Fishing With Pete Again, Morning and Evening

19? Spro Poppin' Frog

3.67lbs

7:20-11:40AM Out from 17" Hole, Access Across to Big Rice Point
56-60℉, Coudy, 4-9mph NE
68-66℉

16.25" Spro Poppin Frog

Was hooked by the speed clip when the frog came off

Pete was screwing around on my Chromebook, so we got started out about a half hour later than I wanted to.  I skipped the GOMH.  We started out on the flat in Big West throwing buzzbaits and getting pike for about an hour or so.  I then took us the bulrshes inside of the cane.  Pete was cold and tired so he took a nap for 45 minutes or so.  I worked the area very methodically getting a couple small bass and several pike.  Pete eventually woke up and started getting bass right away casting out.  He got the 16-incher first that was hooked by the Norman Speed Clip.  He threw the bass back before I had a chance to weigh it.  We recovered his frog.  He then got this 17.5-incher.

17.5" Spro Poppin Frog

He then got a dink and then the 19-incher.  Not sure it was a 19-inch fish.  It only weighed 3.6 something and it seemed to be a well-built fish.  My guess is it was 18.5 or so and Pete measured it with an open mouth.  Pete also missed a couple of bites.  We went out to the end of the cane.  I missed a good bite there.  I then took us back toward the pads.  We got a few pike.

16.75" Terminator Poppin' Frog

I finally got a good bass to stick on the front side of Big Rice Point.  I then took us back to the bulrushes and re-fished through the area.  I missed a couple good bites.  I gave up at 11:40AM.
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3.68lbs/19.25" Sprinker (Bone)

6:00-7:30PM Melon Patch, Access Shore West, Double Cane Point
59℉, Cloudy, 2-7mph NE
67℉

I should have woken up Pete the second I got up at 4:30.  Not doing that cost us a good half hour of fishing time.  I started us on the Melon Patch where Pete and I both had a case of the drops on our better bites.  We were getting a few small pike.  The action wasn't fast enough for Pete.  There was a boat fishing where we were this morning so I took us to where Pete pointed. Pete lost what was probably a good bass out from the first dock on a buzzbait.  We got a few pike as I worked to the East.  Eventually, I had enough of it and moved us to Double Cane Point.  I had the big girl smoke the Sprinker.  She was hooked under the gills in the tongue and got hung up on the reeds.  When I got the hook out she was bleeding like crazy as the picture shows.  Pete missed one bite and that was pretty much it for the night.

Fishing With Pete Today

As the storm closed in

1:00-1:45PM F Flat, West Point
66℉, Cloudy some light rain, 6-15mph NE WSW
71℉

Black Buzzbait

I took us to F Flat with a front fast approaching.  I got a couple of pike to hit the Herb's Dilly and Pete got the 1 dink.  Then the front hit and the wind switched hard out of the WSW.  I was taking us in when Pete directed me to hit the South reeds across because there was no lightning.  Pete had one pike swipe at his buzzbait.  We got out of the wind on West Point.  Pete got a pike on the rice.  I lost a 16/17 bass off of West Point dock when I didn't get a good hookset with the Jackhammer on the Mojo rod.  Pete had a pike hit at him several times.  We recovered a 3 gallon bucket from the reeds.  It started to rain, so we beached the boat and went to see if Don W. was home.  He was and we went in and had coffee and cookies for a couple of hours.

Green Buzzbait

5:00-8:00PM 3 Loon, Loon Sex, ? Reeds, LSX Point, Reeds Across
58-65-58℉, Cloudy to Partly Cloudy, 4-10mph ENE
69℉

15.5" Terminator Frog (Yellow)

So we got back out on the lake and I took us to 3 Loon Flat to start.  I got a couple of hammer handles there. Pete wanted to try LSB, so we went there.  The ENE wind was not ideal.  Pete had a "walleye" jump out of the water at his frog.  Then he got a pike on the Husky Jerk, which led to Pete getting dissatisfied with my boat control for a while.  The sun came out and I got in the lee off the point.  We weren't getting anything so Pete pointed me to the ? Reeds.  I missed a pike and Pete caught one there.  Then we went to LSP Point.  Pete missed a blowup on a frog a couple of times.  For the last hour, I took us to the reeds across.  Pete wanted to work the outside of the reeds while I threw a frog into them.  Pete picked off several pike and the one bass on his green buzzbait.  I only had one blow up and landed it.  The sunset was excellent.  I was just trying to enjoy the evening, but Pete was doing his usual no stop complaining about the people that he has had to deal with when I finally had enough of it and told him to shut up and enjoy the peace and quiet.  I also informed Pete, that I really don't like fishing with him all that much.  Shortly after that, we called it a night. 

Birch Lake (Hackensack) Tournament

I drove up to Snatcher Darren's Place and rode up with him.  When we arrived at Leech it was blowing to beat the band out of the NNE when we arrived at 6:30AM.  Not a good thing when we were launching out of Horseshoe Bay.  The wind didn't die down and the tournament director switched us to the alternate lake at about ten to 8:00AM.  So off we went to Birch Lake.  My boater Alan had only fished the lake twice when the club fished here for the first tournament of the year in 2016.  I fished the lake twice in 2016 and twice in 2011 when we fished there on Oct 1st.

The Day:
I think we blasted off by 8:40AM.  Alan and I were boat number 1.  Alan made the decision that we would run to the farthest west bay in the lake; It's a pad lined slop bay.  Al got two quick small bass in the boat; One kept, one short.  I missed a bite in the pads and had a pike hook up on the frog over open water where I saw a fish bust.  We got into the open area in the bay.  I hooked up with a bass near a pad patch that was out in the open on a black/red Terminator Frog.  Immediately after I set the hook so did Al so we got a double.  My bass was my biggest of the day (2/10) and Al's was just a keeper.  I think Al got 2 more keepers in there.  We then went across to an adjacent point and didn't get anything.  So we headed a little farther East and tried some docks and wood on the north shoreline.  I got a pike on a dock.  We worked our way out on a point and I got a 2lber there on a green pumpkin Jackhammer.  Other than a couple pike that was all we got.  Next, we headed to the south end of the western basin and started working the weed flat.  I put on a junebug Jackhammer and was quickly rewarded with a small keeper.  We went up and worked the pads for a little bit and tried some reeds to the west not getting anything but a few pike.  I then suggested we try the channel between the lake.  I got a very small keeper out of the reeds on the southeast shoreline.  We didn't get anything in the channel.

Next, we headed to where the river goes to Ten Mile Lake.  I had a fish hit, hook up, hang me in some cabbage and get off.  As I was reeling in I saw a 2lber following my Jackhammer so I killed it and the fish smashed it.  I didn't get another bite until we were across the other side of the bay when a 14-incher hit my bone Sprinker Frog in some reeds.  That was my last landed bass of the day.  We went back to the bay we started in and Al got his biggest bass off the day in the pads.  We worked around the southside pads of the little island. I had a couple of fish hit my Terminator Frog, but I didn't hook up.  Probably just small bass like Al was catching.   Then we tried the south side of the big island and all I could get was pike.  And just like that, the day was over.

Results:   
My fish weighed 10lbs 1oz which put me in 14th Place out of 18 anglers.  Al had 2 more ounces than me and finished 13th.  Keith Tuma won it 19/3 and had a 4/04 for the tournament "Lunker".  Dwight Hammermeister, who was in Tuma's boat, came in 2nd and won the Co-Angler Challenge.

This finish makes me finishing in the club Super 6 highly unlikely, but I'm pretty much guaranteed I will reach my goal of finishing in the Top 10

My Thoughts:
My mental state wasn't optimal.  I hadn't fished since Monday and I was 100% sure we were going to be fishing Leech Lake and had prepared myself for a tough bite there.  My head just wasn't in the game like it needed to be.  It didn't help that the fish never really clued us in.  It didn't help that I didn't have rods and tackle along that would have diversified my fishing options.  I think we probably should have tried a few more docks and definitely fished the eastern basin.

     

My Act Wasn't All Together This Evening

Forgot to bring water, the camera, and my notepad. Doh!  I have just been dragging since the long day on Saturday.
5:50-8:10PM West Point, Don's Docks, Out from 17" Hole
74-70℉, Mostly Cloudy, 7-0mph SSE
69℉

9.78lbs for 5 Bass

I started to the East of West Point.  I got a small pike on the Terminator Jig and the first bass of the trip under "the dock" on West Point on the Terminator as well.  I got a dink next dock west then got bit off.  I got the 2nd bass on the 7' Tatula Elite Rod and Herb's Dilly Buzzbait in front of the rice.  When I got to the end of the rice I headed into Don's Bay to give a few docks a try.  I got a pike then the 2.68lb bass on the Terminator Jig.  I got bit off again,  Then I got bit off again,  Then I got 1.87lb bass on the Terminator Jig.  It got calm.  I cut the line at the spool on the Herb's Dilly.  I ended up switching reels on the Tatula Elite and beat feet for BIg West Bay.  I had a small pike hit the Shower Blows.  I then got the 2.27lber on the Herb's Dilly.  I got a small pike on the Herb's Dilly and that was it for fish tonight.

Leech Pre-Fish

Alan's Deep Water Largemouth

Chuck Steinbauer heading to Boy Bay

We, Snatcher Chuck and my boater Snatcher Alan, launched out of Brevik on this breezy Saturday morning and went up the West side of Bear Island.  The waves out there had us headed back into Boy Bay.  We went in and fished some shoreline cover.  I got a dink on a craw tube and had another bass hang me up and get off.  I then broke off.  Then we tried some windblown reeds and got nothing.  Then we went to center rice where Alan got a dink and lost a good one.  I had a toothy critter steal a Grassmaster Jig.  Then we went and tried some windblown pads and some shoreline reeds didn't get anything there.  Then we tried some rice across from Bear Island.  Alan got a couple of good bites there.  Then we went down to Headquarters Bay.  Alan got a couple more fatty's.  I got a pike on a Terminator Frog and missed a couple of bites on undercut banks.  At 3PM we called it a day.  The Steinbauer invited me over to have burgers, which I gladly accepted.

Dock Fishing Was Where It Was At Tonight

16" Terminator Jig/Craw Fatty (Blk/Red)

Looking across F Flat (It was dead there tonight)

4:30-8:05PM Docks Across, Reeds Across, F Flat
72-70℉, Mostly Sunny, 8-3mph ENE
72℉

15" Off "The Dock" Terminator Jig/Craw Fatty

Because the way the wind was I decided to go to "the dock" across.  I made to perfect of a cast and had a fish hang me up on the East side of the dock and get off.  I came around to the West side and got the 15-incher.  After that I decided to run some more docks and I caught at least 1 fish off of most of them until I got closer to the point. 

16"

16.25"

I took a quick trip into the reeds, missing what I think was a pike on the Hormy Toad.  I then went back to the docks for a bit.  Missing a good feeling bite and getting one good bass.  At the North Bed I went back into the reeds.  Missing one hit and catching a 15.5" on the yellow Terminator Frog.  That was it for the reeds.  The calm F Flat was calling my name.  Nothing going on.  I went over by the dock.  Still nothing on topwater.  It was getting dark.  I relented and threw the jig at "the dock" and then the next one West.  On the next one I got the last bite of the night, the 16" in the first pic.  Not a bad night.

13.53lbs for the Best 6 tonight

15 Bass
1 Pike

Nice Pike Morning, Ok Evening Trip

5.97lbs/31" Grassmaster Jig/Craw Fatty

7:00-10:30AM Reeds Across, F Flat
42-65℉, Sunny some fog to start, 0-3MPH SE
69-68℉

I stopped at the GOMH to start.  Panfish Guy was there.  Threw a few casts on the SW side and left.  I headed over to the north bed of the reeds across the way.  The fog was really thick over some of the reed patch.  I had what I believe was a small pike not get the Terminator Frog by the Cane.  There started to be some activity in the reeds.  I started pitching the jig around and the big pike trucked it. Luckily it was hooked in the side of the mouth.  That was it for bites in the reeds.

There was some surface activity over F Flat.  I got nothing until I got over by "the dock" and I had a good bass blow up on the Bubble Walker, but get off.  Eventually, I put on the War Eagle Buzz Toad.  Got a small bass on the very first cast.  Got a couple more bass and pike bites on that.  Fishing was slow so I went in at 10:30AM.
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3.54lbs/17.25" Horny Toad (Black/White)

6:30-8:45PM 17" Hole Flat, Melon Patch
69-66℉, Mostly Sunny, 0-3mph SE
73℉

3.17lbs/17" Horny Toad (Black/White)

Instead of going straight to the Melon Patch I decided to set down out on the flat out from the Melon Hole. I immediately had 17ish and 15ish bass not hook up on the War Eagle Buzzbait.  I switched to a Zoom Horny Toad and had the 17.25-incher take that.  I caught a pike and had a couple fish miss the Horny Toad, then the bite stopped.  I proceeded on to the Melon Patch.  I lost what I believe was a good bass right away on the Horny Toad.  There wasn't much for activity and all I got was a small pike.  I bolted out of there to head for Big Rice Point.  Nothing going on there.  So I turned out back onto the flat and I caught a 16-icher on the War Eagle Buzzbait and that last 17" on the Horny Toad.  There were no skeeters so I fished until it was quite dark outside.

Bass With Pike

Just the Bass

Another Slow Night On Platte

15.5" Terminator Frog (Yellow)

5:45-8:20PM Docks Across, Double Cane Point, Access Across Cane
69-66℉, Partly Cloudy, 3-8mph NW
72℉

I decided to go to "the dock".  I got 13.5-inch bass off of each dock I fished (2 Docks).  As I was heading out I noticed several fish spook, so I shut down and fished the area with a Jackhammer and the Bubble Walker.  The skirt fell off the Jackhammer.  Not sure what is up with that.  I'm pretty sure it's a tied skirt, not a rubber band.  I got a pike on the Bubble Walker and that was it for hits.

Next, I went to Double Cane Point.  After no bites in 45 minutes or so I got out of there and headed for Access Across.  There was fish activity going on in the rice.  I had a good fish on 3/4 of the way in and coming towards me when it just came off leaving my line all tangled on itself .   I couldn't get it untangled (when I got back in I had to cut it off), so I switched the Terminator Frog to the Tatula XT.  I threw way back in the rice, had a good fish blowup on it.  Got a good hookset, but after 15 feet it got off.  I was really not a happy camper at that point.  I did get the 15.5-inch fish, so night wasn't a complete bust.

5.44lbs for 3 Bass Tonight

Steve Personal Best Pike Tonight

5.02lbs/29.5" Terminator Frog (Black/Red)

6:00-8:10PM Jenny's Reeds & Reeds Across
73-70℉, Cloudy, 0-3 SSW
72℉

14.25" Terminator Frog (Black/Red)

I did briefly fish at the GOMH in the morning.  It was sprinkling then started to rain.  I didn't want to get my tackle all wet, so I stopped fishing.  About 1PM the rain stopped. I dicked around and did some cleaning around the house.  I should have been out fishing by 4PM.  I really expected the bite to be better than it was.  Nothing was going on in terms of surface activity.  We started on Jenny's reeds and didn't have a single blow up.  Next, we headed to South side of Reeds Across.  I immediately got a dink on the Sprinker and Steve got his bass.  Then nothing for at least 20 minutes.  Then I had a pike on briefly.

15.5" Terminator Frog (Yellow)

I took us from fishing the inside reed edge inside.  Steve lost a fish and I caught the 15.5".  As we came into the open area that separates the south and north reed bed Steve caught his personal best pike.  He just yanked that sucker in.  Steve was quite pleased.

We were both surprised it only weighed 5lbs.  I would have said 7lbs, myself.  In the north bed I caught a 12.5" dink, which I forgot to weigh and missed a couple of bites.  I expected a lot better bite under the conditions.  Platte lake fish leave me scratching my head yet again.

3 Bass
2 Pike

Steve:
1 Bass
1 Pike

Out by Myself Tonight Catching Hawgs

4.89lbs/19.5" Terminator Frog (Green Frog)

5:45-8:15PM Loon Sex Point & Reeds Across the Way (North Bed)
72-70℉, Cloudy, 4-8mph ESE
74℉

3.61lbs/18.5" Terminator Frog (Yellow)

I started by fishing down Loon Sex Point.  I only had one bite and it missed the frog.  I made the move to the North bed of the Reeds Across the Way.  I had a good size pike miss the Terminator right away.  I was fishing along the pad edge when the big girl hit.  Thought she was gonna be over 20" and 5lbs.  Nope, 19.5" and 4.89lbs.  I then lost a bass and caught a small pike.  I lost a good fish and the nose of the frog came back destroyed.

  So I put on a yellow Terminator.  I caught 15.25" right away, then had a similar sized bass jump over the frog and not get it.  The fish didn't go for a jig either.  I caught a pike as I was moving towards the Cane Patch.  I lost a good bass and had a fish "dog me" on the north side of the Cane Patch.  I got the 18.5"  just to the South of the Cane Patch.  I had a couple other bites that didn't get the frog.  The skeeters came out early.  I headed in at 8:15PM.

10.62lbs for 3 Bass tonight

Out With Steve Again Tonight

3.68lbs/18" Terminator Frog (Hot Mud Camo)

6:30-8:30PM NW Bay, Double Cane Point
72-68℉, Partly Cloudy, 0-5mph WNW

15.9" Terminator Frog (Green)

I wanted to start at "the juice", but there was a guy fishing the area, so I started us further to the South down by the rice bed in the reeds.  Once I got us closer to shore I got a couple of pike bites and Steve missed a couple of hits.  Over by the Pike Rushes, I got a 13-inch Bass. We got over to "the juice".  Steve missed a couple more bites.  I missed a good hit and got the 15.9" there.

I then took us over to Double Cane Point.  I had a fish "dog me".  I set the hook and moved a big fish, but it got off. Probably a doggy.  I cast back to the area and a fish waked to my frog again.  Just after that happened Steve got nailed by the toad.  That was the last bite of the evening.

7.34lbs for the 3 Bass tonight

Here are the clouds from this morning: 

Out With Steve on Mallory's Birthday

16.25" Terminator Frog (Mud Camo)

5:30-8:30PM Chuck's Point, Green Cabin Bay, Access Across Point
80-70℉, Mostly Sunny, 0-5mph W
74℉

17.25" Terminator Frog (Hot Mud Camo)

Went out with Steve for 3 hours tonight.  We started at Chuck's Point.  Steve got the big fish of the night right away on a Terminator Frog.  I caught a dink on the Monsoor Swim Jig as well as losing a couple of bites.  Mallory called and Steve and I wished her a happy birthday. I lost 1 more dink on the Monsoor.  Then it was probably an hour in between bites as I worked us around Green Cabin Bay.  I lost a quality fish when it jumped and spit the Terminator Frog back at me on the South side of the bay in the reeds in the shade.  Steve missed a couple of bites and I had a pike steal my Horny Toad Legs.

We worked around the point getting bites from some bass and pike losing half of them or better.  I got us over by the cattails around 8PM.  I had a 4lber hit moving towards me, so I didn't get much of a hookset.  It jumped about 3 feet in the air and spit the Terminator.  Right after that Steve got the 16-incher.  That was the last landed fish of the night.  We missed a couple of more bites.

11.22lbs for the Best 6 Bass Tonight

6 Bass
6 Pike
Steve
4 Bass
2 Pike