The GOMH Tonight

Today was sunny and 70°F, to bad I don't have my fishing licence yet or I would have gone fishing.  I was surprised to see how much the Grumpy Old Man Hole has opened up at this point.

(Click Pictures to Enlarge)

The view of Platte Lake

The view of Sullivan

3 Guys showed up to fish right after I arrived.  They didn't have any hits in the 10 minutes I watched them.

  There were no sign's of dead fish that I saw and surprisingly few ducks and geese as well.  I did see some swans in the Platte River  just beyond the first bend.  I also checked out things at the culvert and a the Platte Lake Access.  I didn't see any ice fishermen.

We are a bit farther ahead than we were on 27th of April last year when it got to 72°F.

My New Stanley's Jigs Phantom's Catch Fish

Here are two of my 3 new Stanley Phantom's that I won on Ebay.  The other one is bone color, which I already have one of, so I left it in it's package and put it with my extra's in the Tackle Warehouse.  I didn't have to wait long and I was pulling in a bullhead, toothy bullhead that is.

I switched to the purple/yellow one and threw it under the bridge.  I missed the first fish that hit it, but on the same cast I  had this fish crush it.

16.5"

I also got a 16" and 12" under the bridge on a Tonka Tackle Craw Tube.  I got a 15" bass on a black Horny Toad at the Culvert.

I fished from 6:15AM to 8:15AM.  I did miss a couple hits on the Craw Tube at the GOMH as well.

Big Bass & Breaking in My New St. Croix 7' H

20" Mad Maxx Frog

All it takes is one bite to turn an extremely mediocre morning into a great one.  Today I got that bite.  She hit the "Big Sexy" and fortunately didn't take me into the pads like it could have.  She was barely hooked.

To that point in the morning, a good hour and a half into fishing, I missed a jumper and a toothy on the Stanley Phantom and got one 14.5" jumper on a watermelon/red Tonka Tackle Craw Tube.

In the picture you can see my new and vastly improved St. Croix Avid 7' Heavy.  It's lighter than the previous rod and actually loads a little bit when I cast, which the previous rod that was a total broomstick did not really do.  Casting distance is improved and I can now  use it for pitching, which the previous rod didn't do well at all.  It's not quite as powerful as the previous rod, but I'll take that trade off as it still has plenty of power.  I also think it's gonna be quite a bit more sensitive, but I really didn't get enough bites to gauge that very well.  Overall I'm very impressed.

Note- My previous Avid 7' Heavy was a pre-IPC technology rod.

That was all I got at the Grumpy Old Man Hole this morning.  I got a couple of nice fish (16",15") on the Horny Toad at the Culvert and got a total dink at the Inlet on Sullivan on a black/blue Tonka Tackle Craw Tube.  That was it.  I fished from 5:45 to 9AM.  Quite a change from the past two morning where I caught a bunch of small fish.

Yesterday Morning
2 Days Ago

They Missed Me!

After not getting out for more than a week I headed to the GOMH this morning, arriving just after 6AM.  I put on the Stanley Phantom and got a bite on my first cast.  I was a little rusty and he got off in the lily pads.  Not to worry I got a fish on my next cast as well.

 I pretty much crushed them on the Phantom getting 10 jumpin bullheads and 1 toothy bullhead before they finally stopped.  The biggest jumper was this 15.25"

I got a couple of small ones on a Horny Toad and 4 small one's on a Zoom Super Fluke and 1 small one on a Craw Tube.  I then moved to the SW side.  I got a 14.25" on the Horny Toad, a 15.5, my biggest fish of the morning, and another 11.5 dink on the Craw Tube.

I then went to the culvert and got a 12.5 and 2x 15"'s on the Horny Toad.  I was done at 8:20AM

23 Bass
1 Pike
Biggest 6 bass
15.5", 15.25", 15", 15",15",14.75"

Derby Fish For Me Tonight

She choked it!

Not one good photo.  I hit the micro button

Tonight I got this 19.25" slob at the Culvert.  That will put me over 20lbs in the Derby.  For some reason I decided to throw the Tru Tungsten Mad Maxx frog first and I was rewarded with that choice. I got a dink pike on the Hack Jig and had 14" or so bass jump me off.  I got a 15" or so jumpin bullhead at the GOMH on the Mad Maxx;  It now sinks pretty quickly, so I'm going to retire it.  I missed a couple of hits on the Mad Maxx as well.  John and his daughter were at the GOMH and got at least 4 jumpers.  A couple of teenagers were fishing at the GOMH as well.  He had a small jumper and golden bullhead in his pail.

This Mornings Sunrise

I also fished at the GOMH in the morning. I got 3 small jumpers on the Frenzy Popper and missed a couple as well.  A couple small jumpers on the Fluke and a 15.5" on the Mad Maxx.  I also fished at the Culvert and Inlet but didn't get anything.

My 1st Broken Rod Post

I didn't realize I only published this at the Fishing Log Blog, not here at mother ship blog.

I wrote this on 6-26-13

Kind of had a feeling this might happen thanks to my cat climbing were it shouldn't have been. He shut the Explorers rear window on it and 2 others. I'm hoping the heavy rod makes it through the season at least. The good thing is they were all St. Croix Avid's, so I can replace them with a new rod at more than 50% off what a new one costs. I'll have this rods replacement before my next tournament.

17.5"

I had caught this jumpin' bullhead, my best of the morning, and 10 others on it between this morning and my last two outings before the rod cracked and broke in two. 

 It was a good morning of fishing.  I hit the GOMH, the PRO Culvert, and the inlet getting fish at each and missing a bunch as well. I arrived at the GOMH at 5:50AM.  I started off getting them on topwater on a Lucky Craft Kelly J (12.5"), a Frenzy Popper (2x14", 15") and the Stanley Phantom (2x13", 3x14", 15", 16" and two little toothy bullheads).  Then I got them on the Fluke until the rod broke (2x14", 17.5",11.75" and a small toothy bullhead).  I got 1 (14") and yet another small toothy on a Chigger Craw.  I left to go to the culvert around 9AM.

There I missed my first several hits on a Horny Toad before finally getting a 13", I also got 1 (14") on a Chigger Craw and 1 (14") on a Subwart in the culvert.

I then headed to the Inlet and missed two good fish on the Grass Pig before connecting with a 15.5".  That was my last fish of the morning.  I quit at 11AM.

Best 6 Fish
17.5", 16", 15.5", 15", 15" and 14.25"
20 bass Total and 4 Pike

Morning I.C.G.

This morning I hit the Inlet on the South End of Sullivan, the Culvert and the Grumpy Old Man Hole.  I got a solid 16+ at the Inlet on a Crawtube.  Didn't measure cause I left the board at the GOMH last night and I forgot to get a picture. I also missed something on the Grass Pig.  I got a 14" or so bass at the Culvert on the Pure Poison.

At the GOMH I got 6 jumpin bullheads, including this 15" all on the Crawtube.

Missed a toothy bullhead and a couple more bites.  I did get my measuring board back.