Tuesday, March 12, 2024

March 12th GOMH Odds


 66% Odds that nothing will be happening at the GOMH, so I will give Rock Lake a try.

The Plan: Hit the GOMH first and go to Rock if nothing is going on. Be back at the GOMH around 7PM.

Monday, March 11, 2024

Captain Kirk's Final Grade

 

F

I was not for acquiring Kirk. I thought we should have rolled with Case and Teddy. The fact that Kirk did not get us to an NFC Championship Game marks his tenure as a quarterback as a failure. I have hard feelings toward Kirk. He gave his all on the field, but his money-grubbing ways limited his effectiveness. Thanks for nothing, Captain! 

Saturday, March 09, 2024

2024 Ice Out Platte Lake


 
It didn't get very warm today, so the ice was able to hang on in Inlet Bay, but beyond that, there isn't much out there. I would have had no problem launching a boat today, so I'm calling today the day. I'm guessing with the forecast that silvers move in by Wednesday.



Friday, March 01, 2024

BP's Fishing Goals for 2024

 

New Goals in Bold Italic Orange
Goals Accomplished in Bold

Fishing Buddies: I am doing away with the old Fishing Buddies goals list.
1. Keep a list of everyone I fish with in 2024.
The List:
Cody (Dock Guy)

Bass Snatcher Goals: 
1.  Win my 2nd club tournament. 
2. Get "Wood" in at least one tournament. (1st-3rd Place Finish or Lunker or Co-Angler Challenge) 
3. Get "Lunker" in a tournament.   (Preferably one over 5-8 to win the revolving big bass pot.)
4. Finish in the Top 10 at the end of the year. 
5. Catch a limit at every tournament of the year.  (I've done this twice, but in 2012 I only fished 4 out of the 6 tournaments due to a bad back.)
6. Pre-fish with at least 3 boaters.
7. List the Rods I'm bringing for each tournament before the tournament.
8.  Win the Co-Angler Challenge at least twice
9. Make the Challenge Cup Team
10. Finish higher than Tuma in a Tournament (He is the only long-term Snatcher I have not beaten on tournament day. He beat me on the tie-breaker on Whitefish Chain his rookie year in the club. That is the closest I have gotten)
11. Give each boater I fish a lure from my collection.
12. Catch a 20+ Bag and make the Club's list of Top 25 Biggest Bags 
13. Set Personal Bests on each lake for Bag Size, Big Bass, and Place of Finish
14. Grade my performance in each tournament and also do this for all my past Bass Snatcher tournament recaps.


Technique, Equipment, & Tackle Goals:
1. Win something in Fantasy Fishing or Facebook giveaways/contests.
2. Officially Open the Tackle Warehouse.
3. Give Away some of my tackle
4. Experiment with a Rocket Bobber and Wacky Rig
5. Catch 25 fish on a Stanley Phantom
6. Catch bass cranking deep in Sullivan Lake
7. Sell some of my tackle
8. Catch 30 fish on a prop bait and throw them during the post-spawn.
9. Catch 5 bass on a Jitterbug.
10.  Keep a Lures Lost List
Lures Lost In 2024:
Glow Demon: ||||
T.H.E. Jig:||
Cubby Mini-Mite: |

Blogging:
1. Blog about it when I achieve a goal most of the time
2. Record all fishing trips at Fish Swami
3. Fish at least 200 days and blog about them
4. Get unblogged trips from 2021,2022,2023 at Fish Swami blogged at the Log Blog.
5. Make at least 10, First 5 Cast's videos
6. Be more intentional about taking Sunrise/Sunset pictures

Fish Catching Goals:
1. Catch* 3,000 Fish 
2. Have a 100-fish day.
3. Catch Devin's Birthday Bullhead On May 20th
4. Catch A Fish Every Month
🗹January
🗹February
🗹March

Crappie:
1. Catch a new personal best.(14.75/1.80lb on 5/9/22)
2. Catch* over 450 Crappies this year.

Dogfish:
1. Catch an MN State Record fish. (11-4  or over 31")
2. Catch a new personal best.

Pike:
1. Catch* over 1,000 this year. (Caught 1,130 in 2023)
2. Catch a 38" or over/personal best.

Bass: 
1. Catch a 21plus inch or 6lb Largemouth (6.5lbs/21" PB)
2. Catch a 21plus inch or 6lb Smallmouth (20.5" PB)
3. Catch* over 1,500 bass this year. (Caught 1,218 in 2023)
4. Catch* at least 10 smallies.  (Caught 7in 2023)
5. Catch a 25lb 6 Fish Bag
6. Have a 50 bass day 
7. Catch over 500 bass on Frogs/Toads
8. Catch 5 bass over  5lbs/20-inches (0 in 2023)
9. Catch 25 bass over 4lbs/19-inches (30 in 2023)
10. Get Steve and Todd at least one 4lber

Walleye:
1. Catch at least 100. 
2. Catch 30"/10lber or new personal best. (28.5 is PB)

* Catch is anything I deem it to be, including follows by pike or smallmouth (while pre-fishing), a pike missing my lure, fish viewed on the Aqua View, and fish that get off before I have them in hand that I can positively identify.  And fish caught by people I am guiding or boater during pre-fish.

Ringing The Fire Dept.


 I need them to come over and dump some cold water on this week's dumpster fire, ridiculous!

Update: Fire Dept. Showed up and I got 3 guys in the 50 cut. Walter and Jay made a run for the Top 10 and came up a little short. Cobb gambled and busted.



GOMH & More Report

 


 





Three of my Fantasy Bass Guys made the cut. Cobb and Walters got 30's. I bought my fishing license at Bear Trax.

Skunked! I toured the lakes before hitting the GOMH. Bulldog had more ice at the access than before the cold, but some of the shorelines are pulling away. The Rock Lake access area ice pulled away from shore right in front of the access. GOMH had ice on what was open water before the cold. It was plenty open for me to fish. Lots of swans flying around tonight, a few geese, and two chirpy eagles even. It was a beautiful day and got to 55.

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Prediction: Every Ice Out Record Goes Down In 2024

It has been an exceedingly warm winter and the two times we got major precipitation happened on days when it was warm enough to be mostly or all rain. The ice depth around the state right now is 50% below normal if not more. There is no snow and  March is starting with well above average temps. It is a perfect storm for every record in the book to fall. I think Platte Lake will be ice-free by the end of this forecast if accurate.


 

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Boom!


 It seems like every year I am able to score a great deal on a lot of Hollow-body frogs on eBay. The Buy It Now on this lot was ridiculously low. I paid under $2 a frog.  I'm amazed that with the Gen 1 Phat Frog, it wasn't snapped up immediately.   

Monday, February 26, 2024

2024 Tackle Warehouse Opener

 

It got over 50℉ today, so Opened up my Tackle Warehouse today and took a brief look around. I need to do a thorough refresher sometime this spring. I kind of know what is there, but kind of not.

Friday, February 23, 2024

Sullivan Inlet Frozen & GOMH Tonight

 

Looking South

Into the lake
I just figured the Sullivan Inlet would be open and flowing. Amazin! It wasn't. I stopped at the Rock Lake Access where there was one parked truck and a couple of guys fishing far North. Nobody on Long, Platte, or Sullivan.


3 geese honking away



Water level is low
Will it get to 60 on Monday?
Update: It only got to 55℉ on Monday the 26th.

I Can See The Driveway!




I didn't feel like doing a bunch of When Will I See My Driveway? posts this year. I knew with the forecast that the driveway would be snow and ice-free.well before the end of February. I think this is the earliest I have called it, but maybe not.

Fantasy Bass Fishing at Toledo Bend

 

Not the way I wanted to start the year; Four of my guys didn't make the cut and the one who did currently sits in 35th. Ouch!

My Drain the Lake team is mediocre. Four guys in the cut and a poor use of Hack who bombed badly.

Update: 




Thursday, February 22, 2024

Fantasy Bass Season Has Begun

I have long said, 'Day one don't mean jack squat." Tomorrow will be a new day and I expect a lot of movement, so I am only a bit concerned about my fantasy team's poor showing today. 

 This was not the line-up I intended to go with for Drain the Lake. I switched out Combs, Hartman, and Hundnall on my Hellabass spreadsheet, but forgot to make the changes on my actual team, duh. 



Update: Day1 Scorecard


Wednesday, February 21, 2024

GOMH Wednesday February 21st

 

I went fishing tonight at the Grumpy Old Man Hole. No bites. I fished both sides of the bridge. Not as many swans around tonight. It got to 50℉ today.

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

1st Bullhead Of 2024


 It was a nice day, 44℉, but I was in turtle mode after I woke up, so ice fishing was out. I decided to pack up a tackle bag, and some long rods and head to The Grumpy Old Man Hole. I figured I'd be skunked, but you never know at the GOMH. I had been casting the spinnerbait around for about 10 minutes and was just about to switch to something else when the bullhead struck. No skunk, and a new record for my earliest open water bullhead; The previous record was February 27th, 2016. 





Saturday, February 17, 2024

BP's 2024 Ice Out On Platte Lake, Spit Ball


 I'm predicting March 16th for the ice to be off Platte Lake this year.  There isn't going to be any snow left in a couple of days, it is going to be a warm end-of-the-month, and the ice is probably under 12 inches. The earliest ice-off on Platte Lake that I'm aware of is March 19th.