I've Finished My Livewell for 2012

Check out my best fish of 2012 by clicking on the Livewell 2012 tab under my blog header or just click on that link.  It was a pretty good year considering I barely fished after hurting my back on June 28th:  I was OK for the Bass Snatchers Leech Lake Tournament on the 30th.  I was in worse shape for the tournament at Whitefish Chain on the 15th of July , although I didn't mention anything in the tournament recap.  My back and leg were really giving me issues by the 28th of July at the Pokegama Tournament.  And my back went out on me totally the Thursday after I went out on the Launch at Eddy's with Spike and Dad on Monday July  30th.  I only blogged twice in August and September with my last fishing of the year being at the Fishers of Men Fall Outing on Sept 27-29.

Fishers Of Men Club Fall Outing Pictures Sept 28&29

This 17 incher was caught on Mule Lake with a bluegilll colored Strike King Pure Poison with green pumpkin Craw Fatty Trailer on Friday.

This 28.5" Pike was caught on Saturday on the same Pure Poison at Town Line Lake.  It was my first fish of the day and I was lucky I caught it because in totally inhaled the thing and I didn't have a leader on it. I put a leader on it and caught a few more small pike.  I also managed to catch 3 decent bass.  I caught my third bass on the last cast of the day.  It bit just as Mike Thompson laid the hammer down as we were going in.  It turned out that fish along with my 3 best pike won me FallEE WallEE for the 3rd straight year.

Mike Thompson got a 19" bass on Town Line Lake

I Caught A Fish And More Are Coming

I was convinced by Lowell Borgan that  I should go to the Fishers of Men Fall Outing when he offered to pick me up and told me I could fish with Dave Lindmark out of the GEM Pontoon.  Yesterday I was picked up by Lowell and Art.  When we got up to Lutherdell there was some time before dinner so I went out in the Lutherdell pontoon with Art and Jim Druk.  Art got 4 pike and I got 1 and had several follows.  I can't stand up to fish very long before I have to sit back down. Hopefully I'm not gonna be super sore from my first choice of beds.  It's 3AM, I woke up and found a stiffer mattress.

The weather is gonna be perfect!

I will have Pictures later today.

Fall Outing Last Year!

Amazing this had not made it up here by now. This is video of me and Cyberfish catching some nice fish on the 2nd day of the Fall Outing. The biggest was 36" and more than enough to put me on top for FallEE WallEE.

Mike Hart Convicted

From WONnews.com: Mike Hart Case Closed, Pleads Guilty To Misdemeanor

My Commentary: Actually it's impossible to know if justice was served in this instance. It is possible, but I think unlikely, that this was the first and only time he tried to cheat. In that case he probably got what he deserved. However if he cheated more than once and profited from it, which I think is more than likely, than justice would only be served if he got the full force hammer blow indicated in the article. I am pretty sure a $1000 bucks is pretty meaningless to this guy, really a paltry slap on the wrist. The only true punishment is the disgrace he brought upon himself and the fact that he will probably never be allowed to fish a bass tournament again. But there is one caveat to my thinking on that. Most bass tournament organizations are secular in nature and are under no obligation to be forgiving. However, I do not believe the same holds true for Christian faith based tournament organizations. With that type of tournament trail or club, if there is evidence of true repentance then I think those trails/clubs would be betraying their core principles if they did not offer forgiveness and a path to reconciliation. I think that fact puts the Christian trails in a very tough position. On the one hand I think it would be wonderful if Mike Hart could find some measure of redemption for himself, but on the other hand the guy should man up and reap what he sowed. He doesn't deserve the privilege of the pursuit of the passion because criminal fraud is just not acceptable; it should be one strike and your out. I really hope he doesn't seek out a Christian trail to fish, but I think seeking to fish in a small Christian fishing club along the lines of the Fishers of Men Fishing Club would be ok, in fact would be a good thing.

FOM Club E&W Sylvia Bass Tounament July 9th

I couldn't resist the call of the lake that taught me to fish, so I signed up to fish the Fishers of Men Fishing Club (Twin Cities) Bass Tournament on East & West Sylvia in Wright County. My partner for the day would be Michael "Cyberfish" Thompson. I found out at the landing on tournament morning that Cyb hadn't paid his Club dues, so would be ineligible in the Club Tournament. Cyberfish didn't really care and was there to fish for fun anyway.

Tournament Rules: 3 biggest bass measured by half inches, with most total length winning. The Fishers of Men Club does "paper tournaments" so all fish are immediately released.

Conditions: Light Rain for the first 20 minutes or so with a pretty good breeze all day starting from the S SE switching to the S SW. It obviously was overcast early turning mostly cloudy around 10:30PM. It was a warm morning in the 70's and it got up to about 80 and it was pretty humid. The water on these lakes is very clear and the water was about as high as I've ever seen.

With the forecast calling for that South wind to be blowing by the time the tournament was underway I decided to start on a shallow rock reef on the back side of the island in West Sylvia. We ended up fishing West Sylvia all day. Mike caught a small bass right away, maybe on his first cast, on a slug. I think he got another small one and then I got a small one on a Herb's Dilly buzzbait. Mike caught 1 or 2 more smaller fish before we made a 2nd pass. The second pass was pretty much fruitless so we started drifting across the weed flat. Mike picked up a 15 on the slug. I was throwing a white Death Shimmer 2 spinnerbait and getting a few hits but nothing was hooking up. I know at least one of those bites was from a small pike as it came all the way to the boat. We drifted to a bullrush point and fished down the West side of that. I got a small pike on the Death Shimmer. Eventually we got into some pads and I got a 12.75" Larry on a bubblegum Berkley Havoc Lane's Grass Pig. We ended up fishing West along the shoreline where there were docks and some wood in the water. It looked awesome but all I got was a Sylvia Special (12") next to a dock. We rounded "Dink Point" and I got a 15.5" on the Grass Pig where there was trees overhanging and into the water. As you work the shoreline to the North a small point comes out before the lake opens to the main/biggest bay on West Sylvia. With the South wind this point was getting hit pretty good with the wind. I cast a black/blue Crawtube along the dropoff on the South side of the point (it drops pretty quick and I think there is a little zone of weeds there). I got hit and brought up a 15". I immediately checked the boat back into the wind to keep from blowing over the point as I thought there was a real possibility the fish might be stacked up here. Mike asked me what I was using and I showed him I was fishing a weighted Texas Rig, so he switched up to a green pumpkin jig. I think I just got done telling Mike all I needed was 1 really good fish and I would win the tournament, when Mike swung on that fish. Here it is:

It wasn't the fattest fish in the world, but it was 19" long which is an extremely good fish for Sylvia. I think I pulled a 12.75" on the Crawtube and Mike had a fish rip off the jig skirt and trailer on the hookset. That was all we would get so we headed North to the shoreline where my family's lake place used to be. Basically we worked an inside turn and then off the end of the point which was windblown. I caught a sunfish on the Death Shimmer 2 spinnerbait and had another bump or two. Eventually we worked ourselves in around the point where it was calm and there is a bunch of pads. This is an area I call the "Back Bay" as there is a man made boat channel that was on the back side of our old lake place. It was interesting to see that there is no longer an open boat lane and the Back Bay is overgrown with pads as nobody keeps a boat back there anymore. While fishing the mouth of the Back Bay I got a small bass on the Horny Toad and had another really good swirl close to the boat, but it didn't get the Toad. We worked a little ways into the Back Bay before it got too weed choked, but nothing was in there.

Next we headed to the NE corner of West Sylvia. It was interesting to see that a reedbed there had shrunk in size but cattails had grown close to shore. We fished the wind blown reeds/cattails and I missed a good hit on the Grass Pig, but it got into the reeds immediately. We got to "My Island" which used to feature an open spot behind reeds and rice. The rice is almost all gone and it's just reeds and cattails. I got a bite there from what was most likely a sunfish on a bed (I saw the sunny on the bed as we passed by). I pulled a Sylvia Special on a craw tube off the end of My Island point. We then fished into Turtle Bay. I told Mike that sometimes as you get here is "peanuts"/Sylvia Specials but sometimes there can be good fish too. We did get several peanuts, me on the Horny Toad, but I also did get a 15.5" on the Toad. It used to be that by late June Turtle Bay would be to weed choked so you couldn't fish into it very far, but now there are two docks with boats at the far back of the bay and there is a pretty good boat channel there. Combine that with the high water and I figured fish could be anywhere in the bay. The slop looked beautiful, but all we got were peanuts close to the boat channels, couldn't get anything deeper into the pads. As we worked our way back out it was dead and I got a bit frustrated as this water tends to be pretty good as you come back out of the Bay on the North side. We were almost out of the slop when I got a Sylvia Special out of the Cattails up by shore on the Grass Pig. We went out and worked a cabbage bed that was as in the wind as you can get and we didn't get a bite. We worked down "McGregor's" shore to the 2 docks. I missed a small bass in between 2 docks.

Next we moved to the "Sunkin Island" but we didn't get anything there, so we headed to "Lighthouse Point" with would be another wind blown point with a good drop off and weeds. I'm not sure I even had the trolling motor in the water yet and Mike was hooked up with a big fish and we knew it was a big bass because it jumped. He got it in and it was this nice 19.5" fish.

Needless to say we worked the point pretty good after that and we caught some fish but they were all Sylvia specials.

Next we moved into Flannery's Bay to the hump that I never knew existed until I got my Lakemaster Map. I pulled this 14.25" from there on a Crawtube, but that is all we would get.


Next we worked an inside turn and weedline in Flannery's and I picked up a few more fish on the Crawtube. I also missed several bites. There was about an hour left so we headed back to fish slop/pads in the Public Access Bay. By this time it was partly cloudy so there was quite a bit of sun. Right away I scored a 15.25" on the black Horny Toad. I caught several more Sylvia Specials including this one.

The tournament ended at 2PM. Mike's 53.5" destroyed everybody, but as that he was ineligible my 46" won the tournament. It was typical Sylvia in that everybody reported catching quite a few fish, but everything was small.

Analysis: What can I say but I love Sylvia/Twin and I know spots that have the potential to kick out better than your cookie cutter Sylvia Specials. I am a little surprised that I never made it to the channel between the lakes, but with the way the slop was going in Turtle Bay, I made the call to hit Lighthouse Point first and after that I didn't want to make the run across the big water in that wind. If you want to catch bigger than average fish in Sylvia, you might want to consider using a green/pumpkin bass jig.

Sylvia Tournament Quick Report

Before the tournament I find out that my partner for the day Michael Thompson hasn't paid his Fishers of Men Fishing Club dues and won't be eligible win the $ pot or any points. It wasn't a team tournament so this wasn't any big deal. The rules were 3 biggest bass measured by half inches. Mike managed to put two 19"+ largemouth in the boat, which for Sylvia is no small feat and he rounded out his limit with a 15". Basically he would have crushed everyone. Instead I won by default with three 15"+ fish. I caught quite a few fish, which made it fun.

I think we had 6 boats. Full Report later this week.

Fishers of Men Fishing Club Twin Cities Bass Tournament at E&W Sylvia Preview

Tomorrow I am going to fish a bass tournament with the Fishers of Men Club out of the Twin Cities. It has been several years since I fished a tournament with them other than at the annual club Fall Outing. The pull of Sylvia was just to much to resist. My family had a cabin on Sylvia/Twin when I was growing up and they are the lakes upon which I learned to fish. I haven't been on the lakes since 2005 when I fished a Team Bass Guy/Gal Tournament; That tournament is kind of infamous because I went fishing before the tournament day started, which was against the club rules. Being the Guy/Gal tournament which I thought was for fun, I didn't think it mattered. Several of the Team Bass teams saw me fishing and didn't say a thing. Later, however, another guy in Team Bass read my blog about the tournament where I admitted I fished before the tournament day and got his panties in a bunch, even though the tournament and that season had long since passed as I didn't blog about that tournament until the following Spring. This dude just couldn't let it go and has told several lies about me and tried unsuccessfully to get the Baxter Bass Snatchers, not to accept me as a member when I first joined that club.

Anyway back to the tournament.

It will be interesting to see if much has changed on the lakes. One thing that is different now is that Lakemaster has a totally accurate lake map, so all the previously unmapped deep structure isn't a secret anymore. The forecast is calling for a pretty stiff South wind from start to finish and for the possibility of rain and thunderstorms, maybe strong storms. A straight South wind isn't what you really want and I am pretty much ruling out some places I would normally consider in East Sylvia. I will definitely start out looking for an active bite. I'm assuming the slop is still where it always has been and I plan to hit my fair share of shallow thick stuff, but if it's clouds and wind and rain reaction baits on the weed flats and in other select areas might be the deal.

I'm fishing with Michael "Cyberfish" Thompson who's new hobby is storm chasing. He is going to bring his storm chasing computer with him, so we might be able to get a heads up if a storm comes barreling towards us. If storms move in, he may very well ditch me and go storm chasing.

Hopefully it will be fun. The two tournaments I've fished on Sylvia both featured storms with lightening and heavy rain. The problem with that is you want to fish as long as you can before the storm hits, because the bite can really be phenomenal pre-storm.

Fishers of Men Club Twin Cities Fall Outing Report

(FallEE WallEE the Fall Outing Tournament Trophy)

On Friday it was cold very windy and wet in the morning. Nobody wanted to go out in it. Around 1PM it dried up, still overcast, and I was willing to go out but nobody with a boat wanted too.

On Saturday I fished with Gary Pflipsen on Mule Lake. Conditions were clear, then cloudy, then clear again with little to no wind and it got warm enough that I fished for about 3 hours in a T-shirt.

When Gary and I arrived we motored a fair ways North of the access and started fishing the West shoreline. I got the first fish which was this largemouth.
It bit on a green pumpkin Strike King Pro Model tube on a leadhead jig. Gary got then next bass which was a 15+ largie caught off a dock. I got another decent bass on the tube. I was missing a few bites.

In the calm and overcast I started throwing topwater and I caught an 18" pike on a Lucky Craft Gunfish. Gary caught a nice mid 20" pike off a dock with a Senko. Finally we got down to the Narrows and on the North point I got largies number 3 & 4 on a PB&J Yum Wooly Bug. 4 Bass was the limit for bass in the FallEE WallEE Tournament. I believe bass #4 was 15" and my biggest of the day. To the East of the narrows we started seeing a lot of baitfish activity on the surface so I started throwing topwater. I got an 8" largie on a clear bluegill Deps Buzzjet Jr. I put on a motor oil Yum Wooly Bug and caught my second pike which was a meager 14 inches long. 2 was the tournament limit on pike and it was this fish that won me the top spot for 2010 on FallEE WallEE. I caught one more 11" largie on the bluegill Deps Buzzjet Jr. and a 12" largie off a dock on the Strike King tube.

When the sun came out in the afternoon the fishing got tough and I didn't catch any more fish.

As it turns out fishing was kind of tough on everybody. Several of the guys had their 4 bass, but didn't get their limit of pike. Because of this and Gary Pflipsen and Mike Thompson not participating in the tournament I won the top spot on FallEE WallEE. Gordy got second and Jim Druk got 3rd. Gordy was fishing out of his new boat on Boy Lake and Jim got his fish on Three Island Lake fishing with minnows.

Fishers of Men Club Twin Cities Fall Outing Weekend

I will be leaving tomorrow around 6AM in the morning for the Fishers of Men Fishing Club Twin Cities annual Fall Outing held once again this year out of Lutherdell Bible Camp on Boy Lake. For the past couple of years I have been fishing with Dave Lindmark in the GEM pontoon boat, but Dave won't be there this year. I have no clue who I will be fishing with and what lakes they will want to fish. It's pretty much suppose to be cloudy and very windy tomorrow out of the NW. I am going to try to talk my boater into fishing Mule Lake because it has clear water which is better with overcast/wind and it has a lot of protected shoreline from a NW wind.

Saturday is suppose to be much nicer and I'm hoping my boater will go to Townline which has good pike and bass fishing. Those are the lakes I have fished the past two years and we've done quite well.

Hopefully the rain we are getting will be gone by the time we start fishing tomorrow.

Fishers of Men Fall Outing 2009 Sept 24-27

My 1st Bass on Three Island Lake.

I fished all 3 days (Thur-Sat) out of the GEM pontoon with Dave Lindmark and Mike Thompson.

Day 1 Thursday Sept 24th-
I met Dave Lindmark and Mike Thompson at Lutherdell Bible Camp around 1PM. We got our stuff put in the cabin and then Dave wanted to take a nap, so I picked out a couple of rods and went to fish off the camp docks. At the last of the 3 docks, usually the best spot, I made a cast between the dock and a pontoon boat with a smoke tube and was rewarded with a 15 inch largemouth. I headed back up to the cabin pretty much as Dave was getting ready to roll. We took on a Teen Challenge graduate named Aaron, and two Fishers of Men Club boats were going to follow us. Dave had decided to go to Three Island Lake because it is close and we would be coming back for supper at 6PM. Three Island had been a good bass and pike lake for GEM this summer. It turned out to be kind of a bust for us under the sunny and calm conditions. We caught a few really small bass and a few small pike. Mike and I lamented the fact that we were going in for supper and wouldn't be on Mule Lake for the prime time evening bite.

Day 2 Friday Sept. 25th-
Since the Minnesota Teen Challenge group brought their own boats I wasn't needed for taking guys out in the camp pontoons, so I ended up in the GEM pontoon with Dave, Mike, and a Teen Challenge guy named Dave. The Day 1 Tournament allowed for the length of my best pike, bass (largie or smallie), walleye, and muskie combined. We picked Mule lake not so much for the tournament as for the opportunity to catch the largies and smallies in this bass catch and release only lake. Mule has clear water and conditions were sunny, then partly cloudy until about 3:30PM when it looked like it might rain but it never did.

We started off fishing on the South End of the lake by a downed tree. I tossed my smoke tube by the tree and missed a bite. Teen Challenge Dave cast his tube into one of the branches and we broke him off. I tied him another tube and when I casted back at the tree I got the first fish of the day, which was a rock bass. Mike Thompson worked us out onto the weed flat going East. I picked up a couple of small pike on a black spinnerbait while the other guys caught some bass on plastics. Eventually I switched up to a black/blue Strike King Pure Poison chatterjig and landed my first bass (1st picture) and this healthy 16+ incher.

A little later on I caught a 23 inch Pike on the Pure Poison.

Eventually we stopped working the SE corner of the lake because it was sunny and calm. We headed towards the access to work the West side of the lake which had some wind blowing on it. As we worked this shoreline Dave Lindmark got the only two smallmouth we would catch. I did see one nice smallmouth follow in a largie that Mike had hooked. As we worked this shore it was kind of slow but one of us would pull a fish every 10 minutes or so. Action picked up some as we got to the North end of the lake when I popped a couple and missed one on a smoke tube, while Mike got one, and Dave caught then lost one. It had clouded up at this point so the fish were probably turning on a little bit.

After another lull Mike hastily worked us towards the North Narrows Southern Point trying to get us there before the sun would pop out again. Mike got a quality hit on his popper and I threw in behind him with my smoke tube. I was reeling in quickly to make another cast when a bass swirled on the tube and missed. I let the tube sink and it was inhaled by this 17incher.

Mike thought we were going to get into a flurry but I think those were the only two fish we pulled off the Southern Point. As we were working that point the wind came up quite a bit from what it had been out of the East. As we worked our way to the North Narrows North Point I got a 16" largie that hit the tube on the drop. As we worked our way into the wind along the North point I switched up to a white/chartreuse gold bladed Strike King Pure Poison chatterjig and I immediately nailed a couple of small pike and then had a quality 28 inch class pike get hooked up and take a run but before I could get it in it pulled off. I was super disappointed because that was a money fish. I got a couple of largies on the Pure Poison, including a 15", and then the lure got bit off. It was the only white/chart gold blade that I had and my efforts to replace it were in vain as I stopped catching fish while the Dave's and Mike managed to get a few and miss a few. We worked all the North end points and went back to the North Narrows Southern Point one more time and then it was time to head in.

I had 40 inches which was 4th best for the day, but got me 3rd place in the money pool. Had I got the big pike I missed I would have been 2nd.


Day 3 Saturday Sept. 26th-
Day 3 was FallEE WallEE Trophy Day where the top 3 for the days tournament would get to put their name on the back of the plaque/trophy. The tournament would be decided by the length of one's 3 biggest bass and 3 biggest pike which is the same way things were decided last year when I got 1st Place. Because of tournament parameters the smart move was to hit Townline Lake because it has decent sized bass and an excellent average size for pike including many 30 inch class fish. Townline was where I won it last year. Today I would just be fishing with Dave Lindmark and Mike. It was fairly breezy all day out of the SW with clouds early giving way to warm sunshine in the afternoon.

I started off fishing a silver buzzbait and was rewarded with some solid pike from 24 to 26 inches. Mike Thompson started catching bass on the inside weedline with tubes, so with 3 nice pike under my belt I switched up to that. Mike was out fishing me on the bass but I managed to pick up 2 on a junebug Powerbait tube texas rigged on a jig. We got to some slop and I lost a bass on a Horny Toad but soon after that picked up my 3rd keeper bass on the Toad. Fish were in the slop but we didn't do a very good job of catching them. It's hard to say if they were mostly bass or pike. The sun came out and we decided to head back to where we started. Lindmark still didn't have a fish at this point and it was after noon. Mike and I started off working the inside weedline again and we both managed to upgrade our bass but Mike had the edge with bass while I had the bigger pike. Eventually it seemed we had run the best bass water so we headed out and tried for pike. Mike slowly started to upgrade his pike and Dave eventually got a few fish. I struggled to get bit and switched lures, eventually getting bit on a white with silver blades Terminator Spinnerbait, but after catching a couple of fish it got bit off and once again I struggled to get bit. Eventually we worked our way to the NE end of the lake where there is an abandoned beaver dam that can hold some nice bass and unfortunatley for me it was Mike who pulled a 17incher out from under the pads. I got an 18incher from the same spot the previous year.

Next we went to work the weeds off of one of the points on the North End of the Lake. We pulled a couple of pike and were working our way across the flat when I had a bruiser of a pike come out of the water while missing my spinnerbait, the fish followed to the boat before darting away. Mike Thompson threw after it and it struck at his spinnerbait and missed. Mike did a figure 8 at the boat and hooked up with the 29" inch fish which would win him his 1st FallEE WallEE title.

As time was closing in I had the brite idea to put on a Mann's Minus One crankbait and I upgraded a half inch and got a couple of other nice pike. I was kicking myself for not thinking of this lure sooner.

For the Day I got 3rd Place behind Mike who beat Lowell Borgan by a half inch. Lowell also had a 29" Pike, unbelievably from Mule Lake. However Mike forgot to get in the money pool, so I got the 2nd Place money.

So FallEE WallEE for 2009 is:
#1 Mike Thompson
#2 Lowell Borgan
#3 Dave Maas

Note: Lowell and I are both on FallEE 4 times and both during the exact same years (2003, 2004, 2008, 2009)

Feb 28th in the Twin Cities: Fish Fair

Better late than never with this:
Fish Fair Looking for something to do today (28th). Bring the family down to the Fishing for Life Fish Fair at New Hope Church 9 am to 4 pm (formerly known as Crystal Evangelical Free, the church is located at the northeast intersection of Hwy 169 and Rockford Road at 4225 Gettysburg Ave. N. in New Hope, MN).

Fishers of Men Fishing Club Fall Outing

Full fishing report at the BP Fishing Log Blog...

Fishers of Men Fishing Club Twin Cities Fall Outing

Once again it is time for the Fishers of Men Fishing Club Fall Outing not that any of my blog readers would know because I have not blogged about it in years past. This is an event that I have participated in for the last 10 years. It actually seems like I have been to more than 10 of them. It was at my second Fall Outing that I was given the nickname Basspastor. This year we will be going back to Lutherdell Bible Camp on Boy lake North of Longville for the first time in 3 years. Last year we went to Camp Shamineau on Shamineau Lake and the year before that we went to Broadwater Lodge on Woman Lake all the years before that were at Luther Dell.

It used to be that the big draw was walleye fishing on Leech Lake, but in the last few years since walleye fishing has been poor on Leech no one has been fishing it and last year we were West of Brainerd. Since the walleye fishing has come back strong on Leech I suspect that a lot of the guys will be going there. I really do enjoy that Fall Leech lake jig and minnow fishing, but I am probably going to hit Mule Lake for the bass and Town Line Lake for bass and pike. We have a pretty good sized group coming up this year and so they need me to bring the Trophy so I can take someone out.

In years past we have had Ron Lindner, Vikings great the late Wally Hilgenberg, Cass Lake Guide Merv Heischmidt, and famous Leech Lake Guide Chip Leer as speakers. Once upon a time even I was the featured speaker. I have many great memories from the Fall Outing and hopefully this year will be no different.

"Bullheads"

Can you tell what kind of "bullhead" this is? Find out the answer at the BP Fishing Log Blog.

"Bullheads": For those of you who don't know, the Grumpy Old Men at the Grumpy Old Man Hole call everything they catch there a bullhead. Someone stops to ask what they are catching, "bullheads" is always the reply. It's their way of trying to keep this very public spot a secret. Because of this I have taken to refering to every fish I catch at the GOMH as some type of bullhead here at the blog.

I have caught "jumpin bullheads," "silver bullheads," "orange bullheads," "toothy bullheads," "golden bullheads," "yellow striped bullheads aka tiger bullheads," and of coarse yellow brown or black bullheads. I have also seen a few dogfish get caught.

If someone passing by asks me and the GOM's are not around, then I will often spill the beans on what I am catching, but sometimes not . So far this year I have had company from another fisherman only once and he fished the NW side, neither of us caught anything that night as the water was flowing into Platte.

Fisher of Men Spring Outing: This upcoming Fri-Sun is the big weekend at Big Sandy camp on Big Sandy Lake. After a years absense our "KING CRAPPIE" trophy is up for grabs again. The weather on Friday is supposed to stink: windy, cool, and wet (I think I'll sit that one out). Saturday is supposed to be bearable and Sunday might actually be nice with 60°F for a high. I will be amazed if the fishing is any good. Big Sandy lake is at least another 30 minutes North, so the water temps there are going to be even colder than here. I think at least some of Big Sandy still had some ice on it this week.

Fishers Of Men Club Beebe Lake Tournament 6/2/07

Fishing Report: Sullivan Lake 4/6/07...

Fishers of Men Fishing Club Twin Cities
Beebe Lake Tournament 6/2/07
I left for the tournament before 5AM which gave me plenty of time to make it to "Land of Promise" and Beebe Lake by 8am. With the extra time I decided to hit the Crow River outside of St. Michael to see if I could get a little topwater smallie action. I must have hit the rip rap around 6:45 and started working my way down. I thought I got a hit from something small and kept right on going. A little while later I did get a hit from an 8" smallie that managed to get the whole back treble in it's mouth. Without pliars it was tough to get out, but I did, hopefully with no damage done to the fish. A little ways farther down I got a harder hit and the fight was on. The fish got caught up in some debree, but it did not come off. As it turns out the fish was hooked on the front of the dorsal fin. Once again this was a pain to get out without pliars, but I managed to do it and release the fish. Not a bad start to the day, two smallies on the Clown Frenzy Popper.



My 5th fish of the day. Was 15" or 16"
My limit fish and last bass of the day. I think it went 16.5" and tied for my big fish.
Partner Wayne Jacobson staves off the skunk with a 15.5"=2.3lb Keeper.
Thompson scores a Beebe Lake Toad. 20"=5lbs

Mike with a chuncky 18.5=3.9lbs.

The Story: The scheduled start of the tournament was 9am but we got started a little late. The weather went from fairly sunny to increasing clouds. The wind was probably 5-10mph out of the south. I think we had 7 boats with 13 participants. The lake was bursting at the seems with Curly Leaf Pond Weed. I only found millfoil in "telephone pole bay."

The day started quite slow for Wayne and I. First we hit the whole Eastern and Southern Shore of the big island hitting both the inside and outside weed edge. Not a sign of a fish. So then we tried around the reed Islands, I did get something, probably a small pike, to slash at my Zoom Horny Toad. From the reed Islands we progressed to the SW side of the lake just below the Southern notch/bay. While working that weedline we ran into Mike Cummins who told us there were lots of bass that were not biting on the inside weedline in the NE bay by "Land of Promise." After working down the SW weedline quite a ways we elected to pull up and hit the NE bay.

Finally there were signs of life. The inside weedline was full of sunfish and the occasional bass. I switched to a Senko knock off and tried to hit the holes in the weeds and around the docks. I was seeing an occasional bass but wasn't getting anything. I started throwing the white Zoom Horny Toad and got a blow up and caught a 15" largemouth from a hole in the weeds. We kept working our way around the inside weedline and I got another fish on the white Horny Toad. I had a couple of fish either boil on the toad or follow it to the boat. When we got to the Land of Promise East dock, Wayne decided to take a trip to Mcdonald's to get us some lunch. I threw some casts with the Horny Toad off the dock but didn't get anything. I then switched to a purple Frenzy Popper and was rewarded when a 16.5" bass annihilated it. This bass was barely hooked but I managed to fight it through the weeds and land it. After a while Wayne came back with some snack wraps for me to snack on.

We elected to go back and re-trace our steps in the NE bay. I set Wayne up with a Horny Toad. In the general area where I got my 1st fish I had a good take, but I missed it. This tried to hit through the matted weeds and I didn't give it long enough to take the bait down. We kept working our way W and I started mixing in the Frenzy Popper as the weedline would allow. After throwing it for quite a bit and almost giving up on it, I got a hit and landed my 4th bass of the day. We ended up giving the NE bay one more run through but didn't garner any fish.

We then headed to the North Point of the Island and worked our way down the Western side this time. The west side was full of activity and I saw a really nice bass and a few small one's but we just couldn't get anything to go. With about an hour to go we hit the "telephone pole bay." As we worked our way toward the telephone pole in the water I got a hit and missed it. Shortly after that Wayne had a solid strike on the Horny Toad but missed it. A little bit later I got a good blow up on the Horny Toad and landed my 5th fish (pictured). Just a little ways farther down as we were exiting the telephone pole area, I got another blow up and landed my second 16.5" fish (pictured). That fish was my limit fish. We worked our way out of the telephone pole bay onto the sunkin penninsula where I had a good blow up but missed it. Shortly after that Wayne got a 15.5" bass off of the outside weedline of the sunken penninsula. That was to be our last fish of the day and it wasn't long till we had to be in anyways.

When we got to the Western dock at land of Promise everyone was waiting. It had been a rough day on most boats with most of the anglers bringing in Skunks as far as I can tell. Before the weights were calculated I found out Cyberfish jacked a 20incher (pictured) and I knew it was over. Mike ended up winning with 6fish for 19.6lbs. I took 2nd with 14.2lbs. Mike Cummins had 6 fish for 10.4 lbs and 3rd. Wayne's lone fish was good enough for 4th place.

As it turns out Mike got 2 fish in the last half hour including the 20inch Toad. I thought that mike would have caught the snot out of them, but he only got 6 keepers, but they were all nice fish.

Mike and I headed to Angeno's in Maple Grove after the Tournament for some Pizza. Yum Yum. It stormed something fierce while we were at Angeno's.
A big thanks to my partner Wayne Jacobson for turning us on to land of promise and for sharing his day in the boat with me.

Fishers of Men Club Meeting with Travis Frank

My fishing club is the Fishers of Men (Twin Cities). We meet the first Thursday of every month. Last Thursday, February 1st at the club meeting our speaker was Travis Frank of Trophy Encounters Guide Service (His website is basically a jazzed up blog-check it out). Travis is a young guy (23) but a hardcore fisherman who spends lots of time on the water. He guides mostly on Tonka, Waconia, and Mille Lacs for Muskies and Walleyes. He gave a very interesting presentation on shallow water weed walleyes. He says he fishes walleyes in 4 to 10ft of water for most of the year (open water), catching some real brutes. I was impressed and will give his methods a try.

Bass Pundit News

Prayer Request:I just learned that my brother Todd has applied to be the MN Teen Challenge Dean of Men, so if you could pray for him and the organization while they are in the process I would appreciate that. My brother was a Youth Pastor for several years and just earned a Masters Degree from Bethel University and as you might already know my darling niece Isabelle is their daughter (Scroll down).

The Bass Hole (Ex-pat bass fisherman in Korea) Spring Fling.

Be sure to register those FLW Fishing Challenge Teams for Beaver Lake this week before Wednesday. The Pundit Picks Staff and Pro's Picks are up.

Have you heard of any Bass or fishing blogs?
If you have than tell me there URL's by leaving a comment. Or if you just wanna say hello Click on comments or write something in the guest book.

Thanks to Gregg over at My Bass and I I should have this website a little more streamlined in a few days.

Once again thanks to my brother and sister-in-law, Jeff and Erin Sutter-Maas I'll be fishing Team Bass Tournament Circut/Club this summer.

Also again this summer I will be volunteering to help with G.E.M. Camp. With the high gas prices the operational cost of getting to camp and running the boats will be higher than it's ever been, so if any Bass Pundit readers are feeling generous and want to make a monetary donation, a donation of quality usable tackle, or a donation of something else you think might be beneficial to a fishing Camp for Teens than email me at basspundit@hotmail.com or Contact Camp Director Dave Lindmark by email dlindmark@usa.net or phone (952-882-1711).
Great Expectations Ministries is a 501(c)3 non profit organization; all donations and contributions to it are tax deductible.

In addition to helping with GEM Camps, I will be out with them for the annual Rush Lake Crappie/Panfish Outing on April 30th, this will be my 6th or 7th straight year. I also plan on helping with the GEM Minnesota Fishing Opener Trip to St. Louis River near Duluth. I went on that GEM outing last year and it was a ball, I even caught a limit of walleyes (of coarse the limit on the St. Louis is 2).

In other BP fishing news I will be attending the 2005 Fishers of Men Club(Twin Cities)/ Teen Challenge Spring out May 7-10 at Camp Wapogasset near Amery WI. I will be helping guide for some of the Teen Challenge program participants and staff. If the warm weather holds than the fishing should be phenomenal. MN Teen Challenge is another organization that the BP considers worthy of donations.

I've already mentioned and linked The Fishers of Men Club (Twin Cities). If you went or go to the link you will see that our meeting place has changed but not the night, first Thursday of the Month from 7-9PM. Also note that the webpage is a different URL.

The first MN open water reports are in and to keep tabs with MN fishing information go to Catch-N, FishingMinnesota, and LSF Bulletin Boards.

Be sure to check out what is up with the Fishers of Men Tournament Trail (MN & WI Divisions)

The MN Ice out range is moving up.

BP's 2004 Tournament Review Part 1 (Accomplishments)

2004 Top Angler Fishers of Men Fishing Club (Twin Cities)
2004 "FallEE WallEE" Trophy Fishers of Men (TC) Fall Outing
1st Place Team Bass Bone Lake Tournament
4-01Big Bass Team Bass Bone Lake Tournament
1st Place Fishers of Men Club (TC) Rush Lake Tournament
20" "Trophy" Size Big Bass.
1st Place Fishers of Men Club (TC) Fall Outing Tournament 2
3rd Place Excel Bass Rabbit Lake Tournament
3rd Place Fishers of Men Club (TC) Fall Outing Tournament 1
4th Place Team Bass Koronis Lake Tournament
5th Place Team Bass 1stPlatte/Sullivan Tournament
7th Place Team Bass Super Stars Tournament
Total of 7 Team Bass Top 10 Finishes.

2004 Fantasy Bass Fishing:
FLW Fishing Challenge
7th Overall in Final FLW Fishing Challenge Fantasy Bass Standings
"Minnesocold BP Boys" (900 Plus Players)
8th Place Prize FLWFC Lake Okeechobee Proxy Team (P.T): "Cyb's BP Boys"
18th Place Prize FLW Kentucky Lake "Minnesocold BP Boys"

ESPN/B.A.S.S. Fantasy Bass Fishing
2nd Place FishingMinnesota.com League with P.T.: "Schmenzig Bassmen"
86th Place Overall Finish ESPN/BASS FBF with P.T.: "Schmenzig Bassmen" (30,000 plus players)
4th Place FishingMinnesota.com League with P.T.: "BPs Dad"