Platte Lake Sept 30th: Avoided the Skunk

Tonight I got out from about 6PM until dark around 7:30PM. Today was near 70 degrees with a 10MPH W NW wind. The wind steadily diminished and was non-existent by 7PM.

I headed out to the Big West Bay (Platte Public Access Bay) and planned to fish water that I caught 3 fish on Tuesday Night. I started quite a ways West of the area I got the fish and drifted with the wind along the sparse but definite rice edge. Right away I missed a hit from what I think was a small pike. I threw a Herb's Dilly, Buzzjet Jr., Repo Man, Texas rigged Yum Wooly Bug, and a spinnerbait. Nothing was happening and there was very little surface activity, whereas on Tuesday night there was a fair amount.

At around 7PM when the sunset I bailed to try the North side of the bay by the maidencaine. As I was getting close to the start of the rice I saw some rings in the first area of rice. I shut it down and started fishing a pumpkin Zoom Horny Toad. On about my 4th cast it got nailed by a big bass, but I didn't hook up. A few casts later I had a little pike harass the Horny Toad. I saw a little bit of movement on the surface and quickly moved to cast in that area. I made several casts with nothing, but on about the 5th cast something waked behind the bait, so I killed it and the fish took it. I set the hook and landed a 18" bass.

A couple minutes later I had a 15" class bass blast the Horny Toad, on my hookset the fish skipped across the water which caused it to get loose. I got a hit a few casts later and landed a little pike. That was my last bite.

Platte Lake Sept 29th: Slow But a Couple of Toads

Today I fished from about 4PM to 7:15PM. Conditions a first were mostly cloudy with a 15-20MPH wind out of the NW. About 6:00PM the sun came out and by 6:30 the wind died down to nothing. Temps were in the mid to high 60's. It turned into a beautiful night for fishing.

To get out of the wind I headed to the NW corner of the lake and I went shallow. I started off in the reeds near a rice bed that was practically non-existent at this point. Right away I got a small pike on a green/yellow Herbs Dilly Buzzbait. I moved up very close to shore into pads and sparse rice and scored a 13.25" bass on a watermelon red Zoom Horny Toad. As I moved North I got a 24" pike on the Horny Toad, which came off during the fight. I went a long way in great looking water with nothing. I wasn't seeing any fish activity at all.

I got to a spot that has traditionally been good where there is pads and rice that give way to reeds and sparse rice. I cast into the reeds with a pumpkin Zoom Horny Toad when I brought it out into the open space before the pads start a fish blew up and missed 10 feet from the boat. I figured it was a pike, but cast back anyway. The fish blew up on it again about 6 feet from the boat. I quickly discovered it wasn't a pike, but a big bass.
She went 20" and looked to be a touch over 5lbs on my Rapala spring scale, which I believe is pretty accurate. This is my biggest largemouth in several years.

I ended up working out of the reeds and into the deeper sparse rice when I had a swirl on the Herb's Dilly. I cast back a couple of times but it wouldn't go. So I cast back in with a crawdad color Yum Wooly Bug. The fish hit just as I got into some weeds and it didn't hook up. I cast back and it flashed but didn't get it. I was right next to the boat and it flashed again but missed. I saw it was a nice pike. I just kept shaking it right next to the boat and finally it slammed it and hooked up, fortunately with the hook safely in the side of it's mouth. It put up a good battle and finally I netted it.
The fish went 31".

Conditions basically got perfect about 20 minutes before sunset and the stuff I was fishing looked awesome, but it was totally dead water. Didn't get another bite.

Platte Lake Sept 28th

Today I got out from about 4 to 7:15PM. Air temps were in the low 60's with sun and it was pretty much calm until about 7PM when a 5MPH wind came up out of the E SE.

All my equipment was at the lake, so I didn't fish Jenny's. Off the dock I had a strike in the exact same spot I got a pike yesterday, but the fish didn't hook up and didn't go after any follow up casts.

I headed out in the boat and my first stop was at the reed bed off the North point of Channel Inn Bay. There was some activity off the deep edge of the reeds, so I started there. I had a nice bass come completely out of the water as it hit the green/yellow Herb's Dilly Buzzbait but it didn't hook up. I was seeing some activity off the reeds on the weed flat so I went that way. My first fish was a 14.25" largie on the Herb's Dilly. I also got a pike out there on a bluegill Deps Buzzjet Jr. Eventually I got back to the reeds and in closer to shore where it looked awesome but there were not any fish. I started working North and picked a 11.75" largie from open shoreline by where a dock used to sit. I kept working around the point to the west. This water was now shaded and the docks were worthless. I did get a couple of hits between docks on the Buzzjet Jr. but the fish didn't hook up.

Eventually I decided to motor farther West to some docks that have historically been better; They weren't. I decided to go deeper onto the flat into some reeds. I started seeing some activity. I had a 15" largie jump all over the Buzzjet Jr. in the sparse reeds. I worked west to where there were the remains of a rice bed. I nailed a 18.25" largie just before the sparse rice.

I did work into the rice edge with the Herb's Dilly but didn't get bit.

I decided to motor back to the weed flat reeds. The wind had come up at this point. I was throwing my new jet black Buzzjet and had a pike come out of the water after it but not hook up. Eventually I switched to the Paycheck Baits Repo Man and I got a 13.25" largie and a small pike on that. It was getting dark and the fish seemed to shut down so I headed in.

Platte Lake Sept 27th

It was a nice day. 70+ degrees, partly cloudy to cloudy, and a 10 to 15mph West NW wind. I got out around 3:30PM.

First stop was Jenny's and I got bit of by a pike on a white Sizmic Toad.

Off the dock at the Lake Place I got a 22" pike on a wht/silver Herb's Dilly Buzzbait. I took the boat and mostly drifted towards Jenny's fishing a watermelon red Horny Toad and a green/yellow Herb's Dilly. I only got a couple of hits and didn't hook anything.

Around 6PM I moved to the North side of our bay to try around some docks. At the first dock I think I missed a fish. On the second dock I had a bass flash on my brand new bluegill Deps Buzzjet Jr. but it didn't get it. I pitched back in with a crawdad color Yum Wooly Bug and on about my 4th cast it got picked up and I got a 13+" bass. On the next dock down I pulled 2 bass on an electric chicken Zoom Super Fluke. Next came a big open area with scattered weeds between docks. I was throwing the bluegill Deps Buzzjet Jr. when it got crushed by this 15.75" largie.
In this open area I also got a 14" largie and a pike on the Buzzjet Jr. Also had a couple of blow ups that I missed.

On the next dock I got this 15+ bass, obviously on the Buzzjet Jr.


I pretty much worked to the bend South and didn't get any hits, then I quickly worked the reeds in the area I missed that big one a couple of weeks ago. Then I headed to the place I got a 19+" last week. There was baitfish activity and a couple of big swirls that I was able to cast too fairly quickly, but those fish wouldn't hit. It got dark and I went in.

Fishers of Men Club Twin Cities Fall Outing Report

(FallEE WallEE the Fall Outing Tournament Trophy)

On Friday it was cold very windy and wet in the morning. Nobody wanted to go out in it. Around 1PM it dried up, still overcast, and I was willing to go out but nobody with a boat wanted too.

On Saturday I fished with Gary Pflipsen on Mule Lake. Conditions were clear, then cloudy, then clear again with little to no wind and it got warm enough that I fished for about 3 hours in a T-shirt.

When Gary and I arrived we motored a fair ways North of the access and started fishing the West shoreline. I got the first fish which was this largemouth.
It bit on a green pumpkin Strike King Pro Model tube on a leadhead jig. Gary got then next bass which was a 15+ largie caught off a dock. I got another decent bass on the tube. I was missing a few bites.

In the calm and overcast I started throwing topwater and I caught an 18" pike on a Lucky Craft Gunfish. Gary caught a nice mid 20" pike off a dock with a Senko. Finally we got down to the Narrows and on the North point I got largies number 3 & 4 on a PB&J Yum Wooly Bug. 4 Bass was the limit for bass in the FallEE WallEE Tournament. I believe bass #4 was 15" and my biggest of the day. To the East of the narrows we started seeing a lot of baitfish activity on the surface so I started throwing topwater. I got an 8" largie on a clear bluegill Deps Buzzjet Jr. I put on a motor oil Yum Wooly Bug and caught my second pike which was a meager 14 inches long. 2 was the tournament limit on pike and it was this fish that won me the top spot for 2010 on FallEE WallEE. I caught one more 11" largie on the bluegill Deps Buzzjet Jr. and a 12" largie off a dock on the Strike King tube.

When the sun came out in the afternoon the fishing got tough and I didn't catch any more fish.

As it turns out fishing was kind of tough on everybody. Several of the guys had their 4 bass, but didn't get there limit of pike. Because of this and Gary Pflipsen and Mike Thompson not participating in the tournament I won the top spot on FallEE WallEE. Gordy got second and Jim Druk got 3rd. Gordy was fishing out of his new boat on Boy Lake and Jim got his fish on Three Island Lake fishing with minnows.

Tough, But A Good 1

In anticipation of the rain we are suppose to be getting, Dad and I pulled the dock up on to shore about 8 feet, so it won't be underwater. We got done with that around 2PM and I went out fishing.

Conditions: Overcast with a 8-12MPH East wind. At times it seemed like it was more SE and at other times more NE.

I started fishing across the bay in the reeds where I missed a big fish a little over a week ago. The reeds were dead and I don't think I even had a hit.

Next I went to a slop patch on the North End of the big middle bay. I was throwing the same Herb's Dilly buzzbait as yesterday, when it got plastered by a good one.
It was 19.25" .

Down the way a little bit I got a 13.5" close to a dock on the Dilly. I worked down to the last slop patch which is basically nothing but a few pads at this point.

Next I moved all the way around the point to the NE bay where it was calm. There was some activity in this spot but all I could raise was pike. I didn't catch any. I made a move to fish the entrance to the North middle bay. I got a 13.5" on the Dilly along some bullrushes by shore and got a 14" on the Dilly in some rice with reeds. Fished some good looking pads and rice but nothing was going. On the back side of the maidencaine I got a little pike. Next I moved to where I got the big one yesterday but the whole area was totally dead, not even a pike strike. I decided to call it a day a little after 5PM

Herb's Dilly Day

Today I was out on Platte Lake from about 2PM to 6:15PM

Conditions were overcast with W NW wind blowing 8 to 18MPH

My first stop was Jenny's from shore and I had a hit on a Sizmic Toad almost up on shore. I didn't set the hook, so I don't know if it was a bass or pike.

Next I headed to the lake place and got the boat ready. I decided with the West wind to just drift the slop to the East of our lake place. Two docks down I got a 13.75" bass on the white Sizmic Toad. As I rounded the corner I had something big follow the Toad to the boat. I wasn't paying attention and didn't realise something was up until there was a big boil just after I pulled the Toad out of the water.

I decided to try a Herb's Dilly buzzbait and I had a couple of strikes right away that didn't hook up. Then I caught 14", 15", and a 15.25" and a pike. The fish definitely wanted that buzzbait. I missed a couple of more strikes. I worked my way out of the slop, then decided to go right back into a boat lane. I made a good cast into an open area in some thick stuff and was rewarded with a 15.5" largie. I had a swirl and I cast back with a Title Shot Jig with white/red Strike King Bleeding Bait Flippen Tube. The fish nailed it, but I missed the hook set. I cast back in and it got picked up, but I missed it again and it was gone. I worked the area with the Dilly. As I was ripping it out of the weeds I had a Norman Speed Clip malfunction and the Dilly disappeared. I got right to the spot, but the water was just to weedy, murky, and deep for me to get it back. Stupid mistake on my part not tying direct as soon as it was clear the fish were on the Dilly. As far as I know the Herb's Dilly with a normal buzzbait blade are not made anymore and losing one totally sucks. Fortunately I have several I picked up on Ebay and I just put on another one in the exact same color green with yellow skirt.

It was about 4PM and I decided to make a move to the North end of the big West bay across from the Public Access on Platte. Right away I was rewarded with a 14" and 13.75" bass on a Snagproof "Buck Nasty" (brown) Ish's Phat Frog. I had a fish follow the Dilly out from the bullrushes. I cast back at the follow with the Strike King Tube and the fish hit. It was about a 23" pike. I worked my way around the bullrushes. I was casting towards the last patch of rushes that are out from shore when the water erupted on the Dilly. I knew it was a good one immediately. It stayed hooked up and I landed this 19.5" which was just under 5lbs.

I had a couple more good opportunities with the Dilly. One I think was a big pike but I couldn't hook up or they just boiled on it. My final fish was a Pike on the Sizmic Toad.

As I headed out of the junk I decided to throw my new Lunker Punker on the edge of the maidencaine. Can't say I'm real impressed with the thing, but I did have a small pike swirl on it.

I'm now 3 for 4 on fish with the Ish's Phat Frog.

Mille Lacs Skunk

Tried for some smallies today for about an hour from Eddy's Jetty (5:30-6:30PM). Didn't have a hit. Did get to try the Paycheck Baits Repo Man and a Deps Buzzjet Jr. I really like both and think they will be good for picking off fish. The Repo Man has a super smooth gliding walk the dog action that I've never seen before.

Platte Pike with Pete

Today Pete and I got out around 3PM until about 8PM. Conditions were partly cloudy with a 5 to 12MPH West wind. Was windier earlier than later. Forgot the camera.

First we drifted off the weeds down past Jenny's. I got 2 small pike on a blue/white Strike King Burner Spinnerbait.

Then we went to the East shore of the Big Island and fished from the middle corner around to the West shoreline most of the way up. We were getting a few pike here and there and got several in one concentrated area on the back of the island. We decided to work ourselves back over the productive water going South. I caught 3 largies and Pete got 1. I got a couple of more pike on the South end of the island.

I think I ended up with 8 Pike and those 3 bass which were not bigger than 14". All my fish were caught on the Burner. I think Pete caught 8 Pike and the bass. When we got in Jim's grandson Landon was coming in. He said he just hammered small to medium sized bass on a buzzbait, getting a few fish on docks. He was fishing on the North end of the lake, protected from the wind for much of his fishing.

About An Hours Worth

Today I fished for about an hour maybe a little more.

Conditions were overcast with a bit of drizzle and 10MPH winds out of the E SE.

First stop was at Jenny's, nothing.

Next I went to the lake to get the boat. Fished around the dock first with a white Sizmic Toad and didn't get any hits. Got the boat ready to go, only bringing 4 rods. 2x Ish Phat Frog's, 1 Sizmic Toad, and Fin-Tech Title Shot Jig with wht/red Strike King Bleeding Bait Flippen Tube.

I didn't fire up the big motor and just started moving East fishing into the wind. I basically worked my way far enough to know, nothing was happening in this slop. So I decided to head across the bay to the reeds where I missed the big one last night.

I was hoping the wind was more out of the NE so this area would be a little protected, but the SE direction meant I would quickly get pushed right into the reeds. As I was drifting through the weeds in the area I missed the big one last night, I had a fish swirl on the "Iced Out" blue Ish's Phat Frog. This happened really close to the boat, so I followed up with the tube and think it got swiped at by a pike. I continued to drift through the reeds and had a small pike come flying out of the water after "Iced Out". On probably the next cast a fish boiled about 10 feet in front of the boat. I was kind of out of the wind at this point and pretty stationary. I followed up a couple of times with the frog, then the tube. I thought the tube got picked up and I set the hook, nothing. I re-rigged the tube and cast it back. Sure enough it got picked up and this time I hooked the fish and landed a 15.25" largie. I worked the area hard and had one more blow up that didn't get the Phat Frog. The follow up with the tube didn't produce this time, so I think it was probably a pike.

It was getting to be time to leave (Vikings Game) and I decided to go on the inside edge of the reeds to leave. There was a dock there that I decided to fish. I skipped the "Buck Nasty" (brown) Ish's Phat Frog well under the dock and sure enough I heard it get attacked. I set the hook and landed this nice 16".

3 X 15"

Tonight I left the house a little after 5PM to go fishing. Today was sunny and in the high 60's with a fairly light NE breeze. Naturally, I stopped to fish from shore at Jenny's. I had replaced the Mad Maxx frogs with the Snaproof Ish Phat Frogs I got yesterday. On about my third cast I got a backlash and my line broke at the knot sending the "Iced Out" Phat Frog off into the lake. Being that the Phat frogs are not supposed to take in water and sink, I figured I would be able to come back with the boat and find it. I then worked the area with the "Buck Nasty" color Phat Frog and didn't get any hits. At the lake place I did a quick round off the dock with a white Sizmic toad. I got struck by a pike right in front of the dock and it stole one of the Sizmic Toad's legs.

I got my stuff in the boat and headed off to retrieve my frog. Sure enough I found it and got it tied back on and I started fishing with it. I probably fished for 20 minutes without a single hit and it was pretty clear to me that these fish were off. I decided to go across the lake and fish docks.

Before I got to the docks I decided to hit the Southern edge of a big reed bed. I wasn't getting anything when I noticed a some fish movement. I cast past the spot and brought the Phat frog slowly into the area. All of a sudden a big bass (4+ I'm sure) comes completely out of the water as it hits the frog. The fish jumped in my direction and I ended up with a lousy hookset and it got away. It sure seems like I've missed my fair share of bigger fish over the last couple of years. I worked the reeds but couldn't get anymore hits, so eventually I started in on docks. On probably the 6th or 7th dock I cast my white Fin-Tech Title Shot Jig with white/red Strike King Bleeding Bait Flippen Tube up by a shallow fishing boat lift and sure enough it got picked up. I set the hook and caught this 15.5"
I was really glad I caught something as it was around 7:30PM and I thought I might get skunked.

A couple of docks down I pitched in between a dock and boat lift with the same tube and I thought I felt something pick it up, but when I set the hook all I did was mess up the tube on the jig. I got it re-rigged and pitched it back in and sure enough it got picked up again and I landed a 15.25" bass.

Down the way a couple more docks there is a good sized slop patch between a couple of docks. I threw the one legged Sizmic Toad on the inside weedline of the slop and had a fish steal the other leg. I cast back and ended up pulling out a 15" bass, which was my last fish of the night.

The last dock in the run, which is usually money had the pontoon lift, boat lift, and the 2 wave runner lifts taken out of the water. I just left.

1 Pike

Today was windy again with rain predicted for later in the day. I went to Brainerd and stopped at the little park at the river outlet on Lower South Long Lake. The wind was blowing straight in out of the East. I did get a hit on a white Sizmic Toad, but it was something quite small, maybe a sunfish.

On the way back from Brainerd I stopped at Bulldog which was also getting the full force of the East wind. Didn't get anything.

Last stop was at Jenny's from shore. On my second cast I had a pike steal my Sizmic Toad and Owner TwistLock Hook. I decided to live dangerously and give it a shot with a "Grapes of Wrath" Mad Maxx frog. I had a fish wake at it but not hit. Then a few casts later a boil that missed then right after that a fish came up throught the duckweed and got it. It was a pike, unfortunately no sign of my hook. I threw a few more casts and had a strike from a very small pike that came completely out of the water as it missed the frog.

I now am 10 for 12 with Mad Maxx.

Mille Lacs, Platte Lake Dock N Slop

Went to Eddy's Jetty on Mille Lacs. The SE wind was probably too much for topwater and I didn't get any hits on a spinnerbait, so this trip was a skunk.

My first stop at Platte Lake per usual was at Jenny's from shore. Right away I missed a good bite on a white Sizmic Toad. I didn't hook the fish so I thought I could get it to bite again, but the Toad didn't get a 2nd look. After working the area I went and got a "Grapes of Wrath" Tru-Tungsten Mad Maxx. I cast to the area where I missed the strike and slowly brought it to the edge of the opening when WHAM. Fish ON!

Do you think it wanted it?


Next I headed to the lake place. Fishing from the dock I had a hit on the Sizmic Toad that didn't get it and I couldn't get the fish to go a 2nd time, probably a pike. I thought the wind was blowing out of the SE so I took the boat to go fish docks by the Platte Lake public access. Turns out the wind was out of the E NE so I was actually getting blown along the docks and a bit towards shore. On the first dock I thought I had a hit twice, but both hooksets came up empty. On the 2nd dock I picked up a 13" bass on a junebug crawtube. On the 3rd dock I got a 20" pike which lost the crawtube body, so I put on a black/blue one. On my way around the dock I spotted the junebug crawtube floating, so I went and got it. It will need some Mend-It before fishing again. The rest of the docks I fished were a bust and I broke off the crawtube on a boat lift. I came to area with a sparse pad bed and I fished the white Sizmic Toad. I missed my first bite, small fish and then caught a 13" bass. The wind was blowing in pretty good to the slop I wanted to fish and I didn't get a bite. I headed to the other side of the bay (North) to see if the wind wasn't as bad. I went past the maidencaine in up by shore where there are reeds, pads, and bullrushes. I missed the first 3 strikes I got on the Sizmic. Finally I picked up a 14" bass on a "Big Sexy" Mad Maxx frog along the bullrush edge. A little farther down I picked up another 14" on the Sizmic Toad off the very last edge of the rushes.

I worked my way into the rice and pads managing to miss the final 3 strikes I got. One of the misses was a choke on my part with the "Grapes of Wrath" Mad Maxx. I think that one was a bigger fish.

Platte Lake Sloppin'

I got out around 3PM today and fished until dark. All I did was fish slop (rice, pads, weed mats, duck weed, reeds). I started from our lake place and worked East. Around 7PM I headed to the vicinity of the big maidencaine bed across from the Platte public access fishing rice, pads, and weed mats. My big fish was this 19.25" caught on a watermelon Red Zoom Horny Toad.
I also caught fish on a white Stanley Ribbit, Junebug Crawtube, and a white Sizmic Toad high floater.

Here is a run down of the Fish:

Horny Toad: 15, 14.5, 19.25, 13.25
Ribbit: 13.5, 14, 14, 13.25, 14, 14, 14.25"
Crawtube: 13.25"
Sizmic: 14.25"

I did miss a few fish today, including what looked like a very good one that took my last Stanley Ribbit. I had one pike bite off a Ribbit as I went to lift him in the boat.

Wind, Rock Dock, Platte Lake

Today I left the house to go fishing at 4PM. When I arrived at Jenny's, the wind was blowing hard out of the W NW and I found it difficult to cast. Next I headed to the lake place which was a bit more protected and I worked the area from the dock. It was blowing a steady 20+ with gusts to 30 I'm sure. I made the decision that taking the boat out in that wasn't the best idea. Since the Rock Dock would be protected I decided to go there. Indeed the area was totally calm and I elected to try my new Lucky Craft Gunfish. I had pike miss and come completely out of the water. Glad I didn't lose the lure on that one.

I made a cast to a pocket in the shoreline weeds to the North of the dock and this bass was all over that Gunfish.
I was a happy camper at this point. I tried several of my new topwaters, but didn't get any hits on those. Eventually I started throwing a spinnerbait and I had a small fish on that got off after about a 5 second fight. I switched to a black/blue Crawtube and I felt something hit it. Set the hook and reeled in a 13inch bass.

It was getting close to 7PM and it seemed like the wind had maybe calmed down some, so I headed back to the lake place to check it out. Sure enough the wind was now down under 10MPH, so I decided to take the boat out.

I decided to hit up the SE side of the big Island because that area was protected from the big wind today. I ended up catching 2x14+" bass and one nice pike on a "Big Sexy" Tru-Tungsten Mad Maxx frog. I am just glad I didn't get skunked.

I think I am now 7 for 8 on catching strikes I've gotten with the Mad Maxx.

Sept 1 Evening on Platte Lake

I headed out the door a little after 3PM and dropped off a fish fillet for Jenny. Naturally I hit up Jenny's from shore, but couldn't get bit on the Mad Maxx frog. So off I went to get the boat ready. I fished the area around the dock with a Mad Maxx and didn't have any hits. I got the boat loaded and went to start the motor. It was turning over but not starting. After a couple of minutes of this I sat back to reflect and realised I didn't have the kill switch attached. Put it on and the motor started right up, amazing.

Conditions were sunny with a light breeze out of the E NE, around 6PM it changed to the SE but still only a light breeze.

I would say I was off around a quarter past 4PM. And my plan was to hit docks on the North End of the big Center bay. I started out in a little slop patch with a white Zoom Horny Toad and was immediately rewarded with a nice 15.25 bass. Originally I was going to work to the East but I decided to go hit up the first dock to the West of the slop. I cast in front of the dock and had a fish boil and steal the Horny Toad. I decided to pitch a black/blue Crawtube to the spot and it got picked up immediately. I set the hook and my line broke, probably a pike but I'm not 100% sure. I rigged up a watermelon red Horny Toad and cast to the next dock to the West and got a 12.5" which I kept. The water looked good, so I continued west but I didn't get a fish until the last dock on the stretch and it was only a 10 incher that I got on the Horny Toad. I tried the reeds for a few minutes with the Mad Maxx, but nothing was going so I motored back to the dock where I broke the fish off.

I worked a bunch of docks to the East and didn't get anything until I came to another patch of slop. I had a hit back in the reeds by shore but didn't get the fish. At one point right before I was to go over a weed mat I think something pulled the Horny Toad under. I pitched back into the spot with a black/blue Crawtube and sure enough it got picked up, but I came up empty with the hookset. I pitched it right back in and it got picked up again. This time I pulled a 14.75 out. I made a cast over the weed mats the Horny Toad and pulled a bass that was just over 13" which I kept. The slop area ended and it was back to docks. I think I missed a fish on an electric chicken Super Fluke and I got a few pecks from sunnies. I got to a little fishing boat on a boat lift. I pitched the Crawtube underneath and something picked it up. This 17.25" would be my big fish of the night, even though a little later on I pulled one that was longer.


A couple of docks down I made a good skip cast under a dock and boat lift. I felt something pulling on the Fluke and I set into a fish, which turned out to be this 8+" pumpkinseed, which I kept.


Eventually I got into some docks with some vegetation around them and I pulled up a hammer handle on the Horny Toad. I made a cast in front of the next dock and had a big blow up. I set the hook and my line broke. Probably another pike or maybe my line was frayed from the pike I just caught. After that dock there is another lengthy slop area. I got a thin one eyed 17.75" bass on the Horny Toad towards the middle of this slop bed. Just before the slop ended I got a 15.5" on a "Big Sexy" Mad Maxx frog. It was starting to get late in the day and I opted not to make a move but to try the firetiger Megabass Pop Max around the docks in this area. I did get one hit up real shallow but I think it was a little fish. The area was full of the carpet weed that takes over after chemical treatment for weeds. I didn't get any more bites except from Mosquito's.

Megabass Mille LacK of Action

Today I got all 3 of my Megabass lures I won on Ebay from Japan. I headed out to Eddy's Jetty on Mille Lacs to try the firetiger Pop Max and the yellowish brown Pop X along with the Payo Buzzjet and a bunch of my other topwater lures. Unfortunately there were just not any smallies to be fooled tonight.

The Megabass Pop Max is an interesting lure. You can work it as a popper or with a quick light bouncing action it walks the dog in a really tight pattern. The lure rolls as it walks. I wasn't nearly as enamored with the smaller Megabass Pop X. There was a bit of a chop on the water and it was a challenge to work the thing properly. From what I could tell you have to be kind of gentle to work it right. On a number of retrieves I was getting fouled up with the front hook.

I did head to Cemetery Jetty but between the mosquito's and the overgrown weeds I decided it wasn't worth it to try and get out on it.

Evening on Platte

I left to the lake around 3:30PM and first hit up Jenny's from shore, nothing. I then went and got the boat ready fishing the area around the dock pretty good, no hits. Conditions were sunny with a strong wind out of the SE.

Once I got out in the boat I headed just a little to the East and started fishing the rice edge with my new Payo Buzzjet Jr. At first I don't think I was doing a very good job of working the lure. Due to the wind I was getting blown along fairly quickly. Once I got around the little point at the entrance to our bay I was out of the wind. I decided with the high water to stay shallow right up by shore. I got my first fish on the Buzzjet Jr., which was just a little dude.
I kept working along the shore and maybe 150yards down I had this 14.5" smash the Buzzjet Jr.

Eventually I got past a little pad field to where the docks start in earnest. I think at the 2nd dock I skipped my bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke under a boat lift and I pulled out this 17"

After landing the fish I got situated and cast up under the boat lift again and pulled out a 14+".

On the next dock by the boat lift I caught a dink on the Buzzjet Jr. even smaller than that first one I got. I think I missed a couple of bites under the boat lift on this dock. On the next dock I pulled a 13+" and 15+" with the Fluke. Around this time it started getting pretty overcast. On the next couple of docks I pulled a 14+" and this 17.5" off boat lifts on a Texas rigged black/blue Crawtube.
The 17.5" was my big fish of the night; I missed the fish once as it bit and let go before I set the hook, so I pitched back into the same spot between the dock and the boat lift and got her.

I fished about 5 more docks without getting any hits, so I decided with about an hour of sunlight left to hit the slop on Loon Sex Point. I decided to start down along the last 3 docks before the slop starts. Nothing on the docks. I had worked my way maybe 30 yards up into the slop when I had a hit. I let it take the Zoom Horny Toad for several seconds and then set the hook. I missed the fish. I re-rigged the toad and cast back over the same spot and had a nice bass come out of the water but not hook up. I cast back again and this time caught a 13+" fish. I know the one that came out of the water after the toad was bigger so I cast back over the spot and sure enough I got another hit and hooked up. This bass was just under 15". About 2/3 of the way up the point I had a blow up in a shallow pocket, but I missed it. Didn't get any hits off the end of the point.

In the last bit of daylight I worked the wind blown rice/weed edges with the Buzzjet Jr. and Horny Toad. I had one little pike after the Toad and that was it.

All in all, not a bad night.

Snatcher Washburn Lake Tournament

Note-Washburn Lake is made up of 3 distinct basins (West, North, East)

Conditions for the day would be a little hazy for about the first hour giving way to sun and wind 12-20MPH out of the S or SW.

A number of our guys were none too pleased with the welcoming committee at the public access. Basically, a number of people from the Washburn Lake Association wanted to make sure we weren't bringing any exotic species to their lake. The lake already has Milfoil in it. Apparently, they also quizzed some of our guys about what lakes they have had their boats in recently.

We blasted off around 10 to 8AM from the Public Access on the South end of the East basin. My boater Darren and I headed North to a large rice and pad bed in the East basin. The wind was blowing close to 10mph at this point. I quickly switched from a white Spro Bronzeye Frog to a white Zoom Horny Toad because the slop wasn't the thickest stuff in the world and there were lots of open pockets. About 15 minutes into the day I landed a 13.75" largie. About 2 minutes later I had a blow-up that didn't get the Toad. I cast right back to the area and let the Horny Toad sink in a whole and sure enough, it got picked up and I put a 14.75" in the boat. Right after that, my partner Darren missed a blow-up on his black Spro Frog. At one point we worked our way down a lane in the weeds towards a beaver hut. I made a cast to the South into another open lane in the weeds and had a good blow up that didn't hook up. I cast back to the spot and got a good backlash. Right as I got done pulling out the backlash I realized a fish was running with the Toad. I set the hook and landed a 11.5" which was a short fish (12" minimum length). We kind of got stuck for a couple of minutes but eventually were able to get away from the beaver hut. We worked out way down a trail in the weeds but it was super shallow and we didn't get nothing.

Next, we headed off to some docks in the channel between the West and North basins where my boater had success in pre-fish. We were between docks where there were reeds and pads when Darren said he had a bite. At the time I was throwing a texas rigged junebug Crawtube out into the lake. I switched directions and started pitching the Crawtube into the pads. Sure enough, I had a pickup and I brought in a 15.5". We kept working down the shore and I started throwing a white Strike King Burner spinnerbait out into the lake. I got a hit and brought in a 12.75" bass. Eventually, we worked our way into a little bay. When we didn't get anything there we headed out to work a rock pile in the West basin.  I started out throwing the spinnerbait and had a couple of hits that didn't hook up. Eventually, I got a very small pike. When we got on the backside of the rock pile where Darren had gotten a couple of bites in pre-fish. I switched up to the Crawtube. Darren caught a rock bass, then I caught a pike. We worked the area good, but no bass.

Next, we headed to go hit a fallen tree where Darren got a good bass in pre-fish. We actually started a little North of the tree at the first dock on that side of the bay. There were good looking emergent and submerged weeds here and I got hit right by the boat on the spinnerbait by what I'm guessing was a little pike. We got to the tree and Darren got the first crack at it. Eventually, I started pitching a black/blue Crawtube to the tree and on about the 3rd pitch I had a fish nail it. I set the hook and it was a good one.  18.5" and it would go 4lbs even. We kept working down the shoreline and I got a little pike. We were not getting any bites, so we headed to the other side of the bay to work the weedline and docks where Darren had gotten a number of bass in pre-fish. I pulled a couple of pike off the reeds weedline transition and then we got into fishing docks. On about the 6th dock I had a bad skip that went through and then under the dock. Sure enough, a fish picked up my Zoom Super Fluke. I set the hook, but being that my line was over part of the underside of the dock I didn't get a good set and the fish came up and got off. I ended up hanging on the dock, so we had to go get me un-hung. That would be the only bite we would get on a dock. We did fish several more docks and then we decided to make a move to another rock pile.

I started throwing a Mann's Baby Minus One and got a little dink of a pike. Next, I tried some topwater, then I switched up to a mushroom jig with a wacky rigged Zoom Z-Nail. I had a pike steal my jig. We worked this area hard as my Ace in the Hole said this was his favorite rock pile, but we came up empty.

Next, we headed off to find a dock that was recommended. I am not sure we found the right dock. It was about 1PM and Darren informed me that the trolling motor was losing power. We fished a little pad filled bay that was out of the wind. It looked awesome but there weren't any fish.

Next, we headed to the slop in the NW corner of the West Basin. It was a challenge working in this stuff with a dying trolling motor but at first, the wind actually helped us a little bit. I was fishing with an albino Spro Bronzeye and I had a fish just bump the lure in the duckweed. I cast back to the spot and very slowly worked the frog. Sure enough, it took it and I landed my limit fish, which was 14.5". The wind was starting to be our enemy and Darren missed a good blow-up on his black Spro. Right after that I had a blow-up and landed a 14.25". At this point, Darren was really struggling with the wind and we almost got stuck in the junk.

Basically, we were not sure what to do next so we headed to the SE end of the lake and just started a controlled drift down the East side of the West Lake. I got a couple of pike on the spinnerbait, I switched up to a white Pointer 100 but couldn't get bit on that, so I switched to a black/blue Strike King Pure Poison chatter jig. I got a couple of pike on that. Darren caught a couple of pike on a spinnerbait. I had a big pike hit but not hook up on the Burner spinnerbait. With about 1/2 an hour left we decided to head back and try the shallow pads by the access. I did get a hit on my Spro, but I think it was something small. And that was it.

Results:
As I wrote before my big one was 4lbs even and my bag went 12lbs 13ozs and was good for 4th Place, which equals my best showing of last year and this ties for my 2nd best result in the club. My poor partner Darren got skunked. The Tournament was won by Nate Steinbauer with 14lbs 11ozs and big bass was 4lbs 6ozs. I believe 1 smallmouth was weighed and a couple of guys caught them in practice.

Analysis: I fished clean other than missing that one at the dock. If we had not lost trolling motor power I think I would have probably done even better. Unfortunately, the bass just didn't seem to be chasing on the weedline and flats and that drifting in the wind was totally unproductive. How I wish we had made a move to a pad area my Ace in Hole informed me about. This spot was out of the wind and on our way in we watched one of our boats pull a good fish from the spot and they got another good one right after that.

I want to say a BIG THANKS to my "Ace in the Hole" Bob Downey of B3 blog for giving me excellent info about the lake.

Next Tournament: Serpent Lake (With a very good showing at Serpent I could move into the coveted Club Top 6 for the year. Currently I am in 8th, which is the highest I've ever been ranked)

A little "Big Sexy"

Today I got out for a little big of shore fishing on Platte Lake. I only had one hit and it was while casting off our neighbor Jim's dock. I did catch the bass and it was about 14". The camera was in the car but at the time I was in bare feet because Jim's dock is partly under water. I figured it was too much hassle to go and put my shoes on and run to the car for a picture. So far I am 3 for 4 on Mad Maxx strikes where the fish gets the lure in it's mouth.

If you didn't guess I got it on the Tru-Tungsten Mad Maxx in "Big Sexy" color.

Mad Maxx- In the Mail to On the Water.

Today my shipment of Tru-Tungsten Mad Maxx frog arrived from Bass Tackle Depot and tonight I got to try them out. I got out for about an hour up until dark.

My first stop was off the shore at Jenny's. Right away I was impressed with how far the frog casts. I don't know how much the frog weighs because it doesn't say on the package and I haven't been able to find that info online. Maybe I can't throw it as far as a Spro but what other frog does?

When I tied it up I cut the legs a little shorter and uneven; I've found doing that helps the side to side action of slop frogs. This frog has a tendency to glide a little bit which is good for walking the frog. I'm not the best frog walker in the world but I could get the MM to do it. Another feature that seemed to work as advertised was it didn't sink and it didn't seem to take on water.

I started out throwing "big sexy" which is a white/Chartruese/light blue colored frog. On about my 3rd cast I had a good fish boil hard on the MM as I was walking the frog. I seemed to be hooked up for a couple of seconds but then it got off. It definitely was a good fish and might have been a dogfish. I made several more casts with "big sexy" and then I switched to "Grapes of Wrath" and got this fish.
I did have a couple of small fish probably sunfish also hit at the bait.

Next I headed to the lake place to take the boat out for a quick trip in the general vicinity of the lake place. First I thoroughly fished from the dock and didn't get a hit. I took the boat out and headed East getting hit by something small that didn't get the frog. I worked myself 2 docks down and it started getting kind of dark so I headed back. I pulled the frog off some lilly pads and a fish boiled on the frog but didn't take it. I cast back and once again the fish bumped it but didn't take it. On the 4th cast it committed and I caught this chunk of a 17".

As you can see from the pick it really engulfed the "Grapes of Wrath" MM.

Since I had this luck in front of our jerk neighbor Sherman's dock I quickly moved over to the lane in the rice by our cool neighbor Jim's dock. It was so dark I went to the lighter colored "Big Sexy" and I cast it right up by the dock. Sure enough a fish swirled and just like that my frog was gone. Dang Pike. I quickly moved to the area of the strike to see if maybe the frog was around, but it wasn't on top and it was now too dark to see in the water. I would think it would have floated if it came loose from the fish. Didn't even catch a fish on that frog.

Hey lake, here's $5.

Lake Place Fishing From Dock

Tonight I had to go and drain water from the boat. I forgot to grab the slop frog rod, so I had to use what was in the boat house. First I picked up one of my 6'10"MH swim jig rods. On one of the casts as I was bringing the swim jig across the rice and I had a fish hit and miss. I cast right back to the spot and it smashed it this time. I set the hook hard and the line broke, apparently where the braid was connected with the wire leader. Haven't had that happen before.

I went and grabbed a rod with a Fin-Tech Title Shot Jig with white/red Strike King Bleeding Bait Flippin Tube. As I brought the tube off the rice into the open water of the boat channel the tube was nailed by a 14.5" largie which I caught. No camera for pics.

I had to get a move on for the Vikings pre-season game and so I didn't hit up Jenny's.

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.