Sun/Mon At Eddy's Jetty

24.5"/4.93lb Grass Pig

11:45PM-3:30AM Eddy's Jetty
Conditions: 50's, Clear, No Wind, Water Level Low and Clear

My arsenal tonight

I was pleasantly surprised to see no ice at Eddy's.  The low clear water made for some awesome fish viewing.  I went to the North Jetty harbor mouth.   There were suckers and walleyes swimming together in the harbor.  On my first cast, I had a small pike follow the grass pig.  Also, a small dogfish checked it out.  On about my fifth cast, I got the 24 incher.  I thought this could be good.  It wasn't.  I was about to give up at 1:30AM when I got another eye on the Grass Pig.

18" Grass Pig

The rest of the night was spent watching fish not bite.  Saw a couple of ski's dozens of suckers and many eyeballs swimming around.  When I was packing to leave a SW breeze came up.  I didn't think it would turn them on and I needed a break, so I went home.

How Opener Morning Went At The GOMH This Year

18.5" Piranha/Craw Fatty (Junebug/B/B)

5:15-7:45AM GOMH NE
Conditions: 54-57℉, Partly Cloudy, Calm to Light NE wind

I arrived a little later than I would have liked do to me putzing around at home a little to much, but it worked out as no one was on the N side when I got there.  There were people on the SW and SE side.  The guys on the SW had gotten one golden, a toothy and jumper or two.  I quickly made my leave.  Got my stuff out and got down to the NE side before anyone else could.  I didn't get anything for about 10 minutes and someone came down on the NW side.  I was thinking about bailing to get the Trophy when this happened.

22.5" Piranha/Swim Fluke Jr. (white)

The toothy was my first fish on Daiwa Tatula 7'1"MHRB with Tatula CT spooled up with 15lb Sunline Assassin.  I then put the junebug Piranha on the rod and caught the 18.5" jumper, and two 15" jumpers before the claws got bit off the Craw Fatty.  I then got three quick jumpers on the Grass Pig and didn't hook up with about 5 bites.  Then this happened.

While that was happening I switched to a Jerk Shad and got a couple of dinks.  Then this happened.

17" & 15" Jerk Shad (Chart Shad)

And there was a third fish trying to take it away from those two.  Not sure if that third fish was also hooked up or not.  What a way to start the season with a double on one bait.  Here's the 17" fish.

17" Jerk Shad

 I didn't think to take a picture of the 15 incher.  I then caught a 15.5", 14, and 16.25" and three toothy's before a toothy done stole my lure, that dirty dog.  So then I went briefly to a green pumpkin 110 Knock Off that I bought on eBay.  I got a toothy on that and then switched to a sexy shad Jerk Shad.  I got a 16" and dink jumper as well as two toothys on that before it got stolen.  More people showed up and the bite died so I got out of there.

7 Toothys
15 Jumpers

Best 6 (18.5, 17, 16, 16, 15.5, 15.5)

MN Fishing Opener Round 1: Eddy's Jetty, GOMH, Bulldog

Eddy's Jetty at 10 to midnight

12:00-2:40AM Eddy's Jetty
4:45-5:45AM GOMH
6:00-6:30AM Bulldog

Conditions- Clear sky, windy out of the NE perfect for fishing at Eddy's, Cool temps in the low 40's to Upper 30's.

I arrived at Eddy's Jetty a little early because I didn't know what I would find or if I could even fish there.  They had no trespassing signs up when we stopped by on Tuesday and there was still a lot of work that needed to be done.  I talked to someone who works there on the phone who said it would be open, but I wasn't so sure.  Well the no trespassing signs were down, but the piles of docks were still in the same place.  I walked out on the North Jetty all the way to the harbor mouth and decided I would start on the center jetty's North dock.  It's a good thing I brought my long net because I would need it if I caught fish off of that dock.  I got my stuff out and started casting a Havoc Grass Pig, then I realized it wasn't midnight yet, so I held up for the last 3 minutes.  I cast the Pig for 20 minutes with no hits, so I decided to throw a 1/2 oz firetiger Rippin Rap because it would throw into the wind well.  I was just thinking to myself what perfect conditions I had when I ripped the rap and a fish nailed it.

22.5" Firetiger Rippin Rap

  I decided it  looked small enough, so I just grabbed my line and lifted it in.  When it was flopping around on the dock the hook came out.  Lucky I landed it.  I took the pictures then released it back to the lake because it was in the protected slot.  We can only keep one walleye in Mille Lacs this year and it has to be between 19 and 21 inches.

I resumed throwing the rap ripping it back.  After about 10 minutes with noting I decided to just do a straight retrieve and one immediately jumped on it.

24.5"

It was a bigger fish so I netted it.  After I released it I had another one on within two minutes using the same retrieve.

This dude went 25.5 and was the biggest of the night.

While I was getting the fish released a boat came into the South harbor with 4 guys in it.  I guess the lake was a little to rough for them.  The forecast said light winds until about 3AM.  But it was blowing pretty good when I got there and was steadily increasing.  The moon had come up now and I tried a few different baits.  Also a couple of those guys went on the North jetty to the harbor mouth, so my casting area shrunk.  It took about 40 minutes for me to hit on something a walleye wanted.

23" X-Rap Shad Shallow

I just lifted this one up as well.  I ended up switching back to the firetiger Rippin Rap and had another eye grab it on a straight retrieve.  I had one of the guys that was working on his boat take a picture for me.

24" Rippin Rap

My last fish of the night just crushed the Shad Shallow when I paused it.

23" X-Rap Shad Shallow

I caught that fish at 2:10AM.  I made the call to wrap it up at 2:40AM.  I think the guys with the boat caught 1 cigar.  I was satisfied with the six I got.  Six hits, six fish landed; It doesn't usually happen that way.

I went home Facebooked and put a report on In Depth Outdoors Forums.

I headed out the door to hit the Grumpy Old Man Hole at about 4:10AM.  The Expedition didn't want to start.  I jumped it off of my boat starting battery.  I was at the GOMH by 4:30.  There were two trucks there and 3 people fishing on the SW side.  They said they had only been there a little while and hadn't gotten anything.  I decided to take the NE side.  Nothing was happening and no activity in the tunnel.  At about 5AM I decided that cold wind blowing in put me in danger of a skunk, so I moved to the SE side.   I had been there about 5 minutes when a guy brought in a keeper golden bullhead.  They then got a couple jumpers.  Three guys came down and crowded me pretty good.  I did get a bite and landed it.

14.5" black/blue craw tube

I decided to pull the plug just as the sunrise was happening.

    I headed to Bulldog and managed to get a hammer handle and a bass.

19" craw tube

14.75" breen Chigger Craw

I headed to Rock Lake at 6:30, but there was one trailer there already and another boat was putting in.  I decided to call it a morning at that point.

Got Another Golden at the GOMH

20" Swamp Gas Grass Pig

Conditions: Nearly warm and breezy out of the W NW mostly sunny

Rock Lake:
I arrived at Rock at about 6:15PM.  Didn't get anything.  Saw a small fish jump in the floating leaves and out by the reed point.  I left at 10 to 7PM

GOMH:
I arrived at the GOMH and there was this guy Chris from Milaca who had been there since about 4PM getting nothing.  He was waiting for his ride.  I got kind of flustered because I rolled up the window on my St. Croix Mojo Crankster rod when I left Rock.  Miraculously it doesn't seem to be broken; I threw quite a few casts with it down on the NE side.  Chris got a real bullhead while fishing off the South side.  It swallowed his hook and he broke his line trying to get it off.  He threw it back.  Eventually I joined him.  We talked about the Vikes and fishing at the bridge.  He fished there about a month and a half ago when the idiot who trolls under the bridge was there and catching fish.  I was jigging the Grass Pig off of the SW corner when the golden bullhead struck at about a quarter to 8PM.  If Chris wasn't there I probably would have already left.  I let him have it and he was totally grateful.  His ride showed up around 8:10PM.  I fished about 20 more minutes then left.

Past sunset looking SW

Not Quite Skunked

Conditions: Almost warm, mostly cloudy, wind out of the SW 5:30PM to 7:30PM

Rock Lake:
Nothing, not even a nibble.  Some deer were running around behind me in the woods for a while.  I left at 6:30.

Jenny's:
Spooked something on my first cast.  Got a Spro Frog stuck in a tree. Left at 10 to 7.

GOMH:
Was just about ready to leave.  I was jigging the swamp gas Grass Pig off the SW corner when a golden bullhead just tagged it. BAM! Not skunked.

21"

That was the only hit I got.

Rock 'n GOMH

27"

5:30-7:30PM
Conditions same as last night but about 10 degrees warmer wind out of the E SE

Bulldog Lake:
Nothing

Rock Dock:
Around my third cast into the lake I got the 27" Pike on the Poison.  About 15 minutes later I got a 21" Pike on the same Poison.  I also got this 16" bass on a black spinnerbait.

16"

Jenny's:
Had something small bite at my Horny Toad.

GOMH:
I arrived around 7PM and there was a guy and his teenage son fishing on the NE side for golden bullheads.  He said it was his first time out fishing this year.  They didn't get anything when I was there.    I went down to on the SW side.  I tried the Poison and the craw tube, nothing.  I thought maybe I got a hit on the grass pig but wasn't sure.  A fish boiled on the rocks on my side.  I cast there and got myself a golden bullhead.  Well isn't that something?

16" Swamp Gas

GOMH Throws Me A Curve and Stupid Boaters

19.5"

8:30-11:15PM
Conditions:  It was warm enough for short sleeves, partly cloudy, and very little wind on a day that got to 77°F, the warmest day of the year I believe.

The plan was simple, Go and confirm where I should put myself for Bass Opener in the morning.  I wouldn't even fish if it was really crowded.  There were a lot of people on the SW side, couple on the NE side, and nobody on the SE side so I grabbed two rods and went down there.  I started throwing the Piranha, but the fish weren't having that so I switched up to chucking rattlebaits way out. Nothing.

Blog reader Mike B. was out in his boat today and stopped by to talk as he was on his way home.  I don't remember if I had caught anything yet at that point.  We had a good talk and then he left.

Boats started leaving and people started leaving.  I got a toothy and a jumper on the Spro Aruku Shad in "Cell Mate" color.  One of the boats that left trolled through on his trolling motor, not  a problem.  They must have gotten a golden because they came back through not alerting the bullhead fisherman (the guy WAS fishing for bullheads) up on the bridge and he ended up hooking one of the ladies in the boats rods.  That's a problem.  He was able to get it off quick and the guy on the bridge didn't say anything.  After the guy turned around and went through again, another boat decided to troll through, again not a problem.  The 1st boat came back through again, this time I warned the guy to pull up his line.  I made a remark to the bullhead fisherman that continuing to troll through an area where people are fishing from shore is pretty bush league.  I don't know if the people in the boat heard me or not.  They turned around and went back through.  Then the 2nd boat came through catching a nice golden right in front of us and immediately went to turn around.  I said something to the guy, which he didn't appreciate.  He told me there was no law against him trolling under the bridge like that.  It's to bad Willard or Bud  wasn't there to go off on him because that would have been fun to hear..  However, he didn't put his lines back in and headed under the bridge again to leave.  He said something to the other boat as they were coming back through.  This time I cast across the channel and happened to hook his line.  A battle I would win seeing as how I was using 40lb  Power Pro, but the lines unhooked.

I asked the bullhead fisherman if the people who had been fishing on the other side were gone, and he said he thought they were, so I went to the NE side.  It wasn't long before I had a my first golden bullhead of the evening, a small keeper which I gave to the bullhead fisherman.  I ended up giving them 4 golden's.  As the boat came through on one of the passes they asked me how many I caught and I told them.  On their way back through the next time I asked them how many that had gotten and he said they were getting close to their limits (3 people in the boat).  I asked them if they had gotten any bass and they said not one.  So every fish I heard them catch was a golden bullhead if they weren't lying to me.  I did get one nice toothy which I snagged under his jaw.  She was released.  Toothies that size help keep the small one's in check.

33" or so toothy bullhead

After the bullhead fishermen left on a pass from S to N they caught a young guys lighted bobber.  One of the young guys came across the road yelling for them to stop which they did and turned around bringing the bobber in the boat.  The guy kind of lost control of the trolling motor and ended up going under the bridge and I think he scraped his boat a little bit.  Ah justice.  They left not long after that.  I ended up getting my limit golden for the day and left.

Devin, Reeds Manager, and a Loon

This was written today for my fishing trip yesterday.

With all the fishing I've been doing I kind of lost track of time for got to get the younger of my two nieces who live down in Florida a birthday card this year.  Devin caught her first bass ever this year, so I came up with a plan to dedicate my first fish of the day to her. It had to be the day after her birthday because it was around 11PM on her birthday when I came up with the idea.  I was hoping it would be a golden bullhead, but it turned out to be a nice chunky 16" jumper that hit my Grass Pig first.  Second fish of the day was a golden bullhead.

17"

I got it way up under the bridge.  That was my only golden of the morning.  It looks darker in the picture than it actually was.  I arrived at 4:45AM and didn't get the golden until around 5:15AM.  A guy showed up who was fishing the Grumpy Old Man Hole for the first time.  He showed up just as I was contemplating moving to the South side.  We talked for a little bit.  Then he went to get his stuff and went down on the SW side.  I arrived on the SE side maybe 5 minutes later.  Turns out his name is Josh and is the Assistant Manager at Reeds Sporting Goods.  He and his wife just bought a house in the Hillman area, not sure if it was in town or not.  He is a multi-species fisherman who prefers toothy critters, which were biting this morning.  I ended up getting 8 toothy bullheads today, with a couple of more missed..

I think got Josh one or two toothies and a couple of jumpers as well.  An older guy came and started fishing on the SW side with Josh for sunfish.  He didn't have much luck.  Fishing slowed and I was contemplating going back to the N side when Josh picked up his stuff and started heading that way.  I told him I was just thinking about doing that and he was nice enough to offer to fish on the NW side, so I could go back to where I was fishing when he first saw me in the morning.  I took him up on the offer.  I buzzed off my first cast with a swim jig toward the channel buoys and was immediately struck by a jumpin bullhead.  I hadn't gotten anything but toothy's out there so far this year.  I had a fish caught or hit on probably my next 10 casts before it slowed down.  Josh got a jumper on a minnow and then had to leave.  As he was going a loon swam into the area I was getting bit in and Josh said something about it.  I took a picture of the loon as it came in, then it came in closer and kept diving in the area I was getting fish.  The loon must of pretty well scattered the bait fish that were in the area because the fish stopped biting for me.

I missed one last toothy and left around 10AM.  I got fish on the Grass Pig, Frenzy Crankbait, Berkley Ripple Shad and two different Brovarney Jigs one with Devil Spear and one with a Grass Pig Jr. for the trailer.

Painfully Slow At the GOMH, Big Pike at Eddy's Jetty

20.5"

This afternoon I fished at the GOMH from 3:30 to 5:30PM and all I got was this toothy on the NE side.  Not even a hit on the SE side or at Bulldog or Jenny's.  A few oranges were being caught by people in boats and the daughter.  Most boats didn't seem to be getting anything.

I decided to take my evening trip to Mille Lacs at Eddy's Jetty hoping for some smallies or walters.  The Hotel and Restraunt are now completely torn down.

I arrived at around 8PM.  The second lure I threw was a strobe shad Strike King KVD Jerkbait and a rather beat up 35" or so pike hit it.  It didn't put up much of  a fight, but I could tell it was a big fish.

Yes that is ice on the North Jetty

I got to see a nice sunset, but no smallies or walleye's showed themselves.  As required by law I quit fishing at 10PM

What A Day at the Grumpy Old Man Hole

(Click Picture to Enlarge to See the Heron on the 1st Dock)

I arrived at the Grumpy Old Man Hole at 5am just in time to see the Moon set and about 20 minutes later the sunrise.  It was a cold morning with temps close to freezing when I arrived.  The fishing was slow but I managed a few bullheads.  These two were the biggest and both were caught on the Powerbait Ripple Shad.

22"

16.75"

I also caught fish on a Frenzy crankbait and Pure Poison.  I left at 8:30AM

Evening Conditions:  Mostly clear and cool/cold with the wind blowing out of the NW

In the evening I arrived at 8:45PM.  There were a few boats fishing in close on the SW side apparently getting silver bullheads.  The South side had 4 guys fishing it.  I talked to the guy on the bridge fishing for golden bullheads.  All he got were a couple of jumpin' bullheads.  I took a few casts next to him then went to the NE side.  I got a jumpin bullhead fishing on the NE side right away on the swamp gas Grass Pig then it slowed down.  I went up on the bridge and captured the Moon rise.

The fish started hitting.  I got 4 more jumpin bullheads on the Grass Pig fishing off the bridge.  After the 4th one I decided to stay down on the NE side where I was landing them when I got hit by a big fish.  It came up and semi jumped so I saw it was a very good jumpin bullhead.  When I got my thumb on it's lip, I was like, "Dang, this IS A Good One! "

It went just over 21 inches on my Rapala ruler.  I had to go to the car to get my Rapala Spring scale which I am carrying with me this year.  It had her at just over 6.5lbs.  This may very well be my personal best MN bass.  I did catch a 21" out of Platte in 2003 or 2004 that was similar sized but had a gut full of food, not food and eggs.

While I was landing the fish another car with two guys showed up and they went down on the NW side and got a golden bullhead right away.  Not to be out done I got me a golden bullhead and then a toothy bullhead.

19"

23"

At 10pm I decided to call it a night.  Everything was caught on the swamp gas Grass Pig in the evening.