Ice Off Platte, Take 2(4/2/24)

 

Today was the 2nd Ice Off on Platte Lake of 2024!

I shoveled out a path on the SW side of the GOMH and fished for 45 minutes, losing one gator bullhead. A lot of swans around tonight. I saw the beaver again. No loons yet.

GOMH On April Fools(4/1/24)

 

Too much snow

There is quite a bit of open water in Channel Inn Bay

I saw two beavers tonight

Some open water in the NW Bay

I brought my fishing rods with me tonight, but no shovel. I didn't fish. I watched the beavers for a while then headed home.

0 for April

I gave it good shot fishing from 7:30-10:30PM, but I didn't catch a thing tonight or this month.  I might have missed one bite tonight, but I'm not 100% sure it was one.  I fished at Bulldog for about half an hour then the rest of the night at the GOMH. I was the only person there.  I really thought the warm temps today would be enough to bring some bullheads in, but that obviously wasn't the case.  It was a beautiful calm night with 70℉ temps when I finally left.  I did have a beaver give me a tail slap on the Se side.  Also had an otter come through before it got too dark.  The cloud cover was to thick for the moon to make an appearance.

Bulldog 20% Open

Rock Lake 50%  or more

I think Rock goes out on May 1st

Channel Inn Bay past SISP

Grumpy Old Men & Crappies

Tonight I had my first grumpy old man sightings. I arrived at the GOMH around 3PM, it was calm and sunny, and some guy switched to the North side when I arrived, so I took up the S.W. side. I saw two minnows swimming along the rocks, but that was it as far as action. Grumpy Old Man Willard showed up around 3:30.

Willard doesn't like to have his picture taken.

Willard told me stories I'd never heard before, and he told me about the C.O. before Kuske, who apparently was a hard ass. Willard said he was taken off his duty because he had many death threats against him. True??? Who knows. Eventually, the foul-mouthed Grumpy Old Man Bud showed up.

A couple of boats came and fished, and a family fished on the S.E. side. Nobody caught anything. I saw a couple of boats coming from the river. The clouds moved in around 5PM. When I left at 5:20, a couple of young guys fishing on the North side with bass sized Rapala's came and took my spot.

I went to Sue's Drive-In with my mom for dinner. I got out to a lake that shall remain nameless around 8PM. I was fishing with my pink Cubby Mini-Mite and got a bite. It was a crappie that really wanted it.

It went 9.75," and I put it in the bucket in case I got a few more. I started tipping the Cubby with a minnow, and  I  got another 9.75 incher about 5 minutes later. I missed a bite then I got an 8" which I threw back. It was getting dark, so I went to get might light for the bobber. When I did, the light fell through a hole in the bottom of the pouch it was in and dropped into the lake. Fortunately, I had another light that was still in its package. Eventually, I switched to Custom Jig and Spins Glow Demon. While I was trying to spot the bobber light on the bottom of the lake, a crappie took down my bobber. I was lucky to catch another 8". That was the last bite I got, so I threw back the two I had in the pail. It was dead calm tonight, and I saw many fish out on the lake that were up by the surface spooking while it was still light out. A beaver was chewing on a tree to my North, about 80 yards that I could see and hear. A small beaver swam around me a few times, occasionally slapping the water with its tail. After dark, the loons were calling, and I heard an owl or two. It was a really lovely night to be out. I left around 10:20PM.

Last Night at the GOMH

Last night I took the dogs for a car ride to the Grumpy Old Man Hole.  It is exactly what I expected in terms of open water.  No sign of dead fish but there wasn't any current to speak of so I'm not out of the woods yet as far as a winter kill goes.  Surprisingly there were no ducks, geese, loons, or swans and only a single beaver swimming  around. If tomorrow is nice with some sun I may try bringing a rod with me.

Looking out into Sullivan

(Into the sun)

GOMH Birds and Beaver

So I got out to the Grumpy Old Man Hole tonight.  I wish Mike Thompson could have been there with his camera.  He could have gotten some great shots.  As it is you will have to put up with mine.  In the first picture that is a great blue heron flying above that tree (Click All the Pictures to Enlarge).

The view into Sullivan

 It's about 4 to 5 times more open than last Sunday on the Sullivan side.

The view into Platte

 About 3 times more open than last Sunday.

The beaver swam under me.

I also saw an owl and 4 deer over towards the Platte Lake Access.  At this point I'm predicting the lakes to be open in two weeks on the 30th of April.  We've got a few more cool days than it is suppose to start warming up a little.