Productive Day from Shore

We had a pretty good rain storm this afternoon and I headed out fishing when it was over around 5:30PM and conditions were still overcast. I decided to make the GOMH my 1st stop and it was probably a good thing I did. John W. was there with his 2 girls and they were on the SW side, so I took the SE side. In short order I landed a 22", 19", 12" and 19" toothy bullheads on the black bladed black/chart DM Custom Baits Piranha. After a lull in the action I decided to move on.

Nothing at Bulldog.

At the Rock Dock I didn't have any success right away. When I arrived it was calm and the sun had come out, but that didn't last long. It clouded up and a West wind started up, still I didn't have any luck until I started twitching the orange/chart X-Rap. The first bite was this 25 inch pike.
This pike fought like a 30+ inch fish going on several hard runs. About 5 minutes later I nailed a 19" pike on the same X-Rap.

I cycled through a few more lures and got my first bass on the Dead Stick Rogue that I bought on Ebay this Winter.
I tried for about 15 more minutes and then headed to Jenny's.

I didn't get a thing at Jenny's, so I headed to the GOMH. When I arrived at the GOMH there were no shore fisherman, but a boat was sitting close in on the SE side so I started on the SW side. While the boat was still there I got a jumpin bullhead on the black/chart DM Piranha. After the boat left I got one last toothy bullhead for the day and several more jumpin bullheads. The wind really started to blow and it was 50 degrees so I gave up a little earlier than usual.

FLW Tour Beaver Lake Day 2

2 Jump in 2 flop out, that is the story of my FLW Fantasy Fishing roster today.

I had Yelas jump from 31st to 6th and Wendlandt with the jump of the day from 100 to 4th.

On the down side Fukae went from 8th to 17th and Morgan went from 4th to 23rd.

Here is the Top 10 Cut:
1. Brent Ehrler -- Redlands, Ca -- 5, 10-13 -- 5, 13-09 -- 10, 24-06
2. Jason Christie -- Park Hill, Ok -- 5, 11-08 -- 4, 11-12 -- 9, 23-04
3. Glenn Browne -- Ocala, Fl -- 5, 10-15 -- 5, 12-04 -- 10, 23-03
4. Clark Wendlandt -- Leander, Tx -- 5, 7-08 -- 5, 15-06 -- 10, 22-14
5. Mark Rose -- Marion, Ar -- 5, 13-00 -- 5, 9-11 -- 10, 22-11
6. Jay Yelas -- Corvallis, Or -- 4, 10-00 -- 5, 12-08 -- 9, 22-08
7. Ray Scheide -- Dover, Ar -- 5, 11-07 -- 5, 10-09 -- 10, 22-00
8. Rob Kilby -- Hot Springs, Ar -- 5, 12-03 -- 5, 9-05 -- 10, 21-08
9. Keith Combs -- Del Rio, Tx -- 5, 9-08 -- 5, 11-13 -- 10, 21-05
10. Gabe Bolivar -- Ramona, Ca -- 5, 11-11 -- 5, 9-09 -- 10, 21-04

Today's Fishing Report

Short Report...

FLW Tour Beaver Lake Day 1

Here is the Top 10
1 MARK ROSE MARION, AR 5 13-00 5 13-00
2 THANH LE LAKE HAVASU CITY, AZ 5 12-08 5 12-08
3 ROB KILBY HOT SPRINGS, AR 5 12-03 5 12-03
4 ANDY MORGAN DAYTON, TN 5 12-01 5 12-01
4 BRYAN THRIFT SHELBY, NC 5 12-01 5 12-01
6 JOE THOMAS MILFORD, OH 5 11-15 5 11-15
7 BRETT HITE PHOENIX, AZ 5 11-14 5 11-14
8 SHINICHI FUKAE MINEOLA, TX 5 11-12 5 11-12
9 GABE BOLIVAR RAMONA, CA 5 11-11 5 11-11
9 CRAIG POWERS ROCKWOOD, TN 5 11-11 5 11-11

Once again my fantasy team is looking mediocre.
Robertson 90th
Dudley 140th
Fukae 8th
Bohanan 82nd
Morgan 4th
Newby 44th
Shaw 105th
Pack 24th
Wendlandt 100th
Yelas 31st

Realistically, at best I could squeeze 5 guys into the cut, but the odds on that happening are not very good. What are the chances that Yelas, Pack, and Newby weigh the biggest sacks tomorrow while Fukae and Morgan hold serve?

Boyd Duckett Controversy Voice Blog

Maybe you haven't heard, but Boyd Duckett had problems at Guntersville with fellow Elite Series competitor Kevin Langill. You can hear Boyd talk about his side of the story at his blog.

Report at the BP Fishing Log Blog

Belated Fishing Report...

Fishing Reports

Dawn Patrol...

Rock, Jenny's, GOMH...

Mille Lac of Action Report

I decided to try and beat the night ban to the punch and headed to Mille Lacs at 1AM. I thought the nearly full moon and clear sky's might have the eyes on the feed. When I arrived at Eddy's it was pretty much dead calm. No wind, no good! I worked the whole Jetti without any hits. I called it quits a little after 3AM.

I did not see lights for even a single boat on the lake which I think is kind of strange being that it is the last night of night fishing and conditions while cool were quite pleasant.

Opener Day 2

As far as I am concerned the Minnesota Fishing Opener is a 2 Day affair. The Minnesota Bass Fishing Opener happens on Memorial Day weekend and is a 3 day affair. I set my alarm to get me up at 4AM for a trip to Mille Lacs, but when the time came I turned the alarm off and went back to bed.

Rock:
I didn't get out fishing until 6:15PM and I started at the Rock Dock. On my first round of fan casting I caught 2 pike on the gold DM Custom Baits Piranha chatterjig. The first pike was about 16 inches and the 2nd was about 24." The 2nd pike just thumped it as I was letting the bait fall to the bottom on the intial cast. I switched to a orange/chart. X-Rap and proceeded to miss 3 bites. I had 2 of the fish on but didn't get to see them. I went through several more baits with nothing and went back to the orange/chart. X-Rap. I made a short cast because of a backlash and was watching the lure the whole way back when a pike just blasted it 7 feet from the end of the dock. I tried a while longer but couldn't get anymore bites.

Next I went to Jenny's and did get a bite that took the tails off my Speed Craw. I threw back and it hit again but didn't hook up, probably a small pike. I tried the lake place but didn't get a hit.

Last stop was the GOMH and when I arrived no one was there, but as I was getting my gear another car pulled in. I started on the NE side with a white/red Strike King Pure Poison chatterjig and I got a 14" jumpin bullhead on that. Next I threw the watermelon Monsoor Swim Jig all along the NE shore but didn't get bit until I was almost back at the bridge by another jumpin bullhead. The light was really beginning to fade and I headed across the road to the SE side. On my very first cast I nailed a toothy bullhead right by the spot I caught one last night. That toother is gonna be in somebodies frying pan. I worked the SE shore and got 4 more jumpin bullheads including 1 that was pretty close to 16 inches. It got pretty dark so I gave up when I caught that 6th jumper.

Elite Series Guntersville Day Final Liveblogged

The Hunt for the Century Club:
Kevin Wirth weighs 29-3 and I believe breaks the 100lb barrier. Yes he does 102-3!!!

Menendez weighs 20-14 and comes up a little short of the century mark, which he really wanted to hit.

Byron weighs 18-1 and comes up short of 100.

Martens stumbles with 19-15, but that is more than enough with 107-8 and Martens wins!!!

Fralick only catches 17-7 and is well short of 100.

Ouch, Alton only weighs 12-11, doesn't break 90.

Reed and Faircloth have also come up short at this point.

Skeet sacks 27-11 for a total of 104-4 and he takes the lead.

McClelland weighs 17-00 and comes up short at 94-4. Hardly a surprise as Mike has been running out of steam.

IKE just makes it with 101-1. He had 20-15 for the day.

Stone weighs 18-8 and comes up short at 99-5.

Will Martens choke and Skeet walk through the door? He only needs 16-12.

Man are they dragging this out! Weigh the fish already!

Martens stumbles with 19-15, but his 107-8 takes it, Martens Wins!!!

2009 Minnesota Fishing Opener!

My trip to the Eddy's Jetti was not fruitless, but when I went to get the camera I found that I forgot to put it in the bag. Ohh Well.

When I arrived at Eddy's I was kind of glad about what I saw. The wind was coming into the Jetti with some pretty big waves and the sky was pretty much clear so there was a full moon. I arrived just before midnight so I got my stuff together and headed off to the South Jetti as the wind was supposed to be out of the North. I started by throwing Husky Jerks and was pleasantly surprised to find out the water is deep enough so I wasn't cranking in the rocks which has been a problem on the South Jetti for a couple of years. I cycled through some dark colors and the occasional backlash before I picked a clown HJ 12. Very 1st cast I smacked a 23inch Walter. Unfortunately that was all the action I would get for quite a while.

A guy came and fished next to me and hooked into what was probably a nice muskie or pike. I saw the fish break water but didn't get a good look at it. He was using 6lb line and it stole his brand new X-Rap.

I eventually gave the North Jetti a try but the wind limited casting distance. It was also curious that I was hitting rock with some of my stick baits. After about 20 minutes of nothing I went and talked with a guy fishing the North Channel. He was fishing with 2 lines and hadn't had a bite. He said they did well last year coming out at midnight off the North Jetti. So it was this guy and his buddies that kept me off the North side last year.

Eventually I went back to the South Jetti and caught a 22" on a clown X-Rap. I tried for a little while longer but it was pretty clear that it would be a slow slog between fish and I might not catch anymore. 2 fish in 3 hours was enough and I called it quits.

I fell asleep when I got home and woke up just before 7AM so I decided a quick trip to the GOMH was in order. I headed out with 3 rods but only used 2 of them rigged with a gold chatterjig (DM Custom Baits Piranha) and a Monsoor Swim Jig with a Zoom Speed Craw trailer. There were people on the SW and SE sides so I went to the NE side. I got a small jumpin bullhead on the first cast with the Piranha. I got a small jumpin bullhead on them 2nd Cast. I caught several jumpin bullheads and missed several strikes before I switched to the Swim Jig. I got a couple of jumpin bullheads on the swim jig, then had a fish demolish the Speed Claws. I didn't have any back up jig trailers with me, Oops. I kept throwing the swim jig anyway and was rewarded with a couple of jumpers and a 22 inch toother which will be dinner for some guy who was at the bridge. I also had a number of follow from an under 20" toother. I got 10 jumpers and the 1 toothy on the NE side.

The SE side openned up so I gave that a shot. The Piranha came up with nothing so I switched to the Swim Jig. I missed what I am guessing was a pike on a cast to the east bullrushes. A few minutes later I cast over the channel and let the jig sink to the bottom. I got a bite but lost it half way in. I cast back and got another hit, set the hook, nothing. Jigged a couple of times and got another bite, set the hook nothing. It turned out that the hook broke, bummer. At that point with no jigs or jig trailers with me I called it quits.

UPDATE: 2 More Trips

I went to the GOMH from 3:30 to 5:30PM. It was partly cloudy to cloudy with little wind. When I got there the SW and SE side were taken so I hit the NE side. I fished all along the NE shore and picked up several little bullheads including the Bassholes Dink picture fish on the gold DM Custom Baits Piranha or a Monsoor Swim Jig with Zoom Speed Craw trailer.

Next I went to the SE shore for a little while and missed a couple of bites. The SW shore opened up so I went over there. It was really slow. I got a couple of jumpin bullheads on an X-Rap. The group fishing the SE side caught a few silver bullheads. Eventually nature called and I had to leave. I think I got 8 jumpin bullheads total.

The next trip was from 6:30 till around 9PM.

Bulldog: Stopped at the Bulldog access and caught a hammer handle on the gold DM Custom Baits Piranha.

Rock: Didn't get any bites. Talked to a boat that came off the lake and they got a couple small pike and some small sunfish. They said the fishing was slow and they didn't catch a single bass.

Jenny's and Lake Place Platte: Nothing

GOMH: I started out on the NW side and missed a bite on the Pirhana. Next I went to the NE side and I think I missed a bite on the Monsoor Swim Jig. Next I went to the SE side and missed a couple of bites. Finally I hooked up with a small toothy bullhead on the Monsoor Swim Jig that I gave away to a guy who was fighting a cool colored dogfish. As it started getting towards dark I pulled 5 small to medium sized jumpin bullheads on the Monsoor Swim Jig. It slowed down and was getting pretty dark so I left.

Off to Eddy's

Wish me Luck!!!

Illinois High School Bass Fishing State Championship

Lunker Hunt has it covered...

Opener Eve

The Opener

In the state of Minnesocold the gamefish species (walleye, Pike, Bass, Trout) all have seasons in which they are closed for fishing. The 2nd weekend in May is the traditional "Minnesota Fishing Opener" for Walleye, the state fish, and Northern Pike; Bass don't open until Memorial Day weekend. Being that this is the 2nd week of May, it is the week of "the Opener." "The Opener" week is for many a time of hightened excitement in preparation for angling the preferred species in MN...

This year for Opener once again I will be hitting the Eddy's Jetti at midnight, which I have done for at least the previous 2 Openers. Last year sucked, the year before I caught my limit in an hour and a half. The wind isn't ideal and so I am not that optimistic. Maybe the higher water levels will bail me out. It is supposed to be cool with possible precipitation at midnight with N to NW winds. Some wind is better than no wind, but as we learned 2 years ago a SE wind is best.

I also plan to hit the GOMH tomorrow morning for a little pike try.

Opener Eve @ GOMH: Tonight I hit the GOMH from 7:20PM till dark. It looks as if the silver bullheads have disappeared as I didn't see a single one caught, although there were not a whole lot of fishermen and just a few boats. Conservation Officer Kuske stopped by and told me he has seen some nice golden bullheads caught at the channel at night after the Opener.

As for myself, all I could catch was small jumpin bullheads. I used the 1/16oz Panfish Chatterbait and 1/8oz Storm Wildeye Swimbait. There was a little girl fishing that caught a 3lb+ jumpin bullhead.

Elite Series Guntersville Day 2 Liveblogged

Bass Trak is working for KVD, Faircloth, Short, Pace, and Herren...
I think it is probably a given that Faircloth does indeed have a drop in weight for the day but KVD could easily have more than Bass Trakk is letting on.

Weigh in started:
For some reason Mark Tucker who was last to weigh in yesterday was not the 1st to weigh in today. I was a bit worried but I now see his name in the queue, so it's all good. With 10 weighed it looks like the fishing was excellent again today with 5 of the bags being 25lbs plus.

KVD only weighs 23-7, not good! Meanwhile Evers sacked 26-5, the schmuck!

IKE sacks 27-5 for the 2nd straight day and takes the lead. How impossible is it to catch two 27-5 bags in a row. The odds on that have to be mind blowing.

Ahhh the dogs went nuts and we had a doggy visitor from next store. As I was bringing the little guy home I stepped in a big pile of dog crap. NICE! At least I didn't collect any ticks.

Boyd Duckett takes a tumble ONLY 17-12 will 43-15 be enough to make the cut? I think it will.

Mark Tucker on weighs 17-8. This fantasy pick is a bust! FYI- It was Hellabass that tipped me off on this one. He is going down with the ship too.

Egads, just picked a little tick off me, pretty good chance it was a Deer Tick. After a much more thourough inspection I didn't find any more. The little bugger must have jumped me from a tree.

Tim Horton 15-13 Ouch, my fantasy team is taking it on the chin.

Skeet weighs a respectable 24-14 and will be my top guy, both he and KVD will have a shot at the 12 cut with good bags tomorrow. I have 3 guys outside the 50 cut, that is a disaster!

Martens Sacks 29+ again and takes the lead by an ounce short of a pound and a half.

Here is my pathetic Fantasy Line Up after Day 2
Skeet 14th
KVD 18th
Horton 58th
M. Tucker 69th
Herren 84th

Here is where the 12 cut sits:
1 Aaron Martens 5 29- 2 5 29-12 10 58-14
2 Mike McClelland 5 30-10 5 26-13 10 57- 7
3 Todd Faircloth 5 31- 0 5 24-15 10 55-15
4 Byron Velvick 5 29- 4 5 25-14 10 55- 2
5 Michael Iaconelli 5 27- 5 5 27- 5 10 54-10
6 Rick Clunn 5 25-14 5 26- 0 10 51-14
7 Alton Jones 5 28-12 5 22-15 10 51-11
8 Kevin Wirth 5 24- 6 5 27- 4 10 51-10
9 Jami Fralick 5 26-11 5 24-11 10 51- 6
10 Mark Menendez 5 24- 7 5 26-12 10 51- 3
11 Edwin Evers 5 24-12 5 26- 5 10 51- 1
12 Marty Stone 5 26-15 5 23-13 10 50-12

Looks like I made a huge mistake with Evers. I will keep Horton for Kentucky Lake however.

2nd Guessing Aaron Martens

Normally it is kind of hard to 2nd guess the decisions of a Tour level pro, especially when they have a good day, but Aaron Martens did something inexplicable on Guntersville Day 1 that is ripe for some armchair quarterbacking.

Here is what BassFan reported:
His marshal had him down for 137 fish. He said about 80 of those were keepers and 60 or so weighed at least 3-pounds. And here's the biggie – he culled at least a dozen 5-pounders.


Under the circumstances I just do not think trying to cull up when he had at least 25 pounds in the well was good decision making. How can you just throw away 25+ pounds of fish in a 4 day tournament?

Caveat: We might not have the whole story. Maybe Aaron was sacking fish in a quest to find new stuff and was just popping fish no matter where he went. If so it is a little more excuseable.

We will soon see if Martens maddness matters or not.

Update: Martens weighs 29-12 on Day 2 and takes the lead. He must be on an insane good pattern.

Elite Series Guntersville Day 1 Liveblogged

I did put a fantasy team together last night. I decided to drop Edwin Evers because he just is not having that good of a season. I also dropped John Murray who was kind of a throw away pick from Smith Mountain.

My Fantasy Line UP:
KVD
SKEET
Tim Horton
Mark Tucker
Matt Herren

I have had Herren since the beginning and he is turning out to be the bargin pick of the year. I think he nows goes for $2 over what I have him locked in as.

Once again Bass Trak does not appear to be working...

On Bass Cast they have KVD and Skeet. I think I'll have to watch.

Wow 3 bags weighed, all over 25lbs!!!

Yes Skeet with a 25lb string.

Faircloth in the lead with 31lbs
McClellend Jacks 30-10
Byron in 3rd with 29-4
Martens in 4th with 29-2
Ken Cook with 29-2

Uh-Oh Herren with only 14lbs. That is going to be a lot of ground to make up for the 50 cut. With 64 anglers weighed there are 39, 20lb+ strings.

Horton puts in a respectable 24-1 but Edwin Evers who I dropped laid down 24-12, it's Day 1, this means Jack Squat!

KVD 25-9 which should have him in the Top 20.

Looks like Mark Tucker weighs last.

Pre-tournament favorite Ike weighs 27-5 which will have him in the Top 10.

Just noticed Skeet and KVD have the same weight.

Tucker weighs a mediocre 20-6 which puts him in 57th

So here is my Day 1 Fantasy Team Results
KVD 15th
Skeet 15rh
Horton 23rd
Tucker 57th
Herren 94th

Not exactly a great start.

Here is the Day 1 Top 12
1 Todd Faircloth 5 31- 0 5 31- 0
2 Mike McClelland 5 30-10 5 30-10
3 Byron Velvick 5 29- 4 5 29- 4
4 Ken D Cook 5 29- 2 5 29- 2
4 Aaron Martens 5 29- 2 5 29- 2
6 Alton Jones 5 28-12 5 28-12
7 Michael Iaconelli 5 27- 5 5 27- 5
8 Marty Stone 5 26-15 5 26-15
9 Mark Davis 5 26-14 5 26-14
10 Jami Fralick 5 26-11 5 26-11
11 Boyd Duckett 5 26- 3 5 26- 3
12 Rick Clunn 5 25-14 5 25-14


I contemplated going with Davis and Martens.

Fishers of Men Club Spring Outing Camp/Lake Wapogasset

May 1-3
I arrived at the camp around 3:30PM and had the boat launched by 4:30PM. There was a mix up in communication so we ended up eating camp food rather than grilling our own for dinner. After dinner I went out with Gordy and Gary Pflipsen. We fished right by the camp and I could not get a white bass to go. Gary P. caught this sunfish which was the 1st fish of the weekend.

Not long after Gary's sunfish, Gordy pulled in this nice crappie.
Gary P. got the first bass of the weekend, but it would not be in season until midnight.
I drank to much milk for dinner and had to be let off at the dock so I could use the facilities. Here is Lowell Borgen, Jim ???, and Art Halverson just off the Camp Wapogasset East dock.
Our accomodations on this outing left a little bit to be desired. Lowell had to organize his tackle while sitting on the floor. We had 9 guys at the Outing: Myself, Mike Thompson, Gordy, Gary P, Gary Ellis, Lowell, Art, Jim, and John Cummins.
Mike "Cyberfish" Thompson and I elected to not get up at dawn. I headed out in front of the camp around 7AM but didn't get a bite before breakfast at 8AM. I don't remember for sure if Gary P. and Gordy caught a fish, but the other two boats came in skunked for the morning.

Cyberfish and I headed out after breakfast and fished around the Camp in Bear Trap. I think Cyb openned things up with a 10inch "Larry." I was throwing a small Fat Free Shad crank and connected with my 1st bass of the season but it only went 12.5". My crankbait got out of tune so I switched to a little bigger Fat Free Shad in citrus shad and I got another bass. Mike got a 22 inch pike on the drop shot and a couple more small bass. Coming up on lunch time we ran across Jeff Bosshardt as he was headed to the camp for lunch. He and his partner only had a few small bass on cranks and he got those on the North end of Bear Trap by the break for the boat channel, basically what we were fishing.

After lunch it was slow and I got tired, so Mike dropped me off at the dock and I took a nap in the truck. While I was relaxing Mike just went out a little ways off the end of the West Camp dock and started blasting sunnies, crappies, and even a few largemouth (biggest 15.5"). Eventually I got up and fished off the dock, landing an under 10" bass on the Storm Wildeye Swimbait, unfortunately I didn't have my camera to take a dink picture for The Bassholes.com.

We had pizza for dinner at 5PM and the guys were pretty beat up from a rough day on the water. Winds were NW and around 20mph and it was in the low 60's and cloudy. Mike won the tournament easily thanks to the pike and crappies. I think Mike may have been the only one with more than 1 species of fish.

After dinner Mike and I started around camp and I got a couple of bass on an Outkast Money jig with a Cabela's Aqua Glow Hoochie Koochie Shad. The wind started calming down so we headed South on Bear Trap. We first went to the point with the bouy and Mike had a pike break him off. Next we went to a spot that has been productive for a variety of fish in the past. Mike caught a couple of crappies and I caught a dink bass on a Fat Free Shad. It started getting dark and I didn't have a way to hook up the stern light so we headed in.

Mike Thompson ended up getting "King Crappie" honors with a 10 incher.

I did a little fishing before brunch on Sunday off the camp dock. I missed a small pike on a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke. Brunch was at 9:30AM and everybody but Mike and I headed home. Naturally Mike and I started fishing right by the camp. He got a crappie and sunfish, but we couldn't pick up any bass. Next we headed to the North end of Wapogasset and it was just dead up there despite the fact that water temps were 53-54. We fished up there for quite a while. Mike got a sunfish, crappie, and missed a nice sized bass and I got a small pike. The water was not warming up quickly and so we gave up on the North end before 2PM. We stopped at the YMCA camp to the North of the Culvert but nothing was in there so we headed back to the South end of Bear Trap. We fished that spot that has been productive in the past and Mike caught a few crappies, but just couldn't get dialed in and it was cool and windy, so around 3PM we headed back off the camp docks. Mike caught a small mess of crappies and sunfish which he kept.

While we were anchored two loons came to visit (in the upper left corner is a loon beak and head just coming out of the water click pic to enlarge).
We fished until a little after 4PM but the bass just were not showing up, so we called it a day. We didn't land a single bass on Sunday.

Back from Wapo

I will probably get around to a full report tomorrow. Fishing for bass was on the difficult side and Cyberfish and I didn't have the patience to hold out for the Sunday evening bite that may or may not have materialized. We ended the day fishing a transition area that gave up a few bass yesterday but there were none to be found there today as of 4PM, so I we left the lake today without a single bass to our credit on the day although Cyb did have one that was probably over 14" but it got off about 3/4 of the way to the boat.

Headed to Wapo for Sconi Fishing Opener

Within an hour I will be headed to Lake Wapogasset Bible Camp near Amery WI for tomorrows Wisconsin Fishing Opener. In that part of WI bass season opens up along with everything else except muskie. Within 17 hours I will be chucking and winding for Larry and Sally. Wish Me Luck!

Yeah!!!

Comment Reply: I've got pictures of Wapo Sally's.