Mille Lacs Bust, Opener Saved by Bullheads

Conditions: Clear and cold, but no wind, so I was never chilled.

I didn't have my tackle organized enough to be at Mille Lacs at midnight because I overslept yesterday but arrived at Eddy's at around 12:20 AM. As I was driving, I thought about my plan to stay until sun up and fish for smallies and decided with it getting so cold tonight, that wasn't a good idea. At Eddy's, they put up a construction fence around the whole place, including the Marina but the Jetty wasn't blocked off in any way. The lights were off, and there was a lot of piled ice where I fish.    I could have fished off the center dock, but elected to put on my waders and head to Option #2, where I fished last year. I parked across the street from a couple of cars there.   Some guys went to their car while I was getting my stuff ready. I said loudly enough for them to hear. Did you get your limit already? They didn't acknowledge me at all, got in their car, and left.

It was right around 12:45 when I got down to the water. I took my jerkbait rod and two rods with swimbaits, one of them being the Abu Garcia Rocket/St. Croix LTB with the Powerbait  4.5" Rib Shad. I put my stuff down where I crossed the road. I saw and heard the two guys fishing closer to the inlet. I picked up the jerkbait rod and waded straight out. I tried 3 different jerkbaits to no avail. I didn't see a single walleye which was a bad sign because I saw them last year. At some point, the two guys left, but I didn't see or hear them when they did. I got over closer to the inlet and actually saw a walleye. I then noticed a guy walking toward the area where my stuff lay, so I quickly walked back. Turns out it was a creel survey guy. He told me he hadn't talked to anyone who got a fish and said the eye's just got done spawning, and he thought the eye's were going to be in a post-spawn funk. He took the water temp at the shore, and it was 42 degrees. He wished me good luck and took off.

I picked up the Rocket, and I put in the rocks on my very first cast. Luckily I got it unstuck, but the hook was bent. I thought no problem, I'll still be able to hook fish. Wrong! I had several hits but couldn't get a hook into anything. I suppose it could have been bumping suckers as well. Eventually, I went and got the other swimbait rod. I had a few fish just grab the back of the swimbait. Eventually, my feet got too cold, and I headed to the GOMH. I removed my waders, tied a new hook on the Rocket rod, and left right at 3AM.

I arrived at the GOMH at about 3:15, and there were two cars whose people were all fishing on the  SW side. I went to ask if they caught anything;  They said they weren't getting much and had no golden bullheads. Liars, they did get one, which I found out later when more of their friends arrived.

I decided to go to the NE side and started throwing the Rib Shad, which didn't get anything, so I switched to swamp gas Havoc Grass Pig and got this golden bullhead on the first cast.

18.5"

It was a beautiful clear night which I noticed after a brilliant shooting star went across the sky. Loon called, and an owl was hooting in the distance. Eventually, I decided to go to the SE side before somebody else showed up. I was there only briefly when a couple of the other guys left as another group showed up. It started getting light out, and not much was happening. A guy on the other side landed a good-sized golden bullhead. Another couple of people arrived, and one came over to fish by me. He told me that golden was 4 to 5 lbs. It got light out, and I landed a 20" toothy bullhead that hit the Grass Pig. About 20 minutes later, I missed a couple of hits, then had a good toothy bullhead hit right by me and Rocket 3 feet in the air. I landed it.

27" or so

Good thing that another guy was there to take the picture because a selfie of a fish that long doesn't look good. I also got this one on the grass pig. I tried several different jerkbait, only getting one bump that didn't hook up. I also missed several hits on the Grass Pig. I noticed the Rib Shad wasn't swimming well, and I had no hits on it. C.O. Kuske showed up but didn't come to check on me. The guy who fished next to Mike and me yesterday, who I will call Local Walleye Guy, showed up in his boat and picked up 3 people from shore. He went over and parked by the point on the SW side of the GOMH; they were throwing suckers or shiners and getting golden and jumpin bullheads occasionally. Us shore fishers were not getting much. I did get one small jumper on the Grass Pig. I tried the NE side again, but my upper back barked at me, and I had had enough of that. I left around 6:45. I Got home and called the Chiropractor. Fortunately, Dr. Grunst was willing to take me in early because he was booked.