GOMH Today

Today I hit the Grumpy Old Man Hole around 5:30AM and then again after 7PM.

In the morning there was a heavy fog. I caught an 11" jumpin bullhead on a spinnerbait and a nice 26+" toothy bullhead on a white Rapala Subwalk on the NE side.

In the evening I was fishing with Pete and right off the bat I got 2 toothy bullheads on the NE side. We took a trip to try fishing at the Platte Lake Public Access but there were people fishing on the dock. We headed back to the GOMH and Pete fished the SW side and I took up the SE side. Pete had a blow up on a buzzbait but missed it. Pete eventually started fishing for sunnies and got a few small one's. I had two hits on a spinnerbait that didn't hook up.

I went to the NE side after the sun was below the trees and got this little guy.
That was pretty much it for action.

A Little Mille Lac-tion

I forgot to bring the camera, so I just took a picture of the lures that caught fish when I got back

I arrived at Eddy's a little after 7PM and kind of went through what has become a routine. First I threw the char/white Strike King spinnerbait. I had a fish bump it and not get hooked up, then I caught a 12 inch smallie on it a few casts later. Next I put on a Rapala Subwalk and that got me a 16-17 inch fish that got off at my feet. The last fish of the night took the Berkley Frenzy jerkbait and was 14 inches.

I did try the Cemetery Jetty but didn't get any hits. I went back to Eddy's after 9PM and didn't get any hits.

I stayed to watch 5 Eddy's launches come back. They had 3,3,2,2, and 1 keeper walleyes on the Launches.

Tonight's Action: Mille Lacs & GOMH

Today I went and picked up the Trophy's boat trailer from Prince's Marine where the bunks got fixed. I figured I would hit Mille Lacs on the way back home. I arrived at Eddy's after 5PM and the lot was almost completely filled with boat trailers. I wonder if there is a big walleye tournament going on this weekend? I was lucky to find a good place to park with my trailer and so I headed to the South Jetty. The wind was blowing in out of the NE at about 8 MPH so there was a pretty good chop coming in and casting distance would suffer. Still I managed a single 17.25 inch smallie on the Rapala Subwalk in the pictures.


I also snagged a little perch on a Frenzy jerkbait.

Conditions were not ideal and I noticed more boats launching and I didn't want to take somebody who paid to launches parking place, so I called it a day.

Around 7:30PM I headed out to the GOMH to try for some bullheads. I started on the NE side (Platte) and immediately tied into a couple of jumpin bullheads on a watermelon/chart Brovarney Swim Jig with watermelon Zoom Speed Craw trailer. I think I landed a 3rd jumper on my hot Mille Lacs smallmouth spinnerbait which is a 3/16oz white/chart Strike King spinnerbait with chart willow blades. I then switched to a pumpkin& pepper green Terminator Jig and brought in this 18 incher.
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I got another smaller bullhead on the Terminator. Eventually I switched to the SE side and watched a nice golden bullhead get brought in by one of Grumpy Old Man Lee Anders grand kids. I got a few jumpin bullheads on the SE side, including a 12-13" on a Spro Rojas Popping Frog. I took the Popping Frog to the NE side and had a few swirls and caught a 14" bullhead and I think I also had a shot at a dogfish but didn't hook up. I got cold and left around 9PM. I landed 9 jumpin bullheads total.

Mille Lacs Tonight

Encouraged by my results last night I decided to hit Mille Lacs from shore again tonight. I arrived at the lake around 6:50PM. My 1st stop was the Eddy's Jetty where I managed to land this 17 inch smallie on the white Rapala Subwalk pictured from the middle of the South Jetty.

Before I caught the fish I had a swirl on a swim jig and not hit it in approximately the same area I got this fish. I worked the Jetty with various presentations but didn't get any more hits, so I headed to Cemetery Jetty.

While I was cycling through lures I had a hit on a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke but didn't hook up. I cast back to the spot and this time the fish took it hard and I landed this 14 inch smallie.

A little while later I was casting the white Rapala Subwalk and hooked into a similar sized smallie. I got it up to the rocks but it got off before I landed it.

The sun had set and much to my surprise Mike "Cyberfish" Thompson of MT Bucket blog showed up. He is a Currier and had a run up by Red Lake today, so he tracked me down on his way back. I had 4 rods with me so I set him up with the Super Fluke.

We were fishing and chatting away when I told Mike I hadn't gotten any hits on topwater as I was throwing a gold Berkley Frenzy Popper. I speculated that maybe the water was to cold yet. Pretty much as I was saying that a toad slurped down the popper. I knew it was a good fish right away and I was concerned about it staying hooked up which it did.

Mike did a tape measure while I held the fish and he called it at 19". The pic sure makes it look bigger than 19". This was the last fish of the night.

Mille Lacs Shore Smallmouth

Before getting to the lake I hit up Reeds for some 14lb Fireline for the Fig Rig and ended up getting that plus 3 Strike King spinnerbaits 1/2oz 2x all white, 1x all Chart., some beads for walleye fishing, and a map of Farm Island Lake. From there I was off to Eddy's Jetty.

I worked my way around the South Jetty without any action until I was casting just off the rocks at the center Jetty. I had something come up at the shore minnow Frenzy Popper. I cast back and ended up tying into a 13." I made a few more casts off the rocks on the center Jetty and another fish showed itself but didn't hit the popper. I threw back in there with a 3/16oz Wht/Chart Strike King spinnerbait and on about the 4th cast I tied into a 16.5" smallie. I then headed to the middle Jetty where I caught a 16" smallie on the Frenzy Pop fished very close in to the Jetty rocks. I am amazed this fish struck where it did. I heard somebody on a launch say "look at that rock bass he just caught." I got a chuckle out of that. I then headed to the North Jetty where I have never caught a smallmouth from. I was working the Frenzy Pop out into the lake just beyond the corner when I had another 16.5" smallmouth attack. I was quite pleased to get 4 smallouth off the Eddy's Jetty in one day. This is the best I've ever done numbers wise for smallies off the Eddy's Jetty. I think I fished from about 4:30 to 6:30pm.

I then headed over to "Cemetary Jetty" and started throwing a wht/chart Outcast Swim Jig with wht/chart grub in the cove. Last year on Opener there were a bunch of largemouth in the cove, but no such luck this year. I didn't get a bite in the cove. I headed out to the tip of the point and on my first or second cast I had my grub tail bitten in half. A few casts later straight off the point with the swim jig and I tied into yet another 16.5" smallie. I worked the point over with the swim jig and didn't get any more takers. I then worked the point over with the Frenzy Pop and didn't get so much as a sniff. I put on the wht/chart nosed Rapala Subwalk and got a 16" or so smallie up to shore where it got off. I kept working the Subwalk for a while but could not get anything more to go. I then put on a white X-Rap and I think I missed a hit. A front moved through and kicked up the wind and it sprinkled a little. When the wind was going I switched to the swim jig and had a grub stolen straight off the point. I was hoping I could get this fish to go on topwater or a spinnerbait or on the swim jig again, but it didn't cooperate. Once the front blew past there was an awesome rainbow over the lake. As the sun set it calmed down again and I got my last 17.5 smallie on the wht/chart nosed Subwalk. I headed out after sunset but before it got very dark because I worked the area hard and was just not getting any fish to go.

I was quite pleased to get a total of 7 smallies from shore. 3 Frenzy Pop, 2 Subwalk, 1 swim jig, 1 spinnerbait.