No Skunk For Me...

I thought for sure I was getting a skunk for the day. No activity at the GOMH and a wind from the wrong direction and no Rock Dock to fish from. Still I put my time in and fished all afternoon. I started out by checking for suckers, there weren't any. Then I headed to the GOMH as the sun was out, and it was warm but windy out of the NE, which actually was a good direction for the south side of the GOMH. CO Kuske stopped by again. He said crappies were being caught at Pierz as of today. I fished for about an hour, then headed to Rock. After seeing the futility of fishing Rock in that NE wind, I sat in the truck and listened to the radio, hoping the dock installers would show up. While I was sitting there, a guy who I might have met before came down in an ATV to go fishing. He gave me some interesting information, but he did not catch anything. It may have been info about suckers running. After that guy left, I went back out to try again, and while I was fishing, a boat came down to launch, so I got in the truck to move out of the way. I parked in the lot, and one of the guys with the boat motioned for me to roll down the window. He let me know my left back tire was just about flat. The tire wasn't totally flat, so I made the decision to limp the truck about 3 miles to Bear Traxx hardware and gas. I made it with no problems and got the tire filled back up. I could hear the leak, so I immediately drove 5 miles south to J&D's, which is a full service station. In 30 minutes Jeff had the tire patched and I was back on the road. Our place is less than a mile South of J & D's, so I headed home to check on the dogs and get them their supper. Once that business was done, I headed back to Rock. Nobody was there so I pulled up to the ramp and started fishing. The wind was just a bit better but had clouded up pretty well. I think I missed one bite but am not totally sure. I finally bugged out at 6:30PM. I was surprised when I arrived at the GOMH that nobody was there, which was not a particularly good sign. As I took my stuff down to the SW side, Grumpy Old Man Willard showed up. He gave me a hard time about how he would catch as many fish as me by just sitting in his truck.

Right around 7:30PM, Willard left, and I started seeing signs that some baitfish were around with predators chasing them. I made several casts to the area but didn't have any bites. It was getting pretty dark, and I was reeling in by some cattail stalks when I thought I was hung up, but the snag started moving quickly to my left. Sure enough I had a bullhead. I lifted him out of the water and before I could grab him my line snapped, but he was well over the shore so I picked him up.
As you can see in the picture, it was a male pike that was milting.

I didn't get skunked, the GOMH comes through again.

Guntersville 2/ Norman 3/GOMH Report

Morning Fishing Report: I got up at 5:30 and headed to the GOMH. Don W. was there already, but he hadn't gotten anything. I managed to get skunked, but I missed a few bites and had a jumpin bullhead. Don caught one Silver and a bunch of little oranges on waxies. By 7am, I had enough and left. Two guys arrived at the same time as me that fished the NE side and were catching some kind of bullhead over there.

GEM outing at Rush Lake... Nobody told the BP about it. Oh well doesn't look like they needed me.

Evening Fishing Report: I headed to the GOMH at 6:30. The SE side was open, so I took that. Once again, Lee Ander was there with family, and Willard was on sight too. Lewis appeared later, so all the Grumpy Old Men were accounted for. There was lots of coming and goings on this night, and boats were fishing both sides (N&S) of the GOMH. I started out fishing with maggies and a glow Cubby Mini-mite. It was slow at first, but as the night progressed, the action got faster. My first fish was an orange bullhead, followed by a small jumpin bullhead.

I missed several bites but eventually got dialed into a zone to the East of the current. Around 7:30, I got my first Silver which I gave to Lee Ander. About 20 minutes later, I had another Crappie on and missed it at the bridge. I was sporadically hooking several oranges by now. I then caught a couple more silvers, switched to minnows, and got hit immediately 3 times catching 2 nice fish. After another silver or two, I had one on that collided with the weeds, and my line broke. I switched to a glow Ratso with a big hook and kept working minnows; I got my last two silvers on this.

All in all, I went home with 7, having released a few small ones and given 1 to Lee Ander. It was a nice night to be out, 75 degrees, slight SW wind. I did as well as anybody because the SW side was not fast and furious with the silvers.

Tournament News:
Basszone On the Water Blog...

April 27 Tour Notes and Blog SMG... Jay Yelas has a great big fish story.

G-Ville day 2 Bassfan Story...

BassZone G-ville day 2 story...

BassFan Big Stick John Murray G-ville...

Norman FLW BassFan Story...

Fantasy Bass Fishing Notes:
BASS G-Ville: Both Teams have 2 anglers in the top 12 KVD & Horton, Miyazaki, and Jordan. Mason was a no-point stinker for BP1. IKE rallied and got points on the board for BP boys. The success of this tournament hinges upon those top 12 performances tomorrow.

GOMH Fishing Report, More "Bacon"

Fishing Report 4/25/07: I made an early trip to the GOMH from 3:30 to 5:30. GOM Lee Ander was there with two other guys. 1 of those guys was fishing the SE side in a boat, and he caught several bullheads on a large twister tail. The guy to the west of me tangled with a couple of bullheads. I tangled with a couple of bullheads, catching a small one. Lee Ander caught a 4lb plus bullhead on a waxie and jig. He also missed an orange bully. At about 4:45, Willard arrived and started talking more about "bacon." At 5:30, I went over to get Jenny for the fish fry.

After the fish fry, dad and I hit the GOMH, arriving around 7:15. It was 60 degrees and dead calm. The silver bullheads were just starting to hit. It was our good fortune that Willard had started fishing, thus effectively saving the SW side for us to fish. The silver bullheads were hitting good tonight, nice and steady; I helped five different people fill out limits, including GOM Lee Ander and Willard. I also threw several (4-5) silvers back. Dad's bobber was barely visible on the surface or was just beneath the surface. Dad missed several fish. Fish were hitting on waxies for Lee Ander and minnows for everyone else. I used both maggies and minnows; some of the minnows were dead ones. The later it got, the more the fish seemed to prefer minnows. We quit fishing when everyone had their limit; it was dark, but I could still see my bobber. All in all, it was a lot of fun at the GOMH tonight.

Lee Ander told me that the channel by the golf course on Mille Lacs was giving up big crappies from 5-7pm. The main body of ML is still a sheet of ice.

Fantasy Bass Fishing Notes: I finished my lineup for Norman and Guntersville, did YOU?

Good Evening at the GOMH (GOM Willard "Bacon" Night)

Fishing Report: Headed to the GOMH at 6:20PM. There were three anglers fishing the SW side. Also at the GOMH was grumpy old man Willard. If he said bacon once, he said it a hundred times over the evening.

Since the SW side was covered with anglers I took the not nearly as nice to fish from SE side. In the first hour I fought two big bullheads but they both jumped me off by slightly bending the cubby hook out. The first hook up was at least a 4lber that jumped numerous times. A lady fishing the SW side said if I gave her the bass to keep, she would give me a couple of brewski's. I think she was half kidding, but then again maybe not.

I landed my first fish, which was a 2lb jumpin bullhead after I had been there about an hour. I was fishing a busted Cubby body with a minnow. I landed two more jumpin bullheads, a 2 and then a 3lber. About 8PM the people on the SW side started getting some action with orange bullheads then by 8:20 some silvers started showing up. I caught an unlucky break when a slimmer broke my line sending my Wing-It bobber into Sullivan Lake. However soon after that my luck changed because the guy and the girl fishing the SW side caught enough fish and packed it up. I immediately took their place.

For the next 20 minutes or so I proceeded to whack and stack silver bullheads on Dad's set up from last night (Chart flu flu and a minnow). Another guy showed up while the action was hot and he immediately started catching them too. As it was starting to get pretty dark the 1st guy left and the action slowed. I put on my lighted bobber and got about 4 more fish. The action slowed the darker it got. I got my last couple of fish on another set up with a Glow Demon. All in all I kept 9 (see pic) and released 3-5.

Word on the street is that Santa Claus Don woke up early and smacked em good in the morning around 6am. He said he also got a 5lb jumpin bullhead.


Classic Bass Pundit: Goings on at GOMH

April 2006 Fishing Log Blog archives...

April 2005 Fishing Log Blog archives...

More Closed Season Vigilanteism at FM.com: Targeting Bass before they are open (Duffman takes a shot at the BP in his post) and Lawbreakers

Hey Duffman, in case you aren't paying attention, I actually do fish for Dogfish. I am the 2004 and 2006 Minnesota Bowfin Club Grand Champion. I will try and repeat again this year. I think I may have missed a my first doggy of the season the other night. FYI I was fishing for Crappies at the time.