DNF

Eagles On Eagle Perch Point

 

Skunked For Easter

 No other fishermen. One truck did briefly pull up but left quickly. No bites.  The snow stopped for only a minute or two, not what I meant, which was for the snow to stop altogether. Snow was blowing in my face on the SW side. Left before it got too dark.

DNF

 Did not fish today. Didn't even get out to check the lakes. Took a nap at 2PM and didn't get out of bed the rest of the evening.

DNF

 Took Kaylee for a ride around the lakes. Saw one small turkey before we got to Bulldog. Rock was refrozen. Had I had rods along, I would have fished at the GOMH.  It really didn't look that nasty out there. There may have been an open water channel to the river mouth at the SPRO, but I'm not 100% sure it connected the two open water zones. I saw a herd of deer along the field on Logan Lane. There were a couple of pheasants along the road just past our mailbox, and somebody pulled over by the Sherrif just beyond the birds when we got home.

DNF

 Windy and snowing off and on all day. Took Kaylee for a ride after 7PM. Bulldog the same. Rock less open than yesterday and about the same on the Platte side. Nearly in whiteout conditions for a couple of minutes coming home.

Skunked On A Cold Windy Night

 

1st Bullead of 2022, Plus 1st Loon

18" Swim Shad (Purple)

 

Loons Have Arrived

7:15-8:30PM GOMH SW

45℉, Cloudy/light rain, 8-14mph E

Past experience says you never know what your gonna get at the Grumpy Old Man Hole. Tonight I came up with two aces. First was the first loon sighting and hearing of the year. I started on the NE side and didn't get a bite. As I was crossing over to the SW side, I heard a loon call and looked up to see a loon flying from Sullivan toward Platte. The bird that made the sound was in the water. I figured out that I could zoom in on the iPhone 11 to take a picture beyond the two presets I had been using. Cool! 

I tried throwing a few different things. Then I put on a 2" Storm Swim Shad and got the toothy bullhead on the first cast. Only bite I got. Before I left, I called Teena from the car. As we were talking, I started seeing some lightening in the South. When I heard thunder, I headed home. It was a very minor thunderstorm, very little thunder. I did have to run the side pump for over an hour.

Rocked The Final Ice Fishing Trip Of Winter 21/22

7+ Rippin Rap

8.5" Cubby

8" Rippin Rap

6:30-9:00PM Rock Lake 8' at the Cane

36-45℉, PC, 4-23mph NNW

I got on OK. Stepped in slush and soaked my right boot. I then walked straight out. Drilled a hole to the South, wasn't impressed with what I saw and headed to my cane holes, which I could not find. I ended up stepping in two of them later on. I drilled one hole out deep. Then moved in closer to the cane and set up there. It was pretty windy once I got past the hill. Also drilled a set to the South. When I got back, there was a school of sunnies off in the distance that I think had a big bass in with them, but it was too far away to tell. Had a few schools of sunnies and crappies swim through, but not very frequently. Saw one pike. I caught the one sunfish and one Crappie on the Rippin Rap. And I got a couple crappie on the Cubby Mini-mite  I packed up at 9 PM as nothing was going on. Checked the Sullivan access on my way home; it's trash. I will probably hit Rock again in the morning and call it a season.

I did not get up, so this was my final 21/22 Ice Fishing Season trip.

 

Skunked At The GOMH Again & No Suckers at Shakopee

Fished for about half an hour tonight. No bites. Counted 44 swans, saw a couple do battle and a pair do a mating dance, cool.. Was super windy and sleeting/snowing the whole time. About a 100-yards of open water.

Saw two eagles as I rounded the curve to Kathio Bridge. The water is low in the river and in Shakopee Lake. No sign of suck activity. Nobody was fishing the Lake. 
 

Quick Trip To The GOMH Tonight

 Took a quick trip up to the GOMH tonight just to take a quick fishing break from cleaning the house. Didn't get a bite. Was windy, cold and snowing. Quite a few swans around. No bites.

Good Evening On Rock By The Cane

8.5" THE Jig (Chart/Org)

7.5" THE Jig

Should have hand landed it, oh well

Crips started with a double

 4:00-9:00PM 8' and 10' By the Cane 

33-40℉, Cloudy, 3-15mph WNW

 (I started in yesterday's 12 holes, but it was dead there, so after 20 minutes, I moved to the 8' holes and drilled a new set to the south in 10'. Schools of something came through every 10 minutes. Shiners and perch tended to be together. Had a couple of small schools of sunfish quickly come through. Had a good 3 to 4lb pike hit the stickleback when I was fiddling with the camera trying to get a picture. I tried to pull it up out of the hole as it was hooked in the snoot, but the line broke a couple of inches from the dropper; oops. I decided to give the other holes a try. Lost a small pike that came out of nowhere and hit the Cubby. It came off just after I got the camera up, not even a nick in the line. Had a good size school of gills move through and a couple of smaller schools. Right before it got too dark to see, the crappies showed up. I used up my last couple of minnows. Had a hot bite with the Cubby, and then it was looky loo's and pulling teeth. Think I saw a small bass in the 8' hole.)

Three swans were flying around, and as I was packing up, two were calling back and forth. One was to the West and one to the East. The PRO narrows opened up a good bit today.

Slow Evening On Rock, Late Start

10.5" Demon/Minnow

Happy Bullhead

As he took the minnow

7:00-9:00PM Rock Lake 17' fish were 10' and up

25-34℉, PC, 3-8mph NNW

I hemmed and hawed about getting out tonight. Turns out the wheel wobble was due to a slightly underinflated tire. Good thing I Googled it.

Got a late start, put the camera down, and waited them out. The first fish was the nice crip. It came in with a small mixed school of crips, sun, and the bullhead. Everybody left except for the bullhead who harassed the camera. As it was getting dark, the bull ate the minnow as I took a picture. A NICE PIKE CRUISED PAST when I pulled the camera up to ice level. Got a few crips as it got dark and several nibbles that may have been sunnies. Had several looky loo's as well.

1 Bull

Crips

3 Demon/minnow

2 Tubby/maggot

5 Aqua-Vu

Sun

3 Aqua-Vu

Pike

1 Aqua-Vu

 

Another Fair Night at Rock

Rare daylight bite

5:00-8:30PM 10' Perch 14' Shiners 17' Crappies, Sun, Perch, Bullhead

33-41℉, Cloudy, 3-14mph ESE

Perch were all over the place up high in the hole I had been fishing. Shiners were all over the place down the break. I didn't fish either spot. Went out to where I was last night. Extremely slow until about 7:30PM. I had sunnies, crappies, and bullhead come through. Pulled the camera up, and more crappies moved in. Got several nice ones up high on the Demon Minnow. I packed up at 8:30PM. Packed the truck as light rain fell. It poured when I got to the N Platte Lake Drive. Luckily it was still above freezing out.

Had I a do over I would have fished the first two spots.

20 Crips

Aqua-Vu:

Bazillion Perch and Shiners

Sunfish (5 or so)

Crappie

Bullhead

 

Broke Out the Long Rods

 

It was cold and windy, but I needed to fish, so I did with long rods at the Grumpy Old Man Hole. No takers, unsurprisingly. Heard red-wing black birds calling, but didn't see them.

DNF

Stuck In The Slush, Said Screw It

 The wet sloppy slush kept me from fishing tonight. Was a lovely day in the mid-forties. Heard my first red-wing blackbirds of 2022. Also, there were ducks and swans flying about.

Nice Night At the Dog (Dog Sitting Mack)

 6:30-8:30PM The Dog, Matt's Corner, and Last night's holes out from Holy Family

35-47℉, PC, 0-4mph W

The first night of dog-sitting Mack. They canceled the day at Santee Cooper.

Started at the same holes as last night. There was a guy out front of Holy Family. Spotted Pike and Perch in the same holes as last night. Sunnies were out a little deeper suspended. Drilled holes there. Caught a bunch of sunnies. Had a pike prowling around and attacking the camera as I was bringing it up. Got out to my holes from last night just after sunset. Short flurry, and then they were done. Coming off the ice was butter. Don't know how much longer the access is going to last. The water is coming up with the snowmelt.

45 Sun

11 Crip

5 PerchAV

2 PikeAV

Caught Something Other Than Crappies, Got A Few Of Those As Well

 6:30-9:00PM Matt's Corner and Out from Holy Family 

30-41℉, PC, 2-6mph NE

Got the low down from Steve and then headed to the lake.

Pike down in the first hole, I put the camera down. I checked 6 or 7 of the holes somebody else drilled in Matt's corner. Saw a bunch of perch toward the bottom in the weeds, and sunnies were up high. Fished the second Sunny Hole. They were all over. Down Viewed 'em. I got bored with that quickly. Headed out to my area before sunset. It started slowly had a flurry on the Glow Demon and minnow. Good size fish up high. It was a Clown Show, or I would have caught more. Fish shut off for the final hour. Beautiful Moon!

31 Crips

20 Sun

10 Perch AV

1 Pike AV

Late Start at The Dog

7:15-9:00PM Out from Holy Family at The Dog

30-34℉, Cloudy, 

Short trip. Don't remember why I procrastinated on getting out. Didn't get to writing this because the rents left for FL the next day. Deer walking across the lake with me and had one hit me on the way home. Should have listened to John W. closer about the heard in the road N of Club of the Pines. I caught some, but I was a bit of a clown show.

5 Crips

A Little Better, But Not by Much

First fish on the Demon

After the Pike swam out of view.

 5:00-7:30PM Bulldog about 25' to the SE of where I had been fishing. 28.5' of water 

14-19℉, PC, 3-15mph WSW

I was the only person on the lake tonight. Caught the first crappie right away about 15' down. He showed up from above. I adjusted the camera higher and watched a pike swim off. Got the second fish on a Rippin Rap. Had a few pods move through, but nothing stayed around for very long. Fish were on the small side tonight and most were caught 10-feet or under. I forgot the maggies and waxies, oops. It pretty much died by 7PM. The ice seems to be melting from below. Forgot to check thickness, but I am no longer almost bottoming the auger out.

4 Demon/Minnow

3 Rippin Rap

3 Cubby

3 THE Jig

Another Slow Night at The Dog

 

Whew!

10.75" VMC Fly/Maggie

4:20-8:00PM Bulldog

23-32℉, PC, 5-15mph WNW

I drilled a little to the West of where I was last night. Didn't see a thing until about 5:45PM when three crappies came through; I snatched one. Had another pod of three come through before I brought the camera up. A few fish started coming through when it got dark, but it was slow. Only landed 11 fish tonight, but 40% were keeper size and the good fish were 12' and up. I'll try a new plan tomorrow.

8 Demon

3 VMC Fly