Yellow Magic- Act 3

Tonight I got out fishing for about an hour until it got to dark to fish. I gave Jenny's a try from shore and didn't get a strike. I then went to the boat and set out to fish water I thought would be good for poppers. Conditions were overcast with about a 7MPH wind out of the North. I fished a bit of the North side of the big Island and down the Eastern shore where Pete caught a few bass last week.

I took the suggestion from Big Indiana Bass to tie direct to the Yellow Magic Popper. I believe the line I was using was 17lb Gamma Co-Poly. It did seem to help in working the bait just a little bit, but it was still pretty inconsistent in terms of performance. The chop on the water might have had something to do with that too.

Even though the objective was to put the Yellow Magic Popper through it's paces, my first fish actually came on a bullfrog Berkley Frenzy Popper.
I was using the bullfrog color because of the overcast and it is similar in color to the lime Yellow Magic. The fish was about 12.75". As soon as I caught this fish I switched to the YMP.

A couple of minutes later I had this dude swirl and get hung on the YMP.
This was just over 14". I kept fishing the YMP and had a small bass get hooked up, but it got off right by the boat. I kept throwing the YMP for a while, but eventually switched to the BFP. I had a small pike strike at the BFP right by the boat and that was the last hit of the night.

I am not sure why I didn't get more action than I did. Maybe the fish were turned off for the most part. For the second night in a row it was a pretty equal showing for the two different poppers.

Yellow Magic Act 2

Tonight I didn't get on the water until after 7:45PM and then on the way to my first spot there was a boat in need of a tow, fortunately not far, and that took up about 10 minutes of fishing time. I started off throwing my new lime Yellow Magic Popper. I made a great cast right up by a dock and two jetski's on lifts. Sure enough this 14.25" largie sucked it in.

I did throw back to the spot a couple of times and didn't get anything. I pitched in a blue/black craw tube and had a small bass pick it up. On my hookset the little guy went airborne and came off.

A little farther down the way after I had tried some Snagproof Frog fishing in some slop, I had a smallish fish, maybe a pike, hit at the Yellow Magic and not get it. I tried casting back to the spot without luck, so I picked up a purple Berkley Frenzy Popper and tried that without any luck. On the next dock I got a 12.75" on the Frenzy Popper.

On the next dock down I made a cast which spooked a great blue heron which promptly flew right into my line. I let it take out a little line before closing the bail and as soon as I did the heron dropped down into the water. I figured maybe I could get in behind the heron and find the Frenzy Popper, take it off and then reel in the line without any problem. It was kind of dark and the area had weeds, so I wasn't sure I would be able find the lure. While I was looking the heron took off and was totally untangled from the line, so it was all good. I didn't have any more hits from fish.

More thoughts on the Yellow Magic: I haven't yet mastered control of the lure. It seems like you can be working your rod a certain way and the bait reacts differently with each twitch. Sometimes the lure slurps but most of the time it doesn't. I threw the Yellow Magic twice as long as the Frenzy Popper tonight, yet ended out at 1 fish a piece.

Tonight on Platte with Pete

Tonight Pete and I got out for about an hours worth of fishing in the boat. I got the only fish with the "Viking" Snagproof Frog about 4 feet to the side of the end of a dock in open water. I got this fish when we were fishing close to our lake place.

We closed the night fishing on the East side of the big island. Pete missed a couple of hits.

I did get a chance to throw my new lime Yellow Magic Popper and my first impression is that I am underwhelmed. Pete had pointed out that it looks like a Rebel Pop-R, so I was kind of expecting it to have the chugging sound of a Pop-R. It doesn't. It is definitely more of a spitting popper, which is what I prefer. It seemed to cast pretty good for a 1/4oz lure, but I never did try to really chuck it a long way. I don't know that I was around fish with it much tonight and I didn't get so much as a swirl. I definitely will be playing around with it in the coming days.

Vikings Football Vikings Frog

Tonight is the 1st Vikes Pre-season game and I got out and did some fishing with the Snagproof "Viking Frog" when I went to check to see if there was water in the Trophy (boat).

Off the dock at the lake place I got about 15.5" largie. At Jenny's I started out missing 5 straight strikes, but I think I managed to catch those 2 fish plus one more. The first was a skinny 17+", the 2nd and 3rd were 14+".

Pete Fish

Here is Pete with a couple of bass that he caught last Friday and Saturday. The first one is off the shore at Jenny's. He caught that one and missed a strike. That is a River2Sea Bully Wa

The second fish was obviously caught out in the boat. We were fishing the North end of the big Island on Platte right before a thunderstorm moved in. That night Pete caught 3 bass and 1 pike and all I got was 1 pike. Wish I would have had a rod rigged to throw a Frenzy Popper when we were fishing by the Island.

Shore Nuff

Tonight I went to the lake place to make sure the boat wasn't filled with water due to a couple of storms in the last few days and naturally I brought my frogging rod along to try and catch some fish. The frog tied on the end of the line was Snagproof Viking which is a purple frog with yellow in the legs. I didn't take the boat out. I only fished from shore and off the dock. On about my 3rd cast I got this 13"+ largie.


On a cast over by Sherman's dock I got a 12"+ and in front of Jim's dock I had something, probably a pike, swipe at the frog.

I also fished for a couple of minutes at Jenny's and caught a 13" largie.

Annual Mississipi Trip w/Pete & Greg Jones of Mid-West Outdoors

Pete is friends with Greg Jones who is an editor and sometime TV personality with Mid-West Outdoors Magazine and Mid-West Outdoors TV. This is the third year in a row where Pete and I went fishing with Greg to help him pre-fish for the St. Stephens Lions Smallmouth Tournament. Last year I got to go out two different times. Greg is an expert in navigating this particular stretch of river which has many treacherous areas.

Originally the plan was to meet around 5PM at the County Park Access South of Rice. I arrived at the Park around 4:30PM and did some fishing from shore. On my 2nd or 3rd cast I hooked up with this 12" smallie on a spinnerbait.

About 20 minutes later I caught a 9" smallie on a frog pattern Rapala Skitter Prop. With this success I thought fishing was going to be good. There was a lot of weeds washing down the river, which was up and running pretty good due to recent rains. FYI- The day was kind of cool (70's) and overcast.

At about 5:30PM Pete showed up to tell me we were launching out of the Royalton Access, so I quickly got in the truck and headed North. We basically started drifting down river right from the campground access. It didn't take long and Pete was hooked with a good smallie which bit a Heddon Torpedo. Pete was unhappy with my attempted net job, even though it was him who was failing to bring the fish into be netted at a proper angle, so he took the net and netted it himself. I made a cast close to the same area with a bullfrog Berkley Frenzy Popper and got a hit from a good fish but it came off after about 4 seconds. Greg thought it was a good fish. Pete started throwing a spinnerbait and caught a fish or two and was getting bites, while Greg got his first fish on a jig. I tried throwing my Mille Lacs Smallie Special spinnerbait but it wasn't getting anything. Pete was getting bites and bumps on the spinnerbait and catching a few decent but not big fish. I think Greg got a fish or two but I don't remember on what. Eventually I borrowed a spinnerbait from Greg because it was obvious my spinnerbait wasn't drawing strikes. I managed to catch two dinks. Pete got this one, which was the biggest of the night.

I proceeded to have a muskie smash and steal Greg's spinnerbait, so I borrowed another one. I got this 15.5" fish on that spinnerbait and it was my biggest of the night.
It would also be my last spinnerbait fish.

We made a run up the river farther North than we had previously gone the past two years. As it started getting dark a the surface bite started picking up and I caught a couple of 13" smallies on the purple Berkley Frenzy Popper in addition to missing several bites. Greg and Pete were getting fish too. It was pretty dark when I had a good fish hit the Frenzy Popper. It fought on the surface at the beginning of the battle and then dogged as it got by the boat. Turned out to be about a 4lb Channel Cat. We stopped fishing shortly after that because it had just gotten too dark.

Pete caught the most and biggest smallmouth, and I caught the least smallmouth, but my cat was the big fish of the trip and boy did it put up a good fight.

1 Topwater Mille Lacs Smallie

Tonight Pete and I headed to Eddy's Jetty around 7PM. Conditions were calm and overcast which you would think would make for perfect topwater conditions. As it was I got this 15" on a gold Berkley Frenzy Popper and that was the only bite either of us got on anything.

Shore Mille Laction & Jenny's

Today I had to go to Onamia so I figured I'd hit up the Eddy's Jetty and try for some smallies. When I arrived at Eddy's around 5:30PM there was a little wind coming in out of the NE but not too bad. I started on the South Jetty and on my 3rd cast this 17.75" sally sacked the spinnerbait.


That was the only hit on the South Jetty, and after working through several lures I went to the North Jetty.

On the North Jetty I got a 14" just South of the Corner on the spinnerbait. Just a little North of the North harbor mouth I tied into another around 14" then I lost one about the same size and then a bigger one as I was trying to figure out where to go to land it. I think I had one more hit that didn't hook up on the spinnerbait. I tried some topwater and didn't get any hits, so I tried a tube on a Title Shot Jig and I had a good fish on that got off about half way in. I went back to the spinnerbait and caught one that was probably 14.5" then I got a 15.75" on the tube. I left around 8:15PM. My upper back got quite sore, so I need to head to the Chiropractor on Friday.

I had to stop at the lake place to check and see if there was water in the boat, and of coarse I fished off the dock and off Jim's dock. Didn't get any hits. There was a little bit of light left so I hit up Jenny's and I got a 14" largemouth on a Vikings (purple and yellow) Snagproof Tournament Frog. I kept the bass and gave it to our renter John who loves to eat bass.

Snatcher Rabbit Lakes Tournament

Note: Rabbit Lake has a West Basin (lake side) and East Basin (pit side). There was an Iron mine on the pit side.

The first thing I will say is that I really could not have gotten a better boater draw for this lake. My boater Guy Henkensiefken has fished it for years and it's pretty clear from our pre-fish and tournament day, that he's got it dialed in.

We blasted off 10th out of 13 boats at around 6:45AM. Our first stop was going to be either where I caught my big fish in pre-fish or a weed hump we pulled a couple of nice fish off during pre-fish. Guy's son Adam went right to the big fish spot, so we headed to the hump.

I started off throwing a purple Berkley Frenzy Popper and I caught a 5" perch and a little sunfish and had a couple of other little ones be hooked up for a few seconds. Guy started off the day with a good fish from sub-surface. I switched up to a wacky rigged watermelon red fleck Zoom Z-Nail on an Outkast Money Jig and got a 15.75" largie on it. We worked the spot for about 45 minutes and those were the only two bites.

Next, we headed to a weedline close by the shoreline. Guy caught a fish right away. I got a 13.25" on the Z-Nail. Guy then had a keeper bass jump him off halfway to the boat. I connected with a 12.10" squeaker.

Next, we headed back across the lake to a spot that gave up a few fish, including a good one, in pre-fish. The spot is basically a weedline off of a small weed flat. Guy landed 2 or 3 fish in short order. I switched the Frenzy Popper out for a spook type topwater and had a fish slap at it. I think it may have been a pike, but I am not sure. After working that spook for a while I switched to a frog pattern Rapala Skitter Prop because there was a bit of wind. While I was working the Skitter Prop a fish swirled but missed so I killed the lure and let it sit for about 5 seconds before twitching again. Sure enough, the fish nailed it and it was a good one but it was on for only a few seconds and then the lure came flying out of its mouth. Guy got a good look at the fish and said it was probably 17" maybe bigger. Missing this fish would really cost me.

We didn't get any more bites in this spot and Adam was still on his starting spot so we headed to the pit side. Guy picked a spot that didn't have any boats on it where he got a couple of good bites in pre-fish. Guy got a good fish in this spot, I didn't get any bites on the wacky rigged Z-Nail. We moved closer to shore and Guy got a small fish. We fished shallow for about 5 minutes and then went to a new spot.

I believe Guy caught a fish right away in this spot. I made a cast by a deadhead and my line started moving off quickly. I set the hook and my Z-Nail was gone. I cast back to the area quickly but couldn't get hit again. A couple of minutes later I got hung up on something and when I tried to free it, my line broke. Finally, I caught a bass that I got to measure right at 12inches (we have a 12inch minimum size). I flipped the fish over to see if it would measure any longer and it flipped out of my hands up to the front of the boat and into the water. At this point, I was not happy with how my luck had turned.

We moved to a "big fish spot" and sure enough Guy caught a good bass. We both got bit off by pike and I think Guy caught one.

Next, we moved to a weedline near another Bass Snatcher boat and Guy got a couple of fish including 1 good one. I got a bit on the Z-Nail and brought in a 14.5". The other boat left and so we headed in that direction. I got a 12.75 off of a piece of wood and when we got to where the other boat was sitting I got a 15" largie to fill my limit. We then started working our way back to where we started. Club curmudgeon and very good angler Dennis Lothspeich was headed in that direction so we moved quickly to cut him off. We saw Dennis catch a fish about 10 minutes earlier and in a profanity-filled tirade he let us know that was his first fish of the day. Apparently, Dennis doesn't like Rabbit Lake.

Next, we headed back to the lake side and tried fishing by Guy's son on the spot I got my big fish in pre-fish. We didn't get a hit so we went to our start spot. Nothing there. We then went to our 2nd stop and I got to cull the 12.10" with a 14.25" caught on a wacky rigged 7" Strike King Ocho. That was all we got on the spot so we went to the place I missed the good fish in the morning. We didn't get anything, so we headed back to the pit side.

We hit several spots on the pit side without any luck until I caught 12" bass that didn't help me on the 7" Ocho. When I got the fish the Ocho came off and Guy suggested I put an O-ring on (he has an O-ring tool). I decided to try it, but that would be my last bite of the day on the Ocho.

With about an hour left, we tried a spot on the pit side where we had not been yet where Guy got a good fish in pre-fish. Guy got into a little flurry and culled up 2 or 3 times. He talked me into using the lure he was using on the same type of rigging he was using. I got a bite most likely from a pike, then I had a pike bite me off. With about half an hour left it started to rain hard. When the rain was coming Guy said, it looks like some heavy rain is coming. He put on a full rain suit, while I figured I would just put on my rain jacket and not my bibs. The wrong call it poured. The rain ended after about 10 minutes and we decided to head in about 5 minutes early because Guy had such a good bag of fish and he wanted to get a good spot to park where he could keep his livewells working until it was our time to weigh in.

It's now Thursday the 29th and the official results have not yet been posted, which means I will probably not see them until next week. I am pretty sure I weighed 10lbs 4ozs which I think probably put me in 12th or 13th. I believe Guy won the tournament with 15 something. I will update when I get the official results.

Analysis- This one is a slight downer because I could have done much better had I landed that one good fish. As it was I was stuck with a 12.75" swimmer. I really failed to capitalize on a very good boater draw.

Update: Results are in and I came in 11th which is obviously slightly better than expected. I actually was 11th because of a dead fish penalty and winning the tiebreaker. Had I caught the big one I missed, I could have been as high as 5th. Guy was in first with 15lbs 10ozs. He actually won because a guy brought 1 to many fish to the scales.

Next Tournament: Washburn Lake August 28th.

Rabbit Lake Pre-fish

Today was my best day on the water as a Baxter Bass Snatcher. Too bad for me it wasn't tournament day because I would most likely have been a contender for the win. I am pretty sure I had 16lbs+ anchored by the fat 19.25" in the picture (thank goodness my boater had a camera phone as I left my camera in the car).

My boater Guy was fun to fish with and he knows the lake well. I think it was a productive pre-fish, but you never really know until tournament day. We found multiple patterns and locations. Guy was telling me there is an old club saying that "it's fun to catch fish, but it's even funner catching fish in the tournament." Meaning, what you do in pre-fish doesn't mean squat if you burn your fish. Hopefully we didn't do that too bad as we tried to lay off them once located. As for my part I took advantage of conditions, and found something nice size fish were on today; Whether that pattern holds for tournament day will most likely be dictated by weather conditions.

Snatcher Cass Lake Tournament

This one is more of a rant than a report (at least it starts that way).

Well, the results are in and I came in 2 to 3 places worse than I thought I was going finish. I placed 21st out of 25 anglers. I think this one officially qualifies as a bomb. The last two tournaments are now my worse back to back tournaments as a Bass Snatcher and they also make for my worst two finishes in a single season. Right now it feels like I am off to a terrible start, but really I am in the exact same position after 3 tournaments as I was in 2008 and last year I had just a single point more whether counting two tournaments or three. In the previous two seasons, I really picked it up in the last 3 tournaments of the year. I wish I could say that gives me some confidence at this point, but I'm really humbled by how poorly the last two tournaments seem to have gone.

I was actually feeling somewhat OK about Cass until I saw the final results. 5 guys caught as many fish as me (3 bass) or one less and beat my weight. Honestly, I'm not sure in this one what I should have been doing differently. It looks like a good number of the boats that were fishing in this area of the Chain struggled with catching fish. Maybe a heavier Title Shot Jig Head paired on a heavier rod would have helped, but my boater was in the front of the boat with something akin to that and he only got 5 bass all day. Counting rock bass, pike, and bass I didn't catch that many less fish than my boater although he did miss a few more fish than me that hung him up in the heavy cover.

Anyway here is how the day went. The weather was bright and sunny all day (Blastoff around 7:45AM) with about 5 to 8MPH wind that was less than forecast. We went North and that's all I'm going to say. Right away in the morning, I made several long casts with a Zoom Horny to some wood that was up by the shore. On one of the casts, I let the Toad sink and I thought maybe something picked it up (kind of hard to tell cause the boat was moving). I set the hook and nothing was there. So I thought it was nothing, but a couple minutes later I noticed the Toad was missing one vibe tail and there were a couple of rips in the Toad. In other words, there is a pretty good chance that nothing was actually a pike.  We were working down the shoreline in a combination of mostly pads with reeds or rushes right up by the shore. I think my boater missed a bite then I had a small fish hit at the Horny Toad and did not get it.

We came to a spot where there was an excellent looking weed transition and my boater Jake got nailed by a nice fish and got it in. We worked down the shoreline a little bit and then doubled back. On the 3rd time back through the weed transition, I got hit aways back in the reeds on a 3/8 or 1/4oz Fin-Tech Title Shot Jig Head with a blue/black Strike King Rodent (beaver type bait). The fish hung me up on the reeds and got off. My Rodent had a chunk taken out of it and was ripped up in a couple of spots which leads me to believe it was probably a pike. I didn't inspect my line and I got hung up in the reeds little ways down and my line broke, another clue that it was probably a pike. We worked this shoreline for quite a long ways and I pulled in 2 small pike and had another 8lb class pike or muskie rise at the Rodent.

I think we fished that shoreline for a little over 2 hours before we finally made a move. There were 2 boats in where my boater Jake wanted to go into next, so we went to a large field of maidencaine that was farther East. I think I might have gotten a rock bass and a pike in the maidencaine.

It was now about 11AM and a bit of a breeze was blowing so we went fishing some windblown reeds. I started with a spinnerbait, but that wasn't getting hit so I switched to a brownish teal Lethal Weapon 2 Swim Jig with a watermelon Zoom Speed Craw. After about 5 minutes of throwing that I got yet another small pike. On the very next cast, I got the skunk out of the boat with a 13" largie. A few casts later I got hung up in some reeds. I tried to snap it free and my 30lb PowerPro broke. I had recently run into mysterious line issues with this rod. I retied another Lethal Weapon Jig and started casting again. About 5 minutes later I noticed a major fray up on the line, so I retired that combo for the day. I retied on an identical combo, which I was pitching and casting the title shot jig with. By this point in time, we had gotten into some thicker reeds. I got impatient and made an ill-advised cast. I got hung in the reeds bad and when I tried to pull it free my line broke. That was my last Lethal Weapon Jig, so I tied on an Outkast Swim Jig in sort of similar colors, but I didn't get any hits on it as we worked back over the reed bed. Jake wasn't getting anything so we moved to the windblown side of another large field of maidencaine.

I went to pitching the Title Shot Jig with a Rodent and I started getting bit by rock bass. I caught several rockies and basically went through the rest of my bag of Rodents missing one fish that Jake and I think looked like a pike. At one point I got hung up in the maidencaine and broke off my last dark-colored head Title Shot Jig. Jake kindly gave me some black/blue Lake Fork Craw/Tubes and I put one of those a white-headed 1/4 or 3/8oz Title Shot Jig. On a cast into the maidencaine where there were some pads I had a fish that I think was a bass but could have been a pike, strike at the lure on top when it came off a pad. The fish didn't get the bait. I cast right back to the area and let it sink but I didn't get a follow-up hit. After working in the area for about 5 minutes I gave up.

We ended up working around on the backside of the maidencaine field. I was casting a white Zoom Horny Toad out into some reeds with pads when I had a fish blow up on the Toad. I let the Toad sink, my line jumped and Jake said the fish took it, which I couldn't see but he could, so I set the hook and brought in a 12.25".

Eventually Jake and I worked our way back to the first maidencaine field we hit and I got a 14" bass on the Horny Toad there. Jake caught a fish right after that and we thought maybe we were finally on to something or maybe the fish were getting active, but then it went dead again.

With about an hour left of fishing we went back to the shore we started on. I got one good hit on the Horny Toad but got hung up and the fish got off. The Toad was ripped pretty well so it was probably a pike. And that was our day.

My boater Jake was 1 short of a limit with 5 fish, but he weighed 13lbs 4ozs anchored by a 4/13 that tied for the tournament "Lunker," which put him in a respectable 7th. With one more fish, he could have easily been in the Top 5. My 3 fish went 4lbs 2ozs.

Final Analysis: I don't know if my fishing in the back of the boat is mostly to blame, but it's becoming pretty clear I have a small fish problem. Over the last two tournaments, my average fish size is an abysmal 1.35lbs per fish. That just isn't cutting it, especially combined with the fact that I couldn't catch more than 3 bass on Cass. At Farm Island, I missed chances to upgrade, at Cass I don't even know if I had any chances to upgrade. At least I didn't skunk.

Next Tournament: Rabbit Lake July 24th.

Off the Dock

Tonight I went over to our place on Platte Lake to get some tackle for Saturday's Cass Lake Tournament and naturally I did a little fishing. I fished from about 8:35 to 9PM. I only threw a white Spro Bronzeye Frog. I started out casting along our dock and didn't get anything, so I went out on the dock and on a cast out front of Sherman's Dock (East) I had something nip at the frog in open water right before the rice. I cast back and got another boil, this time in the rice and I thought it might be a bigger fish from the disturbance it created. Actually I thought it might be a dogfish. I cast back a couple more times without results so I started fan casting.

I got the first fish which was about 14.5" casting almost straight out in the rice next to the boat path which is weed free. I worked my way fan casting all the way west, and then I cast back at Sherman's slowly walking the frog. Sure enough the 17.75" blasted it this time and so I got a picture.

As I was about done, I was slowly walking the frog back in the boat path and I caught a little hammer handle.

Note: I fished off the dock a few night's ago and didn't record the trip cause I didn't bring a camera. That night I got a 13+ inch bass and 26" pike out of the slop, both on the white Spro.

GOMH Today

Today I hit the Grumpy Old Man Hole around 5:30AM and then again after 7PM.

In the morning there was a heavy fog. I caught an 11" jumpin bullhead on a spinnerbait and a nice 26+" toothy bullhead on a white Rapala Subwalk on the NE side.

In the evening I was fishing with Pete and right off the bat I got 2 toothy bullheads on the NE side. We took a trip to try fishing at the Platte Lake Public Access but there were people fishing on the dock. We headed back to the GOMH and Pete fished the SW side and I took up the SE side. Pete had a blow up on a buzzbait but missed it. Pete eventually started fishing for sunnies and got a few small one's. I had two hits on a spinnerbait that didn't hook up.

I went to the NE side after the sun was below the trees and got this little guy.
That was pretty much it for action.

Slow Night on Sullivan

Tonight I didn't get on the water until 6PM. Today for weather we had a pretty good rain around Noon then sprinkles and by the time I got out on the lake it was sunny and calm. I decided I was going to give Sullivan another go. Once again I stopped to fish right by the bridge as I went into Sullivan Lake, but tonight I didn't get anything. I proceeded to fish South on the East side of the channel from the bridge all the way up to the intersection. I basically had one hit, that I missed in real close to the boat. Not sure if it was a bass or pike.

Next I headed to the SW side of the intersection to fish where I got my two big fish yesterday. In close to the bullrushes I had a pike bite off my white Spro Frog which I was able to retrieve. I had a hit from a small fish in by the bullrushes and that was it. A boat with 2 guys throwing spinnerbaits was making progress West along the Platte River Outlet and I didn't want them to beat me to the river so I put the trolling motor on high to get out where I could go with the big motor. On a fluke I got a 10.25" bass on the white Spro Frog as I was heading to the open water.

The guys throwing spinnerbaits were getting a few pike and only had gotten 1 bass, it turns out they weren't headed to the river. I stopped about 50 yards short of the river mouth and started fishing. The weeds looked good, but I didn't get any hits until I was actually into the river itself. Naturally I was highly disappointed that the river mouth didn't give me a few fish, seeing as what a good spot that has been in the past. I think the first hit I got in the river was a pike. I got a 11.25" bass right next to shore on the South side of the river on a watermelon/red Zoom Horny Toad. I was just around the first bend fishing the North shore when I missed what I'm pretty sure was either a big bass or dogfish on the Horny Toad. A little ways down I got a 11" bass on the Horny Toad.

Since I was to lazy and didn't want to lose the buzz tails of another Horny Toad to Pike I started throwing the white Spro Frog. I got this nice 15.50" right along the North Shore.

Down a little ways I missed another good blow up. I was around the 2nd bend casting right up to North/West shore when I got a good 14". I ended up working all the way around the 4th bend and did have signs of about 3 more fish but I think 1 was a dogfish and 1 was probably a pike.

There is a tournament on Platte/Sullivan on Sunday and I think if a single team committed to the river and was able to land what bit, they could possibly have a good bag of fish, but then again they might not even get a 5 fish limit.

Mostly Sullivan

Today I hit the water about 6:30AM and made my way to Lake Sullivan. But before getting into Sullivan I decided to fish the channel by the bridge connecting Platte and Sullivan aka the Grumpy Old Man Hole. This is a good area for me to try throwing the Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Worm. I went with red shad today. Didn't get anything on the approach to the bridge, but I expected to get action in close to the bridge and I did. I got a couple of bites while I was reeling the worm in but it seemed like they were just pulling on the back of the worm. After a couple of casts with no more bites I decided I would let it sink to the bottom and hop it back. Sure enough a this 15" picked it up while it was on the bottom.
I didn't get any more hits until I was actually under the bridge and I didn't hook up, might have been a sunfish. I worked a little ways into Sullivan and did have a good hit, but I think it was a pike. Once I was past the pads. I cranked her up and moved quickly to East side of "the intersection". The intersection is the area where you can go into the main body of Sullivan, travel into the Platte River Outlet(PRO) in Sullivan, or go down the channel that goes into Platte Lake. I managed to get a 13" and 12.25" on a white Spro Bronzeye Frog. Both fish were in the rice out a ways from the reeds. Didn't get hit by anything in the reeds.

Next I went to hit docks in "Old Cabin Bay." Old Cabin Bay is where we had our cabin on Sullivan at one time and is the Eastern Most Bay of the lake. I elected not to start on the best section of docks but well before that along the point. On about the 3rd dock I got a 9" on the electric chicken Zoom Super Fluke. It was a long time before I finally got another bite. I was about 1/2 way through what has been my best stretch of docks on Sullivan when I had a hit at the corner of a boat lift from a 14.25" largie. About 5 more docks down I got a 12.5" and a little farther down the way got two 8.5" dinks. I put on a watermelon Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Worm that had most of it's vibe tail bit off. I had a fish swirl on it out in open water I missed on the hookset with the fish taking the worm. I pitched a watermelon Picasso Jig with watermelon Zoom Speed Craw at a few docks and got a 12". I got one more 10.75" largie on the electric chicken fluke before I decided to give up on the docks.

Next I went out to the reed bed that is kind of in the middle of the bay and started throwing a white/silver Herb's Dilly buzzbait. I missed the first couple of hits, but managed to connect with an 11", 13.75", and 12.75". I worked the reed bed pretty good.

Next I was off to the NW corner of the lake, which was basically a bust until I got to the West side of the intersection. When I was first getting to know Sullivan this was my best spot on the lake. A lot has changed in the area since then and not for the better. I was pleased to see the area looking a bit better than it has for a few years and there were actually fish there. I smoked this 18" on the white Spro Bronzeye Frog up by the bullrushes in a little patch of rice.

I had another fish bite a couple of times in close to the bullrushes but it didn't hook up. I don't think it was a big fish. I started throwing out into the intersection and busted a 17.25" on the Spro in a spot where there was a small patch of pads at the outer edge of the rice. I worked the area hard and missed a few blow ups on the Spro and a Zoom Horny Toad.

It was coming up on 4PM, I was out of water and hungry so I called it quits after having fished across to the North West side of the intersection.

All totalled I got 15, 10 of which were over 12", bass and surprisingly not a single pike.

Eddy's Launch with Dad

Today Dad and I went on the 8AM-Noon Eddy's Launch. Conditions were overcast with some sprinkles with a Nw wind about 4MPH diminishing to about 2MPH by the time we left. Upon leaving the harbor we took a 30+ minute ride to a feature they call Tom's. Our captain Brian said it isn't on any map. All 3 launches went to this spot.

About 3 minutes in my bobber went down, but when I set the hook my drag was too loose and the fish got away. It is bad luck to miss the first fish of the launch and just like the time that happened to me before I got skunked again. I did have one more fish play with my leech but not take it.

At our first stop Dad got the 19 inch walleye in the picture. Walleye's from 18" to 28" are protected so it had to go back. Our first spot only produced sporadic action but we stayed there until the last hour. We moved to a 2nd spot and Dad got a little perch. The second spot wasn't giving up anything and the other two launches had gotten into a good area and so we moved by them. In the last half hour I would say a dozen walleye's were caught on our launch with people missing several others. Neither Dad or I got a bite. We also watched numerous fish get caught on the other two launches. I did make a late switch to get rid of my beads but it didn't help. Our captain did keep us fishing the longest and we got in about 15 minutes after Noon.

First skunk for me on a launch this year. I suppose 75% success isn't bad.

Platte Again

Today was in the mid 80's and mostly sunny. I didn't get on the water until about 6:30PM and I started on docks on the North shore of the bay our cabin is in. There was a slight breeze out of the SW. I've had these docks give nothing, be good, and be very good at one time or another. Tonight they were off. I was in between docks where there is rice and pads plus matted curly leaf pond weed when I got my first pick up on the electric chicken Fluke and I missed it. Real close by I quickly landed a 11.75" and 14.25" on the Fluke. I had a blow up on the Horny Toad in close to shore, but that might have been a pike. I also had a pike stab at the Horny Toad on a cast to the deep edge of the slop. On the very last dock I got a hit at one of the Jet Ski lifts, but I missed it. I cast back in there and got a 10" bass.

Next I headed to the NW corner of the lake to fish reeds,rice, and pads. I got a 11.75" on a watermelon red Zoom Horny Toad, but the rice was such that a white Spro Bronzeye Frog was the better option and that is what I caught all the rest of the fish on. I got a 15" and 12" close to one another and had a fish hit at the frog kind of close to the boat several times. Finally the fish hit and seemed to get the frog, so I set the hook and the frog came flying back at me and the fish made a huge boil. My guess is that it was a big dogfish that pulled the frog down by the legs. I was working my way North when I got a 14.25", 13.25" and this thick 16.25" which was in the slop close to the shore.

As it was getting dark I proceeded to hit what has traditionally been the best stretch of water, but both the reeds and rice are more sparse then they have been and all I got was an 11 incher.

The mosquito's were getting bad and nothing was hitting so I headed out around 9:30PM.

I did get 1 pike on the NW end with the Spro.

In the Boat on Platte Lake.

Today I got my gear together, so I could start fishing out of the Trophy again. I headed to the lake around 5PM, but forgot the bag with the camera. Once there I got the boat loaded and messed around with my tackle for a little bit. A fish busted a long cast out front of Sherman's (neighbor to our East) in the rice. I was able to make the cast and it hit, but I came up empty. This incident lured me putting the trolling motor down and heading in that direction. I wasn't off in the boat until 6PM. There was quite a bit of activity in the slop but nothing was going after the white Spro Bronzeye Frog. I worked to the reed bed and then I started pitching a jig to holes in the curly leaf pond weed as I worked my way back West. Nothing was happening so I slided in and fished a couple of docks, getting a hit on a bubblegum Super Fluke from a little pike. A lab had been playing in the water at the next dock down the line, so I decided to head to the reed bed off of the end of the North point of Channel Inn Bay. I started out at the tip and worked my way towards shore.

My first fish was a 26" Pike that hit a brownish Lethal Weapon 2 Jig with watermelon Zoom Speed Craw. A few casts later I got hung on a reed and as I was trying to pull it free my line snapped about 15 feet out from the end of the rod. I went and retrieved the jig. I quickly re-tied and got back to casting. I had a hit and set the hook and once again my 30lb Power Pro snapped, this time about 5 feet off the end of the rod tip. I picked up my other swim jig rod that had a blue/pink Monsoor Swim Jig with Action Plastics 5" Super Mag Grub and cast back to the same area and got a hit but the fish got off. I headed to that area and I was able to find the tag end of the line and retrieve the jig again, no fish. I think I'm going to have to give those guides a thorough inspection with a cotton swab, as that I didn't see any trouble spots. It could be weak spots caused by backlashes. I through the Spro Bronzeye up by shore in the rice and reeds and had a hit but it didn't hook up.

After thoroughly fishing the area I started heading to the docks. I got a pike in very shallow on the rice inside weedline. I thought for sure it was going to be a bass. On the first dock I caught a 11.75" bass on a white Zoom Horny Toad. At the next dock I made a good cast and had a fish hit, but I missed it on the hookset and was unable to get it to bite again. Got nothing on the last dock.

It was about 8:30PM now so I decided to hit my best docks to the West of the Platte Lake public access. The first few docks didn't have fish. Finally I got a bite on the Fluke but the fish was swimming right towards me after it picked up the Fluke and I got a crappy hookset and missed the fish. On the next dock I got a bite and promptly broke my line, seemingly at the knot. I cast at the heart of the dock with a Zoom Horny Toad putting my line through part of the dock up off the water and backlashing a little bit. I got my line situation straightened out and there was a fish on the end of the line. I really didn't get a hook set, but the fish hooked up anyway. I tried to pull the fish up and over the part of the dock I had gone through, but that didn't work so I had to go over with the trolling motor and grab it. The bass was 15.25".

I got the Horny Toad re-rigged and decided to throw it out around a patch of weeds (cabbage with sparce rice and reeds) that was out towards the lake. I had what I believe to be a huge bass blow up on the Horny Toad but it missed it. I made repeat casts with the Toad, but it wouldn't hit again. As I fan casted the area I had a pike break me off. Next I started throwing the blue/pink Monsoor Swim Jig. I had a little bass follow it to the boat. I had a fish hit in the vicinity of where I got the blow up, but it didn't hook up. I retied a watermelon Horny Toad and electric chicken Super Fluke. I was throwing the Toad out towards those weeds when I had a pike bite off both legs. I kept using the Toad and got a 12.5" bass. I decided to throw in at the dock again with the Fluke and had a hit, but I missed the hook set. The sun was starting to get low and I wanted to get to where the slop starts so I decided to move on. I had several blow ups on the Toad and eventually coaxed a 15.25" bass to hit after it missed the first time. The Toad was wasted and I lost it while catching in a bunch of weeds.

Next I started throwing a clown Spro Bronzeye Frog. I went with the clown cause I was worried about pike and I have several clown Bronzeyes. I got to where the rice, reeds, and pads, get thicker and missed a fish that very well might have been a dogfish right next to the boat. I started working my way down the reed edge out towards the lake and was rewarded with a 15.25" and 15.75" both on the Spro. It was quite dark by the time I headed back in. The mosquito's really were not bad at all.

Snatcher Farm Island Tournament

Sunday, June 20th was the 2nd Baxter Bass Snatcher tournament of the year and it was held on Farm Island Lake, north of Garrison Minnesota. The weather was mostly cloudy in the morning turning to mostly sunny in the afternoon. It was calm for a good part of the day and when there was wind it was under 5MPH.

Some days you got it and some days you don't. This tournament day I didn't.

Nate and I started the tournament day running to the South end of the lake to fish docks. Nate started catching fish immediately. I didn't get a bit until our 2nd stop of docks and when I set the hook my line broke at the knot and I'm pretty sure it wasn't a pike. The 2nd row of docks didn't produce any fish, so we went back to the 1st run only expanded a little.

My first bass of the day was a short from under a dock. Quickly after that one, I got a 12.75" largie on the bubblegum Super Fluke from a dock. My next fish was 12.5 and came from the reeds right where my boater had pulled out a fish. I also missed another bite in that same spot after I had caught the 1st one.

Next, we went to more reeds and I had a fish slap at my white Zoom Horny Toad. I cast back and it took it. Fish #3 was 13.75" and would be my biggest of the day.

Next, we ran some docks and reeds on the East side of the lake, but that was unproductive, so we headed out to try what was a popular weedline area. Here I got a 13.5" and barely 12-inch squeaker on a watermelon blue fleck Strike King KVD Pro-Model Tube. My partner got his two best fish of the day here on a jig worm.

Next, we ran some docks on the West side of the lake. We had a guy come out and harass us about fishing his dock. While we were fishing his dock I noticed what turned out to be a nice bass sitting out from his fishing boat lift in shallow water. At first, I thought it was something on the bottom. I made a cast and the fish swam around and then to my Fluke and sucked it in. I set the hook and the lure came flying back at me. I quickly re-threaded the Fluke and cast back but the fish just swam away and disappeared. I think it was at least a 2 and a half-pound fish, which would have been about a pound bigger than anything I caught.

Next, we went back to the popular weedline area and I got my limit fish which was 12.75" and caught on the KVD tube. We worked the weedline for quite a while but it had gotten sunny and calm and things got really slow.

Eventually, we went to the West side of the lake and worked some docks and reeds. I got a 13" and 13.75" cull in the reeds on the Super Fluke and I missed one good bite.

Next, we went to some of the best looking, best fishing slop you could ever want to fish. I got a 12" that didn't help right away, but then it was nothing except one strike from a small pike. The slop bay had some size to it and with the hot sun it had warmed the water quite a bit and I ended up with 3 fish dying and my partner lost several as well.

We hit the weedline one more time without any luck and closed out in some deep reed with a bit of wind blowing on them. I got a bass that didn't help on a swim jig.

My weight came to 8lbs even and I had 6os in dead fish penalties, but that didn't cost me anything. I ended up in 23rd out of 26 anglers which pretty much equals my worst finishes of the previous 2 seasons. My boater Nate had 13lbs 7ozs with a 6oz dead fish penalty that didn't cost him either. He finished 5th. 1st Place was 15lbs 1oz and caught by the previous two years BBS "Mr. Bass," the mercurial Mr. Dennis Lothspeich.

Analysis: I wish I had this day to do over. Missed fish certainly hurt me as did a lack of preparation and imagination. In terms of preparation, I really wish I would have brought a jig worm rod instead of the pitching rod that I didn't end up using. My lack of imagination has to do with my not trying to use rattle baits, chatterjigs, and maybe trying a couple of other things on those weedline spots, also had I tried pitching a jig in the reeds, maybe I would have come out better.

10 More Bullheads

I decided to try my luck at the "Grumpy Old Man Hole" once again tonight. I arrived at about 8:30PM and I was delighted no one was there. I started out with bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke close to the bridge and I quickly reeled in 3 smallish jumpin bullheads. I made a cast out towards the channel buoy's and landed another jumpin bullhead. One more by the bridge and I had to go to the car to get a new fluke. This time I grabbed a pearl that was kind of dark instead of shiny white. I landed 3 more jumpin bullheads on the Fluke including this nice 3lber.


I also got a toothy bullhead.


I capped off the night with this 2lb+ frog fish.

GOMH Quick 10

Seeing as how fishing was so good last night at the "Grumpy Old Man Hole", I decided to hit it up again first thing this morning. I went right to the NE side.

My first cast was with a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke and it got nothing. On my second or third cast a bullhead took it pretty close to shore. I let the fish run a bit before setting the hook, but all I got back was the hook. That was my only Fluke, so I switched rods to a Northland Tackle Jungle Jig Loc Jig with dark smoke with green fleck Gander Mtn Tube. That was the ticket and I quickly proceeded to catch 10 jumpin bullheads. The smallest was around 10" and the biggest was about 15" with most being around 13.5." On average a little smaller than those I got last night.

After about 35 minutes of fishing, things slowed down and it started to sprinkle and nature called, so I dipped.

GOMH BAM!!!

Due to the rain we have had lately I went to the lake place to check and see if I needed to pump water from the boat. I didn't. Naturally I make a few casts at the lake place but didn't have any luck. Next I went to Don W's but the wind was blowing there pretty good and all I got was 1 bite from a sunfish on my Strike King KVD Pro-Model Tube black with red fleck. So off I went to the GOMH and when I arrived no one was there. I started off on the SE side and didn't get any hits on the tube or a Snagproof Frog. I crossed the road to the NE side and it was game on.

My first couple of casts under the bridge didn't get me anything, so I cast across the channel towards the bridge rip rap. I felt some weight and waited until there was a couple of tugs at the rod tip before I set the hook. The fish jumped and I knew I had a good one, which I landed.

NICE BULLHEAD!!!

For once I didn't have a ruler or scale, but it was 18+ and had to be a 4lb fish. It was a brutus bullhead with big shoulders and fat belly. Very healthy fish.

I proceeded to whack 12 more on the tube with a single 12 incher and the rest being 13 to 15.5" with most around 14.5". The tube got so the screw in was no good anymore, so I just texas rigged it on the Northland Tackle Jungle Jig Loc Jig. I did lose 2 bullheads that spit the hook on jumps and 1 that spit it at the waters surface.

I now have lots of confidence in that Northland jig head.

Don's Dock Dogfish

Pete and I went to fish at Don W's after the days thunderstorms had moved through. My mission was simple. Try to catch a few fish on the Northland Tackle Jungle Jig Loc Jig. I had just bought these jigs at Reeds, to see how they would work with bass tubes.

The first fish of the night was this dogfish caught by Don


A little while later I felt a fish pick up the tube and set the hook into a 11 inch bass. About 15 minutes later I got another bite and caught a 13.5" bass. About 15 minutes after that I got another bite and caught this 14" bass.

I did get one more hit, but the fish jumped and threw the jig after I set the hook. 3 for 4 with fish on the jig made me happy.

Pete and Don did catch a few mostly small sunfish. Don was trying more for crappies or he might have caught more fish.

Eddy's Launch With Pete

Today Pete and I went out on the Eddy's Morning Fishing Launch. The original launch we were scheduled to be on was from 8AM-Noon, but Eddy's was over run with people wanting to go out and called in a 2nd Captain to go out from 8:30AM-12:30PM. Pete and I jumped on that ship hoping there would be less people and when all was said and done there were maybe 4 or 5 less people on this 2nd launch. Another reason we jumped ship was because we didn't get the back of the launch on the 1st boat.

We left the harbor right around 8:30AM and I was a bit surprised once we got out a ways from shore just how big the rollers on the lake were. We headed out to a spot SW of Indian Point near a rise that comes up to 25ft of water out of about 28 feet of water. We weren't there long and a guy close to me got a good bite, but didn't get a good hook set. A couple of minutes later a teenage kid caught what I thought was a keeper, but maybe not as I would have the only two keepers in the bucket at the end of the day.

I was the next person to strike with a 17+ inch keeper that hit when I dropped the leech on his head with a cast. About 3 seconds after the bobber stop reached the bobber the bobber then went down. A couple of more eyes got caught that were too big, including another fish for the kid that got the first fish. Pete got in on the action with a 12incher that he threw back. We were about 2 hours in and the action had slowed and we were being surrounded by other boats so the Captain decided to move us about 100 yards closer to Indian Point and out of the other boats. Problem was that with the wind and waves the anchor didn't hold on either of two tries. The Captain then decided to go to another spot closer to the western shoreline. When we started to move off, Pete got his line caught on the depth finder transducer, he was eventually able to get it free.

At the 2nd location a few perch came in the boat, then a walleye that was to big. I had a fish, presumably a perch, chew my leech pretty good so I got a new leech. My new leech wasn't out long when I connected with my 2nd keeper of the day, a 16+ inch eye. Pete had some nibbles and I had a good hit that stole my leech. Pete and I both got a few more nibbles before the Captain called it quits about 20 minutes early.

When we got back this was my haul:

While the fish were getting cleaned Pete decided to go for some Eddy's Jetty's Jumbo's.

Here you can see Rainbow Island in the background. Actually in the original pic you could see Indian Point to, but Blogger didn't accept how I had the picture cropped. Pete did catch a few small perch.

June Night Don's Dock

Went with Pete to Don W.'s to fish on a beautiful evening. When we got there around 7:45 Don was already on the dock. Right away I caught this little pike on a black with red fleck 4" bass tube.
Pete wasn't even down to the dock yet.

Pete bought a rod down with a buzzbait and was fishing it sub-surface and caught a little bass and this crappie.


Don started catching some pumpkinseeds and bluegills, so Pete switched to that and eventually I did as well cause the tube had to be fished kind of fast off bottom or it would get "green goop" on it.

Yes I did catch a few small bluegills on a Custom Jigs and Spins Glow Demon with white Berkley Powerbait Wiggler.


Pete and Don did get a few keeper sunfish for Don. Don also caught and kept this largie.


We were treated to a beautiful sunset and when it got dark the mosquito's came out in force. Overall it wasn't a bad outing as we all caught a few fish.

PS Pete and Don also got a couple of perch.

Mille LACKS Again!

Tonight I hit up Eddy's Jetty and Cemetery Jetty from about 6:30PM until dark. I missed one hit at Eddy's. There was a guy fishing carp at Cemetery Jetty and he said he saw largemouth and smallmouth swimming by all day long, nothing huge, but good fish.

Quick Morning GOMH

I was awake at the crack of dawn so I decided to hit up the GOMH for a quick trip. When I got there another guy who was sucker fishing for pike had just set up on the SW side so I took the SE side.

Right away I got a little toothy bullhead on a red/black Terminator Top Secret Jig, but that would be my only bite on the SE side. Just as I was picking up my stuff to head to the NE side a car pulled up that happened to be John W. We both went to the NE side. He fished down on the rocks toward the bridge and I cast out from the concrete.

I managed this one 14.5" jumpin bullhead:
It took a "tweety" Bobby's Perfect Frog out in open water by the first channel buoys.

John ended up getting a jumpin bullhead that was a little bigger than mine.

Snatcher Whitefish Tournament

Saturday, June 5th, 2010 was my first Baxter Bass Snatchers Club bass tournament of the year. This tournament was held on the Whitefish Chain, which is about a half-hour north of Brainerd Minnesota. The weather was overcast most of the time and we did have a couple of light sprinkles. There was little wind in the morning, but by afternoon it was blowing pretty good out of the West.

My original drawn boater had boat trouble, so I was given a new partner, Chuck Steinbauer. Chuck is "Mr. Baxter Bass Snatchers". I believe he has been in the club since it started in 1977 and has been Club "Mr. Bass" 10 Times. He has finished in the State Tournament qualifying Top 6, 29 times and he has won 35 club tournaments, including 3 of them on the Whitefish Chain. I had no doubt I would be around fish all day, but on the other hand, Chuck has a reputation for being hard to catch fish behind.

Like most tournaments, we blasted off about 15-20 minutes before the scheduled 7AM start time. We headed North out of Lower Hay for a short run to Delta Bay where Chuck had some rice and docks he wanted to hit real quick. I didn't even have a cast made and Chuck had a bass in the boat. I think it was under 12" thus too small to keep. The rice didn't give up anything else, so we headed to the docks, which gave Chuck a keeper or two.

We were quickly off to go look at some smallmouth beds. Another Bass Snatcher boat was at our next stop and he claimed that he caught the fish that were there. So off we went to another smallmouth spot. The smallies were not here either, but we both caught a couple of rock bass. Our next stop was again for smallmouth in Big Trout Lake. Another boat was on Chuck's best spot and they told us someone else had already fished and caught a few off of where we settled to fish. We both started catching a bunch of rock bass and I got a little pike as well. Chuck did get one small smallmouth blind casting a Senko and I think maybe he picked up one smallmouth off a bed with a tube.

Next, we went fishing some docks and I picked up a 14.5" smallie on an electric chicken Zoom Super Fluke and a 14.75 smallie on a watermelon red&black fleck Strike King Ocho (Senko). Unfortunately, another club boat was coming towards us and so we took off and out of Big Trout. We stopped in a nice little weedy area in Lower Whitefish and Chuck pulled a couple of keepers, which were to small for his liking so we took off. We headed to another weed area in Bertha Lake which looked awesome, but I think only gave Chuck 1 little keeper and me a couple of rock bass.

Next, we went to one of Chuck's bedded smallmouth and it was still there and Chuck caught his biggest fish of the day. Next, we made a run up to Arrowhead Lake to go fish some docks. I thought the stuff in between the docks looked pretty good, but Chuck was quickly hopping from one dock to another. I threw a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke into one of the holes in the grass between docks and promptly got bit off, so I switched rods to the Ocho. Chuck caught a keeper off a dock and had me go to the front while he culled. This was my chance to work the stuff between the docks and it didn't take long until my best fish of the day a 16.5inch 2lb 14oz largie ate my Ocho. Chuck got back on the front of the boat and that would be my only fish out of Arrowhead.

Next, we ran to one specific dock on Upper Whitefish but nothing was there, so we went to check a smallie bed. As Chuck was looking for a fish on a bed I made a cast and had the pearl 5" grub tail bit off my swim jig. There was another smallmouth bed and I had found it. I didn't really have anything handy to throw back at the fish, so Chuck worked it with his tube and eventually got the 2 and a half pound smallie to bite. That was a critical gain for him and a critical bit of bad luck for me.

Next, we went back to the first smallmouth spot we had stopped in the morning and there was a good fish there, but it quickly spooked and didn't come back. We worked the area and Chuck did catch a little smallmouth which did cull a smaller largemouth.

Chuck made the decision to make the long run to Cross Lake and on our way there we made a couple of stops on what I think was Lower Whitefish at some docks with rocks. In one of the spots I pulled a smallie that was just over the 12-inch minimum length on a swim jig and off the next dock I picked off a chunky largie that I thought for sure would keep, but it was just under 12".

So we were off to fish docks in Cross and although the fishing was off and Chuck chaulked it up as a mistake; I managed to fill my limit with a 13" largie and 12.75" largie from the docks.

We made the run back up to Whitefish and by this time the wind was blowing pretty good, so we headed to a saddle with rocks with the wind blowing on it. I picked up my wht/chart Mille Lacs smallie killer 3/16oz Strike King Spinnerbait and was quickly rewarded with a solid hit, which turned out to be a 16.25" smallie. Unfortunately, I was unable to pick up any more fish on the spinnerbait.

We went back into Bertha, and I managed a small cull with a 13.25 largemouth caught on a smoke tube. Once again we went back to that first smallie spot, but no one was home. So we went to work at our starting spot in Delta Bay, where I got a few pike to show themselves but that was it and the day was up.

My 6 fish went for 11lbs 1oz, which put me in 10th Place. This is my 3rd best showing out of the 13 Bass Snatchers tournaments I've fished and definitely my best start to a year.

Chuck had 12lbs 1oz which put him in 5th. We were the 2nd best boat in terms of total weight.

A Couple Mille Lacs Smallies

Since I put together a couple boxes of Smallmouth Tackle for the Bass Snatchers Whitefish Chain tournament tomorrow I figured I'd go and use some of the stuff tonight at Mille Lacs. These are the results:


The first and biggest bass is 17.25" and the smaller one is 13". They both hit on the spinnerbait in the first two pictures.

Just as I threw out a Rapala subwalk at least one big smallie and maybe more started busting baitfish right in front of me close in to the rocks. I quickly reeled in the Subwalk and cast it in the area, but the fish didn't want it and by the time I changed rods they were gone.

Short Platte Trip

Tonight I got out for a little over an hour before it got dark. It was overcast with about a 3MPH wind out of the SE.

My first spot was to try the biggest reed bed in Platte's big center bay. In the reeds I got the picture fish (13" largie) on a brown (sparrow) Snagproof Bobby's Perfect Frog.; Not too much later a pike stole that frog, so I tied on on red/brown Bobby's Perfect. A bass was messing with the frog but didn't take it, so I pitched back to the spot with a swim jig and I got my second bass which was a 13.5". Next I caught a 20" pike on a "electric chicken" Zoom Super Fluke. While I was in the reeds I think most of the strikes I got came from pike.

On my way out of the reeds I threw the Fluke at a dock and got a 14.5" largie.

Next I headed to the reeds at the South side of the big Island hoping I could get something going there. Not long after I stopped a pike ripped the Zoom Horny Toad I was throwing to shreds and that was pretty much the extent of my action for the night.

Mille LACKs

Looks like those smallies might have moved on.

June 1 Mille Lac-TION

I slept in today and had to pick up pills in Onamia, so I figured I would hit up Eddy's Jetty and Cemetery Jetty. I think I arrived at Eddy's at about 6:15PM and I went right to were I caught the smallies on Sunday, the corner of the North Jetty. The wind was blowing in again at about 8MPH out of the NW, pretty much the same as Sunday night. I started off throwing a wht/chart with wht&chart willow blade 3/16oz Strike King Spinnerbait. On about the 10th cast it was "Fish On!!!".



The fish went 18.5" and was the biggest of the night.

A few casts later I hooked up with a 15.25" smallie that was bleeding like crazy when I got it in even though the hook was in the side of it's mouth. I got it back in the water ASAP and didn't take any pictures of the fish. On the very next cast I brought in this 16" fish.


A few casts later I nailed this 18" fish.


The fish stopped biting and so I tried 2 different swim jigs, a blk/blue Strike King Pure Poison Chatterjig, a wht Rapala Subwalk which got a hit but it didn't hook up, a old school Berkley Frenzy Jerkbait, a wht Lucky Craft Pointer 100, a Storm Kickin' Stick Swimbait, and a Strike King Sexy Swimmer Swimbait and back to the spinnerbait without success, so I headed off to the South Jetty.

Went through a bunch of stuff at the South Jetty and didn't get a hit, so I went back to the North Jetty corner with the spinnerbait and got this 17.5"


It was after 7:30PM and the wind had picked up, so I decided to head off to the Cemetery Jetty. Much to my surprise I didn't get any wood ticks crawling on me on the walk out to the tip of the Jetty. I also didn't get a single bite. Didn't get any ticks on my trip back to the car.

I went back to Eddy's but the wind was blowing about 12MPH almost straight in out of the East. I tried a bunch of things but didn't get a hit. I decided to start trying for walleyes after the sun had set, but I started getting wet from the waves crashing in and so I called it quits.