DNF Ice Out Platte Lake

 

Platte Public Access

Jenny's

It is now clear for travel from the access to Jenny's so ice is out on Platte Lake as far as I'm concerned.
Erskine Lake is open
Bulldog is 15% open and I would say about the same maybe a bit more on Sullivan

So cold and windy I didn't bring my rods with.

Skunked Tonight

6:50-7:50PM
Conditions: a cool 41 degrees, wind out of ESE, cloudy

The wind wasn't strong enough to make much of a difference and it was cooler than forecast with the clouds.  Ice probably won't be off Platte until at least Easter if not longer.  I forgot to bring the camera tonight.  A couple of swans swam by.

Two Toothy's Tonight

6:15-8:00PM
Conditions: Around 40 degrees, Mostly sunny, light wind, water level stabilized,

There was a family with 2 kids fishing on the SW side when I got to the GOMH.  They didn't get anything.  I started out on the NE side and got this mini pike on a Panfish Chatterbait.

16" Panfish Chatterbait

  I got a bigger on on the SW side as it was getting dark.

20" Cubby Mini-Mite w/minnows

Lakes only slightly more open than yesterday.

Skunked On A Nice Cool Evening

6:00-7:30PM
Conditions: A warm 37 degrees with very light wind

Didn't have a sniff tonight.  Swans, geese, muskrats, sandhill cranes, red wing blackbirds, a good sized raptor and ducks.  No loons yet.  Ice cover was slightly less than yesterday.  Tomorrow will be a little warmer.  Ice Out tomorrow or more likely Monday for Platte.

Skunked, Not A Big Surprise

Because gas prices are low and now I have a car that gets triple the MPG of the Expedition I am now able to take trips I normally wouldn't.  Today I drove to check out Shakopee Lake and Mille Lacs.  Shakopee was way less open than I anticipated and Mille Lacs is just weird.  The small cattail bay in Vineland Bay was wide open, which I didn't expect and there was less open water than I expected at the Whitefish Lake Inlet.

I was a little surprised by how open Platte had become with today's wind.  Channel Inn Bay was completely wide open beyond the north tip of the Small Island.

The Big Island is dead center behind the darker ice line. The Small Island ends at fat pine tree

The Platte River Outlet (SPRO) was completely ice free in Sullivan and well into the Intersection.

Intersection is the area beyond that point on the left

The view from the Platte Lake Access and other area lakes is about as promising as the 5 day forecast, that would be not much.

Platte Lake Public Access

I think Platte will probably be ice free on Saturday, matching the day it went off in 2012 just under very different conditions.  In 2012 Platte opened during a lengthy warm stretch.  The bullheads were there almost immediately and the fishing got very good very fast. With the long term forecast being what it is I don't expect a repeat performance.  But I never know and that's why I'll go.

I did fish tonight for about 30 minutes before I decided I was more likely to catch a cold than a fish.  Conditions were very breezy out of the NW, cloudy, and 40 degrees.

I Didn't Get Skunked

20" Storm Wildeye Swim Shad 2"

Right after I got the fish

5:50-7:50PM
Conditions: Mostly Cloudy, temps around 50 degrees, light wind out of the WNW, moderate flow into Sullivan, We got a 1/2" of rain today Maybe.

It was actually a somewhat nice night out.  The rain line was to the East of us tonight.  I would have preferred more rain than we got.  I stopped at Bulldog to start.

No surprise, nothing here.

I then went to the GOMH and started on the NE side.

 There were no signs of life other than Geese and Swans flying by.  Open water is maybe 1/3 of the way to the small Island, but not very far into Channel Inn Bay.  I think the PRO is open to the Platte River Mouth now.

I thought I was going to get a skunk tonight, but I didn't as I got the toothy after sunset on lure I haven't thrown in several years, the 2" Storm Wildeye Swim Shad.  I was looking through my blog posts from April of 2010.  I threw it a lot that year and got some nice bullheads on it.  I think it fell out of favor with me due to my upper back issues, which are better now.  One last picture.

 There were multiple muskrats swimming around tonight.  It's going to get colder starting tomorrow.

Dang Lure Thief's

21" Panfish Chatterbait

5:15-7:30PM
Conditions:  Mostly sunny turning cloudy, light wind, temps in the mid 50's. Light flow into Sullivan.

It was such a nice night out I stayed out late.  Had swans and geese flying around and over head.  I started out on the SW side and had a toothy steal my Panfish Chatterbait.  Then I caught this fish:

20.5" Cubby Mini-Mite w/minnow

Got it on white Cubby with a minnow.  I switched over to the NE side.  I was watching a truck turn around when I got a bite and missed it.  I put a new minnow on and the truck stopped on the SW side.  The guy came over and while we were talking I had a fish steal my Cubby leaving my Wing-It Bobber adrift.  I was able to get the bobber back casting a Frenzy Minnow with some floating weeds.  The guy left.  I got the toothy in the first picture on the Panfish Chatterbait.  That was the last bite I got.

Here's what the GOMH looked like tonight.

Got Another Toothy Bullhead Tonight

17" Panfish Chatterbait

5:15-6:00PM
Conditions: Cloudy, some light rain, light wind SSE, temps around 50

I was just about to quit when it hit.  It was definitely not the same fish as yesterday as it was 2" shorter.  I only fished on the N side due to the rain and wind.  I saw some sand hill cranes fly by.  There was a guy on a wheeler on the South end of the small island when I left.  I went and  checked out the Inlet and then went to Bulldog.  As I was heading home on 8 a cop passed me lights on and turned at Richardson Corners headed towards the GOMH.  Turns out the guy on the wheeler fell through.  Lucky for him Peter W. was out and saw the whole thing happen and called 911.  I don't know if the person crawled out on his own or if he had to be rescued.

Here's the GOMH Tonight and the Inlet

Inlet

Got A Bullhead Tonight

20" Panfish Chatterbait

6:15-6:55PM
Conditions:  Warm day got to the upper 60's, no wind, sunny the sun had just set when I arrived

Surprise! Surprise! I got a toothy bullhead tonight on the NE side.  Lots of geese, a few ducks and swans even saw my first muskrat this year.

Skunked And Lost A Lure At the GOMH

The new tackle carrier

How much open water

4:30-5:30PM
Conditions: Sunny, Colder 34 degrees, wind out of the NW

I went back to the well today and came up empty in more ways than one.  I made a cast with the STX I caught the toothy on yesterday and hit the wall just right knocking it off the Speed Clip.  Bummer, that lure caught fish.  Oh well, easy come easy go.  When ice started forming in the tip of my rod I left.

1st Open Water Fish of the Year

19" STX

3:45-5:00PM
Conditions: 54 degrees, light S wind, mostly sunny, water level is really low.

My Fish Trap doesn't fit in the Kia Soul but my long rods do, so I went to the Grumpy Old Man Hole to try a little open water fishing.  I didn't expect to catch anything, but you never know at the GOMH.  I fished the SW side with a blue/silver STX and didn't see any signs of life.  I then fished the area with a bluegill D & M Piranha.  Still nothing.  Then I tried a chartreuse/white STX and a fish swiped and missed.  I let it sit for about 5 seconds then twitched it a couple of times and BAM! Fish On!  A 19" toothy bullhead is my first open water fish of the year on February 27th; The earliest first open water fish since moving North in 2003.  I fished a few more lures on the SW side and then tried the NE side where there wasn't very much open water.  Nothing on the NE side.

Fishing Season ends tomorrow for pike, bass, and walleye, so I may give the GOMH one last shot tomorrow, if it gets above freezing.  I might go ice fishing tomorrow as well.

All the open water I had to fish on the Sullivan side

Crappies and Sunny's Tonight

Almost 10" VMC Tubby Jig

4:30-8:00PM
Conditions: Cloudy, cooler 28-24 degrees, wind out of the NW

Today may be the last day I take the Ford Expedition out on the ice.  Dad is taking it on a church retreat this weekend and it's suppose to get close to 50 degrees on Saturday and will be above freezing from Friday afternoon through Sunday night.  I'll find out if the Fish Trap fits in the KIA Soul tomorrow.  I'm guessing not with fishing gear.

I felt good about how I fished today.  Nothing was going in the sawdust holes.  I discovered a small group of crappies and sunfish in my North waypoint holes.  After they left I drilled holes but was unable to locate any more fish.  I went in by the maidencaine and got a couple sunny's and a crappie.  As it was getting dark I moved out.  I switched to all minnows on the Glow Demon's.  The crappies weren't very active, but I managed to catch 9 of them before my propane ran out and I called t quits.

I had 3 trumpeter swans do some fly bye's.  Pretty Cool.  Also saw an eagle on the way to lake soaring as I got to Richardson's Corners and saw an eagle while fishing yesterday.

14 Crappies
10 Sunfish

Missed ??? And Got Some Crappies

Last fish of the night 11.33" Glow Demon w/minnow

4:45-9:10PM
Conditions: Mostly sunny, light wind out of the NW, 32-28 degrees

I started out at the sawdust holes.  Nothing doing.  I worked my way closer to the maidencane where I got a couple of perch on the red VMC jig.   I had either a pike or a bass hit my red crawfish Rippin' Rap but quickly get off.  I switched VMC jigs and moved towards the middle of the maidencane and got some sunfish.  I moved out to the sawdust holes for prime time and camped.  That turned out to be a good call as I got 11 crappies on the Glow Demon.  I would have caught more but I had my line get caught under the spool on my reel and it took me 20 minutes to get untangled.

    

9" Glow Demon w/minnow

I hooked the crappie after I had the line off the reel, but didn't have the tangles out of my line yet.  Fortunately I was able to get my line straightened out and land the fish.  The fish disappeared at about 8PM.  I did some hole hopping and didn't find anything.  The ice was making noise and the moon was up by the time I left.

1st fish of the day

Sunny's were slightly bigger than yesterday

11 Crappies

7 Sunfish

2 Perch

I Thought It Was Gonna Be A Crappie Fest

9" VMC Jig w/maggots

4:30-7:45PM
Conditions: Overcast, 35-32 degrees, wind out of the WNW

It probably would have been a crappie fest had I fished smarter.  My first 3 fish were crappies and 6 out of my first 10, but then I was mobbed by small sunfish.  I was fishing out were there weren't any fish yesterday near the sawdust holes.  I was content to catch sunfish for about half an hour until I caught 20 of them.  I moved North and got one crappie then nothing.  I then moved shallower and got some little sunfish there.  I was hoping maybe a bass would come through but that didn't happen.  I broke off the brown, orange, and glow VMC Tubby Jig on little sunny that got tangled in the transducer.  I put a smaller red glow VMC Tubby on and got a few small sunnies on that.  It was pretty dark before I went back to the sawdust holes.  I managed to get 4 smaller crappies and bullhead out there on the Glow Demon and a minnow.

Most were this size or smaller

Close to being a keeper, but not quite

Bullhead got on the scorecard again

33 Sunfish

11 Crappies

1 Perch

1 Bullhead

To catch more crappies I should have put a minnow down sooner and I should have stayed out and drilled holes out there.

I Found Some Fish Eventually

9" VMC Tubby Jig w/maggots

4:30-7:45PM
Conditions:  Mostly Cloudy turning clear as the sun went down, 32-28 degrees, light wind out of the South.

Fish weren't out where they had been so it took me about 35 minutes to locate some small sunnies in about 13 feet of water.  Then I didn't drill a second hole right away. I did get two crappies, then I drilled a couple of more holes.  I got one crappie on a minnow, then fish vacated the area. Got a couple more small crappies in the last set of holes and I think I got a few bites from some little sunnies that didn't hook up.  All in all it was kind of a lackluster trip.

Found some perch first.

Then some little sunnies.

Small Crappie

As the Moon came up with the ION and Expedition.

5 Crappies
11 Sunfish
2 Perch

Morning Trip, Lots of Sunfish

8.90" VMC Tubby Jig w/maggies

7:00-9:30AM
Conditions: Mostly Sunny, windy out of the NW, 28 degrees

I pretty much drove up to my holes from last night.  Didn't need to re-drill all but 1 hole.  I started in the holes I got them in last night (farthhest South).  I got one crappie and a about 6 sunfish, but not much was happening so I moved by 7:30.  I skipped by the middle set of holes and went to my farthest North waypoint set.  The fish were there and very active.  Occasionally I would pull up a crappie or a bigger sunfish.  Didn't get any pictures of the crappies; They were running small.  I never did put a minnow down.  All my fish were on the VMC Jig w/ maggots.  I broke off a sunfish when it got hung up on the transducer cable and I got careless.  I'm really getting the hang of my set up with the "spring bobber" and tungsten jig.  Once I got done fishing I was going to set the camera down, but the battery was dead because the camera got turned on at some point.

8"

A lot of potato chips 

  8 Crappies
40 Sunfish