What I Caught Fish On in 2013

2013 was the year of the swimbait for me.  The Havoc Grass Pig was the #1 bait, but I caught a lot of fish on 1 pack of Yum Money Minnows, a couple of sample Berkley Powerbait Ripple Shads, and what I had left over from a pack of  Gambler EZ's and Big Bite Baits Cane Thumpers.  All in all swim baits accounted for 427 fish and a few more caught on chatterjigs and jigs.  I only got 102 fish on Crawtubes this year after getting 221 on them the year before.

Stanley Phantom was my #1 topwater bait with 111 fish caught.

Here is the full list of what I caught fish on in 2013:

TWOnight's

18"'s Good Side

18's Bad Side

 Monday June 17th:
This was by far the better of both night's, although neither one were bad.  I just crushed them this evening.  I fished from 5:30PM to 8:30PM the whole time on the "new juice."  It started out sunny with a bit of a wind coming out of the NE.  I got three 14" jumpin bullheads on my first few casts on the white Stanley Phantom.  I didn't get anymore hits on that, so started throwing a green pumpkin Grass Pig which I crushed 'em on.  After I had been there half an hour the wind really cranked up out of the same direction, so much so that  I had to adjust the breaks on the reels.  The fish just kept biting and I got 15 total before the fish finally quit biting for me around 7:30PM or so when the clouds moved in.    From that point on  I got one good 15.25" on the Huckleberry and a dink 9.5" on the Phantom.  A guy fishing in the channel with leeches caught a bunch of small fish when the clouds moved in.  These fish were much smaller on average than the one's I had been catching, so I don't think the school moved.  

It started getting pretty cool and the fish stopped biting so I left at 8:30PM

My best six were 18", 15.75", 15.25" and 3x 15"'s  and it was total of 20 jumpin bullheads.  I gave a few of my smaller one's to a guy with a cute girlfriend who went swimming to retrieve a stuck bait.  That was when it was still sunny out.

Tonight:
I got there an hour later this evening at around 6:30PM.  The wind was still out of the NE but much lighter. It was mostly sunny.  Once again right out of the gate I got them on the Stanley Phantom, but this time on the bone color.  I had to work for them a bit but  I got 5  before I finally switched up to a breen Chigger Craw.  I got 3 bullheads on that.  Then the action cut off, once again around 7:30pm just like last night.  But tonight there was no difference in cloud cover.  Eventually I gave up around 9:15pm and headed East of the GOMH
where I landed my last fish of the night, a chunky 16" on the "Big Sexy" Mad Maxx Frog.  Here are the two 16"'s I got.

Chigger Craw 16"

Big Sexy 16"

 My six best tonight were 16", 16", 15.25",15", 14", and 14" with 9 caught total.  All but the one were caught around the "new juice"

Couple of Trips

Today I fished at the Grumpy Old Man Hole, the river culvert, and the inlet from 5:30AM to 9:00AM and at the GOMH from 9:00PM to 9:45PM.

In the morning things started slow with me getting nothing on the North side.  I switched to the South side and did get a couple of bites on the clack/blue Pure Poison that didn't hook up.  The tail of the Grass Pig Jr. got bit off. I switched to a black/blue Chigger Craw and got my first jumpin bullhead while swimming it.  I got one more doing that and missed a couple.  I switched to the Pure Poison and put a Chigger Craw on it and got 2 that way.  I was going back to the car to change Chigger Craw colors because the one I was using only had one claw left.  I decided to fish off the bridge and immediately smacked 3 fish in a row doing that including my biggest of the morning.

16.75lbs

I switched to the breen color and got one more off the bridge.  I also missed one on a Frenzy Popper off to the SE.

I then went to the North side and got a jumpin bullhead off "the juice" on the Frenzy Popper and the Chigger Craw.  It was now coming up on 8AM so I headed for the river culvert.  I might have had one bite there.  Next I went to the Inlet. I got a pike before losing my jig in the weeds when I made a bad cast.  I had a quality bass on the Chigger Craw jump and get off right by shore.  It was at least 16 inches, maybe as big as 18".

The Evening Trip:

Some grumpy old men tonight

I didn't have much time so I went right to "the juice" and nailed fish on my first 4 casts with a Frenzy Popper.  My second fish was this 16.5 incher.

Willard came over an said hello and Mike B. showed up in his boat.  I got a total of 8 jumpin bullheads and one sunfish on the Frenzy Popper.  On the way home I clipped a deer with the Explorer.

Before The Mosquito's Carried Me Off...

... I caught a few fish.

I hit up Bulldog for a few minutes getting a small bass on the Pure Poison and a small pike on the Cane Thumper.  I was there from 8:30-8:45PM

Next I headed to Jenny's had a couple of swirls on the Horny Toad, but didn't get anything.

Last I hit up the GOMH and got a 16" jumpin bullhead on the Horny Toad.  Right after that I got this 17.25" jumper on the Stanley Phantom.

Got both of those on "the juice"

I got this nice 26" toothy bullhead on the Phantom well to the East of "the juice"

The mosquito's got horrible, so I left a little before 9:45PM

Two Trips Today, One with Dad.

Dad and I got out to the GOMH from 5PM to 6:30PM.  I mostly caught jumpin bullheads at "the juice" on the chartruese firetiger Stanley Phantom.  I got eight of them doing that and one on the Chigger Craw. I also got one toothy on a watermelon red fleck Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper.  Dad got a jumper and a couple toothy's on the Grass Pig Jr.

I got out again by myself at 8:30PM. I went to Bulldog first and got 4 small bass and a pike on the Cane Thumper and a 15" bass on the Chigger Craw.  I then went to Jenny's for five minutes and got nothing.

I got to the GOMH at ten after 9PM.  I got a couple of jumpin bullheads at "the juice" and a 16" off the NE side.  I then landed these two golden bullheads on the Cane Thumper.

My back was giving me issues, so I quit at 10PM.

New Minnesocold Bassin' Blog Midwest Swimbaits

I  just found out about the new blog Midwest Swimbaits.  Obviously the blog is about swimbait fishing in the Midwest.  I don't know if throwing hard swimbaits will ever gain much traction here in Minnesocold, but I think hollow belly's, dippers, and other plastic swimbaits have caught on to one degree or another.

Baptised

My new St. Croix Legend Tournament Bass rod came through in the clutch tonight, sticking this 15.5" jumpin bullhead in the junk. It bit on a bubblegum Berkley Havoc Grass Pig.

When I arrived John W. was just leaving and he said he caught 5 or 6, which I knew didn't leave much for me. I actually did miss one under the South of the bridge that took the Yellow Magic popper. Those were my only 2 bites.

Jenny's and Rock (Short Trip)

Tonight I wasn't off until after 7:30PM and my first stop was at Jenny's. Right away I nailed this 14.5" on a white Berkley Havoc Grass Pig. It took it off the surface. I let the fish take it down and felt it holding the bait, then I gave it the surge set and I had to fight it through some reeds to get it in. The Lamiglas Excel performed well on this one. I got one more weak bite at Jenny's that really didn't hold the Grass Pig, so I wasn't surprised when I set and nothing was there.

At about 8PM I headed over to Bulldog for some Float Tubing, but there were people at the access and a truck and trailer and I didn't want to launch at the Bingo access, so I decided to head to Rock. When I got to rock I decided to throw some casts from the Rock Dock. On one of the casts as I was getting close to the dock a fish grabbed the Grass Pig and bit off the tail. The bait actually had a pretty good walk the dog, flukish action minus the tail, but I decided to put on another Grass Pig.

I got in the float tube and headed North. I was into the reeds when I got my first bite. I set and the Grass Pig was gone, no fish. That sucked. At that point I put on a Gambler Big EZ swimbait. A couple of minutes later I got a 14.5 bass then a pike. I got beyond the reed bed and caught another pike, then a nice 15" class bass then a pike that broke me off right in front of the float tube. I rigged up with a different bigger hook with a smaller lead weight and another EZ. I went as far as I was going to go a little ways into the narrows of the Platte River Outlet. My next fish was another pike, then I got a bass that was 14" or so. I was casting back into the reeds when I had a good hit. I felt for the fish a while before setting the hook and when I did I seemingly didn't hook into anything. I cast back over the area a few times and on one of the casts after I had cleared the reeds and was in open water almost to the float tube I had a good bite. I figured it was a pike and didn't give it the best surge set. I was surprised when a big bass came up and tail walked about 10 feet in front of me. It then bulldoged down then shot straight up, jumped and came off about 6 feet in front of me. I was like, ohh man that was Derby fish for sure; It was in the 17-19" class. Right about this time the mosquito's started getting really bad, so I quickened my pace, but did manage to land one more 14" class bass that took the EZ off the surface as it was coming through the rice and reeds. Shortly after that the mosquito's got to be to much and I stopped casting and moved as quick as I could. I think I was off the water around 9:40PM. I didn't throw a frog at all.

Although I wasn't catching everything that was biting, I came away impressed with the Lamiglas Excel Bass rod. I had to catch several fish through pencil reeds tonight and it had the power to do it. The rod is also pretty sensitive and soft enough not to take the dipper away from the fish for the most part. Maybe tomorrow I will get out and use the rod from the boat, to see how that goes.

More Float Tubing Bulldog & Quick Hitter at Jenny's

Tonight I was out on Bulldog about 1/2 an hour longer than yesterday and caught 9 less fish. I started at the Holy Family Bingo Palace launch. I fished a little to the South, but mostly went North. I got my first fish, which was a 13.5 bass on the brown Ish's Phat Frog casting into the reeds to the South of the Access. I had a few fish hit the frog but they weren't really taking it. Follow up with the black Berkley Havoc Grass Pig was mostly unproductive. I saw a dogfish. At around 8:30PM I had a little flurry of action before a front came through and it started raining. I got a 14" and 12" bass on the Grass Pig and missed a few bites on the GP and Phat Frog. The wind came up with the front and I decided I had gone as far as I wanted to go, which really wasn't that far I actually covered more water last night.

Here is the 14":



There was a little light left when I got back to the car and the wind was out of the S SE, so I thought I would give Jenny's a try real quick. That was a good call as I got this 16"


and another that went 15.5" on the Phat Frog. I also had a couple of other blow ups. It got dark pretty quick and the skeeters were bad, so I headed out around 9:15PM

Float Tubing Bulldog

My last pair of waders leaked badly so I hadn't been out in my float tube for a couple of years. I got a new pair of waders this winter and so I'll be doing some float tubing this year and tonight was the first trip and I chose to go to Bulldog Lake. Bulldog is 141 acres and has a dirt access with limited trailer parking and only a few cabins on the lake. It's pretty much lined with slop almost all the way around (rice,reeds,pads). The lake kicked out a legit 8lb bass around 5 years ago. The lake doesn't get a whole lot of pressure, but I've been told by a guy who has a place on the lake that it isn't as good for bass as it used to be. Tonight there actually was a truck and trailer at the access when I arrived about a quarter after 7PM.

Conditions were overcast with a little light rain as I first started out, but it cleared up around 9PM. There was a light breeze blowing out of the SE.

The public access is on the SW shore and I decided to head South. I brought a rod rigged with a brown Snagproof Ish's Phat Frog and a rod rigged with a black Berkley Havoc Lane's Grass Pig. I casted for a while at the access without luck so I got in the float tube and started off. I can't even believe I got the first fish I did. By far the smallest hollow body frog fish I've ever caught.
Down a little ways I had a fish boil at the frog, but not take it. I followed up with the Grass Pig. I was just about to switch back to the frog when I got a hit. I set the hook and it was a good one.

That is a Moaner Keel Weighted Stoker Hook in it's Maw. I have been impressed with these hooks.
It went 18.5 and was a total pig. Great way to start the trip. I mostly threw the frog, but I caught more fish on the Grass Pig and the 3 biggest. My biggest 6 fish were 18.5", 15.25",15",14",14",13". I caught a total of 11 bass and my last fish was a small pike on the Grass Pig. I fished until the mosquito's started getting bad, which was a bit later than usual because of the breeze.

Platte/Sullivan Pre-Fish Video

Bass Opener Day 3

Because it's Memorial Day weekend the Minnesota Bass Opener is a 3 day affair.

Today my lower back was giving me issues and I wasn't sure if I was going to get out. It was cloudy and breezy out of the SE. I eventually did get out on Platte Lake around 4:30PM. I headed East.

I started on a few docks that are usually unproductive and they lived up to expectation. After wasting 20 minutes I finally got into more productive water and nabbed this pike off a dock on a small black/red Hart spinnerbait.

As you can see I'm sporting my new cantaloupe Columbia Men's Airgill™ shirt with homemade hoodie. Columbia sent me the shirt to try along with some Drainmaker™ shoes. Today was in the 80's and humid, but with the breeze that Airgill shirt worked it's magic and I wasn't the least bit hot even with the sleeves down. I'm loving the shoes as well and they arrived none to soon as I've been getting my feet wet the past few days.

Anyway I made my way West and was into a good area and I popped this 16" on the Hart spinnerbait.
A little after that I got a 14.25" largie on the chart tiger Stanley Phantom topwater. Next I popped a couple of pike on the white Havoc Grass Pig, losing the Pig on the 2nd pike. I put a Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper on the 1/4oz weighted 5/0 Moaner Stroker Hook. I won those Moaner hooks earlier this year. It sure is nice to get to try something and see how it works for free. I popped one more bass on the Hart Spinnerbait, then I had a small pike destroy the spinnerbait. At that point I decided to head back East. I had my red shad Zoom Super Fluke bit off on the very first dock. It's possible I broke my line on the boat lift, but I think it was probably a pike.

As I worked my way West a guy came out to fish on his dock and got a crappie. I went around him and missed a fish, I think it was a bass, on the Cane Thumper. I covered an area that usually has rice and pads, but none were to be seen and no fish were there. Finally I got to some more docks. I popped a 15" largie on the PB&J Yum Wooly Bug along with an 11+" and a 12". That was the end of the PB&J bait so I tried a orange crawdad Yum Wooly Bug and got a 12" on that. I was in the wind and struggling with boat control thanks to my broken trolling motor bracket. I did pull a 12" and 14.25" off docks with the Cane Thumper as I drifted by.

I made a move, a little later than I should have to Loon Sex Bay. I started working the Phantom and had a couple of misses on that before I connected with a 14" largie. I was covering water quickly and I decided to give the Cane Thumper a try and that paid off with a pike and 3 ok sized bass. I think I figured out how to set the hook on those swimbait bites. It's kind of a surging sweep set. I left the fish biting as I had to get back and get the boat on the trailer before it got to dark.

I stopped at the GOMH on the way home and didn't get a bite.

So that was
13 Bass
6 Pike

All told for Bass Opener weekend this year I landed 51 bass and 39 pike.