Smashin' Biggen's

19.75" VMC Fly w/Maki Jamei (purple)

4:00-7:30PM Rock Lake My Spot

Conditions: 56-40℉, Mostly Sunny, Light SW wind,  16' mostly the waypoint holes.

I drilled a total of 4 sets of holes with the one's at the waypoint being triples, instead of my usual double, so I could put the new Aqua-Vu Micro 5c down.  When I went to use the MoPod the batteries were dead, so I had to position the camera manually.  Today there was better water clarity than the first time I tried it;  On that day it was basically unusable visibility was so poor.  I had a few sunfish and perch come in at first then nothing.  I stopped looking at the camera for a minute as I straightened out some things in the Fish Trap.  Next time I looked at the camera there was a fish looking right at the camera.  It was far enough away I couldn't tell if it was a pike or a bass.  It then swam right up to the VMC Fly as I was jigging it.  It sucked it in and spit it before I could react.  I kept jigging it and it sucked it in again.  The battle was on.  I pulled out the ducer and got the camera pulled up as well.  It did get tangled in the minnow line, but I was able to land it without a problem.  She put up a great fight.

19.75" VMC Fly

I was like dang, this fish is a really good one, almost 20 inches.  Unfortunately I didn't think to take a picture of it in my measuring cradle.  I released her down a different set of holes.  I would say it went a bit shy of 4lbs.  

I went back got the lines untangled and put on a new minnow and got the camera back down the hole.  I put the Rippin' Rap down the hole for doing the camera centering.  I had it almost right on, just needed to make one little adjustment.  When I got that done, low and behold there was another good bass staring down the Rippin' Rap.  Sure enough it could't resist and took a bite. I had it hooked for about 5 seconds then it got off.  

I'm not sure if it was the same fish or not, but almost immediately after it got off a fish came through and took my minnow.  I  set the hook and the battle was on.  I thought to switch off my anti-reverse switch so I could back reel my baitcaster.  There was not going to be a repeat performance of me breaking a fish off like a couple of weeks ago.

17.75" Glow Demon w/minnow

This fish was much more chunky and I thought to get the picture in the measuring trough.

I went back to fishing.  The visibility started getting more difficult due to little things in the water, not because of lack of light.  I missed the first crappie that came through and I started catching some sunfish and perch.  Mostly I just played with sunnies because they weren't very big one's.  I did get this 7", which was my biggest for the night.

7" VMC Fly w/Jamei & spike

I finally landed my first crappie for the night. Didn't think to take a picture of it.  When it bit I thought it was a sunfish I was looking at on the camera.  Not long after that I gave up on the camera because the visibilty was so bad.

    I caught this one potato chip.  I started moving around to my other holes and picking up crappies on the Fly and the Demon.  I finally thought to take a picture of a crappie.

9.25" Demon w/minnow

I decided I was on my last minnow at 7PM.  I caught a couple crappies on the Fly before a crappie came and took the minnow; I landed that fish.  I got a couple more crappies on the Fly and then I packed up.  I think I got fish in each set of holes.  It was a bit sloppy on the ice, but not to bad.  All in all a good night on the lake.

13 Crappies

19 Sunfish

8 Perch

2 Bass

It Wasn't AWWWN But I Had Fun Anyway

16" VMC Fly Jig w/Maki Jamei (purple) & spike

I had a close call on the way to the lake this morning with some deer.  I was really lucky to the first one crossed so far in front of the others so I slowed way down quickly.  I had to come to a complete stop to avoid hitting the second one.  There were several other deer in the ditch looking at me.  Whew!

7:15AM-1:30PM Rock Lake mostly at my spot.
Conditions: 31-28℉, Mostly Sunny, Windy to Very Windy NW, waypoint holes to 11'

When I first got out of the truck

I fished in the morning because of the forecast for high winds in the afternoon and evening.  The plan was to fish with my old Aqua-Vu so I drilled out the waypoint holes first thing.  I sent the transducer down the hole and immediately was marking fish.  I sent down a minnow on the Glow Demon and was bit immediately.  I maybe got a little anxious with the hook set and lost the fish and minnow half way up.  I quickly put on another minnow and immediately got bit again.  I landed a 9.5" crappie and thought to myself.  It's AWWWWWWWWWWN.  By the time I got the next minnow down the crappies had moved on.  That was my only crappie for the morning.  I saw one other come through on the camera.

7" Tubby Jig w/Jamei and wax

 I started getting some sunfish and also had spottail shiners nibbling at me.  The sunfish started only pecking and staring at my bait and a few perch showed up as well.  I had a pike come in a couple of different times, but it didn't show any interest in hitting my baits.

I went and drilled holes on the four hole house spot and in 11' of water.  There was nothing but perch in the four hole spot, so I moved on to the shallow spot.  I was seeing perch and had a small pike come through once again showing no interest in hitting my baits.  The wind started cranking up and I was just about to give up when a bass appeared out of nowhere (it came in from behind the camera) and came in and hit the Fly.  I set the hook and she immediately started peeling line (2lb test Gamma).  I went to pull the transducer out of the hole and the Fish Trap started moving so I had to sit down immediately.  It was a real challenge getting the transducer out of the water.  I thought the bass was possibly hung on the Aqua-Vu cable because something didn't feel right, so I pulled that up as well.  The bass finally came up the hole.

16"

I stayed and fished for another hour hoping another bass might come through, but all I saw was perch.

I then decided to tow the Fish Trap just to the South of the access.  I fished there in 11' to 6' of water and didn't see any activity on the Vex.

I brought the Fish Trap back to the truck to pack up.  It was pretty warm out so I wrote in my notebook when I quit fishing  and went to put my jacket in the truck and pulled the Ipod out of my pocket so I could continue to listen to it while I broke things down.  I decided to reposition one of my pole clips, then got everything in the car.  I went to put the Ipod back in my jackets inner pocked and my cell phone wasn't there.  What?  Crap!

I went and looked at the holes I had been fishing, nothing.  I went back to the truck and my notebook wasn't in the pocket either.  I could have sworn I put it back in the pocket.  I looked around outside and didn't see anything.  I was really puzzled.  I was in a semi-protected area and it wasn't really windy enough there for my notebook to get blown away.  I got in the truck to go and drive back to where I started to look for the phone.  I grabbed to inspect my jacket one more time.  That is when I realized there are interior pockets on both sides of the Ice Armor Jacket, not just one like the Arctic Armor jacket.  The phone and notebook were right where I left them. Doh!

1 Bass
2 Crappie
2 Pike
5 Spottail Shiners
12 Sunfish
14 Perch

Same ole Same Ole

10.5" Glow Demon w/Minnow

4:15-9:45PM Rock Lake My Spot
Conditions: 40-31℉, Partly Cloudy, Light SW Wind

7" Fly Jig w/Jamei and spike

I started out in the waypoint holes using my old Aqua-Vu again.  First fish was a crappie before I had the camera down.  First thing I saw on the camera was a pretty good sized pike.  It was interested in the camera not my presentations.  It stayed for about 5 minutes before moving on.  Eventually some sunnies and crappies showed up.  The fish didn't want anything to do with the minnow and sunfish weren't real big on taking in the Fly so I could get a hookset.  The crappies that came through were very aggressive on the Fly for the most part, except for a really big one that nipped at it once and then left.  I'm guessing it was a 13" fish at least.  I did get one decent bluegill.

8.5" VMC Fly

Got a couple of perch

   I started hole hopping after it got to dark to see with the camera.  I picked up maybe 1 more sunfish.  The rest of the night was spent on crappies to 10.5" and down to 6".

6" VMC Fly

10.25" Glow Demon w/minnow

I'd pick up 2 maybe 3 fish then I'd have to move on.  It was warm enough I never used the heater.  I stayed out until 9:45PM

30 Crappies
18 Sunfish
4 Perch
1 Pike

Rock Again

8" VMC Fly w/Jamei

4:00-9:30PM Rock Lake My Spot
Conditions:  33-27℉, Sunny, Windy West turning calm after dark, Moon was up after 7PM

10" VMC Fly w/Maki Jamei

I picked up some more minnows and Bear Trax and forgot the maggies and wax worms, so I bought some waxies as well.  I started out by setting up the old camera at the waypoint holes.  All I saw at first were a few perch  and I was almost ready to give up when a school of crappies and sunnies showed up.  I had a sunfish hit the Rippin' Rap but not hook up.  First fish was a 10.5" crappie on the Demon.  I caught quite a few sunfish do to being able to see them on the camera and a few crappie on the Fly and the Tubby Jig.  I took my eye off the camera for just a moment and I had what I assume was a pike hit the Fly and then the Demon; I didn't lose either, but the fish came off.

8" VMC Fly

Once it was almost to dark to see from the camera a couple nice bluegill came through.  Once I pulled the camera out I got a couple more crappies then I went out hole jumping.  It got really slow.  I would get a bite about every 15 minutes or so. I stayed later tonight with the nearly full moon. It was cooler today than forecast, supposed to get to 40℉ tomorrow.

Smallest Crappie of the night

24 Crappies
26 Sunfish

Another Evening On Rock

10.25" Glow Demon w/minnow

4:30-8:00PM Rock Lake My Spot
Conditions : 35-31℉, Cloudy, Light SW Wind, Sleeted for a half hour or so after dark, same general water depth I've been fishing.

5" Glow Demon w/minnow

I got out a little later than I wanted too.  Watched A-Mart set a new record on MLF and then watched Seth weigh in.

5" VMC Fly w/Jamei & spike

I started out in my waypoint holes.  Somebody had been fishing in the area earlier today.  I used my old Aqua-Vu with the MoPod.  Nice but not necessary.  I had crappies and sunnies coming in.  I missed a crappie that bit the Rippin' Rap.  First fish was that crappie on the Demon.  The crappies were not gung-ho on the minnow tonight; I only got 6 on the Demon with a few whiffs on the hookset.

7.5" VMC Fly

I lost quite a few bites again on the way to the hole on the Fly again tonight, probably a mix of crappies and sunfish.  I got 7 sunfish and 11 crappies on the Fly.  I got one bullhead on the Fly with a spike.

11" VMC Fly

Thankfully it stopped sleeting by the time I finished.

Smallest one  of the night

18 Crappies
7 Sunfish
1 Perch
1 Bullhead

A Nice Night On Rock

10" Glow Demon w/minnow

4:30-7:00PM Rock Lake My Spot
Conditions: 42-36℉, Mostly Sunny, Light SW wind,  at the Waypoint holes

It was a beautiful evening to be out on the lake.  First fish was that crappie on a stickleback.  I got 8 crappies on the Glow Demon and Minnow.  I got 4 crappies and 7 sunfish on the VMC Fly with Maki Jamei and a spike.  I missed quite a few bites on the Fly couldn't keep em hooked all the way to the hole.  I decided to call it quits at 7PM.  I'm sure I would have gotten a few more had I stayed later.  Temps getting above freezing for as far as the eye can see.  I'll be getting out a lot maybe I will try a new spot or two or give Platte/Sullivan a try.

8" VMC Fly Jig

12 Crappies
7 Sunfish

Long Sucky Day On Rock

1st Fish of the Day 7" VMC Fly w/Jamei and spike

6:30AM-2:00PM Rock Lake My Spot
Conditions: 21-18℉, Windy North, Snow then turning clear.  Enough snow and wind to be very annoying.

Since the forecast temps where for temps to drop once the front passed I elected to go fishing in the morning.  I didn't get anything for the first half an hour or so.  Then I pulled up 3 descent sized sunfish on the Fly Jig.

8.75" VMC Fly with Jamei and spike

I missed a couple bites on the minnow then got this pike.

Corner of the mouth

22" Glow Demon w/minnow

 I then got my only crappie of the morning.  At least it was a fairly descent one.

10.75" Glow Demon/minnow

After getting the crappie I struggled to find the fish for about an hour.  It started snowing.  Finally I got some gills in a hole.  That action lasted about 45 minutes.  After that all I could find were perch.

5" VMC Fly

The sun came out around noon, but my body was shot and I didn't feel like making a big move, so I died on the spot.  The reason the day was so sucky was the combination of wind and snow.  That made holes I drilled disappear.  

1 Pike
1 Crappie
8 Perch
13 Sunfish

The Struggle Was Real

5" VMC Fly w/Jamei and spike

5:00-10:00PM Rock Lake My Spot
Conditions: 21℉, Windy North, Cloudy, 14.5' to 16'

I don't know why I changed up the routine that had been working so well for me, because what I did tonight didn't work.  I started off fishing the Rippin' Rap and the VMC Tubby. I caught nothing in the first two set of holes I drilled.  I drilled 4 sets and started on the Southern most.  The wind was strong enough to be highly annoying.  Finally in the 3rd set, waypoint holes, I put a minnow down and landed a 10" crappie.  I caught a total 5 nice one's in that set over about half an hour all on the Glow Demon and minnow.  I then went to the farthest North set and got a couple right away on the Demon.  Then I got several 8 to 9 inchers on the Fly.  I went back to the waypoint holes and got a couple right away on the Demon then nothing.  I went back to the N most holes and got 3 small one's on the Fly.  I then went back to the waypoint holes and got a couple more high 9 inchers.  I finally went back to my hot holes from the past couple of nights and landed 4 nice one's really quick on the Demon.  I got my last fish on the Fly.  Over all size was up, but action was much slower.  If it wouldn't have been so windy out.  I would have moved around more.

I only thought to take one picture.

21 crappies

Doh! I Forgot the Rods

Waiting for Dad to bring the rods

6:15-9:15PM Rock Lake My Spot
Conditions: 15℉, Mostly Cloudy, Light NW wind, 14' to 16'

The fog in my brain showed up on the camera this shot

I watched Major League Fishing until 5PM.  I had decided to go fishing instead of watching the Super Bowl and loaded the car during commercial breaks during the last hour of MLF.  I forgot to grab my rod bag.  I left for the lake at about 5:15.  I had unloaded everything and went to drill 4 sets of holes.  I did't realize I had forgotten the rods until I got my house set up 5:40. Doh!  So I called Dad and had him meet me at Beat Trax.  That cost me basically half an hour.

1st Fish/9" Glow Demon with Minnow

I started in the holes I did best at last night.  I got a 9" crappie pretty quickly on the Glow Demon with a minnow.  I caught my first six or so fish pretty quickly then they got finicky.  I left the minnow down at the Trap and went out and hole hopped.  I didn't get anything in the farthest South set of holes. I went to the other set of holes from last night and there was activity there,  I went to get my stuff and the bobber was down; a small crappie.  I then moved to the other set of holes from last night.

4" VMC Fly w/Maki Jamei (white)

I only got three or four small one's in this set of holes and pretty much the same at the next set of holes using the Demon and Fly.  I went back to the farthest South set of holes and lost what felt like a good crappie on the Fly.  Then I got a bullhead that pulled down the bobber.

10" Glow Demon w/minnow

I got a 9" crappie there as well. I ended on the holes I started at getting one final crappie on the minnow.

Fish were really finicky tonight and I missed a bunch of them on the Fly.  Possibly small sunfish, who knows.  Fish ran even smaller on average tonight than last night.  I only got one 10 incher.  The football game was over by the time I started the truck. Congratulations to Tom Brady and the Patriots for that epic comeback. I didn't listen to any of the game while I was out on the ice except when I drove to meet Dad.

17 Crappies
1 Bullhead

Night Fishing at Rock

1st Fish of the Night
9.25" Glow Demon with Minnow

6:30-9:30PM Rock Lake My Spot
Conditions: 30-25℉, Cloudy, Light wind and calm, mostly in the 14.5' foot spot

Because of the Snatchers meeting and mom's shopping I didn't get on the lake until 6:30.  I pretty much smashed 'em the first hour only getting one line down.  Same spot as last night.  Fish ran on the smaller side again with some small one's in the mix.

5" Glow Demon w/ Minnow

Then the bite slowed down by 7:30.  I eventually went to the deeper holes and got mostly smaller one's there except for this 10.5".  I thought it was gonna go 11".  All these smaller fish are effecting my guesstimates.

10.5" Glow Demon w/ minnow

I did get only one small crappie on the VMC Fly with Jamei. They were either looking or biting real light on that lure tonight.  I didn't get anything but crappies.  I was too lazy to drill more holes and called it quits at 9:30.

24 crappies

Back On Rock

1st Fish/9" VMC Tubby w/Jamei (purple)

2nd Fish/5.5" VMC Fly w/Jamei

3rd Fish/5.5" VMC Fly w/Jamei

4:20-8:10PM Rock Lake My Spot
Conditions: 19-16℉, Mostly turning cloudy, Wind SW, 14'-16' of water

I needed to get new water on the minnows, it was reasonably warm today, and I needed a break from the Internet, so I went fishing at Rock today.  Since it snowed this week nobody had been in my area.  I drilled 3 sets of holes and started on my hot spot from last time.  I put the minnow down first and nothing was happening.  I then called some fish over with the Rippin' Rap.  I put down the VMC Tubby with Maki Jamei and got that first crappie on it.  I then caught the Sunfish on the VMC Fly with white Maki Jamei.  I got the perch on the Fly;   Immediately after taking the picture my bobber went down. It was a big fish that broke my line 4" down on my foot long dropper line;  It may have been a pike, but it didn't cut me off.  I just misplayed the fish trying to rush it up to the hole.

I got my bobber rod retied and started getting a few crappies on that, the Fly and the Tubby.  Then at about 5:40 the fish disappeared.  So I went to the second set of holes.  First thing I pulled up there was this nice gill.

8.5" VMC Fly w/Jamei (white)

As it got dark the crappies moved in and I caught a bunch of them.  Mostly on the Glow Demon minnow, but I got a few on the VMC Fly and Tubby as well.  The fish were running a half to three quarters of an inch smaller than my last trip with a couple 7" and 8" thrown in as well.  I got 3 that were legitimately at least 10" and nothing over 10.5".  The bite was consistent enough that I never moved until I left.  It wasn't the mad house bite like last trip, but I still got over 8 fish an hour on average.

27 Crappies
2 Sunfish
1 Perch