Slop Slip On A Calm Night

15.5" Piranha

Half Moon

Looking East from the Cabin

Looking NW from the Cabin

5:00-7:00PM
Conditions: Sunny, calm, temps in the high 50's

I went to a spot that looked good on my Lakemaster chip.  Sure enough it paid off with the bass on the Piranha.  A 23 inch pike on the Piranha and 19" pike on the Stanley Phantom.  I thought there would be more activity than there was.  Topwater just wasn't happening.  I had a couple fish hit a spinnerbait but not hook up.  I wish I would have gotten out earlier as conditions were perfect.

More Success Tonight in the Slop Slip

15" Mills Spinnerbait w/ Grass Pig trailer

5:40-7:10PM
Conditions:  Mostly Sunny, Mild wind out of the NW, temps around 50 degrees

I decided to drift through the reeds throwing a spinnerbait.  I came out the other side a bit past Jenny's and a fish surfaced just behind me.  I cast back over the area and I got the bass in the picture on the black Mills Spinnerbait with a pink Grass Pig trailer.  I threw out the anchor and marked a waypoint on the GPS after getting a 14.5" bass on the Piranha.  I also missed another hit on the spinnerbait.  I then started casting in towards shore and a got a 24" class pike on the spinnerbait.  I was going to take a picture of it on the end of my line, but it got off before I was able to take the picture.

A flock of geese flying East

I had a small pike hit the Horny Toad as I paddled my way back to the cabin

Windy Night In the Slop Slip

23.5" Piranha

Rippin Rap over rippling waves

4:50-6:50PM
Conditions: Mostly Sunny, Windy out of the NE, Temps in the mid 50's

The wind was blowing right in to the lake place.  I decided to paddle out to the weed point beyond the reeds.  I got a pike on the Piranha and the Rippin Rap I got in the mail today from Bass Pro Shops.  I think I missed a couple of hits as well.  I parked a couple more times getting nothing.  It was getting dark so I pulled anchor to drift through the reeds and I hog tide this pike just as I arrived at the reeds.

24" Mills Spinnerbait w/ Grass Pig trailer

I did drift in to the area I had been fishing but didn't get anything there.

Beautiful Night, Not Much Of A Bite

24" Stanley Phantom

5:45-8:00PM
Conditions: Mostly sunny, calm, comfortable, temps in the mid 60's.

It was a beautiful night on the lake.  The fish were sluggish.  I missed one in front of Sherman's.  And found a couple more I couldn't get to hit.  Did get the one on the Phantom.  I stayed out tell about 7:30PM enjoying the conditions.  I also tried the GOMH and got nothing.

Thumbs up for being out on the water tonight

Better Execution + Less Bites= 2 Fish

13.5" Horny Toad

5:45-7PM
Conditions:  Mostly Sunny,  Windy out of the SSE, temps in the mid to high 50's.

I started in the same area that all the fish were in yesterday.  Had to drop anchor cause the wind was howling.  I got the bass then a 19.5" pike to reveal themselves on an Ish's Phat Frog and I caught the fish on the Horny Toad.  I then paddled over by Jenny's neighbors dock and I missed a fish on the Phantom.  That was it for action.

The area I got my fish out of tonight.

Poor Execution Tonght

19.5" Stanley Phantom

5:45-7:00PM
Conditions:  Mostly sunny, calm to very light NW wind, temps in low 50 to mid 40's

Tonight I took the Slop Slip out for a short trip.  After not getting a hit out front I started working towards Jenny's.  A fish showed itself up by shore so I went in closer and had the fish miss Ish's Phat Frog.  Then the fish that I got showed itself back towards the cabin.  I then went back towards Jenny's.  Missing probably one bass and several northern's on the Ish's.  Fish were all around me.  Eventually it got to dark and the fish quit biting.

One On The Phantom Tonight

16.5" Stanley Phantom

5:30-5:45PM Bulldog (Nothing)
5:50-6:40 Rock
6:45-6:50 Jenny's (Nothing)
7:00-7:15PM GOMH (Nothing)

Conditions:  Partly sunny, cool 45-36 degrees, WNW wind turning calm

Turned into a beautiful night and I caught a fish on topwater.

Winning!

Success at Rock Dock Tonight

15.5" Piranha

5:30-5:40 Bulldog (Nothing)
5:45-6:50 Rock Lake
6:55-7:00 Jenny's (Nothing)
7:05-7:30PM GOMH

Conditions: Mostly Sunny,  48-42 degrees, light wind out of the WNW

Fish were swirling at Rock.  I missed a fish that hit to the N of the dock on a Ish's Phat.  About 15 minutes later I got the 15 out of the same spot on the D & M Piranha.  That was it for action.

Fish hit to left of the mat, beyond the mat.

Bulldog, Rock, Jenny's, and GOMH

Pictures I took at Rock Lake before I ran out of memory.

5:45-6:05PM Bulldog
6:10-6:35PM Rock Lake (nothing)
6:40-6:55PM Jenny's
7:00-7:30PM GOMH

Conditions:  Partly cloudy, light wind SSE, Temp mid to high 60's

10" Z. S.Fluke

What I caught at Bulldog.  The reel doesn't look great, but seems to work just fine.

At rock I didn't get a hit.

At Jenny's I saw quite a bit of fish activity and missed a hit.

At the GOMH I caught a 19.5" toothy on the Jerk Shad on the SW side.  Thought I had me a golden for a few seconds.

Tough Tournament On Cedar For Me Again

My Boater Guy came in 3rd Place and sealed Club Mr. Bass/AOY Honors

Conditions: Mostly sunny, wind out of the ESE 5 to 15mph, temps from the low 40's getting to low 60's.  About 4-5 foot of visibility in some of the bays less in others.

The Day:  We headed up to the North end of the eastern most bay.  It's a slop area where we got bites in pre-fish.  Guy was punching and I was throwing a frog and toad.  Guy missed one or two hits, before we left after about trying for half an hour.  We went to the southern end of the same bay where there is some slop and reeds.  I broke off my Horny Toad when I got hung up on a reed.  I think guy got his first bass and a pike out on the weedline.  I got a pike on a Craw Fatty just before we left to fish some docks.

Guy got one out of a dock and I missed one.  Next we went to a weed hump up in the area by where we started.  I think Guy got a bass and I got a 16" and a 15.75" on the Craw Fatty.  Next we went back to where we started and Guy caught a good one immediately punching.  I think he ended up getting his limit and culling once before we left.  We went back to the spot where I broke off the Horny Toad and I spotted it, so I got it back. We tried a bunch of spots and didn't get anything but break offs.  We ended up going back to the area with the reeds where I caught my pike and I got another one, could have been the same fish.  Then we went back up to where we started with about an hour and a half left.  Guy got a cull and I got a 13" on the Horny Toad.  I think getting that fish in amped me up a little to much an I sailed my next cast onto a beaver dam where I got hung up and had to break off.  We tried some other spots, I did had one hit on the Horny Toad in some pads but it didn't hook up and then the day was done.

Results:  My 3 bass weighed 5lbs 6oz, which garnered me 11th Place out of a field of 14.  First Place went to Bill Ludenia with 15-10 and Lunker was caught by Chuck Johansen with a 4-10 fish.  Guy's 3rd Place limit went 13-7, just an ounce shy of Johansen.  It was a tough day with only 6 guys getting a limit. Well at least I beat my 3 fish limit I got here in 2009, which was 4-2.  If we never fish Cedar Lake again, I'll be fine with that.

My Thoughts on the 2015 season:  I didn't get my revenge on any lake, but Farm Island.  It was the second time I missed two tournaments in a year;  The other time was in 2012 with back issues.  Missing the tournament at Woman Lake really sucked.  Missing what would have been a hot, humid, and miserable day on Rush Lake not so much.  It was my worst year for number of fish weighed (16), weight (28.31lbs), and points accumulated (101), which was down 9 places from 2012.  However, I finished 16th out of 41 guys in the Club this year, which was better than 2012 when I finished in 18th Place.

It was a tough year for fishing in the Club as a whole.  For the first time since I've been in the Club we didn't have a single Snatcher go 6 for 36 getting a limit in each tournament.  In the final four tournaments of the year Woman, Rush, Mission, and Cedar more than half the field failed to come in with a limit. Hopefully the poor fishing in the last two thirds of the season is a fluke of the lakes chosen and days fished and not a trend. Participation was down with Cedar Lake being the smallest field I've fished against.

        

Single Toothy at the GOMH Tonight

6:15-7:00PM
Conditions: Sunny, windy out of the ENE, temps in the mid 50's

Missed what was probably the same fish on the Mad Maxx on my first cast fishing on the SW side.  It hit several more times before I finally got it on the Piranha.

I think I got a hit on the LiveTarget Wakebait on the NE side that didn't hook up.

Another Good Evening at the GOMH

Sweet Revenge Mad Maxx

6:45-7:20PM
Conditions: Mostly Sunny, wind out of the E NE, Temps in the high 50's, water flowing to Platte, water low

I decided to start on the SW side, and I missed a jumper that hit the frog along the SW wall and came off just as I pulled it out from under the bridge.  It looked like a 17" or so fish.  I then got this skinny fish on the Jerk Shad.

15.5"

I might have missed a hit on the Piranha on the SW side as well.  I then went to the NE side where I got the slob out of the slop along the NE side.  Think it might have been the one I missed last night.

18" Mad Maxx

Good Evening at the GOMH (Missed a bite at Jenny's)

12" Zoom Fluke 

6:15-7:10PM GOMH
7:20-7:30 Jenny's
Conditions: Mostly Sunny, calm, temps in high 50's, water low flowing into Sullivan

It was such a nice day I decided to do some fishing.  I started out on the NE side at the GOMH.  I missed a couple of hits on the Piranha.  I just barely hooked the first one to bite the Fluke, the 12" jumpin' bullhead.  I then landed a 17" jumper also on the Fluke.

17" Fluke

I then landed a toothy on the Fluke.

21.5"

I then picked up "Sweet Revenge" and missed a fish that boiled on it hard, but missed along the slop on the NE side just as I was pulling it up onto some standing rice.  The rice is sparse enough now I walked a little ways to the East and tried in the little slop bay.  Didn't get anything.

I then went back and decided to throw Mad Maxx under the bridge.  A pig was under there waiting.

18" Mad Maxx Sweet Revenge

 I tried the SW side and didn't get anything.  I headed to Jenny's and missed a fish there on MM.  It was to dark for me to see what it was as it was fighting me through the rice.  I then drove home and realized I left the camera at the bridge.

Thumbs UP

So I went back and got the camera.

Cedar Lake Pre-fish

26" or so on Mann's Buzz w/Horny Toad

8:30-3:30PM
Conditions: Cloudy until about 11:30 or so,  air temps from about 60 to 74,  water temp mid 60's, wind out of the SSE

Got out with my boater Guy today to pre-fish for our tournament next week.  I just wanted to catch fish so I mostly threw a Mann's Classic Buzzbait with Horny Toad for pike:  I got 8 pike on that including 28" that I thought was a big bass at first.  I might have missed 30" class muskie as well.  I caught 11 pike total.  I caught 3 bass, only 1 of which was bigger than 12 inches.  Guy got a few nice bass, but they were scattered for the most part.

What A Disappointing Tournament!

What I caught My 3 Fish On (2 Bass, 1 Pike)

My first big mistake was thinking I would be able to get a limit no problem.  My boater Bill B. had a good history on the lake and we as a club caught the fire out of them here two years ago in June.  I thought the fish would be everywhere and on the feed, boy was I wrong.  Less than half the field caught a limit and about half of us had 3 fish or less.  It was tough.

My second mistake was not calling to check if my boater pre-fished, which he did end up doing.  I didn't bring my dock skipping rod because I didn't know we would be fishing docks.  Oh well.

Conditions: Post cold front, cool in the morning getting to about 70 degrees, Sunny, light winds for the first 3 hours then getting to be about 10-15mph in the afternoon out of the WSW, about a foot of visibility maybe less.

The Day: We started in the Lower Lake in some maidencaine.  Bill missed a bite on a spinnerbait.  We spent maybe half an hour, than moved up the lake to try some docks.  Bill got a squeaker out of some sparce reeds.  And I got a 11.75" of a dock on the Craw Fatty.

Next we moved to the Upper Lake.  We fished outside of some reeds, then went in to try some docks.  I got my only keeper on the Horny Toad.  I then missed a fish on the HT and Bill also missed a fish on the same dock.

Next we moved to a weedline spot outside of the reeds.  Bill picked up three descent one's on this spot on a Senko.  The last of which he got when Chuck Steinbauer was close by, which gave Bill quite a thrill to do.  The wind came up while we were on this spot.

Next we went to the NE corner of the lake and got nothing, then we went to the reed point by the Upper Lake Access and Bill got an OK fish on the Senko.  I switched to a Grass Pig Jr on a Texas Rig.  I should have put it on a mushroom head jig instead as I got a couple of bites but didn't get hook into them at this spot or at the place Bill got the 3 fish.

Next we went to a spot outside of a reed point on the NW shore.  I got my pike there.  Then we moved in to fish docks.  I missed a bite that took the Horny Toad when I let it sink at the back of a pontoon and another fish that hit the HT as I brought it out of a thick patch of reeds that was out from a dock.

I think Bill got a hammer-handle off an under water point.  With about an hour and a half left we went back to the Lower Lake and retraced our steps back to the docks then maidencaine.  Bill pulled his biggest bass there on a Yabbie.  I missed a hit on the Craw Fatty, but the line was frayed a bit so it was probably a pike.  We then went over by the access where Bill got a small pike on a swim jig with a swimbait.

Results:  My fish weighed 1lbs 8oz, which kept me out of last place by an ounce.  I finished 19th out of 20.  Bills fish weighed 12-13 and put him in 7th Place.  1st Place went to Chuck Johansen with 17-15 after a 2oz dead fish penalty.  Lunker went to Darren Kiefer with a 4lb 6oz fish.  He was fishing with Johansen.

My Thoughts:   I just wanted to go out and catch a bunch of fish.  What a disappointment!

I didn't get a bite on a chatter jigs, Chigger Craws, Red Eye Shad, buzzbait, or a Vixen.

Bulldog & Rock Tonight

Bulldog Lake

6:45-6:50PM Bulldog
6:55-7:30PM Rock Lake

Conditions: 60 degrees, mostly cloudy, light wind out of the WNW.

24" Horny Toad

Caught a pike with a nasty tumor on it's side.  I got it's good side for the pic.  I also tried Jenny's and GOMH, getting nothing.

Cool Night at Bulldog and Rock

Rock Dock

7:00-7:20PM Bulldog Lake

7:30-8:00PM Rock Lake

8:10-8:15PM  Jenny's

Conditions: High 50's, mostly sunny, wind out of the NW so I was protected

Bulldog Lake:

15.5"  Horny Toad

Rock Lake:

18" Horny Toad

At Rock I only got 1 fish in of the 4 that hit.  Probably 3 pike and 1 bass.  The fish in the pic, was the first one to hit and it had tumors all over.  I then had a hit in the lane to the S on the Horny Toad.  I then had what I'm pretty sure was a good bass take the Spro Frog slighty out to the S out from the Dock, but I had a lousy hook set.  Which was stupid of me because I should have anticipated a bite, as I threw to a swirl.  There was another swirl off to the S, that turned out to be a small pike that struck at the Spro, but didn't hook up.

Didn't get anything at Jenny's.

Went to Plan B This Morning

17.5" Horny Toad

6:40-7:20AM GOMH
7:35-7:50AM Bulldog
8:00-8:50AM Rock Lake
Conditions: 60 degrees, cloudy to mostly cloudy, no wind

Plan A was to quickly try the GOMH, then take the Slop Slip out.  That changed due to the road grader working on South Platte Lake Drive when I got there.  At the GOMH I got two small bullheads on the Ultimate Jerk Shad.

7" Jerk Shad

11" Jerk Shad

I was just about to leave when I had the toothy swing and miss the JS.  I cast back and caught the jumper.  I cast back and got the toothy.

Due to the road grader I turned around and went to Bulldog where I got a small pike,

15" Horny Toad

At Rock, conditions were perfect with a lot of baitfish activity.  On the second cast when I was reeling towards the dock to bring the Toad along the dock the 17'er nailed it.

Accidentally Zoomed In 

I also got a 17" pike on the Spro Frog casting N in the rice.