Spent Election Night Rolling Eyeballs

5.59lbs/24.9" Jerk Shad (Tomato)

Same as above

4.89lbs/24.5 Jerk Shad (Tomato) Last fish of the night

21" (Tomato) 1st Fish of the Night

14" (Chart Shad) Smallest Eye of the Night

5:30-10:00PM NCSR, Harbor Mouth North and South Jetty
31-29℉, Cloudy with snow, 10mph WNW

I arrived at Eddy's a few minutes after the guy that beat me to the Jetty last week.  He was headed to the Harbor Mouth while I was putting my Ice Armor Stuff on.  Next thing I know he's reeling in a fish.  He caught fish on two out of his first 3 casts.  I got out and started fishing.  That wind was COLD.  It was out of the WNW not producing much in the way of wave action, but it made fishing the North Corner a pain because I couldn't use my body to shield my hands from the wind.  I caught my first fish (21") off the North Corner Standing Rock on the Tomato Jerk Shad. The NCSR sits on the lakeward/southern part of the corner so I was able to shield my hands there. I had a fish hook up then quickly get off on the Center Standing Rock. With the way the wind was, I thought maybe the South Jetty might be a better place to fish from.  I went to tell the guy what I caught and tell him where I was going.  He told me he was going to leave and showed me what he was fishing with, a deep diving Shadow Rap, which he reeled in very slowly.  Interesting,  I would never think to throw a bigger lipped bait for fear of losing it to the rocks.  Anyway, I got up on the Harbor Mouth Standing Rock and proceeded to immediately break off my Chartreuse Shad Jerk Shad when my cast suddenly stopped.  My line broke about 5 feet up from the lure.  Freezing guides or line was the most likely reason why my line stopped  Dang it, that was a fish catcher.  I went back and tied my back up Chartreuse Shad on.  I carry a back up of that color because I have lost quite a few of them to pike at the Grumpy Old Man Hole.  Anyway, I caught that little fish then headed to the car and drove over to the South Jetty.  I warmed up in the car for a while listening to election results on the Fox News Channel.

At the South Jetty, nothing was going off the South Corner, but there were fish at the South Harbor Mouth.  I caught 3 fish (19,?,19) on the Tomato and 4 fish (22.5,20,24.9,21) on the Chartreuse Shad.  I also had one fish hook up and get off fairly quickly.  The ? fish was at least 24-inches long that got off as I was pulling it up on the rocks.  I was able to touch the fish, but not grab it before it swam off;  I used the 22.5-inch fish twice on the scale to account for that caught but unweighed fish.  I did have to go back to the car once to war up.  I went back to the North Jetty to end the night.  I lost a big one at the CSR and caught that last big fish (24.5) at the Harbor Mouth on the Tomato.  This may be my last trip to Jetty as we are going into a deep freeze for at least a week.

    10 Eyes

Skunked Tonight

The wind was coming almost straight into the Jetty at about 10 MPH with big rollers coming in.  The North Coner was unfishable.  Didn't get anything at the Harbor Mouth. Temp was 35 degrees.  I went and sat in the car for about 40 minutes.  The wind didn't let up any. I went back out.  Thought this is crazy packed up and left.  Turns out I just should have waited to go until about 7:30PM.  Oh well, I got to watch the Packers get beat instead.

Small Fish In the Morning, Bigger In the Evening

18" Jerk Shad (Tomato)

18.5" Jerk Shad (Chart Shad)

6:00-8:00AM North Corner
32℉, Partly Cloudy, 7mph SE

I was up and the wind was right so I headed out to the Jetty.  It was cold in that wind, but the fish were on the North Corner.  I caught the 1st one on the Tomato Jerk Shad and the final three (18.5,17,19.5) on the Chartreuse Shad Jerk Shad.  The fish were done by 6:45AM.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

35.80lbs For my Best 8 Eye's today

6:45-10:00PM All Over the North Jetty
41℉, Cloudy, 2-4mph East

I forgot to bring the camera along, Doh!.  I just knew I was going to catch them when I realized I forgot the camera after catching the first fish.  Conditions were perfect and the fish cooperated.  First fish of the night was a 20-incher on the Rage Swimmer at the Harbor Mouth.  Next fish was the heaviest one of the night (5.70lb/25.5) caught on the stinger hook of the Rage Swimmer in the Harbor Mouth.  I then caught a couple of good ones (23.75,25.5) off of the Center Standing Rock on the Rage Swimmer.  I then moved to the North Corner Standing Rock and got bit right after the Swimmer Hit the water;  That fish got off after a few seconds.  I had a good fish follow my next cast in right below where I was standing.  I ended up hooking up with that fish, but it got off.  Bummer, it was a 24-inch plus fish.  A couple of casts later I was hooked up with a 26.5-inch fish.  I got one more 24.5-inch fish on the Swimmer and then the action on big fish and on the Swimmer stopped.  I got three fish (21,19.5,20.5) on the Ghost Shad KVD Jerkbait.  I ended the night with four fish on the Tomato Jerk Shad (20,17.75,18,23.5).  14 fish caught in the evening trip.

18 Eyes for the Day   

Rough Start, Took A Break, Wind Fish

22" Jerk Shad (Tomato)

(Not sure what all the blood is about on the first fish was hooked from the outside)

6:20-8:10PM Nothing!  Was calm and cold.  I was discouraged so I went and got a meatball sub.
9:00-10:00PM North Corner
32-31℉, Clear, 4-6mph SE

The wind must have started up right after I left for Subway.  As I sat in front of the South Jetty eating my sub I watched as the waves started to build.  The wind was a little lighter than last night and more out of the South.  Basically setting up perfect conditions for the North Corner to be hot and hot it was. I put on the Tomato and they were all over it.  I caught 3 fish (19.5,18,19.5) in about 15 minutes.  I then took off the Tomato and briefly tried the beat up Crackle Jerk Shad with a feathered treble.  Didn't get a bite.  I put the Tomato back on and they were even more all over it than before.  I caught 5 (20,19,18,22,17.5) fish and had 3 more pull off shortly after hooking up.  I forgot to weigh the 22-incher, doh!  I ended the night with an 18-incher on the Rage Shad.

9 Eyes (Not bad for a night I thought I might get skunked)

Slow Bite

5.29lbs/25+" Rage Swimmer (GS)

Heavier than he/she looked, had stuff in the belly

18.5" Jerk Shad (Tomato)

6:40-10:00PM Center Standing Rock and Harbor Mouth North Jetty
40-35℉, Cloudy to Clear, Calm to 7mph East

I had been fishing for more than an hour before I got the first fish (18.5) on the Tomato Jerk Shad off of the Center Standing Rock.  A little before 8:30PM the wind picked up to about 4-7mph coming straight at the Jetty. It took about 25 minutes for rollers to start coming in.  The casting was proving to be difficult, so I picked up the Rage Swimmer. I quickly caught an 18.5-incher and the big one at the Harbor Mouth.  Then nothing. At 9:50PM I picked up the 6'8" Avid Rod with the Crackle Jerk Shad on it.  For whatever reason, I haven't thrown the Crackle the past few nights.  I won't be throwing that particular Crackle lure anymore because on the first cast my line cut at the spool.  I was dumbfounded.  That was the lure that caught the most walleye's in October and it was gone, not to a pike, but to a backlash. COULD NOT BELIEVE IT!

I did catch a 16-incher on the Stinger Hook of the Rage Swimmer as the clock struck 10PM.

4 Eyes (Twas a tough night)

Tough Bite Tonight, But I Tricked A Few

4.54lbs/23" Shad Shallow

3.04lbs/24" Jerk Shad (Ghost Shad)

24" Raileye

Took the pic of this 17.5 because I was bored

1st Fish to go for the Shad Shallow

6:30-10:00PM North Corner, NCSR, CSR
41-35℉, Cloudy to Clear, 0-4mph NW

It took half an hour to get my first bite on the Ghost Shad Jerk Shad.  I'm pretty sure it was the same rail of a walleye I caught yesterday morning.  It was an hour plus until the next bite.  In the meantime, a fish busted on something a way out from the North Corner.  I went out to stand on the NC Boulder.  I ended up hanging up the Rage Simmer and breaking it off. I almost lost the Grass Pig twice tonight as well.  I went back to the North Corner once I got the Grass Pig tied on and I got a 17.5" with it.  I also lost one or two bites on the Grass Pig.  I started running through baits: Tomato, STX, Rippin Rap, all without a bite.  A slight NW wind came up around 8:30 or so while I was running through the baits.  I put on the Shad Shallow and finally got a bite (21) on the Center Standing Rock.  Between CSR and the NC I landed 3 (19,20.5,23) more eyes for the night.  At 9:55PM I had a good one up to the rocks get off and lost another good one about 15' feet out on the very next cast.  The sky when the clouds cleared off was really something tonight with the big dipper over Indian Point.

16.11lbs

8 Eyes counted as caught tonight

Good Morning, OK Evening at the Jetty

3.17lb/24" Rage Swimmer (Ghost Shad)

24" Raileye

20.5" Rage Swimmer

Caught the same fish later in the day

All fish were caught in the first hour

6:00-8:00AM Harbor Mouth, CSR and North Corner Eddy's Jetty
41℉, Cloudy some light rain, Wave action but no wind
It rained during the overnight hours.  I was awake and it was warm so I thought I'd give the Jetty a try even though my morning trips have been pretty lackluster.  This trip didn't disappoint.  There was still wave action even though it was pretty much calm.  Just like last night, they were on the Rage Swimmer; That is what I caught all 6 fish on.  Unlike last night, I caught fish at the Harbor Mouth.  They were done biting by 7AM.  I caught the fish that I would catch tonight first fish at the Harbor Mouth.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3.79lbs/22" Jerk Shad (Tomato)

Same fish as in the morning

Lost a very good fish trying to bring it over the two center big rocks

6:30-10:00PM All my spots produced fish tonight.
41℉, Partly Cloudy, No wind to speak of.

When I arrived at the Jetty tonight there was guy rigging up at his car just to the North of my parking spot.  I was thankful to see he went to the North Jetty.  I remarked as he went by that I expected it might be slow tonight because of the calm win.  Fortunately, the action was consistent and made for a good night.  I hooked into the first fish (17.75) of the night on the Ghost Shad Jerk Shad within my first 5 casts off of the North Corner Standing Rock. The other guy caught a fish about 5 minutes later.  There was a boat fishing about two cast lengths out front of the North Jetty.  I was fishing at the Center Standing Rock when a big center console boat came in hot passing the boat to the North then swerving quickly back south right into the north harbor while coming off plane.  I was just thinking maybe that maneuver might get the fish moving and active when I caught my second fish, another 17-incher on the same Jerk Shad as the first fish.  About 10 minutes later the other guy stopped by to compare notes as he left.  He had gotten two 20 plus inch fish and was surprised to hear both of mine were only 17-inchers.

My next three fish (20.5,17.5,20) were all on the Rage Swimmer.  The 17.5" was the same fish with cancer that I caught this morning, but this time I got it at the NC Standing Rock.  My last 5 bites (18.7,19,?,20.7,22) of the night all came on the Tomato Jerk Shad.  I was fishing off of the Center Standing Rock with the Jerk Shad paused when a big fish just steamrolled it.  As I was pulling it over the two big guard rocks the fish pulled off and was gone.  I didn't get a real good look at it, but I would say it was probably over 26-inches and may have been my biggest Jetty fish ever.  I should have been more careful with it.  Lesson learned the hard way. Oh well, no use crying over a fish that I'm not sure how big it was.  I think I'm going to try and move one of those guard rocks to make a spot for landing fish.

19.81lbs for the evening trip

16 Eyes for the day.

Good Night at the Jetty

4.96lbs/25" Jerk Shad (Ghost Shad)

(Same Fish)

6:35-10:00PM North Corner, NCSR, CSR Eddy's Jetty North
41℉, Partly Cloudy, 3-6mph SE

5..15lbs/24.75" Jerk Shad (Ghost Shad)

Ghost Shad H2O Xpress Ultimate Jerk Shad

Since I arrived at the Jetty at 6:30PM I decided to put on a Ghost Shad Jerk Shad, a color I don't throw very often.  It paid off with my two biggest fish (24.75,25) of the night when I got down to the North Corner.  After not getting another bite after 15 minutes I switched up to the Rage Swimmer around 7:15PM and caught a 20-incher when I got to the Center Standing Rock.  The fish was caught by the stinger hook.  I just kept catching them on the Swimmer so I didn't put it down until 9:30 or so when the action finally slowed.  I caught 9 walleye's total (24,22,22,21,21,20,20,18,17) on the Swimmer.  I think it was the 24-incher that had a DNR tag in it.  First tagged fish I've caught this year, which is kind of remarkable because I'm well north of 100 walleye's caught out of Mille Lacs this year.  I caught two fish (20,17.5) on the Crackle Jerk Shad and two fish (20,18) on the Tomato Jerk Shad in the final 20 minutes of fishing.  Remarkably I didn't get a single bite at the Harbor Mouth tonight.

31.08lbs for my Best 8 Eyes tonight

  15 Eyes (Only lost 1 hooked fish, they were really getting Rage Swimmer good tonight)

Rainy Evening With Darth Wader

26.5" Jerk Shad (Crackle)

6:30-8:00PM Lost one at the Harbor Mouth and had a couple of ticks at the North Corner
8:00-8:45PM In the Car
8:45-9:15PM Taking Pictures of Mike and helping him get the kayak on his car
9:15-10:00PM Harbor Mouth & North Corner

Mike had been out bobbing on the waves for about an hour when I arrived at 6PM.  He hadn't gotten any bites.  He came in and we talked for half an hour.  I gave him one of my Crackle colored Ultimate Jerk Shads to use.  About 6:30 I thought it was getting dark enough, so we went out on the Jetty and I showed him how I was catching them.  He went back out in his NuCanoe and a boat started a trolling run towards the Jetty from about a 1/4 mile to the North.  I briefly had a fish on at the Harbor Mouth that hit my Rage Swimmer.  Not long after that Mike whooped and hollered alerting to the fact that he had caught one.  The trolling boat which was almost to Mike looked like they hooked up as well as their progress stopped and started drifting to the North.  Mike paddled in so I could take some pictures with his camera.

This was taken with my camera

Mike went back out.  It sprinkled for a while, then light rain.  Mike caught a couple more fish.  It started to rain, rain and Mike hooked into a better fish that he wanted me to take a picture of so he paddled to shore.  I didn't get a picture of that fish with my camera, unfortunately.  I went in the car to wait the rain out and Mike went back out.  At 8:45 I had enough of sitting in the car so I went out and put my Cabela's Guideware Rain Jacket on; I had been fishing earlier in my Ice Armor Jacket.  Next thing I know Mike is cussing up a storm and calling me over to take a picture of the 26.5" fish.  He was taking a picture of the fish on the measuring board, which sits between his legs when the fish flopped knocking the camera out of his hands into the lake. Adding to Mike's frustration was the fact that he had to net the fish.  Mike's net and treble hooks don't get along too well and the Jerk Shad has three sets of trebles.

26.5" Jerk Shad

  The bite had slowed and losing the camera made Mike want to call it quits for the evening.  So Mike paddled into the Harbor and I helped him get the kayak up on the car.

2.49lbs/21.5" Rage Swimmer (Ghost Shad)

I went to the Harbor Mouth and caught a fish on my the first cast from the standing rock on the Rage Swimmer.  I hollered over to Mike who was still strapping up the Kayak.  Next thing I know Mike is out on the Jetty with me asking for a rod to use, so I gave him the one with a Crackle Jerk shad on it. After Mike got situated I went back up on the standing rock and was soon reeling in a cigar that was caught by my stinger hook.  That was the first time using the stinger with a paddletail got me a fish.  I forgot to weigh the little guy.

Smoking the Cigar

14.5" Rage Swimmer on the Stinger Hook

Mike wasn't getting any bites, so he called it night.  I fished my way down the Jetty and got my biggest and last bite of the night at about 9:50PM, which was also caught by the Stinger Hook.

3.68lbs/22.5" Rage Swimmer on the stinger hook

  I did try the Jerk Shad for the remainder of the night.  Nothing wanted the Tomato or Crackle.

3 Eyes for me
Darth Wader: 7 Eye's are what I'm giving him, maybe he'll get back to me with an accurate number.

Morning & Evening At Eddy's Jetty

2.44lbs/20" Jerk Shad (Crackle)

6:00-8:00AM North Jetty Center Standing Rock
41-43℉, Cloudy with light rain at the end, 4-7mph S

The moon had disappeared behind the clouds by the time I arrived at the Jetty.  Didn't get anything for the first 40 minutes or so.  Had a fish bump the Rage Swimmer at the Center Standing Rock.  I went and got the Crackle Jerk Shad and pretty soon it was fish on.  About 10 minutes later I got another one on the Jerk Shad.  Had a couple other fish bump the Jerk Shad and not hook up.  It started sprinkling and nothing was going on so I left.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3.30lbss/21.5" Rage Swimme (Ghost Shad)

2.97lbs/21.5" Jerk Shad (Crackle)

3.57"/22" Jerk Shad (Crackle)

This rock had me fooled for a while

7:10-10:00PM North Corner and Harbor Mouth
43℉, Cloudy some light rain/mist, 3-7mph SSE

There was a pretty good ripple on the water and a couple of times I thought some wave action might start forming out of the SE, but it never happened.  I started off fishing the Jerk Shad working my way from the Harbor Mouth north.  I was just about to give up on the Crackle Jerk Shad when the first eye of the night hit it on the North Corner.  As I was bringing it up on the rocks the hooks came loose shooting the Jerk Shad into the tree. I went and grabbed the fish before it could find it's way back to the water.  I left the rod there while I measured, weighed, and took a picture of the fish.  I was able to get the tip of the tree branch to break off.  A few minutes later I caught a scale.  I quickly cast back to the same area and a walleye (22") snatched the Jerk Shad.  That was it for action on the Crackle Jerk Shad.  I basically went an hour plus without a bite.  I rigged up a KVD Jerk that never got used, a Tomato Jerk Shad thinking maybe the red color might help the fish to see the bait, and I put the stinger hook on the Rage Swimmer.  I was casting at the Habor Mouth when I'm 90% sure I had a fish hit it.  After a couple casts with nothing I went and grabbed the Tomato.  About 5 casts later it was fish on, a 20-incher.  I went and put my Vikings sweatshirt in the car as it was sprinkling again. I had taken it off because I was too warm and set it on one of the posts about 40 minutes earlier.  About 5 minutes after I started casting again at the Harbor Mouth I had a pretty good 23/24-inch walleye hit the Tomato.  I was pulling it over the rocks and it came off and back into the lake it went, bummer that I didn't get the weight for that one.  I then worked my way north casting the Tomato.  I did have something bump me and not hook up on the North Standing Rock.  So went and got the Rage Swimmer to see if I might get a hit on that.  I caught the rock instead.  I ended up going back to the Harbor Mouth and on my second cast, the 21.5-incher left no doubt about it choking the Rage Swimmer.  For the last ten minutes, I fished the Tomato.  At 9:59PM it was fish on.  I got it within 10 feet and it came off, bummer.  And that was my night.

2 Eye's Morning
5 Eye's Evening