Slower Evening on Erskine 2/19/26

 

High floating sunfish as it got dark

4:12-7:20 PM Erskine 6' and 7' Hole Sets

27-33℉, M Cloudy some sun and snow, 0-6mph N

Had to drill some holes out, others I just pushed through

I slept in late today because I crashed after I got home and ate last night. I didn't see anything, but perch in the 7' hole, so I went to the shallow set. I gave it a solid 45 minutes there and only saw some perch and a couple of small sunfish. I spent the rest of the night at the 7' Holes. Pretty quickly, a pike grabbed the sucker and broke me off because I didn't have the backreeling button pushed, doh! A then shook the Rippin Rap and had a pike come screaming in and stop. I tried a few bites, but couldn't get the fish to go. I put back down a Firetiger Rippin Rap and had a 1lb bass come in quickly, and decided to hit. I got it out of the hole, but then it came off, and back in the drink it went. I didn't even get to touch it. I had a small pod of crappie move in, and I got two of them to bite in quick succession, so I took a double picture. I had a couple more pike move through that didn't bite. I got a few perch and crappie as it got dark. Not a bad trip. A white truck was out on the ice again today in front of the outlet. They were there yesterday as well, and once again left about 45 minutes into my fishing. I forgot to turn at S Platte Lake Drive on my way home, so I had to pull into a driveway to pull a U-turn. And after I got home, I figured out that my Omnia App had my exact location shut off for some reason. I'm kind of an idiot for not figuring that out a few days ago.

1Bass 

5Crips 

1Pike 

2Sun 

17YP

Slow Start, But I Got On 'Em at the GOMH

 

3.04lbs TurboFattyZ (Houdini)

6:54-9:30 PM Channel Inn Bay, GOMH N & S, Intersection NE Reeds

60-67℉, PC, 0-7mph W

Water Temp 58-62℉ High

I didn't get to fishing tonight until almost 7 PM. I had a bunch of small hold-ups tonight that added up like putting gas in the boat. The plan was to cover water in Channel Inn Bay and only stop if I started catching them. All I got was 2 pike and a couple of bumps that didn't hook up. I then stopped at the Grumpy Old Man Hole because nobody was fishing on the North side. I had to check and see if the jumpers were stacked, they were not. However, I pulled my first two bass of the night from under the bridge on the Turbo FattyZ, including the night's big. I got into a willing school of pound to pound and half-size fish immediately SE of the bridge in the old rice on the TFZ. I put on a Terminator Popping Frog and a hawg trucked it. Unfortunately, it got off about 8 feet out. I then lost fish on my next 3 casts. I caught two two-pounders, and then they only slapped at the frog, so I switched frogs, but the fish were done. I moved across the channel and got a pair of pounders on the TFZ. I then moved to the NE Intersection Shallow Reeds, nothing. But I did get a couple of Platte Lake Specials on the currently invisible point/juice spot. Too bad I didn't start at the GOMH. THe other brother of the Casino Bro's was fishing the SW side and Lantern Man showed up about the time the topwater action stopped. I dropped off Brett's pliers  when I came back through. LM said there was a lot of activity on the surface as it was getting dark. I shined two suckers on the N side, no eyeballs.

16 Bass 

3 Pike

2 Suckers 

I'm Starting To Figure Things Out at Mille Lacs

25.5" Small Sucker Minnow

20" Sucker Minnow

19" Sucker Minnow

3:30-8:00PM Mille Lacs in front of Eddy's
28-25℉, Clear, 2-4mph SE

I went and drilled holes 17' to 21' feet and set up in the 21' holes.  Put what I thought was my last sucker down and jigged in the hole with the camera.   Not much was going on just a couple of small perch swimming around.  At about 4:05PM I took the Rippin Rap and a spoon to check for activity in my other sets of holes.  Marked something in both sets, but couldn't get a bite.  The sun was about to set, so I went back to the Fish Trap.  I put down the Rippin Rap and a walleye came in immediately.  The sucker minnow went nuts and I watched the walleye swim up and engulf it.  Got a good hookset and soon the walleye was up the hole.  The sucker was still alive so I put it back down.  Had a similarly sized walleye come in and hit the Swedish Pimple I was jigging.  Didn't quite set the hook hard enough and it got off about halfway up.  It was getting too dark for the camera so I pulled it up.  I put down the blue/chrome Rippin Rap and missed a bite. The bobber went down shortly after that and I caught the 19-incher.  The sucker minnow came off and disappeared down the hole.  I was amazed to see there one really small sucker minnow left, so I put it down the hole.  The fish moved on.  I moved shallower twice briefly marking one fish.  I drilled a set of holes in 15.5" of water and set up in those holes. A fish came into the Rippin Rap and drilled the mini sucker minnow. Got a good hookset and brought the 25.5" through the hole.  I was feeling a whole lot better about myself after landing that fish.  There was no sign of the little sucker, so I put on a fathead.  Nothing was going on so I went and drilled another set of holes.  I came back and called something in on the Rippin Rap.  It took the fathead.  It looked like an 18"/19" and came off in the hole.  I marked one more small fish that briefly came up off the bottom.  I bailed out in time to hit Subway before they closed.

Not a bad trip considering how I have been catching them so poorly.

Two Eyes Long Trip On Mille Lacs

17" Heddon Sonar (Red/Silver)

12" Sucker Minnow

4:15PM-12:15AM Mille Lacs Casino Access
38-24℉, Clear, 0-3mph SW

Should have gotten out earlier, because the night fishing isn't working.  Everybody left by 7PM.  I got the last fish at about 6:30PM.  Worked my way shallow and had a few lookers.  Worked my way back out to 21' and didn't see anything.

Anyway, so I decided to go out of the Casino Access in Sha Bosh Kung.  There was a group of portables straight out on the 20' break line.  I went about 50 yards to the South of them in 21' of water.  Put the sucker down. Sent down the camera and there was a walleye.  I sent down the Heddon Sonar and the walleye went right to it and smacked it.  Saw the whole thing.  Pretty cool.  That was the only bite I got out there.  On the way out I dropped a waypoint on a 15' spot, so I went there next.  Got the 12-incher there.  That was the last bite of the night.  It was a really nice night out so I stayed out fishing until the propane ran out.  I'll be back at it after Bear Trax opens at 6:30AM.

2 Eyes

Mid Night At Mille Lacs

24.5"/4.93lb Grass Pig

11:45PM-3:30AM Eddy's Jetty
Conditions: 50's, Clear, No Wind, Water Level Low and Clear

My arsenal tonight

I was pleasantly surprised to see no ice at Eddy's.  The low clear water made for some awesome fish viewing.  I went to the North Jetty harbor mouth.   There were suckers and walleyes swimming together in the harbor.  On my first cast, I had a small pike follow the grass pig.  Also, a small dogfish checked it out.  On about my fifth cast, I got the 24 incher.  I thought this could be good.  It wasn't.  I was about to give up at 1:30AM when I got another eye on the Grass Pig.

18" Grass Pig

The rest of the night was spent watching fish not bite.  Saw a couple of ski's dozens of suckers and many eyeballs swimming around.  When I was packing to leave a SW breeze came up.  I didn't think it would turn them on and I needed a break, so I went home.

Hammered 'em

12.9" Glow Demon & Minnow

9:15PM-12:15AM GOMH SE SW
Conditions: 39-31℉, Clear sky's bright moon, Calm

After the disappointing trip on Rock, I got home, got the dogs fed and reloaded.

I arrived at the GOMH and the Bullhead Boys were back.  They caught a 23" sucker and a small dogfish, unfortunately.  They had been there for about an hour and were the only ones around when I got there.  They were fishing off the Northside. I went to the SE side.  I got a bite after about 10 minutes and it was a good one.

11.5" GD & Minnow

 I continued to get a bite about every 10 to 15 minutes.  The 12.9" was the second fish.  I also got an 11.5, 11.25, and a 10.25".  I was getting the bites out.  I decided to give the SW side a try.  The Bullhead Boys had gotten a couple.  I got a 9.75" on the first cast.  I then lost 4 consecutive minnows to fish.  I caught 4 more pretty quick (10, 10.25, 11.75, 11.5).  Then it got slow for a while.  I eventually got back to the juice and caught them until I left getting 6 more and missing several bites (9.75,8,11,11,10.5,11.75")  They wanted an active minnow.  I left them biting.

I got home and cooked crappies and stuffing.  Yum!

16 Crappies

I reached my goal of 300 crappies for the year.  I currently am at 303.

Opener Success On Mille Lacs

I didn't get headed out this morning until after 12:30AM.  I had a hunch that Eddy's Jetty wasn't gonna play tonight and I was right.

Ice was tight to the shore and the harbor was even less than 50% open.  As I tried to make my way North along the frontage road I had to turn around and come back as the road was blocked with ice.

I made my way to my back up spot and it was free of ice.  Thankfully I wore my neoprene waders and I went and scoped it out.  I saw some suckers and a couple eye balls, so I went to the truck and got my gear. I don't think I was in the water until right around 2:00AM.  I knew I was probably going to be fishing shallow water probably not deeper than 5 or 6 feet.  I decided to try a rainbow trout Berkley Frenzy Minnow because it was one of the few floaters I had with me and it casts pretty well.

I waded out in the water and had been casting for about 20 minutes when I had a hit really close to me.  It was on for a few seconds and got off.  I fished there for about 10 more minutes then I moved.  I was in the new spot about 10 minutes when a good eye just choked it.

24 Inches

I tried to go out to approximately the same spot and started fishing again. I had been at it about 10 minutes when  I hooked into another fish that felt really good but it got off after about 10 seconds.  My next bite came about 10 minutes later and stayed hooked up.

24.5"

Much to my surprise the fish was actually a half inch longer.  It didn't have nearly the shoulders the first one had.

Once again I went out and tried to fish from the same general area.  My feet started getting cold so I began to wish for a fish to end my night on.  I missed the first 3 bites I had before catching this keeper to end my night at about 3:50AM.

19"

All in all I consider this morning a smashing success.  3 eyes landed and 5 more bites, not bad for not knowing if I was going to be able to fish or not.

Rock Off

April 9th
Got the boat in the water at Rock, and the engine fired right up. Unfortunately, I forgot the Garmin and the GPS.

I fished around by the Bulldog inlet and the RPRO, nothing doing; there was some activity in some shallow water. I thought I saw a sucker.