2 Largies
18 Perch
8 Crappies
1 Sunfish

Platte Lake Piking

Where did my spoon go? And how did I land it on 3lb test.

3:30-6:00PM
32 degrees, cloudy, light South wind

I decided to go to Platte Lake and fish the South side of the Small Island.  I ended up with 3 small pike.  Two of them came on THE Jig w/waxie and one came on the Go-Devil Spoon.  I also missed what was probably another pike on THE Jig.  I also got one small crappie on THE Jig.  Had a hit on the Tip Up with the shiner I caught yesterday, but I didn't get to it on time.  Could have been a bullhead for all I know.

1st Pike came on the Go-Devil in about 6ft

Next Pike came out of around 10ft on THE Jig

Crappie came out of about 12'

Last Pike came out of 12' as well

Rock Again Fishing Slower

 9.5" Glow Demon w/minnow

4:45-6:45PM
27 degrees, cloudy and windy out of the South

I got out much later than the last couple of days.  Due to blowing snow I couldn't figure out where yesterday's holes were.  I drilled one set of 3 new holes.  I missed the first couple of probably not crappie bites.  Eventually the crappies moved in.  I got the first one, an 8"er, on the Demon with maggots.  I then got caught up on fish hitting the Demon with a minnow.  I missed several more than I caught.  I also got one on the Scenic Tackle Go-Devil.  The action cut off around 6PM.  When I flipped up the Trap when I left there where no lights to the East.  I thought that was weird.  By the time I got packed up and off the lake I finally saw some lights in the East.

6 Crappies

Rock Slower Tonight

Big Fish of the Night 11.25" on the Demon w/spikes

3:00-7:30PM
Weather pretty much the same as yesterday.

I stared by drilling out old holes with the hand auger.  Put the tip up down in the hole I had the camera in on Sunday.  Then I drilled about 5 sets of new holes farther to the North but not really any shallower or deeper.  I started fishing right around 3PM in the farthest North Hole.  Didn't get anything there so I moved to the next hole and got this perch.

T.H.E. Jig w/waxie

That was it for that hole.  In the next hole I got my first Sunfish.

Glow Demon w/spikes

There were more of them down there so I put the camera down.  When I was trying to get the camera pointed I had something hit the Grass Pig but not hook up.  Eventually I got the camera in line.  I couldn't see that well as it was after 4PM by then.  I did manage to catch a couple more sunfish.  It got so I couldn't see the sunfish anymore so I shut the camera off and went hole hopping with a Scenic Tackle Go-Devil Spoon with maggies.  I finally got the first crappie around 4:50PM.

First Crappie of the Night  9" on Scenic Tackle Go-Devil

I managed to get 4 crappies on the Glow Devil.  I ended up setting up shop in the holes just to the south of where I fished last night.  That's were I got the 11 incher.  I got 14 crappies total on the evening;  All of them but the first four were caught on the Custom Jigs and Spins Glow Demon.  I got one 8"er and one 10"er in addition to the 11", the rest were 9"ers.

14 crappies
3 Sunfish
1 Perch