Slop Slip First Trip (A Bit of a Trainwreck)

4:00-6:00PM Rock Lake RPRO
58-℉, PC, 0-6mph NE
Water level low.

I got the lettering put on the Slop Slip, and because the winds were light, I thought I would give her a trial run. It could have gone better. I elected to go with the 55lb of thrust Min Kota. I think that is overkill, and it doesn't tighten itself to the boat easily. I found that out when I pushed the boat into the water, and it fell in the lake. Good thing I had the batter terminals attached. I fished it right out, and it worked fine. On the way to the RPRO, I didn't have the troller adjusted right with it being too low in the water. I ran into the log on the bottom at full speed. I was lucky nothing broke.    I then didn't follow my plan of making my way to the beaver dam but drifted/fished my way there. The first thing that happened was a fish swirled on my orange Rocket Bobber; That happened at least a half dozen times.    Shortly after that, I caught the 13 inches. The water level is low. I didn't see much baitfish activity and kept having to pick off weeds. I landed one bass on THE JIg, One on a craw tube, and one on the Poison. I also got a pike on the Poison. Missed a bunch of bites. I never found any concentration of pannies and lost the one for sure sunfish I did have on. The water was pretty clear. It would be really nice if the water level came up 6-inches. Because I was struggling to find the pannies, I turned in at 6PM.

Last Open Water Bullhead of the Year???

23" Pure Poison bluegill

Got a toothy on the NE side of the GOMH.  Will this be my last open water fish of the year?

Rock Dock is Out! Didn't get a bite

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

I Caught Some Fish Tonight

Inlet Sullivan Lake

3:15-6:45PM
Cool and windy out of the SE

After the MN Gophers victory in Football over Northwestern I decided to get my gear organized and go fishing.  First stop was at the Sullivan Inlet, nothing.  Then the Platte River Culvert, nothing.  I missed a hit that was probably a toothy bullhead at the GOMH on a bluegill Pure Poison.  I went by Bulldog, but somebody was there so I headed to the Rock.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the dock was still in the Lake.  On my very first cast out into the lake a bass just hammered the Poison.

16.25"

The weeds were kind of a problem for working the Poison, so  I went to a black/blue Craw Tube.  I missed what felt like a good fish because my drag wasn't tight enough.  I tightened the drag.  I was throwing what was going to be my last cast when this chub bit me.

18"

I might of had a hit on the Chigger Craw as well.  I left just in time to see the sun setting over Platte Lake.

24"

Last stop was a Jenny's where I got this pike on a Horny Toad and I missed a pretty good swirl as well.

With the weather warming up  I plan to get out a few times this week.

Broke The Heavy

Well looks like I'm replacing all 3 rods.  I broke the 7' Heavy St. Croix rod fighting a little northern that got down in the weeds.  The rod cracked and broke in two.

Here is the window the cat tried to climb out on resulting on the widow shutting on the 3 rods.

Unfortunately I caught the cat instead of the window. I was really hoping the Heavy St. Croix would make it.  I'm glad I found out now, so I can have the rod back by my next tournament.

Fishing sucked. I didn't get anything at the culvert, and the "new new juice" had two guys fishing it.  They were keeping some jumpin bullheads and letting some go. They were also getting some orange bullheads.  I got 2 jumpers on the SW side and that toothy that I broke the rod on.  I fished from 10AM to 11:45AM.

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

June 1st Bass Snatcher South Long Lake Tournament Full Recap

The Weather:
The weather forecast was for it to be raining from the get go and winds out of the NW gusting upwards of 20mph.  Fortunately the rain held off and the wind stayed fairly mild as well out of E NE for the first couple of hours.  It then rained for about an hour or so and the wind was really blowing by the end of the day.

The Tournament:
We were first boat out at around quarter to 7AM.  We would have got out sooner but a certain boat put there plug in the wrong hole.  We went right to our starting spot and my boater Owen had his big bass of the day in the first five minutes.  I decided the conditions might be right for topwater so I had put on my Stanley Phantom.

Right after Owen got his fish in the boat.  I had my first keeper on, a solid 15.25" fish that I would hold onto all day.  I caught the next 3 fish as well landing a 14.5", 16", 14.75".  By this point we started getting crowded by a couple of different boats; All of them catching fish as well.  Owen landed a few to catch up with me.  I got a 15.75" and 13.50".  We were now in a calm area and I got my big fish of the day a 17.5" , 3lb 1oz bass also on the Phantom.  Unfortunately we didn't really stay in that area to work it over and headed back over the water we had just come from.  The wind had come up a little bit more at this point and when we got back into the wind the topwater bite seemed to have died.

Owen caught one off a dock so we did that for bit, but that was totally unproductive.  It started to rain so we headed to our secondary area.  I think I landed one that didn't help then I got a 16 incher getting both fish on black blue Strike King Pure Poison with black blue Berkley Havoc Grass Pig Jr. as the trailer.

This is what I would get the rest of my fish on for the day.  Other than that one fish that area was a bust.

We then went to an old reed bed that was in the wind.  I had a good feeling fish on right away but it came off half way to the boat.  That was it for that area, so we went back to our starting spot which was quite crowded at this point.  We started catching fish almost immediately, so we worked the area for the rest of the day.  However we did go up into the calm area that was still calm and I culled a couple of times with a 15.25" and a 16.5" and I got several that didn't help. Owen culled a couple of times as well.  I did try throwing the Phantom some scaring Chuck Steinbauer in the process, but didn't get any hits on it.

Results:
My 6 fish weighed in a 14lbs 7ozs which put me in a tie for 5th place, which I won on the big bass tie breaker.  I got lucky because the other guy had a dead fish penalty.  Owen had 13/7 and came in 10th.  We broke the record for the best first club tournament of the year in terms of total weight caught.  Our average bag was 12.65lbs.  Chuck Steinbauer won with 16/15 beating Ed Ott by an ounce.

Analysis:
I'm happy with how things went for the most part.  I had fun, it was a good day with the topwater to start.  It's pretty clear we wasted time fishing those docks, but one fish sent us off on that mission, so what are you gonna do?

Bass Snatchers South Long Lake Tournament Quick Report

I had a pretty good day all things considered.  My weight of 14-7 would have been enough to win the last tournament on the lake, but in this one it was good enough to put me somewhere in the Top 10.  The rain held off for the first couple of hours and it got warmer than expected.  The fish bit for me on topwater in the morning.  I was throwing my Stanley Phantom (pictured above) and got my limit and big fish before the wind changed and the rain came.  During and after the rain I caught everything on an old style black and blue Strike King Pure Poison chatterjig with black/blue Havoc Grass Pig Jr. as a trailer.  Fun day with my boater Owen.  He insisted I take the front of the boat for a good chunk of time at the end of the day.  We both caught a bunch of fish in the last couple of hours.

I will have the full story later on this week.

Bass Opener Day 3

South Long Pre-fish:

15.75" my second biggest fish of the day

I got out for a few hours today with my boater Owen to pre-fish for next Saturday's Tournament on South Long.  The lake seems to be a bit behind Platte Lake at this point.  The warmest water we found was 55°F and it was pretty much 54°F everywhere.  The wind was blowing out of the E SE yet again for the 3rd or 4th straight day.  I guess the air temp got to 61°F today and there was no sun.  We basically didn't catch very many fish.  I got 5 but two of them were quality keepers at or a bit over 2lbs.  We got everything on moving baits.  Depending on the weather improving a bit this week, we have confidence in a couple of spots.  Thankfully they both are fairly large areas.  Being boat #1 should help.

The GOMH:
I arrived at the GOMH around 5PM and started on "the juice".  All I got was one toothy bullhead on the Grass Pig.  Eventually I moved to the SW side and there I started getting fish on the huckleberry Christopherson's Craw Tube.  My 10th fish was this Toad Bullhead.

I'm not sure of the exact length because I didn't have my ruler along, but I'm calling it 19.5" for the Derby.  She was definitely close to 5lbs full of eggs. I caught a total of 11 bass at the GOMH.  I left at 9PM

Fish for the Day
Bass: 16
Pike: 1

Fish Total for Bass Opener
Bass: 73
Pike: 11
Walleye: 1

My Bass Opener Day 1

I decided to start this year fishing from shore at the GOMH but I brought my boat just in case fishing wasn't that great.  There was somebody already on the South side when I got there at 5AM, which was fine with me.  I took the NE side fishing by the bridge.  I started out throwing Berkley Frenzy Popper but didn't have any hits on that.  This was my first fish.

A fat 16 inch jumpin bullhead on a Craw Tube.  I proceeded to get a couple more and a toothy, before another group arrived and I chose to go to the juice so they wouldn't stumble on to it.  Once again I tried topwater but that wasn't happening.  Turns out the juice had been invaded  by toothy bullheads;  I got 3 of those along with a few jumpers no bigger than the first fish I got.  I used Craw Tubes, Grass Pigs, and a Spro Aruku Shad.  It was now 6:30AM and I had 10 jumpin bullheads and 4 toothy bullheads when I made the call to bail.  I decided to check out the Platte Lake Access and seeing as there were only 2 cars at the ramp and nobody to wait for I put in there.  I decided to hit the tip of the Platte Lake Access peninsula point first.  The wind was blowing in on it pretty good and  I quickly got on the board with this 15 incher.

I got a couple on that Pure Poison, a couple on the Grass Pig, and a couple on a Craw Tube including one that was just shy of 17 inches.  That was all I could get off the point. I then proceeded to drift into Channel Inn Bay.  I got a nice pike on a Gambler Ninja Spin and then I got into a little school of bass that I caught on the Ninja Spin and the Grass Pig.  By 9AM my upper back was giving me issues.  I toughed it out for a couple more hours.  I added 4 pike and 24 bass to my morning total.

Bass: 34
Pike: 8

Rock Lake:
I didn't get on Rock until a little after 7:30PM.  I started in RPRO where I got my pike two days ago and I got 3 pike to start with on the Gambler Ninja Spin.  I got my first bass on a Zoom Horny Toad.  I started throwing my firetiger Stanley Phantom and started catching bass on that including this almost 17 inch beauty.

I also got some on a Grass Pig and one nice fish on a Craw Tube, that was also just shy of 17 inches. I called it a night right around 9PM

Bass: 16
Pike: 3

Totals-
Bass: 50
Pike: 11

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

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.

Missed A Good One at the GOMH

Tonight I missed a good fish at the Grumpy Old Man Hole on a Horny Toad.  It came all the way out of the water and had it.  I just blew the hook set.  I'm going to need to work on my Horny Toad hook sets this week, with Leech Lake coming up next week.  I did catch two small bass on a Pure Poison with Craw Fatty.  I got out a bit late, so I didn't get to the Culvert or Inlet.

Yesterday I got 2 bass at Jenny's on the Horny Toad and got bit off.  And in the morning I got 2 bass at the Culvert on a spinnerbait and a Crawtube and I got 2 bass at the GOMH on a Yum Wooly Bug.